Elderly foster has CRF. Vet wants to PTS. Advice...?

[Elizabeth and Bertie]

In a bit of a tizz here...
My newest foster cat - a lovely old long-haired tabby boy with a heart murmur - has just had his blood test results back and it's not good news: Apparently he has advanced kidney disease. :sad:

This means that the rescue cannot put him up for adoption, and the vet is advising that he be PTS now. The rescue think they should do as the vet advises.
Theoretically the cat could be treated (kidney diet, fortekor) but since the cat cannot be rehomed the rescue and the vet aren't sure this is an appropriate course of action.

An option is that he stays here with us and we treat his CRF; but that could well mean that the poor little b*gger lives out the rest of his life in our spare room...

I've asked the rescue if I can have the full blood results from the vet; so far I've only been told that they are "very bad".

My feeling, and that of DH, is that he isn't quite ready to 'give up the ghost' yet. He is weak, but he has a good appetite and loves being brushed and cuddled. So, it looks like he could be staying here.... But is that fair...? Living in our spare room isn't much of a life, and it would be hard to integrate him with our other cats at the moment while we''re still trying to integrate our 2 crazy kittens (the feral fosters we adopted).

Any advice would be appreciated.....

Eliz

 

[Diana&Tom]

Oh (((((((((((Eliz)))))))))) ... this is such a poignant little story. I'm not much good at giving advice but I would simply say do what you can for as long as you can whilst giving this dear little boy all the TLC in the world so if his days are numbered at least he will know that he has been loved and cared for as much as humanly possible. The stronger the bond between you, the more you will know from him how he himself feels, and you can make your decision from there.
I'm so sorry you're faced with this Eliz, it's heart-rending. I don't think I could do what you're doing but I'm glad he has you as his caregiver at this time...

Sending much love and many hugs, thinking of you all,

Diana x x

 

[KittyMom777]

Awww that's such a tough decision. I lost a cat to kidney disease several years ago. Back then I just PTS as per vet advice without knowing about options.

Personally I would make my decision based on the cat's quality of life. If you think treatment and living with you would still give him quality of life -ie not in pain, loved and cared for - then go for it. If not, and he would be in pain, then there is only one option.

((((hugs))))

Juliet and Silver

 

[Melanie and Smokey]

Thank you for fostering the oldies. The fact that he wants to eat is a very good sign! Both my kitties I've lost with CRF stopped wanting to eat in the end, it was our sign.

It is so very hard when they are in rescue, costly for the rescues to treat and hard to find adopters :cry: We adopted a little old blind bag of bones with CRF and we had her for a year. Sophia was a treasure and we wouldn't have missed that for anything. Our Taz (17yrs now) hit pretty bad numbers, we treated it aggressively and she came out of it, she's been really quite happy with life for almost 2 years since then. CRF is tricky, but sometimes cats can have quite a bit of quality time after a bad episode.

Can you maybe ask the rescue if you can get some subQ fluids for him and try treating it for a month with low phosphorus food and subQs and see if he turns around? He may look worse because he's been living rough and getting into a home with good food and some fluids, his numbers could turn around drastically. In the end, he may end up living with you for a very long time anyway because cats with kidney disease are hard to find adopters for so you have to balance how much to try with what his future holds.

 

[dirtybirdsoaps]

Easier said than done I know, but I would try. Like someone mentioned already, with the right treatment and someone to love him anything is possible. If theres still a fight, why not try? Being in a guest room isn't so bad, I'm sure youve made it very homey and comfortable, and I'm sure he likes the one on one. If possible in the future thats when you try to introduce to the others. My youngest, Hot Rod had to stay in the guest room for almost 2 months when we first got him because he was a stray and we were worried about FeLV. He's the most lovey, trusting, and dependent one of all lol. You never know it could be that "holiday miracle"

 

[BJM]

Check out Tanya's Feline CRF website and learn about some of the options in managing this condition at various levels. It may arm you with info you'll need to convince them to let you provide her with a home.

 

[Anitafrnhamer]

Just be cautious about sub-q; if the cat has a heart murmur sub-q can be very difficult on the heart and cause congestive heart failure.

If you do choose to try to assist the little fur angel please check out all the info about kidney failure. A lot of good info out there. Squeaker and I have been coping with transient diabetes, CHF, 2/6 murmur and CRF for 16 months now. It really is do-able.

The most important test results you need to get for now, before you make any decision are: potassium level, calcium level, phosphorus level, BUN, creatinine, and find out if he is anemic or dehydrated. Anemia, dehydration, or high phosphorus can make them seem that they are worse off than they really are. If you decide to treat him the kidney group on yahoo is very informative.

Anita and Squeaker

 

[Elizabeth and Bertie]

Thank you all so much for your helpful and supportive responses. (I love this forum... )

I have asked for the full blood results but the only numbers I've managed to get from the rescue are (international figures) Urea 23.9, Creatine 224.
He also has a "low red blood cell count", but I've had no specific details about this.
I will contact the vet directly and try to get them to send me the full blood results.

He's been here almost two and a half weeks now. He was a stray who's thought to have been living rough for some time. He was very thin and frail. Some of his fur was matted and had to be shaved off at the vets. He was tested for FIP and FELV initially but nothing else.

After a couple of days here it was apparent that he was drinking way more water than was normal. His back legs were very weak too and he had trouble standing on them (kept collapsing onto his hocks). I suspected diabetes but checked his blood glucose twice and both times it was the lower end of the normal range.
I contacted the rescue and they agreed he needed to be seen by the vet again. They took blood for testing. The results took a long time to come back. It was very frustrating...

I realised there was a strong possibility of kidney disease so started him on lower phosphorous foods (not 'prescription' foods, just the lower phosphorous 'ordinary' foods that I feed my own oldies). And I've been supplementing his diet with B vitamins, and also a little krill oil and CoQ10 for his heart.
He has put on a little bit of weight and seems a tad stronger too. The improvement is small. But he can be tempted to swat at a toy mouse during cuddle/grooming sessions, so can't be feeling that bad.

I feel so sorry for him. He is a sweet friendly cat who just loves company and affection. And we have neighbours (lovely elderly couple) who may well have been willing to adopt him if his blood results had been OK, but there is no way they will take on a CRF cat... :roll:

This is a really steep learning curve for me. Despite having had a multi-cat household for over 30 years this is the first time I've actually encountered kidney disease...
I will check out the CRF info and forums online.

Thanks again, folks. You are stars!

Eliz

 

[Larry and Kitties]

The leg weakness is an indicator of low potassium. That is common in kidney cats since the urinate out a lot of potassium. There are potassium supplements yo can ix with the food.