2nd cat in 1 year with CRF

I am just at a loss and hoping to get some advice from owners with CRF cats. I just recently helped my 17 year old Siamese over the bridge. He was diagnosed in January with CRF, but ended up fracturing his hip jumping up onto the bed in early September. He spent 5 days with our vet before we made the decision to put him to rest.

Now...Charmin my 12? year old tabby mix was diagnosed with CRF yesterday. His levels are three times what Snowball's were at diagnosis. He is in at the vet now for 24 hours of an IV drip. She is hoping to get his levels down and is testing for diabetes, infection, and cancer.

I don't have a print out of his levels, but his BUN was at 174.
I will be asking for his results tomorrow when we pick him up.

I am a member of the yahoo board for owners of CRF cats and have been to all of the recommended websites for information and to gain some more knowledge, but am feeling overwhelmed.

Last week, I bought a bag of Natures Variety Raw Instinct (we have a cat who is allergic to something...and now I am trying to wean out grains to see if that is her trigger). Currently, they are all being fed Natural Balance.

I have heard that Vitamin B is good for CRF cats. And I am aware that I need to keep the phosphorus and protein down. So, now I don't dare switch him to this food. Any suggestions with this?

I know that our vet will prescribe SD. I just have a hard time feeding that food...there must be something better?

Any other holistic or any advice is appreciated! I am just stunned...two in 10 months.....
Thank you,
Tina

One let me give you a :hug: ... Two this is not a lecture but cats over sevan are seniors and senior foods are modified to there changing needs( FYI ) .... My Kandie was diagnoised about 4 years ago and I was shocked and hurt .... Today she eats canned food and raw food ( these are high in fat and protein but unlike dry the are highly digestable(assuming your using a good brand which you are).... At the leval kitty is at I would talk with the vet about RX till you stablize kitty///

PM me any time for more info or just to talk

Originally Posted by sharky

One let me give you a :hug: ... Two this is not a lecture but cats over sevan are seniors and senior foods are modified to there changing needs( FYI ) .... My Kandie was diagnoised about 4 years ago and I was shocked and hurt .... Today she eats canned food and raw food ( these are high in fat and protein but unlike dry the are highly digestable(assuming your using a good brand which you are).... At the leval kitty is at I would talk with the vet about RX till you stablize kitty///

PM me any time for more info or just to talk

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Thank you for the hug...and I am open to lectures! I know that they should be on a senior food. We have 5 cats. Two are adults, the rest are seniors. I have tried to keep everyone confined to their own special food, but haven't had any luck. The seniors only want the adult food and the adults only want the senior. Then add the allergy cat and things just get worse. I guess, I have let them win and that is my fault.

That sounds like a good plan to do the Rx until he is stabilized and then think about switching...

I will PM you later about raw. I have begun to do some research for our dog and have made some notes about raw for cats. I just really need to do more research before switching.

In the meantime, is there a good senior kibble formula that you would suggest?

Thank you again!

Well what is allergy cat allergic too?? and are all the cats over the age of one??

I used Nutro max with Kandie for about a yr and half .... most here prefer the natural choice line.... If you give me a list of NO NO ingrediants I will find some options ... Chicken soups adult is an all stage but is low protein at 30 % ideal for senior and some CRF kittys

I don't know what Calvin (allergy queen) is allergic to. I think some of it is environmental (new house = dust), but I did notice a difference when we switched from Nutro to Natural Balance...she seemed a bit less itchy.

There is a vet who specializes in allergies, but he only comes into town twice a year...his next visit will be in March. I plan on seeing him then.

Calvin was prescribed prednisone, but I have pulled her off of that. I noticed a difference for a while and then she just continually got worse even when back on the pred. I am reluctant to continue with the pred. unless we have exhausted all other options.

Yes, everyone is over the age of 1.

I will check into the Chicken soup line. Thanks!

Yeah check chicken soup ... I would suspision corn is an allergy if you were on Natural choice prior to the Natural balence ...

Originally Posted by bosco

I have tried to keep everyone confined to their own special food, but haven't had any luck. The seniors only want the adult food and the adults only want the senior. Then add the allergy cat and things just get worse. I guess, I have let them win and that is my fault.

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You may have to resort to meal feeding in separate rooms. That's what I have to do with Prego and Polly because they'll just eat each other's food. Prego is on lite food and Polly is on an rx diet.

I'm glad to see Sharky has already responded since she does do/has tried homecooked diets with Kandie.

Just wanted to add my best wishes, and my support. I lost my almost 19 y.o. to crf this past year, and then found the 2-3 y.o. starving stray we rescued is early crf...so this is an ongoing issue in our home (I also have an almost 17 y.o. with early crf).

You'll know this from the yahoo group, but I adore www.felinecrf.org It's the best site on the web for this,imo.

I just wanted to extend my sympathies for you. We helped my beloved Tiger go over the bridge from CRF a year ago Thanksgiving . I couldn't imagine hearing news that either of my two other babies had it as well

Thank you everyone for your support. Charmin is now at home with us, he stayed over at our vet on Friday night to receive a continuous IV drip. His BUN came down from 174 to 100. Our vet did release him into our care, but is not very optimistic.
This weekend he is receiving 100 mls of sub-q's twice a day, Monday he will drop down to 100ml a day. He is prescribed SD rx soft food and thus far isn't on a phosphate binder (those levels are actually lower than normal). We will run another kidney panel on Friday to see how he is progressing.

He is starting to lose functioning of his bowels. At first, I thought it was just the change in food and stress making him unable to get to the litterbox in time, but now I have come to the reality that this is just the renal failure. He is eating, but really needs to be coaxed.

I moved him up onto the bed with me today...we always watch a game of football on Sunday's together. It was nice. I am glad that he is with me and that I will be able to spend how ever much time we have left together.

Glad to hear he is home... Sorry your vet isnt optomistic... It would look as though he is advanced for the CRF but have faith....