Ckd Cat

[Jem]

Hi everyone!
So, I'm hoping that anyone out there, can share their experience, more specifically the sequence of events/symptoms their CKD cat experienced near the end. I understand this a morbid request, and I hope I'm not asking for too much, but I'm going thru the biggest emotional roller coaster ride with my Toby.
He has stage 4 kidney disease, and yes he is being monitored by our vet.
It has been over a year of "I think he's dying"...."no he's not"....."I think it's time"....."no he rallied again"....
I have prepared and grieved for his death so many times, that I just can't anymore. Just when I've accepted the end is near, he pulls thru and does well...for a while. I've read and done research, talked to the vet (multiple times) on what symptoms I may see or to watch for, but because every cat and situation is different, it's difficult to understand what symptoms are passing symptoms and which signify the end is near. It might sound like I'm prolonging the inevitable and that he is suffering, but when he's good, he's really good, and I don't want to cut his life short. I will euthanize when the time calls for it, as I do not want him to suffer but because he seems to always rally again, I'm having a hard time knowing when that time should be.
Please help, I know you can't predict the end, but I feel if there is a common sequence of events not just "a list of possible symptoms", I might be able to keep my sanity, be confident in my decisions for his care, and not feel guilty for a)waiting to see if he pulls thru, just in case... or b)making the final decision.
Please understand, I'm not asking for opinions on what I should do, just how you knew, and what lead up to it.
Thank you to everyone who decides to share.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
Bless your heart for being there for your baby!
I have had to put a cat down but it wasn't CKD. I wondered if you've joined Facebook's support group for kidney cats, and also there is this; Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease - Saying Goodbye

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Well....I've had three kidney cat, and possible now have another (his SDMA test just came back slightly elevated ) So I do have some experience with this, sorry to say. I can really only talk about the last two, as the first one was so many years ago that I really don't remember too much, just that he was the sweetest little guy in the world.

OK, so with the 2nd guy, who was my soul cat, I promised him from day one that when he was ready to go, I would let him go. I would NOT keep him around for my sake. All he needed to do was let me know, and off to the Vet we would go. I honestly think he understood this, because when he had bad days (you know what those are because you mentioned how your little one will rally), like refusing to eat anything, I would look him in the eyes and ask if he was ready, and he would instantly get up and come over to his bowl and start eating, to let me know he was NOT ready . This went on for a long time, this little routine we had. The one night I asked that question, and guess what happened? I stared at me for quite some time, got up and turned his back on me. I told him I understood and that first thing in the morning I would set him free of his pain. He started purring the loudest purr I ever heard from him. It broke my heart, but the next morning I kept my promise. That was several years ago and now I'm crying again.

With my last kidney girl, she was like your guy, would have pretty bad days, sometimes lasting for several days, then she would rally, sometimes for several weeks at a time! And in the end, her appetite was super, for the last several months of her life. We just couldn't believe she wasn't gaining any weight back...that's how much she was eating again. We took her in for a blood test to see if maybe, just maybe, her numbers were improving, but they weren't. Even her Vet was shocked, because she seemed to be doing so well. Be we kept treating the cat, not the numbers, and gave her her antacids and her sub-q fluids and everything was going great, and then one morning we woke up and she was paralyzed . We immediately took her to the ER Vet (of course it was on a Sunday) and they examined her and said it was NOT a saddle thrombosis, which I was afraid of, but they did discover heart issues now (possibly from the sub-q fluids ), arthritis in her spine, (she never even had trouble jumping up in the kitchen counters) and a myriad of other new issues, but nothing to really cause the paralysis. At that point, we decided to let her go. She kind of made the decision for us. She was my husband's soul cat and I asked him what he wanted to do, of course, but he didn't want her to suffer any indignity issues with the paralysis, or also be bullied by our other cats, so he held her as they administered the drugs.

I will say, though, that there were many, many times that I tried to convince my husband before this happened that we should let her go, and HE couldn't let go. There were times before her last big rally where I thought she had more bad days than good. If you look at a Quality of Life chart, that's one of the things you look for...good days vs bad days. Here is a Q of L chart you might look at: The Feline Quality of Life Scale Helps You Determine If It's Time to Say Goodbye to Your Cat | Catster

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[Jem]

mrsgreenjeens - Thanks for sharing, it means more than you know.
....

and now I'm crying again.

....
I'm crying with you.

