Malfunctioning kidney

Hi, You were all so helpful and supportive to me back in june when my cat birthed 8 kittens. I duly fed them every 2 hours with RC milk and mum managed the rest. They all survived, gaining weight rapidly, and my vet was amazed at how beautiful and healthy they all were when it came to vaccine time.

2 weeks ago I sold the last kitten (pedigree ragdolls), my favourite of the boys, to a lovely couple who clearly fell in love at first sight.

A week ago he fell ill, slept a lot and neither eating n or playing with their other kitten.

3 daily vet trips later, their vet decided to keep him in for observation as he was clearly declining rapidly. It seems that he has one deformed kidney which has stopped functioning altogether and apparently, unlike humans, cats can't manage on only one. ???

He was going to euthanise him on Friday to prevent any further suffering as he was dying anyway, but instead he took him home for the weekend and Jazzy perked up. He'd been on a "perfusion" (French – infusion perhaps? I don't know) and it had allowed his remaining kidney to process the toxins and begin to eliminate them.

He was then going to remove the "perfusion" to see if the single kidney could cope on its own.

I've heard nothing back today, can anyone throw any light on it?

I shall obviously have to reimburse the family as it's not of their doing, or exchange Jazz for the little joy we'd decided to keep.

Sadly we can ill afford stiff vet's bills to keep him alive but I don't see any other choice. But if he has to spend his life with a bag attached to his arm, what quality of life is that for a cat?

It goes without saying that this has been stressful in the extreme, I've not cried so much in a long, long time, both for him and for them.

Cats can live with only one kidney. My May all but lived at the veterinarian's office until she was two and a half, though not for kidney issues, mainly digestive issues. At one point, we had her X-rayed and the veterinarian discovered that one of her kidneys is quite shrunken and misshapen. If she has any use of it at all, it is minimal. She's twelve and a half now, tough as nails and healthy as a horse (knock on wood). A lot depends on how well the other kidney is working.

Thank you! I'll be sure to tell them that and hope my French is up to it!

Hope is good...

Chromium Blues, may I ask if you fed May a special diet to help her kidney?

No, May's not on anything special. The veterinarian said that because of her digestion and because of her kidney, the more canned food she eats the better, but unfortunately she's one of those who is very picky about canned and would rather eat dry, so she doesn't get as much canned as we would like. She does, however, enjoy her water, thank goodness!

Jazz showed no interest in cat food despite all the others chomping away, but he'd manage some fresh turkey or fish. The poor family who took him on only 2 + weeks ago have decided that they can't bear to watch him die, if he can't function without help, so we're to take him back (okay by us) and give them our last remaining kitten who we were keeping to become the next mother cat in a year or two.

She'll have a lovely home with these kind people plus another kitten and a sweet girl to play with but we'll miss her...

We both work from home so we can watch our poor little lad for any signs of deterioration. Maybe I'll soak the biscuits to ensure he has plenty of water.

Thanks for your input!