My kitties kidney disease journey

I haven’t been on here in quite some time, but DeeJay is 16y 9m old and has had Kidney Disease since Nov 2013, she is in stage 3 now. Over last weekend she started walking like she was drunk and had decreased eating despite being given Cyproheptadine (appetite stimulant), so I took her to work with me (I work for a vet), we ran bloodwork, her BUN levels decreased from 56 to 38 but her CREA increased to 3.6 since January when it was 2.8. Her phosphorus levels are 3.8 at the moment.  Her white count was BARELY above normal it was lower end normal at 3.79 normal is 2.87.  She was 10% dehydrated so she was placed on. Monday afternoon my Dr came and got me and told me that DeeJay was doing something neurological, it didn’t appear to be a seizure (she’s had grand mal seizures recently), and she was really out of it, so I called my hubby to come up so we could say our goodbyes. I took her into the break room and held her for about an hour, she slowly started to respond. When my hubby got there, he immediately got her purring/paddling etc, so we decided to give her a little longer. We think she just had one of the worst seizures she has had that day due to stress of being at the vet/blood draw etc. We left her at the vet to get rehydrated with fluids.  She started eating a little bit better. It took her until Friday to get fully hydrated as she was a stubborn stink about keeping her leg pulled out so the fluids ran and blew a catheter and she wasn’t drinking anything on her own. She is on an all canned food diet. So I did some research and in talking to my dad (semi retired vet), we added some things to her protocol. 

She was already on: Tramadol 50mg ½ tablet twice daily for arthritis

Phenobarbital ¼ grain ½ tablet twice daily for seizures

Cyproheptadine ¼ tablet as needed for appetite

Adequan injections twice weekly (she has severe arthritis)

So we have added the following: 

Subcutaneous fluids 100ml 2-3x a week

Gabapentin (seizures and arthritis) about 15mg twice daily 

Krill Oil 1 capsule once daily

Famotidine ¼ tablet once daily

Mirtazapine 15mg 1/8 tablet every 3 days as needed for appetite stimulant

Vit B Combo injections once a week

We are cutting back her Phenobarbital to ¼ tablet twice daily since the Gabapentin will help with seizures as well.

Also switching her diet to lower phosphorus canned foods (whatever I can get her to eat), I have to rotate brands/flavors a lot for her and sometimes I am able to sneak raw in…..she was on raw when first diagnosed but as per her normal self she quit eating it after a few months…..she is VERY picky. She has a lot of muscle wasting so increasing protein as much as possible to hopefully help stop that. As far as how she is doing now, she just wants to hide, she is still a bit unsteady on her feet. My dad thinks it’s possible she had a stroke or some other vestibular event  as well as every seizure they have can cause permanent damage. This was so stressful, I am 6 months pregnant with our first child and DeeJay has been my baby since she was 6 weeks old. I am not ready to lose her yet. Monday my dog also was sick and we thought she had an intestinal blockage…..hers turned out just to be a tummy bug but omg this week has been very difficult on us.  We do think it's possible she has a brain tumor as she has been having focal seizures now just in her face for about 2 years but in the past 3 months she has started having grand mal seizures.  So we are living on borrowed time with her.   My dad thinks she has something that is 'eating' her White Blood Cells as that is not a normal level for her, hers is a lot higher usually.  He thinks it's possible that she could have an abscess somewhere (no fever or anything) and/or cancer.  We do know she has nodules on her spleen due to a previous ultrasound but not sure what they were as due to her age/health we didn't want to put her through a biopsy.

My Sara was diagnosed with early (stage 1) CKD back in December. Then last Friday (3/18) took her to the vet for not eating as much as well as throwing up on Thursday. Then Saturday morning, he called to tell me she was in Stage 4 acute on chronic renal failure. Needless to say, it's been a trip and a half this past week. Last Saturday, I was so sure she wouldn't even make it through the night. But then Sunday, she seemed a little better. So I can relate to what you went through a bit.

So are you giving mirt as well as cyproheptadine, or in its place?

How were her Potassium levels?  Those can easily get out of whack on kidney cats, and I didn't see you mention them.  Anytime someone mentioned their kitty walks like they are drunk, I immediately think "low Potassium?"

I can see why she hides from you, considering all those meds you have to give her .   Of course she doesn't understand that they're for her own good, especially the painkillers.  BUT, can't that Tramodol make her seem "out of it",  And the Gabapentin too?  Gosh, when I took Gabapentin, it made me a complete idiot (more than I am normally )

We just lost our Callie (16 years old too) lat month after battling kidney disease for four years, so, like Donutte, I know what you're going thru .  

Here's hoping the change/addition of meds works.

Hey, congrats on your upcoming new baby

Donutte said:

My Sara was diagnosed with early (stage 1) CKD back in December. Then last Friday (3/18) took her to the vet for not eating as much as well as throwing up on Thursday. Then Saturday morning, he called to tell me she was in Stage 4 acute on chronic renal failure. Needless to say, it's been a trip and a half this past week. Last Saturday, I was so sure she wouldn't even make it through the night. But then Sunday, she seemed a little better. So I can relate to what you went through a bit.

So are you giving mirt as well as cyproheptadine, or in its place?

Click to expand...

No we switched to mirt as the cypro quit working on her.  

mrsgreenjeens said:

 
How were her Potassium levels?  Those can easily get out of whack on kidney cats, and I didn't see you mention them.  Anytime someone mentioned their kitty walks like they are drunk, I immediately think "low Potassium?"

I can see why she hides from you, considering all those meds you have to give her

.   Of course she doesn't understand that they're for her own good, especially the painkillers.  BUT, can't that Tramodol make her seem "out of it",  And the Gabapentin too?  Gosh, when I took Gabapentin, it made me a complete idiot (more than I am normally

)

We just lost our Callie (16 years old too) lat month after battling kidney disease for four years, so, like Donutte, I know what you're going thru

.  

Here's hoping the change/addition of meds works.

Hey, congrats on your upcoming new baby

Click to expand...

I know I have been on neurontin and it literally made me 'druggie' high, I had to quit taking it, it is NOT Something I wanted to do for her, but we don't want her in so much pain.  She seems to be doing better, in better spirits, is drinking up a storm and peeing more regularly now as well.  She is also eating pretty good at the moment as long as she doesn't get the same type/brand more than 2 meals in a row    She has been on the tramadol for several years now so she is pretty much 'immune' to the effects of it, every once in a while she has a day where she seems like she is 'high' but she does good otherwise.  Her potassium levels were fine.  

I am glad to hear she is eating well with the mirt! I think sometimes you just need to switch it up with them. Ironically, mirt worked great with Sara about a year ago, but cypro helped more this time around. And I totally hear you about not giving her the same thing two days in a row. I have a full-on smorgasbord of cat food in my kitchen. Oh, and a variety of pill pockets, pastes, wraps, etc.

I'm starting to see why mom says our house is looking more and more like it's owned by cats :lol3:

Update:  DeeJay is doing wonderfully (knocking on wood), so good that miss grumpy pants herself literally purred during subq fluids last night.....she HATES being treated/medicated etc and usually protests VERY loudly.  She has been extremely pestersome and was literally bugging the heck out of my hubby for loves the other day.  She was sitting on a TV tray next to his office chair and kept pawing at his arm while he was working to get loves.  I am so glad she is feeling better.   She only needed the mirt the one time and has been eating very well.  She saw my dad/vet yesterday for her B combo injection and he says she is doing very well.

Good news!