Crf

abbycats

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My 17 year old cat Mort is getting ready to pass on to the bridge. She has lost so much weight and has CRF. I have been thru this many times before and it never gets any easier. We have been giving her home sub-q's directed by the vet. She is so thin right now we are having a time of it getting lose skin to put the needle in her. Bless her heart she has been a real trooper. I wish I could find something to make her gain weight. She doesn't like kidney diet food and I am to the stage that I want to make her feel spoiled in her last days....Does anyone have any suggestions on something that may help her to put on weight... I know I have to let her go one day, and it's probably going to be sooner than I would like. But then again no time is a good time when you love them so much.
 

sharky

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first my coldolences ...

second if I may what are you feeding...??
 
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abbycats

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This is probably going to sound bad but she is eating science diet dry and wet. She is getting very finicky, and if she refuses any food for one day it could be very bad.. any suggestions on good food that is palatable for her in her condition would be a great help!!! Here is my dillema I live in rural Nebraska so the more natural way would be the best...
 

sharky

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well I am not a vet and run this across your vets attention... I will put up some sites for homeade and raw foods...

a combo of very premuium wet and homemade has kept my 17 yr olds crf stable, but she doesnt need sub q s yet///

what part of nebraska I lived in Omaha and Millard for five yrs,,,
 

nebula11

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You should definitly ask your vet before doing this...However a friends cat was recently diagnosed w/ cancer....she lost a bunch of weight...and thier vet suggested feeding her Gerber baby food...the meat ones...I guess she has a gained a lot of weight back.........And I guess she loves it....

I am so sorry about all of this.......
 

dawnofsierra

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I'm so sorry you and your precious baby are going through this.


I, too, would strongly advise seeking the advice of your Vet prior to beginning any raw diet, even more so with a baby experiencing this situation with her kidneys who is already fragile.
 

dawnofsierra

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Again, I'm so sorry you're having to face this with your baby. I know it can feel so overwhelming. You may want to visit this site. It is a wealth of information that has helped me so much. This site also contains a great deal of very helpful information. This site lists the % of protein, phosphorus, sodium and fat in a variety of canned foods, and this site lists dry foods. Sierra eats Innova Lite Canned , and since changing her diet to this, her numbers have improved greatly!

This is a support group you may want to consider joining. It really helps to know you and your baby are not alone in this situation. Another group that may be helpful to you is this Feline Assisted Feeding group.

Please feel free to pm any time at all.
 

sharky

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Like Stephanie said do talk to a vet ... but I highly recommend it whether it is raw homemade(cooked) or just to a different brand with these crf "kids"
 

kwonghow

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Hmmm... Well i agree that you might wanna ask your vet to recommend some good homemade cooking food for you cat... it will be mix the the diet vet recommended dry food... together...
 
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abbycats

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Thank you so much for all your replies. I did sign up for the crf support group, and I have been looking at all your links. This disease is such a heartbreaker.
 

kiaira

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Dear Abbycats,

I'm so sorry to hear that you and your little baby are going through the emotional roller coaster of CRF. I just recently lost my 19 year old girl to it in September of this year. You are definitely not alone, and I would be more than happy to share some of the ideas that worked for Kiaira throughout her last few months.
First, I just want to mention that you can try different brands of kidney disease diets (Hills, Eukanuba, Medical etc.). It's ideal for a crf kitty be on a renal specific diet; however, I know that many don't like it...especially when their disease progresses.
Anyway, if different varieties aren't available where you are or your kitty still refuses it, it's more important (obviously) for him to eat than to worry about getting him to eat that specific food.

Once Kiaira's appetite started to decrease on a kidney specific diet, I heated her food up in the microwave every day in order to increase the smell and make it more appetizing. I also mixed that food with fancy feast (getting her to eat was more important) and she did quite well for a while.

We also tried a/d which can be purchased through your vet depending on where you live. I find that most animals really like a/d; however, depending on how icky your kitty feels due to having CRF, he still may not eat a substantial amount. You can also try heating that food too...I was heating everything I tired with Kiaira as I found it helped to some degree.
I also used Kitten food (development) from our clinic which was used to keep her weight from falling further. But before you start introducing different foods, speak to your vet as some foods and quick changes in an animal's diet can cause extreme GI upset.
Eventually, we got to a point when she had to be put on a fancy feast (and foods of that sort) diet as she refused to eat anything from our clinic. We also fed her cooked chicken, beef, fish, etc. along with her cat food everyday.
We also tried baby food which she liked; however, please speak to your vet before using it and make absolutely sure it doesn't contain onions (onion powder and/or salt) as it can cause anemia which is very serious.
Tuna juice, warm water, or a tiny amount of catnip sprinkled on her wet food were also things we tried with Kiaira, which seemed to help.
I don't know if this is something you would be interested in trying, but we also used Periactin which is an appetite stimulant. I know that it doesn't work for all cats; however, it seemed to work with Kiaira for a while. However, like with any medication, you should NEVER give it to your kitty without speaking to your vet first. A specific dose will be needed and there are side effects which will need to be explained and weighed. Furthermore, he/she may not think it's appropriate in you kitty's case.
Finally, we also raised her dishes in order to make eating more comfortable. We also talked to her and stroked her fur which will coax some kitty's to eat.

