Cat Chat Feline Forum

So sorry to read about Pudding's renal failure. Does your vet have any weekend/overnight cover with any other vets locally? If she is having a crash episode from her renal failure, she'd probably benefit from at least 48 hours (if not longer depending on the vets assessment & daily blood tests) ...

Thank you too Crewella. I do appreciate your comments. At the moment, they've said she's improved from yesterday & I think the question is whether she can maintain it or not. If you'd seen her in the weeks previous, she'd been on such good form character wise. I just feel I owe it to her to give...

Thank you Julia. I don't really think I have the best understanding of PKD either. Kidney failure is hard enough to understand without the complication of the cysts too. I've read quite a bit from Tanya's CRF site but I find it quite hard to take in. Do you? It was Tanya's site that made me want to ...

Thank you Desley. I really don't know at the moment. When my vet did the ultrasound on Friday he said that the kidneys didn't look any different on the ultrasound aside from the larger outer cysts which had increased in diameter. He said the amount of functioning kidney was the same as the previous ...

I'm not the biggest fan of dry foods but when Maxwell (also overweight) was treated for his blockage & bladder stones, the vet did mention this dry food to me. It's reduced calories but somehow still makes them feel full. We didn't try it as we've got him on a urinary diet but it may be of use t...

Thank you for your kind words. I'm struggling with what the vet was saying as he hadn't seen her 24/36 hours previously & didn't seem to have the same opinions as my vet who said we would treat symptoms as they arose as with any kidney disease. This guy was very much, it's not curable so why pro...

Hi everyone. I'm really hoping someone is around as I could very much use some urgent advice. My 14 year old petite girlie Polly was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease a couple of months back. Bloods in July showed early renal failure but numbers were not considered bad enough to start any tre...

Hi Julia - sorry for the delay replying. I don't get the chance to get on cc very often. It sounds like things are under control for Tig so that's good. Things aren't so good for Polly so I'm going to do a separate post, see if anybody has some advice. Polly isn't a pedigree either, just a very peti...

How is Kylie doing Mark? Tiger has IBD but his results have not shown low folate before so I don't have anything useful to add there. Tiger has lost weight too but not as drastically as Kylie. I've tried him on z/d but he'll only eat it every other meal so I'm not sure how much benefit it is. I know...

Hi Julia, So sorry to hear about Tig. Poor lad has been through so much. My vet found Polly's in exactly the same way. Do you mind me asking how big the cysts were? Polly's largest was 2cm on the ultrasound and I couldn't feel them by stroking her. I think the scan was only about 6-8 weeks ago &...

Hi Julia, sorry to read about Tig. One of mine, Polly, was also diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease a short while ago. My vet says it's genetic and quite unusual in moggies, Polly is a rescue so we don't know anything of her history prior to her going to the rescue centre. I'll be keeping an ey...

Maxwell had a blocked urethra and had emergency treatment to unblock his urethra back in April. X-rays showed bladder stones which were surgically removed. The lab results showed them to be 100% struvite. Since then, he's been on Hills s/d canned cat food with as much added water as we can get away ...

I took my 13.5 year old cat Polly for an ultrasound of her kidneys today. She had her annual check last week and the vet said her kidneys felt lumpy and needed following up (she didn't have her vaccines as a result). Her left kidney has small cysts however her right kidney also has a large one, appr...

Hi Julie, So sorry to read about Barney's ongoing problems. Like Helen, I think a scan of the bladder like your original vet has suggested would be a good plan, assuming there isn't any emergency until he's back. Have they x-rayed at all? I think the ultrasound scan would be better than xrays. With ...

That's good to read Mark. Well done Kylie! :) How are you finding the z/d? I've been reluctant to put Tiger on it because I've read mixed reviews about giving it to IBD cats. I'm worried Tiger might have lost weight though so maybe I should bite the bullet & give it a go. Does it seem palatable ...

I had a missed call from the vet last night. I can't believe it's been over 4 weeks since the bladder stones were sent away and the report has only just come back. The stones were 100% struvite stones - apparently the most common type for cats. I'll have to give the vet a call back after the weekend...

Max is home. :) I picked him up last night & have settled him in a cage in the bedroom. I'm not sure if I'm being overly cautious but the vet said to keep him quiet. I'd planned on room rest but when I let him out of the basket he just did laps of the living room up on the backs of the sofas &am...

Thank you - I've got some on order. :) For those of you that have used the prescription foods, have you found much variety available brand/flavour wise? I'm not sure what to start with... I went to visit Max today. I was there about 40 minutes before I was asked to leave. I know they're busy but the...

Hi Anna - that's really good to hear about Lily's bladder stones. The vet yesterday said the xray showed none but another vet reviewed them this morning and thought otherwise. Hi Helen - thank you so much for those links, there's a huge amount of useful information there. Is cystophan something I ca...

Thank you Desley, Kay & Julie for your good wishes. They're much appreciated. Kay - I've not had a cat with a blockage before but from what I've read online, I guess his weight doesn't help. He had lost over a kilo when we stopped giving dry food completely but we restarted them on Applaws senio...

Hi Helen, thank you for replying. I wasn't happy with how Max was so took him to another vet I've used before with fosters we've had. They're open on weekends. They did a senior blood profile & his creatinine is really high - about 960, I think the upper end of normal range was about 190. His bl...

I'm really pleased that you're all doing well. I tried putting food in front of him first - smelly warmed tuna, white fish & the liquid butchers - he sniffed but just turned away. He's laid out on the bedroom floor now. If he keeps it down, I'll try some more in a couple of hours and see if we c...

Hi Kay, Good to hear from you. Are you well? I wouldn't say he exactly let me... His teeth aren't great but I couldn't see anything major, but sometimes it's something you wouldn't think that is just really painful, isn't it... Good thought about furballs. He's never suffered with furballs before so...

Hi all, Its been quite a long time since I've posted, ever since losing my beautiful Wiggins almost 18 months ago. Generally things have been good with the cats & dogs. Polly has very early stage renal disease (they say too early to treat), Tiger's IBD has been up and down but everybody else has...

I know vet trips can be very stressful but a lump in that location a couple of months after should really be checked. If the vet suggests a biopsy, I wouldn't rely on a fine needle aspiration, they can be very unreliable, a punch biopsy would give you a better idea of what it would be. Really hope i...