Hi everyone,
I posted another thread on here yesterday about our almost 12-year-old boy, Bailey, who has been at the vet's for just over 24 hours now with several kidney stones and kidney failure. He suddenly started showing signs of being ill this week and stopped eating, drinking, and started vomiting white foam. At first, the vet thought that she felt a tumor in his belly, but upon seeing the x-rays, it was really an enlarged kidney with several stones with no tumor or signs of cancer. His kidney blood work was so high yesterday that their machines couldn't even get an accurate reading. He has lost some weight as well. He has pretty much stayed the same since we left him there yesterday. They did a repeat x-ray this morning and the stones haven't really moved. They have not repeated his blood work as they didn't think it would be much different than it was yesterday. They have had him on IV fluids, antibiotics, and pain medication. They said that he did perk up some today and was sitting up more and he has been urinating, but that is from the IV fluids, but I think the fact that he CAN pass urine is at least somewhat of a positive sign. They said that he has shown absolutely no interest in food or water, but I also know my boy and I think that partly may be due to the fact that he is in a totally strange place and we are not there. When the vet called me today, she was not very optimistic and said that he really didn't have much quality of life and she kept strongly hinting at euthanasia. I am not ready to take that drastic of a step yet and neither is my husband. Our vet also knows that we don't have a huge budget to spend on vet bills, but I do NOT want to give up on our baby. He has been with us for nearly 12 years and he means the world to both my husband and I. I have been doing a lot of research online both last night and today about renal stones in cats and the possibilities of overcoming and surviving something of this nature. I know that there are prescription foods that can help dissolve the stones. The very first cat I had as a child had stones when he was just a kitten and he ended up living to be almost 18 with a change in diet, so that always gives me some hope. I feel that if we could get him home (as long as he is comfortable enough) and get some of this prescription food into him (he may eat once he's home since he's obviously more comfortable here), that maybe we can beat this. I am just looking for some advice. What would you do if you were in our situation? Obviously, we don't want him to suffer, but we are not ready to pull the plug and completely give up just yet either. This is a very hard situation to deal with. Bailey is a huge part of our family. Even our other cats seem to miss him. He is our baby and we love him to death. The house is not the same without him here.
I posted another thread on here yesterday about our almost 12-year-old boy, Bailey, who has been at the vet's for just over 24 hours now with several kidney stones and kidney failure. He suddenly started showing signs of being ill this week and stopped eating, drinking, and started vomiting white foam. At first, the vet thought that she felt a tumor in his belly, but upon seeing the x-rays, it was really an enlarged kidney with several stones with no tumor or signs of cancer. His kidney blood work was so high yesterday that their machines couldn't even get an accurate reading. He has lost some weight as well. He has pretty much stayed the same since we left him there yesterday. They did a repeat x-ray this morning and the stones haven't really moved. They have not repeated his blood work as they didn't think it would be much different than it was yesterday. They have had him on IV fluids, antibiotics, and pain medication. They said that he did perk up some today and was sitting up more and he has been urinating, but that is from the IV fluids, but I think the fact that he CAN pass urine is at least somewhat of a positive sign. They said that he has shown absolutely no interest in food or water, but I also know my boy and I think that partly may be due to the fact that he is in a totally strange place and we are not there. When the vet called me today, she was not very optimistic and said that he really didn't have much quality of life and she kept strongly hinting at euthanasia. I am not ready to take that drastic of a step yet and neither is my husband. Our vet also knows that we don't have a huge budget to spend on vet bills, but I do NOT want to give up on our baby. He has been with us for nearly 12 years and he means the world to both my husband and I. I have been doing a lot of research online both last night and today about renal stones in cats and the possibilities of overcoming and surviving something of this nature. I know that there are prescription foods that can help dissolve the stones. The very first cat I had as a child had stones when he was just a kitten and he ended up living to be almost 18 with a change in diet, so that always gives me some hope. I feel that if we could get him home (as long as he is comfortable enough) and get some of this prescription food into him (he may eat once he's home since he's obviously more comfortable here), that maybe we can beat this. I am just looking for some advice. What would you do if you were in our situation? Obviously, we don't want him to suffer, but we are not ready to pull the plug and completely give up just yet either. This is a very hard situation to deal with. Bailey is a huge part of our family. Even our other cats seem to miss him. He is our baby and we love him to death. The house is not the same without him here.