Living with CRF

I am new to this site.  My 13  yr old kitty  was diaganosed with CRF 8-15-11.  Current BUN is 49 & CREA is 4.1.  Have been giving sub q's 2 x week, and now increasing to 3 x week.  My heart goes out to all of you who are also dealing with this terrible disease.

I'm so sorry that your furkid has CRF.  My Sven had it for 3 years before he passed away this March at the ripe old age of 16 .

Other than increasing his sub-q''s, are you doing anything else?  Does he eat well?  Do you have to give him Pepcid AC or anything like that? 

There are many, many folks here on TCS who have cats with CRF, sad to say.  Have you checked out this website.  It has SO MUCH useful information.  http://www.felinecrf.org/index.htm

Awwww, my Candy was diagnosed with renal lymphoma and chronic renal failure when she was thirteen. My heart goes out to you hon. Lots of coming your way!

So sorry for all you and your furball are enduring...I lost my Taco 2 weeks ago to CRF...his BUN was 110 the day he died...yes, 110...his creatinine was 5.8....and ultimately what caused the cardiac arrest as they were attempting a chest tap...his potassium was 6.4....the vet who has cared for our 2 cats since adoption 8+ yrs ago, said to try and find things low in potassium as the kidneys have the hardest time filtering this out so to speak and the K+ build up is dangerous....also try and avoid dry foods if you can, switch to wet/canned....anything to further increase their liquid intake....someone mentioned a page with great info, tanyas page...the best...i learned SO much in the past 2 weeks since my furballs passing, I refuse to be so blind with our other cat...my heartfelt wishes and prayers are extended to you and your baby!!!

Hello Sally, nice to meet you. First a big hug to you. Sorry to hear about Sven. Only because of the care you gave him did he live to the ripe old age of 112 (in human years).  Currently the only treatment I am giving flossy is the NF dry food and the Sub Q's.  She will not eat the kidney wet food. And at the end of the day I was afraid she would starve to death, so the vet said so be it. The only west food she will eat is the Wiskas in sauce. Period!    Last year I did try and give her a little pepcid, but it just became another torture for her.  Thankfully she doe not vomit too often. She spends most of the day under my bed.  And some days I want to join her : )  Thank you for you kind thoughts.  Glad I found this site.

So sorry about Taco.  I know too, what a cruel outcome awaits. Until that day, my flossy will be extra spoiled rotten.  I must have spent over $200 dollars on every wet food imaginable at Pet-smart. Early on, I wanted to try anything. You know how it is.  But, she likes Wiskas in sauce, so thats what she eats.  Last week I put her on the NF Kidney dry food. Last year she would not touch the stuff, but to my surprise, she is eating it now.  Starting this week I have to give 3x week sub q's instead of 2x week.  Oh how I dread the Sub Q Days, but I'm pretty much and expert at it now. And Flossy and I have our little system down.  I did ask my vet about all that fancy Grain Free wet food. In my case she said no good because not enough calories or fiber that that type of food and it is even higher in Protein.  Brother, whats next the South Beach Diet!  Anyway, thank you for responding and you hang in there. Love Mary

Our Vet said anything they will eat, let them, since the  most critical thing is for them to eat, period.  So my Sven ate Meow Mix in sauce sometimes too. And Fancy Feast in gravy, and Friskies.  And towards the end he was even eating raw, with our Vet's blessing.  As for the Pepcid, I learned how to hide it inside a soft treat, so for the most part, I could get it in him without a fuss, and for those days when he just didn't want to take his soft treats, I actually had the Pepcid compounded into a liquid that tasted like tuna, that I could mix into the gravy of his wet food.  So even if he just lapped up a little bit of the gravy, he got his antacid. 

Plus we used Terumo needles for his sub-qs, which made it a breeze.  And found out that the higher the bag, the quicker the fluid flowed.  Seriously, it was amazing high much difference even 6 inches higher was!  We always hung the bag from our dining room light fixture, then had a Vet Tech over one day because we were going on vacation, and she hung it a little higher on the light, and the difference was astounding!  From then on it was so much quicker..I think it only took literally 2 minutes per treatment.

Hope your girl continues to like her new kidney diet. 

Hi Sally.  I too use the Tumero needles ordered from Thriving Pets and also have the bag hanging high from the kitchen window valance.  The drip goes well, unless I get a bad stick. I am going to give it shot with the pepcid mixed in with the gravy. Thank you for responding Sally.  I love the name Stinkpot. Hugs to you and the rest of your furry gang!  Love Mary

I didn't usually mix the Pepcid with the gravy, because Pepcid (unless compounded) is pretty bitter, I think.  But you can sure give it a try.  What I did, and I learned this from Carolina, was to take the soft Whiska Lickins treats, (NOT the cheese flavor...for some reason they don't "smoosh" well) and smoosh one or 1 1/2 up, then hide the 1/2 Pepcid A/C inside it, kind of like a Pill Pocket.  Than really smoosh the whole thing back together so none of the pill was exposed.  Then I would hide that Whiska Lickin among a few others and feed them to Sven.  Worked like a charm when nothing else would.

Sven needed his Pepcid twice a day, every day, because he would throw up froth without it.  If your girl isn't having tummy issues, then no need to do it.  Towards the end, we were also giving Sven Ranitudine 3 times a day (also for nausea), but that we were able to just crush with the back of a spoon and mix into the gravy.  How's your girl in the pooping dept?  Sven was constantly constipated (which I think is another side effect of CRF), so we also gave him Miralax twice a day, which was a miracle worker.  That also got mixed into the gravy.   
 

Good Tip.  Pretty sure eventually I will need to give her pepcid.  As far as poo dept, yes I have noticed that there is very little in the box so she probably is constipated. Ugggggg