crf and sub q fluids Q

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Marci and Buddy

Marci and Buddy

Member Since 2009
my Buddy is in early stages of CRF...i have been giving him sub Q fluids for 2 months now, every other day 100ml...
i'm wondering how long he can go on like this. He's 17 now and very healthy , except for his diabetes, always in good spirits .
what is the the time span for a cat to progress with CRF ? has anyone here experienced many years giving fluids to a CRF cat,
or is it usually a more rapid downhill progression? evrything i read about it on other sites points to him having a year at most.
 
My Aztec just turned 20 and has had CKD for 3 years. I've only started giving him fluids regularly for the past few months (before that it was just "as needed", like if he seemed constipated - maybe once every 4 or 5 months). I know lots of people that have maintained their kidney cats for several years, and a few folks who's cats declined very rapidly. I don't think there's really any way to predict how things will progress, although in my opinion, the low-protein prescription diets do more damage than they help. Aztec gets half raw, half quality canned (in separate meals).
 
I did fluids on Bookmark for 2 1/2 years. I've been giving Brie fluids since the end of June. Brie had his yearly bloodwork last year and his creat was 3.9 and I took him in for an US and he was dx with pyelo. He has CRF as a result of the pyelo. He gets 100 ml every other day and his creat has been staying 1.6 to 1.8. I slacked off on the fluids a little in November and December and his creat went up to 2.4. His BUN remains a little on the high side. CRF kitties can do well for years. Bookmark did. I was lucky. I think Brie is doing ok too as far as the renal failure. He is a little anemic but other labs are good. His appetite is good. Every kitty is different. Since Buddy is healthy you may have him around for way more than a year. You've read a lot about CRF so you know to keep an eye out for his appetite and monitor his labs. Also CRF kitties tend to become constipated. Positive thoughts for Buddy.
 
Well thanks very much for your positive feedback. Good to hear about cats who have been around for years with crf. :smile:
I also give Buddy half raw rabbit, half quality canned.
I read somewher e that it's better to make the fluids warm before giving ...anyone know
how to do that?(never was much of a cook).
 
I heat up a big bowl of water in the microwave and then I sit the IV bag in the bowl upside down. Make sure you don't let any water get into the area where you spiked the bag. I warm fluids in the winter since it can get pretty cold inside but I don't usually warm the fluids when it is warmer outside. You can let a little fluid run on your hand to check the temp. You may want to consider joining yahoo feline crf support. I think yahoo has a few groups but I like the one I mentioned better. Tanya also has a crf support group. If you join any of these groups and start posting it would be very helpful to group members to post Buddy's labs and the reference ranges. You should also keep an eye on phosphorus levels. Lower phos foods are recommended. I'm still feeding Brie ff classics and have been saying for months I have to go to a lower phos food. Wellness has a few good low carb lower phos options. Raw is probably great but I really don't know anything about raw food diets. Many years ago I tried non commercial raw food on my Boo but he wasn't able to tolerate it.
 
Marci and Buddy said:
I read somewher e that it's better to make the fluids warm before giving ...anyone know
how to do that?(never was much of a cook).
Click to expand...

There are some excellent instructions on the whole subQ process at this link: http://www.weirdstuffwemake.com/weird/s ... juice.html

I put the bag of fluids and IV set in a big Ziplock bag and immerse the whole thing in a sink full of very warm water for 10 minutes or so (depends on how much fluid is left in the bag).
 
Merlyn was dxed with early CKD in mid 2005 right after he went OTJ, after a few months we started fluids.. even after he was dxed with severe Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, he had to have a little bit of fluids to not dehydrate badly because he was on Lasix. Fluids are contraindicated for heart kitties but I did some trial and error, and with my vets ok, slowly figuring out how much fluids his heart could handle.. throughout his heart issues and constipation issues, his kidney values remained fairly constant, and only spiked when he was near the end, due to his heart. That was April 29th 2009. So, he was on fluids from say June of 05, to April 09, and died from his big heart, not his kidneys.
 
thanks for the reciepe on heating the fluids...I'll do that.
Buddy also has a heart murmur. Because of thta, the vet told me to give him fluids on an "as needed" basis .
I give it to him every other day, but i really think he could use it every day- he never really seems
totally hydrated (his neck skin doesn't fall back as quickly as it should, i think). I'm alittle bit at a loss
when the vet leaves it to my call as to how to treat him- not sure how to juggle his heart murmer with his kidney condition. :?
guess I'll just keep doing every other day.. anyone else have a similar situation?
Thanks everyone --I'm so grateful for all the help I get from everyone here.If i had to rely on just my vet I'd feel screwed.
 
You may consider a cardiac echo. Brie has a heart murmur too. I had an echo done on him twice and the cardiologist didn't see anything alarming and he didn't need any cardiac meds.
 
I totally can relate. Every other day is good. Keep an eye on his respiratory rate. I had a young kitty many years ago with severe HCM and when he would start going in to heart failure his respiratory rate would go up. I also would listen to his lungs with a stethoscope. I'm guessing that you are concerned about the possibility of HCM. Keep in mind that many kitties have heart murmurs and do not have HCM.
 
I'll research it online-although he needed to hve all his teeth removed 6 months ago,
and i'm thinkng it could not have been done had the tests showed that. Vet said it was a slight murmur.
Do you know if there a connection between a murmur and HCM?
 
Yes there is. Many times when a cat has a murmur the vet may suggest an echo. If it is only a slight murmur the vet may not suggest it.
 
A cat with a murmur may or may not have underlying heart disease. It doesn't seem like Buddy has or he wouldn't be a good candidate for anesthesia.

All cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy have heart murmurs. Merlyn didn't.
On my phone and don't have link but there is an excellent site on murmurs.. found it...its on Max's House site.
 
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