Cat with kidney disease has low potassium level under 3.0 mEq/L

Is there a certain pharmacy you guys can recommend for buying the Terumo 20g UTW syringes?

I'm nervous and excited at the same time about giving Sandra her fluids tomorrow.  It was such a wonderful feeling to see her perk up and feel better. 

Thriving Pets online: http://www.thrivingpets.com/index.php/terumo-needles-box-of-100.html

Glad she's doing better- good work!

I gave Sandra the sub-q fluids myself! The vet tech watched me to make sure I was doing everything correct. I was so happy. I ended up using the Monoject 22 needles. I was too scared to use the bigger size. Sandra didn't even flinch when I inserted the needle. It took longer though since the needle was smaller. I didn't time it, but I'm pretty sure a little over 5 min. But Sandra didn't mind. She was a good girl the whole time. She had a very good meal afterwards. I did order the Terumo 20 UTW needles, but until they arrive I will be using the Monoject.

Sandra seems to be doing ok. But she is still wobbly. She is still taking the Adequan for her arthritis. Before she went to the vet'a office last Saturday, her walking was slightly better. She was even using her pet stairs to go up and down the couch. Since the vet appointment it seems like her mobility has declined noticeably. Yesterday she used the litter box and stumbled and fell on her way out. I don't know if she is still sore from the vet visit and just needs rest for a couple of weeks. The vet had mentioned that if the Adequan doesn't improve her wobbliness, there is a possibility that she may have a slip disk. But I would have to take her to a specialist for an MRI.

I've been giving her her potassium supplement at 1/2 teaspoon a day. She really hates it and last night even spit it out. Right now to me what's really bothering her is the weakness in her back legs. I don't know if this is related to the higher phosphorus in the blood. I'm still giving her the phosphorus binder. I hope she gets better with time. She still is using her litter box and has not had accidents outside it.

I read about acupuncture and laser therapy can help. I'm going to call a few vet places near us to ask about it. I definitely don't want to take her back to her regular vet.

well done on doing the sub-q yourself! It's scary learning to do this stuff as you don't want to hurt your pet, but it will make things so much easier for you in the long run.

As for the laser and acupuncture, I think they're worth looking into. I haven't had personal experience of those but I do know people who had done that for their pets and they thought it made a difference.

Did you give the subqs at the vet's office or did the vet tech come to your home? I'm asking because sometimes cats act differently at the vet than at home. At home, they tend to get a bit more annoyed and aren't afraid to show it - so if she growls the whole time don't be too surprised :lol3: But hopefully she won't do that!

Donutte said:

Did you give the subqs at the vet's office or did the vet tech come to your home? I'm asking because sometimes cats act differently at the vet than at home. At home, they tend to get a bit more annoyed and aren't afraid to show it - so if she growls the whole time don't be too surprised

But hopefully she won't do that!

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I found a vet tech who came out to our home twice.  The first time she gave Sandra her fluids and explained everything to me.  Yesterday, I did Sandi's fluid therapy while the vet tech watched.  It went very good.  I'm actually looking forward to giving her her fluids tomorrow. 

pushylady said:

well done on doing the sub-q yourself! It's scary learning to do this stuff as you don't want to hurt your pet, but it will make things so much easier for you in the long run.

As for the laser and acupuncture, I think they're worth looking into. I haven't had personal experience of those but I do know people who had done that for their pets and they thought it made a difference.

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Thank you!  The sub-q therapy lifts her spirits. I am definitely going to look into acupuncture and laser therapy.

Job well done

Yay! Glad they did it at the house the whole time. So now she's better having them at home. Plus you know what to expect. Lucky had his at the vet office and did anyone tell me he was going to turn into Mr. Hyde on me? Oh no, figured that out on my own :lol3: But apparently that was normal with the two different locations.

that is wonderful news

I gave Sandra her fluids again Saturday night. This time I was all by myself with no vet tech or anyone. Again she was a good girl during the whole process and perked up right away.
The only bad thing was when I was preparing a new needle I ended up pricking myself pretty bad and having to throw it out.

I noticed the perkiness after the fluids lasts until the next day around mid afternoon. Maybe it would be better to have the fluids everyday? It seems like 100 ml every other day is not enough.

I would normally say "ask your Vet" what they think of doing it every day, but I don't think you've found a new Vet yet, have you?  Maybe see what the tech thinks?  Normally giving fluids everyday is not a problem, unless there is an underlying heart condition.  (at least not a problem that I am aware of).  Our Vet says the more often  the better, but we have not discussed EVERY day, since Callie doesn't take too kindly to getting fluids.  She takes them, but isn't fond of it. 

