I posted in the new cat forum two weeks ago but I was too sad about Bootsie's condition to post after that.
She was vomiting up hairballs shortly after we got her, so I gave her Petromalt. She also tended to wolf down her food and then vomit, so we gave her small portions. The vet said this was what he would recommend (she also got a rabies vaccine at that visit). She was one pound lighter than what the shelter had recorded 4 months earlier.
She went a few days without vomiting, then vomited dry food all over our house while we were gone. We gave up on dry food (blue buffalo adult), and got her Wellness canned. She loved that for about five days, then on Christmas we were dumb and gave her some organic turkey/turkey liver canned food. She vomited all day long as soon as she ate it.
We figured we were being dumb to change her food so we went back to the wellness. Ok for a while, She then spent all of Dec 31 vomiting to the point of white foam and bile. Hubby took her to vet while I slept (I work nights as a nurse).
He woke me up when he got back, and said she had lost one pound in the three weeks since the last vet visit. The vet thought obstruction, but in the preop labs (she needed anesthesia for xray and possible surgery) it showed her BUN was 39 (normal 15-30) and Creatinine 2.7 (high normal being 2). No urine or blood test beyond BUN/Creatinine.
The vet told him she had CRF and wouldn't live very long. She recommended taking her back to the shelter when she found out we had only had Bootsie for three weeks, and our house is cat proofed. No plants, poisons, etc. The vet said Bootsie could have eaten poison when she was abandoned, or eaten the recalled food (she was brought into shelter about the time of the recalls). We agreed to try her suggestion of three days of inpatient stay with IV fluids to flush system. We dropped her off, and apparently Bootsie bit and scratched them so they didn't want the holiday staff to deal with it. I was very upset that apparently the fact that a sick cat doesn't like treatment was a reason to postpone treatment. So we had to go back to the vet as soon as we got home - they had managed to give her some Sub Q fluid.
On Jan 2 we brought her back for her three day treatment- the vet had said she needed three days including overnights. At the end of the clinic work hours I get a call to come get her for the night! Now I am very angry- I got the distinct impression they didn't want to deal with my difficult animal. So now it was my job to make sure she didn't pull out her IV catheter at my house, they didn't even give me an E collar when I said I didn't have one. I made one from a paper plate- designed it so she could eat but not bite off bandage. I had been charged for three days of Royal Canin renal Lp, but nobody had fed her all day either. They gave me a case of the food at a discount.
I was polite, but asked why they acted like my cat was dying without this treatment earlier, but now that she fights them she doesn't get fed and she doesn't need overnights either. Apparently the front desk staff was supposed to call me and explain that Bootsie really didn't require overnights and that I was to drop her off and come get her every day for 3 days. The vet came out and apologized- he was very upset with the front desk for letting us think things were so bad and not explaining the new treatment plan like he asked them to. I
She stopped vomiting after her stay, and loves her renal food- she would eat anything though. On this last sunday, her leg became infected (I know what an infected IV site looks like) and we had to take her to the emergency vet. The ER vet was very sweet with her, and gave her a good exam and ran tests. She said the values were all normal! She felt safe giving us a tiny bit of Metacam for pain and a week's worth of Clavamox for the infection. The staff did not complain about Bootsie's being scared and fighting them at all.
I go back in a week to the original vet for followup. They really seem like they want me to give Bootsie renal diet for the rest of her life, and Azodyl caps for the renal disease. They haven't measured phosphorus, blood counts, etc. In human medicine you wouldn't diagnose chronic renal problems without much more testing.
I will quit now, I am just so upset that I might lose my precious Bootsie after only a month...
