Newly Diagnosed CDK Kitty - Lexi

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rabernet

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I don't know if I'll be able to help much, as I'm not knowledgeable in the lab numbers, etc. and I don't know what any of these medications you mentioned are except the fluids. I can give a few suggestions in terms of food though. Have you tried mashing up the renal food? My kitty that passed away last year ate the same food and did the same thing. I started mashing up his food with a fork and he would then eat it instead of licking all the gravy off. For Fancy Feast, honestly, you could try any flavor. I think that food is like crack to cats. Our cats will eat almost any flavor. I know some of the gravy lovers and the grilled versions are "lower" in phosphous. There are several of the petite version that are "lower" as well (but not the pate in either the cans or the petites, they can be higher in phosphorus). Have you checked to see if you can find any of the Weurva low phosphorus foods? My cats have liked several of the flavors. If you can find them locally, you could try a few of those? Maybe try the pate as the other kind is more shreds and our cats tend to leave the shreds. I would recommend mashing the pate up with a fork too as it's sort of like "meat jello". There are also a lot of foods that are lower in phosphorus that you could try. Here is a good resource that may help. Weurva and Hills are really easy to find the phosphorous numbers on their website. Weurva, you just go to the food you want to look at, then "view product nutrition info" and then scroll down to "Detailed Nutrition Information" on the left of the screen. Hills is similar, but you just click nutrition information or something like that and you can see the phos amount in the foods. She may like the Weurva BFF OMG (oh my gravy) flavors if she likes gravy stuff. I can find Weurva at the smaller local pet shops in my area. If you just want her to eat and don't want to worry about the phosphorus right now, I'd honestly just grab any of the fancy feast options. I haven't had our cats turn any of those down except when they were sick due to unrelated reasons.

Also, for an empty stomach, the general rule when a cat needs an x-ray or ultrasound and needs to have an empty stomach is 12 hours without food, but I don't know how "empty" they need to be for medication. Probably not 12 hours. Can you call your vet and ask what "empty" would mean in terms of hours when she last ate? My guess would be overnight would probably be fine. I would have really hesitated to do 12 hours with no food for my boy. So, I probably would have just picked up the food before I went to bed and then given it to him first thing in the morning (6-8 hours).

So sorry I can't be more helpful, but I hope that helps. I'm sorry you're going through this. I would have done just about anything to keep my Bubby around for as long as possible and I did everything within my power to do so. Good luck to you and I hope her numbers improve!
You were very helpful! I do think like you do - for medication - probably "fasting" overnight while she's sleeping and then give her medication as soon as we get up and then the kitchen opens again until bedtime!
 
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rabernet

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So - vet called today and asked "how's my cat doing?". I told him that she says thank you very much for opening up her food options - she's happily consuming 3+ small cans of food each day vs 1 and a half of the renal canned.

He said he wants me to not worry about the kidneys at the moment, our focus is on the liver and getting her to eat, eat, eat, eat and that her kidneys still have some function and she's getting 100 mls of fluid daily.

He wants another update next week - as long as she continues to eat, gain weight and no noticeable jaundice, he wants to reduce stress and see her in 4 weeks instead of 2. Because I had no issues giving her a Sub Q antibiotic shot - he's adding injectable Vit B12 for me to pick up on Wed and administer to her for the next month (I think he said weekly?).

If she continues to eat well for the next 2 weeks, then he will add a phosphorus binder, but he doesn't want anything to put her off her food right now - he said he has one he likes that has ground shrimp shells and probiotic as well.
 

Mac and Cats

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So - vet called today and asked "how's my cat doing?". I told him that she says thank you very much for opening up her food options - she's happily consuming 3+ small cans of food each day vs 1 and a half of the renal canned.

He said he wants me to not worry about the kidneys at the moment, our focus is on the liver and getting her to eat, eat, eat, eat and that her kidneys still have some function and she's getting 100 mls of fluid daily.