Perhaps you could try 75 mg every day and see how it goes?  See how she reacts to that...if she seems happy with it?  Do you know how to check for dehydration...checking for tenting and such?  Does she seem pretty dehydrated after 1 1/2 days?

mrsgreenjeens said:

 
I would normally say "ask your Vet" what they think of doing it every day, but I don't think you've found a new Vet yet, have you?  Maybe see what the tech thinks?  Normally giving fluids everyday is not a problem, unless there is an underlying heart condition.  (at least not a problem that I am aware of).  Our Vet says the more often  the better, but we have not discussed EVERY day, since Callie doesn't take too kindly to getting fluids.  She takes them, but isn't fond of it. 

Perhaps you could try 75 mg every day and see how it goes?  See how she reacts to that...if she seems happy with it?  Do you know how to check for dehydration...checking for tenting and such?  Does she seem pretty dehydrated after 1 1/2 days?

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I haven't found a new vet for Sandra.  I was going through reviews of other vets in the area.  And while they got all around good reviews, those few bad reviews were scary.  I'm afraid if I take her to one of these new vets, things will be worst.  So, I'm still looking.  There is one vet at the office we currently go to who has seen Sandra a couple of times when her regular vet was out.  He was very good to Sandi.  I don't know if I should just schedule her appointments with him from now on. 

Sandra does have a slight heart murmur, but it's never been a problem for her.  She is not at all bothered by the fluids.  She perks up right away and eats very good.  I just noticed the next day around late afternoon, she goes back to being more tired and eating less (but still good appetite).  While she is still wobbly, her mobility seems improved after starting on the sub-q fluids.  Tonight is her next sub-q session.  I actually look forward to it.  She is very calm when she gets the fluids. I check to see if she is dehydrated by gently pulling the skin on the back of her neck; I don't think she's dehydrated, but can use more water.  I've also been giving her water with ice.  She loves ice water.  I also add a bit of water to her canned food. 

I have not been able to give her her potassium supplement which is in gel form, but I did order it for her in powder form.  I figure I can just mix it with water and syringe it in her mouth like the phosphorus binder.  Her vet never even mentioned to us that the supplement is available in powder form.  I found that out on my own while researching online.  She has told me 3 times that she is going to see if it can be compounded in liquid form and has yet to get back on it.  It's very frustrating. 

I am reviving this topic with not so good news.

I took Sandra to the vet Saturday because her appetite has been off for a few days.  She has completely stopped eating her prescription food so I have been giving her anything she will eat of foods lower in phosphorus.  She also eats the Gerber meat baby foods.  I had noticed a decrease in appetite and she seemed more tired so I took her in for a checkup.  The vet did a kidney panel and found her creatinine has gone up to 7.8 and her BUN is at 80.  Her phosphorus is at 10 despite being on a phosphorus binder.  The vet also found she is anemic.  I don't have the results in front of me but will post them when I get home, but the vet said if her anemia goes down a couple of more percentage points she may need a transfusion.  We were given a Vitamin B supplement to start her on and also Vitamin B12 injections.  I gave her the first shot of B12 Saturday after we got home.  Her potassium is currently at 4.1.  The vet also did an x-ray and found her a bit impacted, but the stool was not hard so I was told to increase her Mirelax.  She had a couple of small bowel movements Sunday and Monday.  This morning she had a better one; I noticed that before she was sitting a lot in the litter box.  Hopefully she will get it all out in the next couple of days.  She is currently getting 100 ml of sub-1 fluids daily.

The vet also mentioned seeing a suspicious shadow in her x-ray.  She thinks this may be due to Sandi's higher calcium level.  Her calcium is at 11.1.  The normal range is 7.8-11.3 mg/dL.  The vet thinks it may just be a mineral deposit.  She doesn't believe this is causing problems for her.

Sandi is eating small spoons at a time of canned cat food.  I also sometimes mix baby food with the cat food.  Other times I have been putting the food in the blender to make it a smooth consistency.  She licks the plate clean, but will not eat bigger portions.  She is not eating enough.  it has been a struggle this last week and half to get her to finish a small can of cat food.  So far she hasn't had vomiting.

The vet is looking into getter her treatment for anemia and is to call me today.  She mentioned it is a hormone treatment that helps the bone marrow make red blood cells.  she said Sandi's anemia is considered non regenerative.  I have been reading a lot about treatments like Epogen and Aranesp.  The vet didn't give me a specific name yet, but I am assuming it's one of these two.

I just wanted to ask if anyone has experience with using Epogen aor Aranesp for their cats with non regenerative anemia?

Yesterday I put her a blanket over a heating pad and slept with her.  She was purring the whole time.   I know my time with her is limited, but I still have hope.  I will continue to do my best to help her until I know it's time.

