fragile kitty

My cat goes to the vet once a month for the same problems:  vomiting and stomach pains.

She has been diagnosed and given medications (which she always fights).  She's been diagnosed with inflammatory nephritis and, lately, gastritis.

This is killing me because of my tight, tight budget and my care for her health.

Does anyone have any advice for caring for a cat with nephritis and a seemingly sensitive digestive system?  I've tried cutting down her food consumption to two or three Fancy Feast sized half-cans of wet food a day (she won't eat more, and she always has a bowl of dry) and buying fresh cat grass from Meijer that lasts about once a month.  But if there's any advice to help cut down her vet bills and vet visits, I'll give it a try.

By inflammatory nephritis, do you mean kidney disease?  When I googled this, that's all that came up.  If it is, indeed, kidney disease, when you take her to the Vet, are they giving her fluids?  Have they ever talked to YOU about giving her fluids at home?  This can be done very inexpensively, as long as you don't buy your "equipment" thru your Vet.  (unless your Vet gives you a really good deal).  When our CRF cat used to vomit froth from an over acidic stomach, our Vet said to give him 1/4 OTC Pepcid A/C, which we would hide in a soft treat.  Very inexpensive and pretty unstressful for all of us once I learned which soft treats worked best for this purpose (Whiska Lickins Chicken or Salmon)

What medications does she get when she goes to the Vet?  As far as the stomach pains go, what do they give her for that...a pain pill, or something to actually "cure" whatever causes them?

First of all, I think you need to get her off kibble and just feed her canned food, and add water to the canned food to get more water in her.  Does she drink excessively?  Also, which form of Fancy Feast does she eat...in extra gravy, grilled, in sauce, etc?  Food is usually the cause of gastritis.  Is she on a probiotic?  If not, that might be helpful to her, as it is helpful to anyone with digestive issues, and gastritis certainly falls into that category.  I give all my cats a daily probiotic just on general principal, and I give them the same one I take.  They each get one capsule per day, just mixed into their food. 

OK, back to the kidney disease.  Here is a wonderful site that has everything you ever wanted to know about kidney disease, and more.  You can start reading up on this and this post questions as they come up:

http://www.felinecrf.org/index.htm

Have you looked into raw feeding? I'm not sure what nephritis is but raw feeding has been known to help cats with IBD/IBS. So many digestive woes seem to be caused by food, either allergies, sensitivities or just plain inappropriate ingredients.

When I brought my cat home from the shelter, she was having stomach problems for 6 weeks. Her diarrhea was really bad. After changes in diet and several trips to the vet, the vet seemed to thing she needed a higher fiber diet. She prescribed Royal Canin Satiety Support. It really worked. I also give her probiotics everyday. The Royal Canin is a bit expensive for cat food, but it works. There are also cheaper food that has high fiber content, but what I give My Effie works so I don't want to change. I also highly recommend giving your cat probiotics, especially if they have a history of gastrointestinal problems. The research I've done also suggests it helps to boost the immune system. 

She does not have kidney disease (thank god), just inflammation of the nephrons, which I guess means kidney inflammation.

The doctors assume the gastritis is a connection to the inflammatory nephritis, but I dunno.

My cat Joelene is on prednisone for her inflammatory nephritis, three half pills a week for life.  And she may be placed on a medication for her gastritis after her vet appointment this afternoon, I'll let you know.

We have bought a version of IAMS that has probiotic, but not only is it loaded with gravy, but sometimes my mom buys the cheaper, non-probiotic food for her instead.  (Right now she's halfway through a box of Aristocats).

She has been getting liquids, mostly water and gravy (she sometimes eats some of her food and licks up the gravy).

I think I answered all the questions, but if you have more ideas, let me know.  And thanks for the help!
 

I'm very curious about the inflammatory nephritis...how was she diagnosed? What are the signs/symptoms? What kind of diagnostics have been done? I'm curious in that I've had the unfortunate experience of being given incorrect diagnoses before.