 

[1 bruce 1]

The only CKD cats I had were in my childhood or younger years. And we only speculated CKD, but today I think we were right... and back then, old sick cats got home made (warmed) food, a warm draft free box (indoors) with blankets to sleep in and a good old
I'm so sorry you're dealing with CKD. It's a huge thing with cats it seems. =(
From what I remember...these cats didn't eat well. They lost weight (of course) and developed "muscular indents" around their kidney region (along their spine, behind the rib cage where kidneys sit. This can be CKD or just muscle loss from old age, mostly, I know, but I always was worried if a cat had this. We saw this in a dog with really messed up kidney levels, and once he got well and his kidney levels returned to normal, the "indents" filled in!)
What I remember most is the way they "felt" when you picked them up. Most cats, even thin cats, have substance of some sort to them. You pick them up, they have weight, somewhere. Even cats with liver disease get a "belly" and picking them up can feel like picking up a skinny thing with a big beer gut....but the cats that were in kidney straights felt like picking up an empty paper sack. There was just nothing there.
You're situation is very upsetting to me because of the year long "problem...this is it...oh, look, my cat is better today" and you spend your life watching them, stressing over a bad day, being happy over a good day and worrying when the bad day turns into several. It's stressful and scary and I've been there so many times. It's hard to consider letting them go when they rally like little champs. We don't want to wait too long, but we don't want to be too quick, you know?
A special cat of mine I had to euthanize in my 20's had all the symptoms. One day, I came home and found her walking along the laundry room, squatting every 2 steps. She'd let out a single drop of urine, cry out, then walk another 2 steps, and do the same thing.
I let her go many years ago on the 26th of this month. Weird how we remember this stuff.
Whatever happens and whenever it happens, you're in good company here.

Edit: The cat I mentioned above I had in my 20's, I was going through some really old stuff a few years ago I'd kept and found her paw print I'd taken. And the date, I took the print the night before she was set free, and I must have combed her a bit because there was a lock of her hair in a baggie with it.

Yep, when I say "we know how you feel" we mean it, my friend.

 

[Lalexa67]

My heart goes out to you. I can tell you about my baby boy Frankie. He was a high maintenance kitten - lots of medical issues. He had his up days and his down days. One Sunday I woke to a lathargic kitty. I scooped him up and he felt warm, he was sniffly and early that morning I took him to the vet. They told me he had the flu and I should let it run it’s course. Monday, he was vomiting a rust color liquid. I called the vet and they told me to give it a day. He was not taking any food or water. Early Tuesday morning I ran him to the emergency pet hospital because his breathing was very shallow and I couldn’t wake him up. It was chronic kidney failure. He was near comatose when they took him in. He was on fan iv for fluids, a respirator for breathing and a kidney transplant list. Also a heating pad to keep his body temperature up. By Wednesday, his kidneys had shut down and his heart was irregular. They put him on dialysis. They let me stay with him because whenever I removed my hand his heart would slow down. I can’t express how much I loved him. So when the vet asked me if I wanted him resuscitated if his heart gave out, I told them no. If his heart isn’t in it anymore, then let him go. He died Wednesday at 2pm. Frankie was 9 months old. I don’t know if this helps you at all but I guess the best advice I can give you is love them and enjoy the ups. Accept that the price of love is grief. Best to you and your kitty.

 

[Jem]

It's hard to consider letting them go when they rally like little champs. We don't want to wait too long, but we don't want to be too quick, you know?

That is exactly where I'm at right now.
The thing is, he does have more good (or at least an OK) days than bad overall, even if the bad days are terrible. But I still think his good days out weigh the bad, and his quality of life is still worth the fight.
It's just......really hard.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

That is exactly where I'm at right now.
The thing is, he does have more good (or at least an OK) days than bad overall, even if the bad days are terrible. But I still think his good days out weigh the bad, and his quality of life is still worth the fight.
It's just......really hard.

Have a heart to heart discussion with him. I'm serious . I really DO think he'll let you know when he's had enough. But as long as he's not hiding away, and having more "good" days than bad, then it's probably not time.

And and I forgot to tell you, was reminded as I read 1 bruce 1 's story, my Sven always tried to make it to the litter box, no matter how weak he got. He didn't always make it, but he always tried. Towards the end, he would get one foot in and start peeing, the little sweetie. So I needed to put things under the litter box to protect the floor. But he never had any issues with being unable to pee, that's for sure. He did have constipation problems though, which is very common with kidney cats. So we did have to give him Miralax dissolved in a little bit of water twice a day. Since we couldn't always depend on him to eat all his food, we had to give that to him with syringe.

I tell you what I did with Callie that really seemed to help was to start feeding her many small meals throughout the day and night. She ate maybe 9 times total in 24 hours. Always wet food with extra water added. Probably not even a tablespoon of food per meal, with the same amount of water. For her middle of the night meals I would put them in the freezer around 7 p.m., then when we went to bed, I would feed her again, then take the frozen food out and set one bowl on a towel on my nightstand to start thawing, and set the other bowl on an icepak on my nightstand. (both bowls inside ziplok bags) When she got hungry she would wake me up and the first bowl would be thawed so I didn't even have to get out of bed to feed her! Then I would switch the bowls so the other one could start thawing for her next meal. My other cats would just watch her eat patiently because they knew they would get a couple of treats if they did that. I kept their treats in another ziploc bag under my pillow!