Our cat Jack has taken a notable turn for the worse. He was diagnosed with CRF 1 month ago, the vet ran a LOT of IV fluid through him for 2 days, that really perked him up, but...
We brought him home and switched his food to kidney friendly wet food, he didn't like it much so we switched that to kidney friendly dry food which given the choice he will eat before his regular food of the last 8 years, but he is still losing weight.
We started sub-qs a little over a week ago, but we were out of town for 4 days so he had 2 sub-qs, then none for 4 days and we have done 2 (today and 2 days ago) since we have been back, so not very consistent with the sub-qs.
His behavior is WAY off from normal, he normally loves to be held, but not now, when you pick him up he keeps all his legs straight against your chest, normally he hugs you right away and rubs his face on your nose/chin.
The last week or so he's just been hanging out on the windowsill in the sun, in "bun" position, not interactive at all really.
We've also been giving him enalapril (you wipe it inside his ears) which helps red blood cell production, and some phosphors binder, although we have not been consistent with that as he doesn't particularly like it, and I hate for him to feel like every time I pick him up its to poke him/give him medicine.
He used to be 15-16 pounds, all muscle, a month ago at the vets he was 9.8 pounds, his blood numbers were, BUN:120 Creatinin:6.5 which are not nearly as bad as some I have read about, after 2 days of flushing the numbers were about half, 60 and 3.5.
Jack is 11 years old.
I've read of many cats older than Jack that had worse blood numbers that lived decently for several years once diagnosed with CRF, but at the rate Jack is going I doubt he'll be around another month
I feel like we are "doing something wrong" or missing something. I've read quite a bit about various CRF cats and to a large degree I'm confused, I see many that are getting steroids, but then our vet said that steroids are hard on the kidneys.
Then there are such a huge array of drugs that can help certain CRF ailments, but he isn't puking at all, and he's drinking plenty of water (plus sub-qs).
If anyone has any insight I'd love to hear from you.
We brought him home and switched his food to kidney friendly wet food, he didn't like it much so we switched that to kidney friendly dry food which given the choice he will eat before his regular food of the last 8 years, but he is still losing weight.
We started sub-qs a little over a week ago, but we were out of town for 4 days so he had 2 sub-qs, then none for 4 days and we have done 2 (today and 2 days ago) since we have been back, so not very consistent with the sub-qs.
His behavior is WAY off from normal, he normally loves to be held, but not now, when you pick him up he keeps all his legs straight against your chest, normally he hugs you right away and rubs his face on your nose/chin.
The last week or so he's just been hanging out on the windowsill in the sun, in "bun" position, not interactive at all really.
We've also been giving him enalapril (you wipe it inside his ears) which helps red blood cell production, and some phosphors binder, although we have not been consistent with that as he doesn't particularly like it, and I hate for him to feel like every time I pick him up its to poke him/give him medicine.
He used to be 15-16 pounds, all muscle, a month ago at the vets he was 9.8 pounds, his blood numbers were, BUN:120 Creatinin:6.5 which are not nearly as bad as some I have read about, after 2 days of flushing the numbers were about half, 60 and 3.5.
Jack is 11 years old.
I've read of many cats older than Jack that had worse blood numbers that lived decently for several years once diagnosed with CRF, but at the rate Jack is going I doubt he'll be around another month
I feel like we are "doing something wrong" or missing something. I've read quite a bit about various CRF cats and to a large degree I'm confused, I see many that are getting steroids, but then our vet said that steroids are hard on the kidneys.
Then there are such a huge array of drugs that can help certain CRF ailments, but he isn't puking at all, and he's drinking plenty of water (plus sub-qs).
If anyone has any insight I'd love to hear from you.