I am sure some of them will have been covered on here before, but will start again. This will be long, I'm afraid - will do each cat on a separate post to make it easier. If anyone has any tips on any of their issues, I would appreciate it.
My eldest, Zia is around 19 - she could be closer to 20 than I think though, being a rescue. She has always been well until the back end of last year, I Took her in November to get her arthritis checked and I Thought she had lost a bit of weight, and got a shock when the vet announced she also had a heart murmur - apparently it is an unusual one as it is quite far forward. She had lost some weight, but the locum vet said it might be cos her heart was progressing. She also discovered she had an old hip injury and her hips aren't actually alligned, so she walks funny on her back end as well as arthritis in her front leg, and gingivitis. She is now on daily Metacam for her arthritis. I took her to a different vet a month later, as I didn't like the way the locum told me things. Although she had gained weight, the new vet wanted full bloods done, which showed what the vet described as renal insufficiency - her urea is 15.5 (was 12.6 in Apr), and her creatnine is 193 (that was fine in Apr) - top end of the scale is 177, so not overly high. She can't have Fortekor, as it is made worse by Metacam, we have tried a new tablet anti-inflammatory, which isn't supposed to be as harsh on the kidneys, but unfortunately she refused to take it after the third tablet, so back on MEtacam as she can't go longer than 24 hours without really struggling to walk - I can tell when I am late giving her the dose, as her limp is much more pronounced. She has also had a different ab for her gingivitis, but that doesn't seem to have done much good.
Took her back to the vets this week to be weighed, and she is back to what she was in December, she has lost what she had gained. She has been rather picky with her food, I thought she might just be fed up of renal food, so have given her normal adult food, and she has eaten a bit more than what she has been eating this week, but still not sure she is eating enough, although apart from the limp she does seem relatively happy. Will monitor her for a couple of weeks, but I can't help thinking a decision will have to be made sooner than I had hoped.
My eldest, Zia is around 19 - she could be closer to 20 than I think though, being a rescue. She has always been well until the back end of last year, I Took her in November to get her arthritis checked and I Thought she had lost a bit of weight, and got a shock when the vet announced she also had a heart murmur - apparently it is an unusual one as it is quite far forward. She had lost some weight, but the locum vet said it might be cos her heart was progressing. She also discovered she had an old hip injury and her hips aren't actually alligned, so she walks funny on her back end as well as arthritis in her front leg, and gingivitis. She is now on daily Metacam for her arthritis. I took her to a different vet a month later, as I didn't like the way the locum told me things. Although she had gained weight, the new vet wanted full bloods done, which showed what the vet described as renal insufficiency - her urea is 15.5 (was 12.6 in Apr), and her creatnine is 193 (that was fine in Apr) - top end of the scale is 177, so not overly high. She can't have Fortekor, as it is made worse by Metacam, we have tried a new tablet anti-inflammatory, which isn't supposed to be as harsh on the kidneys, but unfortunately she refused to take it after the third tablet, so back on MEtacam as she can't go longer than 24 hours without really struggling to walk - I can tell when I am late giving her the dose, as her limp is much more pronounced. She has also had a different ab for her gingivitis, but that doesn't seem to have done much good.
Took her back to the vets this week to be weighed, and she is back to what she was in December, she has lost what she had gained. She has been rather picky with her food, I thought she might just be fed up of renal food, so have given her normal adult food, and she has eaten a bit more than what she has been eating this week, but still not sure she is eating enough, although apart from the limp she does seem relatively happy. Will monitor her for a couple of weeks, but I can't help thinking a decision will have to be made sooner than I had hoped.