Ubukitty, A wonderful friend and companion Options

[Ubukitty's Pal]

All,

I just registered with LS this afternoon and was totally amazed to find such a wonderful site full of loving and caring people.

My loving companion of 20+ years died Wednesday morning from chronic kidney failure. She was a black long-haired kitty
who found me at the animal shelter back in 1988 - only 2 weeks old. I bottle fed her and weened her and we were together
from that time on.

When I awoke Wednesday morning she could not stand and barely could lift her head... and about 30 minutes later she had
a seizure and last gasp of air before passing away in my arms. Ever since then my grief has been overwhelming and the
crying just won't stop - I just want my baby back to give her more kisses and rubs and to tell her how much I love her.

I awoke at our normal 7:06am wakeup and eat time and was in the kitchen before I stopped myself, and after working
outside on the farm I still came into the house this morning and headed straight for the bedroom to check on her as was
my habit.

Today when I found LS it made a huge difference in my not feeling alone with this horrible depression and feeling of guilt
on not spending every moment at her side when she was with me; and now all I can think of is how she died and of what
else I could have done to keep us together.

I just had to tell someone about our seperation who would be able to understand.

Thanks for being here and letting me share.

[Ubukitty's Pal]

All,

After reading so many other messages about chronic renal failure, I am now wondering if that is actually what killed my
Ubukitty. She ate and drank normally right up until about 3 hours before she passed away... but I have seen multiple
messages that getting a cat with CRF to eat is rather difficult but so very important - and with Ubu that just was not
an issue.

Please allow me to give a summary of the last couple of months of her medical history - if anyone than can offer
some info on confirming CRF was the likely issue and/or only issue it would help be extremely appreciated. I am so
very worried that I or the Vet missed something that could have been prevented.

On Sept. 8 Ubu had her first attack or seizure. She was asleep on the bed and awoke with a loud "waaaah" sound like
a baby, the she arched her back and began to salivate intensely while breathing in rasping breaths with her tongue
out. This lasted about 10 minutes. After finally starting to breath more regularly she slept for about 4 straight hours
without moving at all - and then got up and appeared fine. The next day is when she say the vet and the CRF
diagnosis was made (she was not found to be diabetic however) but she was not placed on any meds.

I immediately changed her diet to a low carb version just in case diabetes had caused the CRF and she was fine for about 30 days.

On Oct. 3 we pretty much had the exact same situation happen except this time she pottied on herself and was out for about 8 hours before again seemingly recovering.

On Nov. 3 she had another episode but unbelievably it was much milder than the previous two, so my hopes were raised...

Then she started having trouble with weakness in her rear legs and between Nov 3 and Nov 19 she only pooped twice, both times it appeared very dry and in alarmingly small amounts considering how well she was eating. The only noticeable new symptom was she would only lie on her right side of her body while keeping her right hind leg always completely extended straight out and her left leg pulled up right next to her stomach.

The end on Wednesday was shocking to me since we had slept normally and she ate and drank about 3 hours before her final seizure lasting about 5 minutes in her death... which was the same labored breathing, tongue extended and heavy salivating followed by the same "waaah" sound, arching of the back, and then a quick shudder and death.

I am so afraid I have missed something the possibly could have been provented..