Early Stage Kidney Failure in Cat

[growler~GateKeeper]

Originally Posted by driver8

What an interesting thread - good to know this is a common enough problem to make a sticky thread.

Hi driver8 Welcome to the forum & the CRF cat club.

Quite the opposite actually, it's heartbreaking that it is common enough for a sticky thread.

Originally Posted by driver8

My Lucy is about to turn 14. For the past two yearly check-ups, she has lost weight each time, and this time she had lost enough to start doing investigations. She throws up a fair bit, but she's always had hairball problems so we assumed that's what it was, but maybe it was the renal failure symptoms. Her liver function was normal, but her creatininine was elevated, thyroid normal, no diabetes. The vet said it was "mild to moderate" chronic renal failure.

Is it hairballs she's bringing up or clear-yellow foamy liquid or food?

Find something to put under her food & water dishes to raise them between 2-6 inches off the ground, but make sure the dishes won't slip off. I used a phone book under my grrls water fountain dish & a planter stand on a block of wood under her food dish. This will make it easier on her neck to reach into the dishes as well as keeping her head higher than her stomach in order to keep any excess stomach acid in her stomach, reducing nausea.

Originally Posted by driver8

She's always been a petite cat, and she is tiny but not emaciated. She has lots of energy still. Runs around the house, rolls on the carpet to get attention from guests, etc. Because she's had dry food most of her life, we're trying the dry food first - Renal LP from Royal Canin. She seems to like it so far, and hasn't thrown up at all since we started introducing it. She drinks tons of water on her own, so I'm not worried about dehydration so far.

How much does she weigh? How much has she lost in the last 2 years?

The reason she's drinking "tons" is dehydration in combination with the lack of water in her food.

Cats bodies are designed to retain as much water as possible by recycling it throughout their bodies. Unlike other species, their normally functioning kidneys concentrate their urine by removing as much water as possible, that water is then cleaned & filtered back to where it's needed. The concentrated waste that is removed as urine has very liitle water content in comparison to the other waste products. When the kidneys become compromised they can't filter efficiently and so they loose far more water than their bodies are designed to loose in flushing out the toxins as urine. Therefore they need to drink more to compensate.

If they aren't getting much moisture in their food and are instead drinking it straight, it flows through the body at a much faster raite - there is less to process during absorption.

Originally Posted by driver8

For me, it's a quality of life thing and as long as she is happy and energetic and not in discomfort, I'm happy. But it's sad to know there is a tangible sign that she is becoming and older, more frail cat.

This is a good indicator of her overall health as well, her state of mind & how she's feeling is often a reflection of her health.

Originally Posted by sugarcatmom

I sent Natura an email for clarification on this, because I know this food is frequently recommended for CRF kitties on other sites. I'll let you know what they say.

Hopefully it's just an error on their site

Originally Posted by driver8

But I read the labels on the canned foods, and they all have less protein content than the dry foods, and I wonder if that was why my cats were so hungry when we tried to transition.

If you were to remove all the moisture from the canned food & the dry food you would see that the canned actually has a higher protein content.

They likely were hungry from not eating enough if they were so stressed about the change in food. Some cats can be so picky about what they'll eat so often the transition needs to take a longer time.

Originally Posted by driver8

I didn't ask the numbers of her lab values, I don't want to get too focused on numbers. (Treat the patient, not the numbers) She still has lots of energy, etc, so I'm not too worried yet. I know that with CRI, diet is only a small part of it, and that the disease will still progress anyway. I'm pretty confident that she has a lot of living left to do.

Treating the cat not the numbers is essential, basing treatments on how the cat is physically doing, but you still need a frame of reference for the things that may not be so obvious or that take a little longer to show their effects. For example in the urinalysis some cats may have minute amounts of blood in their urine which you will not see as red (unless there is something seriously wrong) but may indicate other issues that have the same symptoms as CRF.

Among other things the lab values will also guide you when it comes time to start subq fluids, as it is better to start before the cat becomes dehydrated to the point of being very obvious & in need of IV fluids.

Yes she has lots of life left in her, keep up the positive outlook & it will transmit itself to her as well.