I am so sorry about your kitty. I had one pass from anemia. We tried the transfusion but it wasn't meant to be. we got 3 weeks with her. one thing they told me is if a cat is anemic it will be cold so maybe your kitty is cold and that's why it only eats a tiny bit. I don't know anything about the hormones but yes the kidneys produce a hormone to make a red blood cell. The cat I had had bone cancer. It was producing blank proteins instead of red blood cells. We did all the stuff=steroids/doxycycline incase it was that bordalla or whatever that bacteria infection is that causes anemia so yes I know how sad you are and you are scared. Sending you hugs and I hope they can figure something out. Just try to remember they don't know they are sick=they live in the moment. Something I still struggle with to this day. Hang in there.

Gosh, I'm sorry Sandra has taken a turn for the worse. I remember so very well the cycles of not eating.  In the end, Callie was eating 7 - 9 small meals a day, two of them in the middle of the night.  I used to freeze 2 small bowls of food before bedtime and put them in small ziploc bags, then set one on  an icepack and leave one on a towel to start thawing.  She would wake me up for the first one a few hours after we went to bed and eat the thawed one, then I would take the one on the icepack off and put it on the towel to start thawing for later.  (all of this was on my nightstand so I never had to get out of bed to feed her)  Anyway, with those extra meals she was able to at least maintain her weight, but never gained any.

Callie was always a picky eater, but I found Iams Purrfect Delights Tunatopia, which she loved, and they are fairly low in phosphorus (below 1%).  And, oddly, she never liked the Fancy Feast fish flavors, so go figure  anyway, these are also pretty caloric.  Maybe you might want to try them. 

As far as the anemia, it's pretty common in kidney cats...so many things are .   Don't know that NON-Regenerative is, but anemia is.  Here's a link that discusses those meds which might help you:  http://www.felinecrf.org/esas.htm.  Luckily, none of my kidney cats ever had that issue, so I can't add my two cents about it. 

Hoping Sandra gets to feeling better

@Tamu708, I am so sorry Sandra isn't doing well.  Never give up on hope, I didn't, sometimes that's all we're given.  Be there for her and enjoy every minute.  I will be thinking about you and Sandra.  I hope she surprises us all.

I'm not experienced with kidney issues.  But I am curious and this question goes out to @foxxycat  @mrsgreenjeens  - I personally had kidney issues, mind you they weren't extreme, but I was told in no way should I use Miralax.  It says right on the bottle not for people to take who have kidney issues, wouldn't that apply to fragile kitties.

I don't want to change the topic, just curious. 

Two of my kidney cats were on Miralax, with our Vet's approval, so not to worry on that score @2Cats4everLoved

mrsgreenjeens said:

 
Two of my kidney cats were on Miralax, with our Vet's approval, so not to worry on that score @2Cats4everLoved

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I was just curious as to why its safe for cats and not recommended for humans with kidney issues.  Just trying to educate myself.  Not questioning the vets or members.  Please no one take offense. 

mrsgreenjeens said:

 
Gosh, I'm sorry Sandra has taken a turn for the worse. I remember so very well the cycles of not eating.  In the end, Callie was eating 7 - 9 small meals a day, two of them in the middle of the night.  I used to freeze 2 small bowls of food before bedtime and put them in small ziploc bags, then set one on  an icepack and leave one on a towel to start thawing.  She would wake me up for the first one a few hours after we went to bed and eat the thawed one, then I would take the one on the icepack off and put it on the towel to start thawing for later.  (all of this was on my nightstand so I never had to get out of bed to feed her)  Anyway, with those extra meals she was able to at least maintain her weight, but never gained any.

Callie was always a picky eater, but I found Iams Purrfect Delights Tunatopia, which she loved, and they are fairly low in phosphorus (below 1%).  And, oddly, she never liked the Fancy Feast fish flavors, so go figure  anyway, these are also pretty caloric.  Maybe you might want to try them. 

As far as the anemia, it's pretty common in kidney cats...so many things are

.   Don't know that NON-Regenerative is, but anemia is.  Here's a link that discusses those meds which might help you:  http://www.felinecrf.org/esas.htm.  Luckily, none of my kidney cats ever had that issue, so I can't add my two cents about it. 

Hoping Sandra gets to feeling better

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I will pick up some Iams Purrfect Delights Tunatopia on my way home from work and give it a try.  I was giving her the Iams Purrfect Delights Turkey-lation which she liked at first then got bored with it.  I've been sleeping at around 11 pm and waking up at 3:30 am so I can try to give her extra meals.  I'll also try your method of freezing and thawing the food.  Thanks so much for the advice.