Rassy cat & Howard, Sick with kidney failure Options

[jackjackbojack]

**Joanne (jackjackbojack is a new member here. Two of her precious furkids (Rassy cat & Howard ) are very ill with kidney failure. With Joanne's permission, I'll do my best to get her posts together (along with their replies), so that she can have her own thread. **

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My two babies are dying of Kidney failure. There is just so little time left. My Rassy cat is 18.5 years old. My Howard is 16. I have been through this once before with my kittywillow. People here are so compassionate and kind. I can't stand it when people say to me its just a cat. Its not. These are my babies. I know how much joy those special little ones bring into our lives.

We enclosed our patios and made them into cat rooms. (We have one upstairs and one downstairs. We refer to our cats as the ups and downs. My up cats will soon cross over the Rainbow. All I will have are some pictures and lots of wonderful memories.

I don't want them to suffer. Rassy cat is still holding on. I know he doesn't want to leave me. Howard still has some time left before the curtain falls. I told Rassy Cat whenever he feels its time, to just let go. I would much prefer to see him die peacefully in his sleep rather than having to put either down. Howard is so attached to Ras, and sick that we might put him down just so he doesn't have to suffer the heartbreak of loosing his best friend esp in his condition.

I just continue to check on my babies. Rassy cat sleeps so soundly. I just keep checking to see if he will wake up. I try not to cry in front of him. He knows how much I adore him. And the last thing I would ever want to do is keep him alive if he is in pain.

Today, I told him, whenever you are ready to let go, its ok. Always know, I love you as much as life itself.

[Furkidlets' Mom]

Joanne,

Yes, the food challenges can be something else with kidney cats. The brands Denise mentioned might be worth a try, too, although the higher protein content in grainless foods might pose a problem (for a kidney cat), depending on how high the Creatinine and BUN levels are already. What our 2 holistic vets recommended was to use a high quality canned, but as Nissa's levels (slowly) rose, add in up to 20% of organic cream of white or brown rice, which I cooked (takes only about 5 minutes) and then further blended into real mush before mixing into her also-blended canned food. (I just made small 3-day amounts of the rice at a time) This allowed her to have better protein yet cut down the % to a more reasonable and safer amount for her kidneys to try and process. NB was one of the brands we used in rotation, too, although after some of theirs got recalled recently, I'd be more leery. Wellness, as far as I know, never got any recalls and was one of our staples.

It's very tricky trying to balance all the particular needs of a kidney cat, but your vet is right - the single most important thing always remains the highest priority, which is keeping them EATING. We ended up using about 5 high quality brands, in flavours that she liked and that didn't tax her kidneys as much. Fish, unfortunately, was one we had to limit in amount because it isn't very good for bladder problems, which Nissa also had. I did use tiny, tiny bits of water-packed tuna (no salt! or rinsed if no-salt wasn't available) when needed for stimulating her taste buds (as 'icing' on top of her food), but also made sure it was the type (already forgotten WHICH type that was now!) that DIDN'T carry high levels of mercury.....might have been tongol tuna.

As for dry food, Dr. Pitcairn DVM as well as others has homemade recipes for "kibble", which would still be healthier (and fresher) than most bought dry foods. Or, you could try adding different amounts of purified water (or parsley tea, stinging nettle tea, catnip tea or other appropriate herbal preps. for kidneys/bladder) into the dry food to try and counteract its drying effect in the body. You could even separate the meal into 2 parts....one with moisture added and the 2nd offering with none, so that dry texture won't be totally 'spoiled' for Rassy Cat. Just some thoughts anyway.

But whatever you do or don't do, yes, you obviously love all of your kidlets very much and have quite a few problems to try and balance, which has got to be difficult, especially all at once! I hope Mew Mew's test comes back just fine - you've already got enough on your plate! Maybe she's 'just' reacting to all the stresses around her lately.

I used to tell Nissa she had pus*sywillow toesies, all silvery-grey and the tiny size of real pus*sywillows! I'd kiss them ALL the time....and she loved having them kissed and worshiped!

Your poor girl went through so much, too.....it just breaks one's heart, doesn't it? More than anyone, they deserve to be healthy and happy, and yet that's not too often the case anymore. But she was a real character, your girl! Who SAYS cats can't guard their people?!?!

Yes, staying in the NOW has its benefits. But if you can't keep it up all the time, don't beat yourself up for that, either. We're not used to thinking like this, so we have to forgive ourselves and even congratulate ourselves for those moments when we CAN accomplish it. Another thing that helped me somewhat was trying to remind myself that at least I'd been able to help keep Nissa going much longer than some vets thought she'd be able to go.....never long enough, I know, but it did give me an iota of comfort. Whatever works for you, works, so that's what you've got to use.

We'll be thinking of you and waiting to hear.....