My beloved cat is 19 and her kidneys are failing.

[Saxo21]

My gorgeous cat Marmite is 19- her kidneys have been bad for 3-4 years and now they have become much worse. She will hardly eat and is getting very thin.
I just wanted some help and advice on things that may get her to eat, how to keep her comfy and what to do with a beautiful cat experiencing CRF.
Thankyou so much

[SarahT1 [PLLE]]

Hello, I haven't experienced this with my old girl yet, and hope I won't do so for her sake, but there are lots of folk on her who can advise you well. Have you tried warming her food, and giving her more strongly smelling foods, to tickle her appetite. At her age and state of health anything is better than too little, and I would give her as many treat meals as possible rather than stick rigidly to the 'proper' cat foods. She might like a heated bed for more cosiness? And little treats like Lick e lix, which she probably already has. Her Mummy's love is so precious to her at this time. XX

[Diana]

I have had no experience with this either. But as one stated, have you tried warming the food? What about food that's quite potent, like Tuna? Try foods like this as it may kick start her appetite.

[lilynmitz]

I'm assuming she's been under the vet during these years and on appropriate pills and diet to support her kidneys? If not, even at this late stage starting treatment might help her a little. Otherwise all I can suggest is the same as the others, warm her food up a little, and hand feeding can sometimes work as well. Try to add some water to her food to make sure she doesn't dehydrate and to help flush the kidneys through so the toxins don't build up too much.

If she's been on a renal diet but won't eat that any more, getting her to eat something is better for her than not eating anything, so just give her what she will eat. Senior foods are usually more palatable than renal foods, and pate foods are easy to hand feed if she likes them, and are easy to add water to (and any other additives like ipakitine or crushed up fortekor pills). I have Lily on Gourmet Senior, in addition to her dried renal food.

You've obviously been supporting her well if she's got this far with kidney problems, and I'm sure you'll do what you can to make her comfortable at this stage. Has she been seen by the vet lately to see if there's anything more they can suggest?

[meriad]

I lost my old girl Molly last year July - she was 21. She had kidney issues for quite some time but ultimately in the end it was a combination of general old age issues such as arthritis as well as the kidneys.

Molly never did eat any of the renal foods and with four other cats in the house it was hard to feed her totally separately as she used to nibble at food throughout the day. What I did was give her what she wanted when she wanted; it was more important for me that she ate something even if it wasn't quite suitable for her kidneys. There were times when she just wouldn't eat and I had tins of H/A (I think it's call - is a high nutrient pate food you can get from the vet, usually used for post op cats) that I used to water down and warm up a bit in the microwave (enhances the smell to cats) and if need be would actually syringe feed her just to kick-start her appetite again

I had two water fountains in the house; one in the bedroom so she didn't have far to go to get a drink. She used to spend about 90% of the time sleeping on my bed. I also had a litter box in my bedroom because she just wasn't fast enough anymore to get off the bed and to the bathroom if she needed to go.

At this point of a cat's life I'm a very firm believer in quality of life vs quantity. It's so hard watching them as they get older and frailer. When I adopted Molly as an 8 year old her nickname was FatCat, but when she passed she was so incredibly skinny; no fat on her at all - just skin and bones

you've done really well to get your girl this far; so you obviously are doing things right.

Fusses to your girl

[Saxo21]

Thanks so much for all the tips
She has started to lose a lot of weight and won't eat much at all but i am still trying! Even if it is 2.30 am in the morning!
As much as I don’t like to give her whiskas things the only thing she seems to enjoy is whiskas cat milk. Hopefully the calories in that will give her more energy.
She seems wobbly on her legs but this morning begged for food and meowed loads and ate a tiny bit of white fish- she also ate some chicken at 2.30am. Not alot but a few pieces.
I am keep everything crossed that we can keep her strong and hopefully get some medication down her (she hates tablets etc)
Just trying to keep her comfy- basket by the radiator (even tho it is 19 odd degrees in Kent at the moment!) we have the heating on for her!
She is purring and loving strokes but I can tell she is weak and not herself
If anyone has any more suggestions of how to get her to eat more or make her more comfortable I would love any input
Thanks SO much

x

[HRHFluffy]

It sounds like you are doing all you can to look after your lovely girl.

Have a look at this website.

http://felinecrf.org/persuading_cat_to_eat.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There is a wealth of information on there which has helped me with my little Fluffy who is in mild stage of kidney disease but has heart disease too. Scroll down the page to the "tempting your cat to eat" part. One thing that Fluffy does (and I think it is mentioned on this page) is when she wakes up suddenly, she immediately wants to eat. So I always make sure I give her something straightaway. She has completely gone off renal foods so I give her what she will eat.

Please give Marmite gentle fusses from me. You are doing really well and it's obvious she knows how much she is loved.

[Saxo21]

Thankyou so much!
She definitely wanted to eat when she woke up in the early hours!

I am so glad i have found this forum. It really helps to have some fellow cat lovers and those who have been through the same thing

Thankyou so very much for your kindness and support

xx

[meriad]

Thankfully I'm single because not sure many people would have put up with what I did.... I set up a feeding station at the side of my bed, right next to Molly's bed so she didn't have far to go and could eat whenever she wanted.

And seriously, give your girl whatever she will eat - anything is better than nothing

fusses to her

[Saxo21]

That's a great thing to do. i have put lots of different food options out for her- it is like a cat tapas bar, i think she was getting confused with too much choice though so i am keeping just a few options there. she likes the cat milk but i am now worried it is making her stop drinking the water which she needs, so i may just put it down sporadically
what do you think?
Thanks so much xxx

[lilynmitz]

You could water the cat milk down a bit (as much as she will tolerate). Any fluid is better than none.

I've done the smorgasbord routine with poorly cats as well. Putting a bowl of food by her bed is a good idea. I do it with Lily sometimes, so if she wakes up peckish, it's right there by her. The things we do for our lovely moggies....

[MarkB]

I have had 3 cats with it. It really is a rollercoaster as their appetite goes up & down. The smorgasbord thing is a good idea. If she likes dry food, lots of cats that don't like renal food will eat Happy Cat Renal (online from zooplus) another option, not as low in phosphorus as renal food, but still quite low, is Sanabelle urinary dry - also from Zooplus. It seems to appeal to most cats - it is very smelly


Although low-phos renal food is the ideal, anything they will eat is better than no food, so try not to get too hung up on feeding renal food.

My Clsapton survived 5 years from diagnosis, mainly on a diet of Felix senior pouches. He refused outright to eat renal food.

Another thing I bought for Alice just before xmas, is a no-spill dog bowl. One of mine has been ill this week and I kept it on the sofa for a couple of days so he didn't have far to go for a drink. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ROAD-REFRESHE ... 3a7f7812d7" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;