- Joined
- May 11, 2013
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I am new to this site and I would like to say as I read responses from members, I am impressed with how knowledgeable and insightful many of your members are.
I have a Main Coon-ish rescue who has recently gone into kidney failure and while I understand what this means I guess I am hoping that there is something that my vet has not suggested or tried that might help give us some time. Has anyone had luck pulling their cat through a major kidney crisis for another year (or more) of life?
Some background on this cat. He was a street cat who started to show up in our yard. Our yard was walled off and protected with a lot of vegetation. It had good hiding spots for strays plus was good for bird hunting and we kept water out. He was extremely fearful so we could only get glimpses of him through the window. Over a period of weeks he started to show up in worse and worse shape. When we saw him hobbling around on three paws we decided to intervene. We had to trap him because he was aggressive. We took him into the vets, had him neutered, vaccinated and checked and found he was FIV positive. We brought him home, gave him his own room and did what we could for him. It took me three years but I finally was able to get him to start to interact with us. A friend of mine had a theory that he had a head injury and it took him time to recover. I think it took so long because I didn't know what I was doing. I sure someone with more experience would have made more progress is a fraction of time. Since then he has turned into my teddy bear, so to speak. Obviously, he doesn't tolerate strangers and loud noises or sudden movements. I always had to watch my body language when I walked up to him in the middle of the house. But he has a wonderful big purr and has became a great sofa and sleeping cat.
However, he also developed allergic stomatitis (sp?). So we had a FIV positive cat we had to put on predisolone and periodically antibiotics. I had managed to get his stomatitis into remission and his mouth is doing quite well. But now he is in kidney failure. This came on suddenly. My vet says he may have had this for a long time and was able to compensate until he reached an age where he couldn't. I always worry about street cats and kidneys because of contaminates in water and food. But, I now realize this could have just as easily been caused by the predisolone.
He is at the vets now on IV fluids with antibiotics and B-12. The vet is hydrating him slowly because of potential heart damage from pushing too much fluid too fast. Once he is hydrated she wants to keep him on the IV longer to help flush his kidneys. She has given him medication to help with nausea and another to stimulate his appetite, which has worked. She has added Tums to his food to help bind up his potassium (?). She says once we get other things stabilized we will need discuss his blood pressure.
My thought is that we will be able to bring him home for a short period (like maybe a week), make life super special for him, say our good byes and then let him go. Am I being overly pessimistic? I understand to a certain extent it is all up to him. But has anyone had success pulling their cat through a crisis like this?
I have a Main Coon-ish rescue who has recently gone into kidney failure and while I understand what this means I guess I am hoping that there is something that my vet has not suggested or tried that might help give us some time. Has anyone had luck pulling their cat through a major kidney crisis for another year (or more) of life?
Some background on this cat. He was a street cat who started to show up in our yard. Our yard was walled off and protected with a lot of vegetation. It had good hiding spots for strays plus was good for bird hunting and we kept water out. He was extremely fearful so we could only get glimpses of him through the window. Over a period of weeks he started to show up in worse and worse shape. When we saw him hobbling around on three paws we decided to intervene. We had to trap him because he was aggressive. We took him into the vets, had him neutered, vaccinated and checked and found he was FIV positive. We brought him home, gave him his own room and did what we could for him. It took me three years but I finally was able to get him to start to interact with us. A friend of mine had a theory that he had a head injury and it took him time to recover. I think it took so long because I didn't know what I was doing. I sure someone with more experience would have made more progress is a fraction of time. Since then he has turned into my teddy bear, so to speak. Obviously, he doesn't tolerate strangers and loud noises or sudden movements. I always had to watch my body language when I walked up to him in the middle of the house. But he has a wonderful big purr and has became a great sofa and sleeping cat.
However, he also developed allergic stomatitis (sp?). So we had a FIV positive cat we had to put on predisolone and periodically antibiotics. I had managed to get his stomatitis into remission and his mouth is doing quite well. But now he is in kidney failure. This came on suddenly. My vet says he may have had this for a long time and was able to compensate until he reached an age where he couldn't. I always worry about street cats and kidneys because of contaminates in water and food. But, I now realize this could have just as easily been caused by the predisolone.
He is at the vets now on IV fluids with antibiotics and B-12. The vet is hydrating him slowly because of potential heart damage from pushing too much fluid too fast. Once he is hydrated she wants to keep him on the IV longer to help flush his kidneys. She has given him medication to help with nausea and another to stimulate his appetite, which has worked. She has added Tums to his food to help bind up his potassium (?). She says once we get other things stabilized we will need discuss his blood pressure.
My thought is that we will be able to bring him home for a short period (like maybe a week), make life super special for him, say our good byes and then let him go. Am I being overly pessimistic? I understand to a certain extent it is all up to him. But has anyone had success pulling their cat through a crisis like this?