Raw is an excellent option for IBS kitties, but without knowing more about what is going on with her kidneys I'm afraid to make that suggestions. The nephrons are the functioning units that filter our blood in the kidneys, and it takes quite a loss of these before CKD is diagnosed. I see that CKD has not been diagnosed, but I'm again curious about the diagnosis you have received.

peaches08 said:

I'm very curious about the inflammatory nephritis...how was she diagnosed? What are the signs/symptoms? What kind of diagnostics have been done? I'm curious in that I've had the unfortunate experience of being given incorrect diagnoses before.

Raw is an excellent option for IBS kitties, but without knowing more about what is going on with her kidneys I'm afraid to make that suggestions. The nephrons are the functioning units that filter our blood in the kidneys, and it takes quite a loss of these before CKD is diagnosed. I see that CKD has not been diagnosed, but I'm again curious about the diagnosis you have received.

Click to expand...

Peaches you're in nursing school, aren't you?  (I think I've got the right person )  Your question is excellent!  I'm curious too, now that you mention it, especially having had a kitty with CKD.  I'm also wondering how inflamed kidneys would lead to gastritis, but then again, I'm NOT a medical person.

Bluesy, even though sometimes you give her food with a "built-in" probiotic, that is no where NEAR the same as feeding her a human grade probiotic, something with 10 billion active cells in it.  This is what I take myself and give my furkids:  .  And, oh my gosh, you really need to ask your Mom NOT to feed her Aristocats if she has gastritis.  That could be part of  what is causing her problems!   She needs to be on low carb food, which, unfortunately is not what she is eating at the moment, sounds like  

Hopefully your Vet appt goes well.  I'll be anxious to hear the outcome

This is a curious diagnosis. Isn't gastritis the name for IBD in the lower intestinal tract? So the inflammatory nephritis is related how? These are the questions I would ask the vet.

I would agree with mrsgreenjeans that she could really benefit from a better diet and separate probiotics.

mrsgreenjeens said:

Peaches you're in nursing school, aren't you?  (I think I've got the right person )  Your question is excellent!  I'm curious too, now that you mention it, especially having had a kitty with CKD.  I'm also wondering how inflamed kidneys would lead to gastritis, but then again, I'm NOT a medical person.

Bluesy, even though sometimes you give her food with a "built-in" probiotic, that is no where NEAR the same as feeding her a human grade probiotic, something with 10 billion active cells in it.  This is what I take myself and give my furkids:  http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Factors-Acidophilus-Strength-180-Count/dp/B00028P5PU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1354292476&sr=8-2&keywords=natural+factors+probiotics. 

And, oh my gosh, you really need to ask your Mom NOT to feed her Aristocats if she has gastritis.  That could be part of  what is causing her problems!   She needs to be on low carb food, which, unfortunately is not what she is eating at the moment, sounds like  

Hopefully your Vet appt goes well.  I'll be anxious to hear the outcome

Click to expand...

Yes, I'm a nursing student.

As far as gastritis, that's more of an observation rather than a diagnosis. Gastritis simply refers to inflammation of the stomach. If we were talking about CKD, then we wouldn't be surprised (common symptom with humans and cats). Nephritis? I have no clue. I'm familiar with pyelonephritis which is an upper UTI. But nephritis without infection makes me think autoimmune or more diagnostics.

I have forgotten how Joelene was diagnosed with inflammatory nephritis, but I believed it involved a biopsy.

She got two shots at the vet for her gastritis, and she's now on 1cc per twelve hours of Metrocloprimide to treat gastritis as well.

The vet said it is possible for a cat who has inflammation in one part of the body can develop an inflammation in another part of the body.

I knew that Aristocats stuff wasn't good.  What stuff should I be feeding my cat?  She seems to like Fancy Feast, IAMS, and she REALLY likes Fancy Feast Appetizers.

I checked, the dry food we have her on is IAMS digestive health with probiotics.  (Don't tell her, but her treat bowl is filled with her dry food, she's getting dry food for treats, lol).

