Hi all, first post but have been reading the forum for a while. Sorry it's a long one.
My cat is under veterinary treatment but just wondering if anyone has experienced the same or similar symptoms in their cat.
Earlier this year my cat Smokey, approx 13-14 years old, started drinking a lot of water so took him to the vets. He was found to have kidney disease after a blood test.
I started trying him on various renal foods (he's always been a fussy eater) but he really wasn't keen on any of them.
He started losing weight, looking down from above from his waist backwards he was really thin.
I had to feed him normal cat food but tried adding Ipakitine to it as a phosphate binder.
He still wasn't keen.
I got so desperate as I thought he didn't have long left if he didn't eat something soon that I got a syringe with some Lick-e-lix in it and force fed him. It seemed to work and his appetite picked up, though he'd only eat normal cat food or chicken.
I took him to the vet for a check up and while he was there noticed he was dragging his back foot. Didn't think much of it at the time as cats act differently at the vets and he was a bit wobbly on his back legs but after I bought him home I noticed it got worse.
It was his left rear leg that was affected, so went back to vets, he said it was arthritis and because of his ckd his options were limited but started him on a course of cartrophen.
1 injection a week for 4 weeks then monthly after that. Well he's had his first 4 injections and he is no better, I even started him on Yumove tablets a couple of weeks ago.
The only bonus is he is eating like a horse (and pooping like one too) but he's really struggling with the leg, it's just so weak and wobbly.
Cat with ckd and weak back leg
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Mollycat
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Re: Cat with ckd and weak back leg
Have you had very detailed blood tests, does your lad have low potassium?
With ckd and increased urine, potassium and protein can become depleted by too much being eliminated in the urine. Potassium can be supplemented and in extreme cases they can be hospitalised for intensive potassium therapy to get the levels back up very quickly. Protein binders are also sometimes needed.
Was the ipakitine recommended by the vet? If he won't eat renal food, has the vet talked over alternatives with you?
Potassium deficiency can cause muscle weakness, and if protein has been depleted for a while as well this is likely to aggravate the situation. It's important to make diet decisions armed with blood and urine test results at this stage, newly diagnosed. And if he won't eat any form of renal food, then his diet could still be adjusted to help support his kidneys.
With ckd and increased urine, potassium and protein can become depleted by too much being eliminated in the urine. Potassium can be supplemented and in extreme cases they can be hospitalised for intensive potassium therapy to get the levels back up very quickly. Protein binders are also sometimes needed.
Was the ipakitine recommended by the vet? If he won't eat renal food, has the vet talked over alternatives with you?
Potassium deficiency can cause muscle weakness, and if protein has been depleted for a while as well this is likely to aggravate the situation. It's important to make diet decisions armed with blood and urine test results at this stage, newly diagnosed. And if he won't eat any form of renal food, then his diet could still be adjusted to help support his kidneys.
Re: Cat with ckd and weak back leg
Hi Mollycat, thank you for your reply. I can't recall if Potassium has been mentioned but he is due another cartrophen injection in a couple of weeks and probably due another blood test soon too. To me it does seem more like muscle wastage rather than arthritis, but i'm not a vet.
I resorted to the Ipakitine after a lot of googling as he wasn't eating renal food and this seemed the only alternative. He still wont have it on his food though. I have to mix some in with a little lick-e-lix and syringe feed it to him.
He does wee a lot and also poo a lot so he could be losing the potassium that way, I will definately question it when I see the vet next.
I resorted to the Ipakitine after a lot of googling as he wasn't eating renal food and this seemed the only alternative. He still wont have it on his food though. I have to mix some in with a little lick-e-lix and syringe feed it to him.
He does wee a lot and also poo a lot so he could be losing the potassium that way, I will definately question it when I see the vet next.
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Mollycat
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Re: Cat with ckd and weak back leg
It's not an alternative, phosphorous is only one of many imbalances that happens once an amount of renal function is lost.
As you're obviously someone who likes to know everything there is to know about your cat's health, can I suggest this really excellent resource for ckd cats. Helen who established and runs the site has put years of high quality research into it and it really is the first go-to for feline ckd reference http://www.felinecrf.org/index.htm She discusses food, renal food and alternatives, extensively.
Has he ever had a urine test, or only bloods? Muscle wastage can be down to general weight loss, not enough protein, low potassium, other conditions, or other things, it helps to know as much as you can what you're dealing with.
It's very hard to replace wasted muscle in an older cat, especially with ckd when the relationship with protein has to change, it's much easier to manage with renal formula foods but with a little more commitment perfectly possible with alternative ways.
As you're obviously someone who likes to know everything there is to know about your cat's health, can I suggest this really excellent resource for ckd cats. Helen who established and runs the site has put years of high quality research into it and it really is the first go-to for feline ckd reference http://www.felinecrf.org/index.htm She discusses food, renal food and alternatives, extensively.
Has he ever had a urine test, or only bloods? Muscle wastage can be down to general weight loss, not enough protein, low potassium, other conditions, or other things, it helps to know as much as you can what you're dealing with.
It's very hard to replace wasted muscle in an older cat, especially with ckd when the relationship with protein has to change, it's much easier to manage with renal formula foods but with a little more commitment perfectly possible with alternative ways.
Re: Cat with ckd and weak back leg
Thank you for the link, there is a lot of reading to do there 
I've been back to vets today and have had another blood test done and mentioned about the potassium and he has included that in the test. Should have the results in a day or two.
We talked about other options and amputation was mentioned, which I have thought about but with his age and kidney problems, plus heart murmur which I forgot to mention in my first post, it isn't really a viable or safe option.
He is going to wait for the results of the blood test then probably try Gabapentin to ease the pain so hopefully that will help.
Will update post in a day or two.
I've been back to vets today and have had another blood test done and mentioned about the potassium and he has included that in the test. Should have the results in a day or two.
We talked about other options and amputation was mentioned, which I have thought about but with his age and kidney problems, plus heart murmur which I forgot to mention in my first post, it isn't really a viable or safe option.
He is going to wait for the results of the blood test then probably try Gabapentin to ease the pain so hopefully that will help.
Will update post in a day or two.