Subq for CKD cat at home becoming increasingly impossible

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tt076k
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Subq for CKD cat at home becoming increasingly impossible

Post by tt076k »

My boyfriends 12 year old cat, Vivi, has recently been diagnosed with stage 3 CKD. The doctor first instructed us to do 100ml subq every other day for a week, which she tolerated very well. After her first weekly check-up, he told us that we needed to do the subq daily. It’s become a nightmare.

We were only able to get it done 4 times out of 7. No amount of strength or type of restraint can keep her from twisting and scratching and hissing and so on. We already split the 100ml to 50ml in the morning and 50ml at night, drip bag is warmed to cat body temp, etc but nothing has helped. It feels like we’ve watched every YouTube video, have read every post, and we’re still loosing this battle.

We had the vet give her the subq yesterday, but we’re both students and this is not something we can afford long term as it would come to roughly $600usd a month between vet cost, the transportation cost to and from, and so on.

My boyfriend is very upset about the thought of having to put her down because of our inability to get her to cooperate. He’s had her for 11 years and she means the world to him, and he’s also never experienced the loss of a pet before.

Please any sort of advice or tips or just anything would be really helpful at the moment. Thank you so much.
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fjm
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Re: Subq for CKD cat at home becoming increasingly impossible

Post by fjm »

SubQ is very rarely prescribed for home use in the UK, where diet and drugs are much more commonly used. If you can increase the amount of fluids she takes orally she may not need SubQ, especially at this stage. I would look at wet, not dry, renal diets if she will eat them, and do everything you can to encourage her to drink. Add water to her food if she will accept it, offer her diluted liquid from tuna canned in spring water (not brine or oil), cook a chicken breast in plenty of water and try her with that. If she prefers running water from the tap perhaps a cat fountain would help - even having water bowls in ever room will encourage her to stay hydrated. 300ml orally is the equivalent of 100ml SubQ, so that is what you are aiming for.

https://www.felinecrf.org is an excellent resource for information about helping cats with CKD - many members are in the US where SubQs are often given at home, so there will be lots of advice based on personal experience there.
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Mollycat
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Re: Subq for CKD cat at home becoming increasingly impossible

Post by Mollycat »

Unfortunately once a cat starts to rebel against a treatment it's very hard to come back from there. I'm afraid I don't have any advice, I haven't got to that stage with any of my renal failure cats, but I do sympathise with the problem of getting essential medication into a cat.

Sooner or later your boyfriend is going to have to face losing his first beloved pet and it sounds like this is going to be a hard time for you. When treatment is that traumatic for an animal, and it's not curative but a lifetime sentence of daily misery, you have to question in whose best interests this nightmare is worth it. Feeling very sad for the cat, your boyfriend and you having to deal with it as best you can.
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