Get one of those plastic door mats and place it over the carpeting at the doorways of the rooms in which she will be confined. It will save your carpet.
MustangMike said:According to her, this is attributed to partial kidney failure, which is common with older cats?
Mike - if your cat is in fact diagnosed with CRF, you should check out this web site: http://www.felinecrf.com. It has a wealth of information of what CRF is and how to deal with this disease. You may also want to join the CRF support group that is connected with the website (on the left-hand side menu, under communication, click Feline CRF Mail List). There are many, many people there who offer support and answer questions. I believe that group is also moderated by a vet.
It does happen more commonly with older cats (my 15 y/o has it), but can happen in younger cats as well. If properly treated, cats can live for years with CRF. Believe me, I know it is very overwhelming at first, both with the vet expense and trying to keep your household under control, but it gets better. Once you have your diagnosis and have a treatment plan, the vet expenses should level off. Then it's mostly about proper food and supplies, and there are a lot of cost-effective ways to deal with that.
Good luck, and hang in there.
Samantha
My almost one year old has been diagnosed with kidney failure as well so I understand your concern. This was the first time the vet has seen it in a cat so young. But it does happen. So your cat's age may actually be correct.Originally Posted by MustangMike
All of this aside, I took her to the vet this morning and things are not good. This vet is VERY good, she has come recommended by many and we actually used to take our dog to her (the dog had to be put to sleep at 15 years of age just last year). She thought Cleo was completely healthy initially. I explained all of her behavior issues and the vet agreed a UTI couldn't be ruled out but she highly doubted it based on what she was seeing/I was telling her. She did the urine test anyway just to be sure. I got a call back with the results after I got home. Negative on the UTI, no issues. What IS of issue is that her concentration of urine is extremely low compared to what's normal for a cat. According to her, this is attributed to partial kidney failure, which is common with older cats? I obviously told her that we were told that the best guess was that Cleo was 4 years old. The vet said this type of problem normally only shows up in cats that are 10+ years old. The youngest that she had only ever seen/treated was one single cat that was 6 years old! She explained to me that the shelters basically make a guess as to the age of the cat when they get a stray - based on the condition of the cat's teeth and health/size/activeness overall. She admitted that it's a guess at best, and seems to think that Cleo is a good bit older than we first thought.
Bottom line - Cleo is in no pain as of right now. The Vet confirmed her belief of kidney failure when she asked how much water Cleo drinks (up to 2 small bowls per day). She said this is typical of a cat with kidney failure. She (the vet) wants to do more bloodwork to try to determine how severe this kidney failure is - I'm going back with Cleo on Friday for that. As it relates to how this thread started - the Vet is completely sure that this is having no affect on Cleo's personality - she believes that Cleo's behavior issues are just who Cleo is. We can try to work with it but it may be tough to overcome.
I haven't really got into asking what's next, if in fact they confirm kidney failure and it's severity. She warned me that the blood test will only confirm a rather severe case, and that the urine test would actually pick up less developed cases - but she thinks the blood work is the place to go next. She also warned me that ultrasound and xrays would be the step after the bloodwork, depending on what they find in the blood. Here lies another problem - all of that work could cost $500+ and that is only to diagnose it! On top of that, we have a cat with behavior issues that we've only had for a month, AND we're now being told she could be 10+ years old! As I mentioned, we're a young couple just getting started and we certainly don't have the money to put into this, knowing that the bills could get to be insane after the diagnosis costs.
Need I say more? We're going to talk to the Vet more on Friday, but I'm a mix of in shock, sadness for Cleo, and uncertainty of how to handle what may be next. It's tough to ask for anymore help after all of the great info you've all given to us already, but does anyone have any comment as to what we should do now? We want to keep her, but not if her behavior does not change - but we can't give away a sick cat - but we can't afford all of the bills and treatment! What a situation!
Thanks again for everyone's help!!