He wants another update next week - as long as she continues to eat, gain weight and no noticeable jaundice, he wants to reduce stress and see her in 4 weeks instead of 2. Because I had no issues giving her a Sub Q antibiotic shot - he's adding injectable Vit B12 for me to pick up on Wed and administer to her for the next month (I think he said weekly?).

If she continues to eat well for the next 2 weeks, then he will add a phosphorus binder, but he doesn't want anything to put her off her food right now - he said he has one he likes that has ground shrimp shells and probiotic as well.
I'm glad she is doing better! What foods did you find for her that she ended up wanting to eat? I've been through this several times with other cats and it's always really stressful when you seemingly cant find something that they can eat and that they actually want to eat. So, I'm glad you've been able to find something! BTW I just saw your photo of your girl in your initial post and she is so cute!

EDIT: Sorry, one last thing! I can't remember if I already gave you the link to this, but this may be a good resource for you.
 
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rabernet

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I'm glad she is doing better! What foods did you find for her that she ended up wanting to eat? I've been through this several times with other cats and it's always really stressful when you seemingly cant find something that they can eat and that they actually want to eat. So, I'm glad you've been able to find something! BTW I just saw your photo of your girl in your initial post and she is so cute!

EDIT: Sorry, one last thing! I can't remember if I already gave you the link to this, but this may be a good resource for you.
Thank you so much for the link. She is devouring anything that's beef or poultry in gravy, no fish since that's higher in phosphorus. She's loving Purina Pro Plan beef and Fancy Feast gravies.

He's not worried about phosphorus, other than not feeding any fish, but she's not a fan of fish, so that's good.
 

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Mac and Cats

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Thank you so much for the link. She is devouring anything that's beef or poultry in gravy, no fish since that's higher in phosphorus. She's loving Purina Pro Plan beef and Fancy Feast gravies.

He's not worried about phosphorus, other than not feeding any fish, but she's not a fan of fish, so that's good.
That's great, I'm glad she's eating!
 
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rabernet

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I'm glad she is doing better! What foods did you find for her that she ended up wanting to eat? I've been through this several times with other cats and it's always really stressful when you seemingly cant find something that they can eat and that they actually want to eat. So, I'm glad you've been able to find something! BTW I just saw your photo of your girl in your initial post and she is so cute!

EDIT: Sorry, one last thing! I can't remember if I already gave you the link to this, but this may be a good resource for you.
Just now getting to look over the link - wow - this is a FABULOUS resource - THANK YOU!!!
 
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rabernet

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I don't know what thread I read this on, but I ordered this - because my hands just can't do the empty gel caps, and giving Cerenia is a battle. But THIS.....THIS....it's fabulous! I doubt I can use it for the Denamarin - since it's supposed to be on an empty stomach.

I first rolled a little bit of this product and offered it to her with no pill - she loved it. So I went - ok, lets wrap a dose of Cerenia and see what happens - no drama, no foaming, just yum, she said! I'm so glad I stumbled over whatever thread I was perusing!

I bought a bunch of Weruva at Hollywood feed - she said "no, no thank you" to every variety I offered (I bought over 20 different flavors with no fish). She prefers Fancy Feast Grillers and Gravy Lovers, and Purina ProPlan minced. She will eat pate, but not as enthusiastically as the minced/shredded foods. She DOES try to lick all the gravy off and ask for more and I swear she understands me - I'll say "you need to finish what I already gave you and then I'll give you more" and she'll turn around and finish it up.

Right now - the focus is on eating for healing the liver, so if she'll eat FF. FF is what she gets. She goes back at the end of March for another blood panel and then the vet will discuss phosphorus binder if needed. But we are not using any fish flavors or fish blends.

She's gaining weight, she's talking a lot more, purring a lot more, cuddling a lot more - she scared the bejesus out of me this morning. I'm sleeping on my back, wake up to her on my chest with her face inches from mine going "hey - are you awake???"

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FXX4DQK/?tag=thecatsite

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