I'm sorry this post is so long, but I wanted to include everything I tried in hopes that you may find something here that works for you. There are also other great ideas (on kidney disease websites etc.) that didn't apply in Kiaira's case but may work for your kitty.
Dealing with renal disease/failure is emotionally difficult as will be the final decision to let your little loved one go. I had to make that decision before Kiaira got to a point where she couldn't do the things she loved. Please know that there is support out there during these difficult times. Take care and good luck with trying different things.
 
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abbycats

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Hi All,

Thank you so much for your advise. My husband has to pick up some more sub-q tomorrow from the doctor, I will have him speak to the vet and he can pick up some kidney diet food. I like the idea of the fancy feast mixed in with it. Mort loves fancy feasy and I was buying her that to make sure she ate.
My job has me so jammed up at this time of year that it's making this very difficult for me to deal with these matters. I have been feeding her chicken, and at thanksgiving she loved her turkey. This is a rollercoaster ride and it's so heartbreaking. I know Mort is getting tired of being poked with a needle for her sub-q, and she needs more and more fluid. It's getting harder to administer her fluids because she has lost so much weight.

Poor little girl won't use the litter box anymore. She makes it to the box, but chooses to go on the newspaper I laid down for her. She is peeing more fluid than I can keep up with by sub-q's.

She still has life in her eyes and hasn't given me signs yet of giving up. I know she has had a full life and I have to let go when she is ready, but it doesn't make it any easier. This is the part of the story that tears me up.

I just lost her kitty who I had for 14 1/2 years last christmas to cancer. He was also a very special soul cat.
He was my baby....

I am sorry if I am rambling on....

I thank all of you for your advice and support,

Kim
 

catnapt

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IMHO (having been where you are twice already and facing it again soon) i would, at this point, give her whatever she wants to eat, whether it is renal freindly or not

once they are at the point where you cant give them enough subQs to make up for the urine output, there is really no turning back, it is, as you suspect, very close to the end.
baby food meats are great, cooked chicken or turkey or whatever she really likes is fine. at this point it is not going to make any difference as far as survival time, but will make her last days more pleasant for her, and for you, knowing that you are treating her this way. with specail treats i mean.

i am so so sorry!! enjoy the time you have and try not to worry so much about the right thing to do. your loving her is what she needs the most.

hugs
althea
 

pat

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I am so sorry I didn't see this until today. The website I would recommend highly has already been listed (www.felinecrf.org).

You've had excellent tips - the raising of the food dishes (I would just ask are you treating her with pepcid? Many crf kitties need this or a similar med for the nausea and stomach acid issues they have - which can depress appetite) is a great one, as is the idea of simply finding something she will eat. If you check http://webpages.charter.net/katkarma/dryfood.htm and http://webpages.charter.net/katkarma/canfood.htm use both the older and updated versions, you can find comparable foods to choose between (comparable re phosphorous content and protein content).

I have a crf kitty, we've been dealing with it for almost 4 years now, so I know some of what you are feeling.
My choice, since my kitty would not eat his prescription food, has been to feed him lower phosphorous content foods and to use a medication called calcitriol. The approach that is best for each cat truly does vary...I am so glad you have joined the support group (I'm there as well, but don't post publicly often, prefering private replies) the moderators and long time members are invaluable with their knowledge and advice.

Please know that there is lots of support for you here.
 
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abbycats

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May I ask what calcitriol is? Is it something the vet precribes? I am having an awful time getting things I need for her thru the vets here because I live in rural nebraska and the vets are not geared for alot of these issues. I think it's because most cats in farmland are "farm cats" to these people. Plus the vets are more geared for cows and horses. It looks like I am going to be taking a road trip... What ever it takes to keep her as long as she lets me. The vet did tell me not to give her any baby food it has to much protein in it and sodium. May I ask what low phosphorous content foods you are feeding your cat? I have heard of the pepsid ad for the crf cats. When she gets tummy upset I have been getting this thick yellow goo from the vet that seems to clear her up. I am not sure what it's called. Mort hasn't had alot of vomiting. She is getting diaherra, and not wanting to use her litter box. She has been peeing and pooping outside the box on newspapers. Poor little girl.

I need to get a good list together on what I need for her before I take my road trip.....

Thanks for all your help!
 

pat

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Go herehttp://www.felinecrf.org/treatments.htm#calcitriol to read about calcitriol. It can be a bit controversial, not all vets are familiar with it, or if they are, agree in its use for crf kitties. Not all crf kitties are candiates for its use, their calcium levels and one other test result must be a certain range. You'll notice they list a couple of studies - the first, by a Dr. Nagode, is of note because there is also a calcitriol support list, with many of the same folks from the crf support list. Dr. Nagode is very generous with his time in responding to this list, and I believe may still be willing to confer with a list members vet.

Honestly, recently Patrick is not eating well, we are on hills a/d at the moment to put weight back on, and I've been giving him anything he wanted, not paying attention to phos content. Using the katkarma lists is my best suggestion - I always looked for a canned cat food where the phos content is under 1 %.

The various antacids are also listed on the website I listed, as well as some alternative/holistic items...slippery elm bark powder does work well for many both for stomach acid, constipation OR diarhea.

Another issue crf kitties can have is constipation, which wacks out their appetite as well, and many eventually develop anemia, so use various vitamin b supplements (under vets approval first) such as Pet-Tinic and i.e. Twinlabs Vitamin B supplement. Part of the website for the crf support group you joined is where to find various supplies such as needles/fluids, vitamin b supplements, phos binders and more. The list files are worthy of your time to check them out.

hope some of this helps
 
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