When she came back from the vet Joelene immediately began to act funny.  At first she was meowing loudly, so I thought the shots gave her an upset stomach.  But now, she's acting like a very sick cat does in the wild.  What's worse, my vet said if she doesn't take all her medication she won't get better and it could lead to kidney failure, which is causing my mom to guilt me big time.  Though I think she misheard her cause how does gastritis lead to kidney failure?  Though I do admit, something must be done to make her better.  Fast and moderately priced, because I'm worried for her health and I am on a tight, tight budget.
 

I double checked with my mom, she's better at remembering things than I am:  the vet did blood work and a biopsy to diagnose her with inflammatory nephritis.  The vet diagnosed her gastritis by her symptoms, such as throwing up after or during eating.
 

Not knowing the cause of either the gastritis or nephritis, any treatment is shooting in the dark. But sometimes, it's all we can do.

As far as food, she's got to eat and absorb it. Normally CKD cats aren't supposed to have raw, but we don't know the extent of damage the inflammation has caused or the why she has inflammation to begin with, so...frankly I'd feed her what she will eat and can keep down.

If you want to try to tackle lo carb and low phosphorus, maybe check out the felinecrf site mentioned for foods suitable for her?

I would try the Natural Factors probiotics recommended above. There's clearly something wrong with her GI, so probiotics can't hurt.

As to food, just be aware that the Fancy Feast Appetizers are not nutritionally complete, at least they weren't last time I checked, which was at least a year ago. (that's why they are called appetizers)

As far as the gastritis, the Reglan may help her feel better, but you still need to find the underlying cause of it.  Eo you think your Vet was saying that it may have been caused from the kidney issue?  If so, then what is being done to "fix" that issue.

As to her acting more sick now, that could be a side effect of the Reglan.  Some cats become disoriented, restless, anxious, and of course, just like with all drugs, common side effect are nausea and diarrhea .  You might call your Vet tomorrow if they are open and ask if these should subside after a day or two.  And while you're at it, ask the Vet what she should be eating.  Frankly, I'm at a loss because I still don't quite grasp this kidney issue OR the gastritis.  But from what I've researched on the subject, it appears she should not have access to free feeding, should be fed small meals throughout the day, one small meal just before bedtime, water throughout the day (but don't let her drink a lot all at once, at least in the beginning while her tummy is inflammed), and feed her a low fat, highly digestible diet.  I'm wondering of Hills A/D might be a good food to feed her.  It's prescription only, and I know it's highly digestible.  It's usually given to cats when they are recovering from a serious illness.  It's not for permanent feeding, just an interim food.  (canned)

Well, good news is Joelene is much better.  She's acting normally, and still fighting when I give her the medicine.  Good news is that's normal, bad news is that's annoying.  Still going to give her all the medicine though, she needs it.

Mom posted this on her facebook and told me to post it here

sweet Joelene was very sick again...doc gave us shot and medicine and I read up on her issues in Merck Veterinary Manual...it stated The prognosis for is good for adequate control but poor for cure. It has been reported that 79% of cats treated with a combination of diet and prednisone had a positive clinical response. So I am hoping our sweet baby is part of the 79%!

Click to expand...

So good news is we're on the right track for her prednisone treatment.  Bad news is there's no cure, just treatment, and gastritis is just an affect of the condition that we can luckily treat and hopefully it will go away.  Also, I need to look up a good diet for a cat suffering from inflammatory nephritis.  She has a 79% chance of having a normal life considering, that's good.
 

I am SO GLAD she seems to be doing better!  I'm going to pm you some info, as I FINALLY found something on the web regarding inflammatory nephritis, but in a nutshell, they recommend feeding Avoderm, Pinnacle, or Nature's Variety Homestyle. 

mrsgreenjeens said:

I am SO GLAD she seems to be doing better!  I'm going to pm you some info, as I FINALLY found something on the web regarding inflammatory nephritis, but in a nutshell, they recommend feeding Avoderm, Pinnacle, or Nature's Variety Homestyle. 

Click to expand...

I'd love to see the article!

And yay that she feels better!!!

'inflammatory nephritis' is a tautology - nephritis IS inflamantion of the nephrons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephritis