Pets
Related: About this forumKidley has some new issues
As some of you know, he has bad kidneys and has had the typical symptoms of drinking a lot of water, peeing a lot, and getting what look like petit mal epilepsy attacks (periodic fits of trembling).
He's a long-haired boy (probably part Maine Coon with the right hair, coloring, and temperament, although he's small), and his hair was all matted when he came to me about five years ago, but I was able to help him out with daily brushing and combing, and for a while, he was all smooth and silky.
Within the past couple of months, though, he has entirely stopped grooming himself, and the mats are back, even though I comb him twice a day. If I don't catch them and cut them out right away, they sort of "French braid" themselves into other mats. For a while, he had a gigantic mat the size of my fist. As always, he seems to enjoy being combed, but he has a low tolerance for it. He will go and lie down just out of my reach and then come back and beg for more.
He also sleeps most of the time, except to demand food or to tell me that it's bedtime. Yet even though he is eager for his food, he barely nibbles at it, no matter what kind I serve him. (It was clear, however, that he hated the kidney diet food, so I'm feeding him a variety of high-quality regular wet foods, with Felidae kibbles as a backup.)
He was yowling loudly at night until someone (I forget who) suggested that he could be losing his night vision. I now keep low lights on in the kitchen (where his food is) and the bathroom (where his litter box is), and the yowling has largely stopped.
However, the latest (and potentially most troublesome) development is elimination issues. I should be thankful that he doesn't pee on the couch or the bed, but he has taken to pooping on one or the other at unpredictable times. I know keep newspapers spread on the couch and an old sheet over the bed, so I can either dispose of the papers or launder the old sheet right away. Repellents don't have any effect. He seems to alternate between constipation (small, dry poop) and diarrhea, the last attack of which ruined my iPad case (fortunately the iPad wasn't in it).
He still pees in the litter box, but more often than not, it's with his butt over the edge. I have a rubber litter mat AND paper towels laid down on the spots where he's most likely to aim. I know that some cats have this habit, but it's a new development for him. He was always really good about aiming inside the box
Last night, I caught him about to poop on the couch, so I said "No!" sharply. He kind of looked confused for a moment and then trotted off to the litter box. I also once caught him about to pee over the edge of the litter box, so I picked him up under the front legs and moved him forward. Again, he looked confused and turned around, so that he was no longer peeing over the edge. This makes me wonder if he's getting some type of dementia.
Anyway, he has entered a new stage of his illness and will only go downhill from here. He looks very sad, and yet, he's still himself in many ways, really a sweetheart. I hope he's not in pain.
I'm really concerned, since I'm scheduled to go to Japan in mid-October, and although I have a regular cat sitter, she does not appreciate his elimination habits at all. I think she'd still be willing to come in and feed him and do clean-up tasks, but not to stay overnight. Last time she did (in June), he pooped on the clothes that she had laid out.
Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)after trying everything to slow the progression. Special foods (also which she hated, but I did find that she would eat Royal Canin after going through all the kidney specific diets), meds, sub-Q fluids. Unfortunately, what you are describing is what I was seeing near the end. She just got weaker and slept more and more. She went blind a few weeks before the end. I am not saying that this is the same as with your kitty, but you should prepare yourself, just in case.
If it is an consolation, I have been told by the vet and also by a human doctor that kidney failure is not a painful thing. In fact, as the toxins build up in the system because they just can no longer be filtered out, they cause a state of euphoria similar to what some drugs or alcohol would produce. So it is not a painful disease, so your cat is not going to be suffering from pain. At least you don't have to worry about that.
I am sorry that your kitty is ill, and I wish I could give you more help on this. Whatever happens, know that we have all been through these hard times with our furbabies.
Granny M
(1,395 posts)It doesn't sound good. We lost our Guinness a few years back to kidney failure, but his was a very rapid progression. I wish you and Kidley more cuddle time, even if it isn't long enough. We're never ready.
ginnyinWI
(17,276 posts)Last edited Mon Sep 2, 2013, 11:44 PM - Edit history (1)
Back in 2007 my male cat, 17, was much the same as Kidley. He was in kidney failure and started pooping on the floor either out in the open or behind the sofa. The vet said he was in a mental fog and not really knowing what he was doing. Always peed in his box though. He got thinner, was losing hair on his chest (vet said his body was not able to maintain his fur anymore), and his belly got swollen with fluid so that we had to have it drained several times. This was due to his heart, I think--he was on a heart pill too. Once in a while he'd sit looking out the patio door--as if he needed a bright light to see anything. I had a heating pad in his bed and he spent most of his time sleeping. He'd walk from his bed to his litter box at the other end of the kitchen and back.
He declined in this way for about six months until he finally died two months after his 18th birthday. Since he was eating and didn't seem to be in pain, only in a fog, we let him go on like this until he died naturally.
However, I don't know if we should have let him go on like that. It didn't do him or us much good. Probably should have let him go a few months before, once the college daughter had a chance to come home that Thanksgiving and say her goodbyes. He died in January--just laid down on the floor and went to sleep.
sinkingfeeling
(51,474 posts)Lydia Leftcoast
(48,217 posts)It's definitely kidney failure.
Phentex
(16,334 posts)if only they could tell us what they are feeling! It's especially hard when the behavior is not consistent.
I bet the sitter will understand if you explain the situation to her. Good luck!
glinda
(14,807 posts)with his illness as Kidney failure is toxic but on the good side a lot can be done with sub Q IV administration and other things. My kitty (RIP...sob) Buster was poisoned by pet food and even though he made it, suffered kidney damage. Big time. The Vet wanted to put him down when he thought he was bad but the Tech suggested subQ IV's. I do not know if it would help your kitty or if he is at that stage but Buster's values came back to a bearable level and he lived a couple more years. They also loose potassium too in their condition which makes them loopy and sad. Consult a decent Vet or homeopathic one for help. He sounds wonderful actually. Even with his issues!
SharonAnn
(13,778 posts)He had a good quality of life and was himself until finally his kidneys shut down and we had him put to sleep. The signal for that was his overwhelming lethargy and disinterest in food.
The vet was complimentary about all the care we had given him and said that we were the only fur parents who kept up with the IV treatments for so long. But we was easy to deal with and very tolerant of the treatments. My other cat would not have tolerated that treatment.
Lydia Leftcoast
(48,217 posts)Yes, I'm going to Japan next month, but I'm not paying for the trip; I'm on the board of a professional organization that is paying my airfare and hotel.
virgdem
(2,126 posts)that we gave Sub-Q injections for almost six years. She did not succumb to kidney failure, but cancer. We got 24 bags of 500 ml Ringer's Lactate from a company in New Jersey (Brico Medical Supplies) and paid about $140.00 for bags, admin sets and needles. If you ever decide to go that route with Kidley, please PM me and I'll get that info for you.
glinda
(14,807 posts)one of the cheapest things we invested in that saved his life.
CountAllVotes
(20,878 posts)He was such a good boy.
He used to be meticulous with his personal care.
However, towards the end, he no longer groomed himself and I'd find mats on him which had to be cut off which they were.
I had no idea he was so very sick.
This is what a sick cat does when very sick; they stop grooming themselves.
He was dx'd with mild renal problems toward the end of 2009.
After Old Kitty died at the end of 2011, he quit eating and was obviously miserable (early 2012). I thought it was grief, but no, it was full-blown kidney failure. He'd have died within a week or so I was advised so I opted to have him put down than allow him to continue to suffer so horribly.
Sad as hell in any event.
I hope you make a wise decision re: Kidley.
Best to you both and a for both of you too.
Lydia Leftcoast
(48,217 posts)and he's fussy about what he'll eat, but he doesn't eat very much, at most half a small can. He also is insistent on waking me up in the morning, but then he goes right back to sleep after I've fed him.
He's just not himself, though.
I guess if he stops eating entirely, that will be a sign.
CountAllVotes
(20,878 posts)But, he went from a normal weight of 19 lbs. to just over 12 by the time his time had come.
The vet could feel and see his ribs. I had not noticed but then again, I was in a state of shock and major denial when he fell ill.
I'm still so very sad about losing the two of them that I have not adopted any more cats.
Damn near finished me off losing the two of them so close together like that. I don't think I'll ever get over it.
Lydia Leftcoast
(48,217 posts)Response to Lydia Leftcoast (Reply #11)
CountAllVotes This message was self-deleted by its author.
Lydia Leftcoast
(48,217 posts)I leave for two weeks in Japan next week, and so far, so good.
Interestingly, I ran out of cat food last week and was too busy/temporarily broke to buy more, so I fed him real meat: scraps from what I was cooking, canned turkey, canned chicken. I saw a noticeable improvement in his coat and behavior. The mats became easier to remove, and I actually saw him grooming himself. He really has only one mega-mat left, under his chin. It stuck out so far that it was past his mouth and looked like a ruffle.
He had previously resisted my combing his chest and neck, but it was getting ridiculous, so I took out a scissors, held him still by the scruff of the neck, and cut out the farthest reaching part of the neck mat. (For obvious reasons, I didn't cut too closely.) He let me do it and actually seemed relieved.
He still trembles and sleeps a lot (well, he is a cat), but he seems better somehow. I wonder if there's something in even the best cat foods that doesn't agree with him. Next time I can get to the pet supply store, I'll look into raw food diets.