I Need Help Please ..... Please

[K_Albrecht]

Our 18+ YO female has been dropping in weight for the last 1.5 years. Since May of this year, she's dropped another 1/2 lb which is a lot. In her peak, she was 12 lbs. Now, she's 7.5. Her shoulder blades and hip are clearly visible (through the skin). As much as I want her here forever, I don't like to see my babies suffer.

We have been trying an appetite stimulant. We gave her 1/4 of a 5.5 oz can of moist food last night. She ate maybe 1/2 of that. She takes in a few sips of water through the running tap. She's showing signs of obvious weakness in her hind legs.

Last week they diagnosed her with kidney disease. Her creatinine was 2.5 ..... Her cry has changed ..... she used to yowl at night but recently her yowl has turned into more of a cry.

I really don't know what to do. Is it time to say goodbye?

 

[Jem]

My almost 20yo cat has CKD as well, and we have been keeping him very happy and relatively healthy with treatment for a few years, and counting.

He gets subQ fluids to keep his kidneys flushed to prevent toxins form building in his body. When that happens (among other things), it causes nausea, which will stop them from wanting to eat.
We also keep several different kidney friendly foods on hand and keep switching them up so he never loses interest in food. When a cat feels nauseous, they often associate it with the food which is why one day they might eat it and the next they turn their nose at it.
CKD cats are also very prone to mouth problems which can contribute to not eating. We just get antibiotics for ours if he ever develops an abscess, and he's good to go.
We also, after he had his first crash, started doing exercises for him as he developed muscle atrophy and parasthesis in his hind legs and could not walk. He can now walk around just fine, can jump up to about two feet and even do stairs. We still keep baby gates on the bigger flights of stairs though, just to be safe.
Most recently we had to start giving him a synthetic red blood cell stimulant, as he has become anemic, because his kidneys don't produce the hormone that stimulates the red blood cell production.
This all sounds scary and may sound like he is suffering, but if we do these things for him, he's happy, energetic, can still walk and play (just more on the old man side of things) uses his litter box perfectly and so on.
CKD is manageable, but it can become quite tedious (BUT SO WORTH IT!) when you get into the more advanced stages. We did not have to do all things I've mentioned from the very beginning but it does progress. Mine is in stage 4, but has been in stage 4 for over a year now.

Did your vet offer ANY treatment options?

Also check out Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease - Everything You Need to Know to Help Your Cat
Tanya's Guide to Kidney Disease is a phenomenal website that has SO MUCH info.

I hope this helps, And feel free to ask me anything.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I can't add much to what Jem has told you. That's pretty thorough and inclusive.

What I can do is give you a guide to what your cat's quality of life is. This allows us to assess a situation without our emotions getting in our way. Now, THIS IS IMPORTANT...until you are doing all you can to treat this, don't do an assessment. You have to give treatments a chance to do something before making any Hard Decisions. Or do the assessment now, but ONLY to give you a baseline for whether or not things are improving.

The Feline Quality of Life Scale Helps You Determine If It's Time to Say Goodbye to Your Cat | Catster