Hey everyone,
Not sure how to start - I just joined today because I need someone to talk to/get advice.
I have a 19 year old tabby that I've had with me since I was a kid and I brought her over from Canada to Korea when I moved here after university for work. I've noticed in the past few months that she seemed to have lost a lot of weight and overall looking quite lethargic so I took her to the vet a few weeks ago.
The vet told me she has stage 4 CKD (high BUN/Cr, low potassium/sodium, very high phosphorus, normal calcium). Apparently its really rare to see a very old cat in Korea, so the vet has been very unhelpful. I contacted my cat's vet in Canada and explained the situation and he told me to get her on fluids immediately as well as famotidine and mirtazapine. My cat is also on azodyl and something to lower her phosphorus, but nothing more than that because apparently anything stronger will be too hard for her to handle right now.
In the past week after starting treatment, she seems a lot better - a bit more energetic, started grooming herself again and responds to be when I call her name or pet her. However, the problem is as follows:
- Even on 1/8 mirtazapine daily, she doesn't want to eat at all. She only eats little chunks of beef that I cook for her, but I don't think it's a viable option long term because it's not geared towards cats with renal disease. I've tried every option in the book and she doesn't eat anything...any advice on what I should try next? I've tried force feeding a liquid diet and she went into respiratory distress, so I really want to avoid that if at all possible...
- Her left hindlimb seems a bit lame - at first impression I thought her Achilles tendon had snapped, but upon physical examination, I don't see any swelling and she doesn't seem to be in a lot of pain so I'm not 100% sure now. I read online that electrolyte imbalances combined with peripheral neuropathy due to renal disease can be the cause of this? I would take her to the doctor to get it checked out but if it isn't a life threatening emergency, I am wary of taking her to the vet because she gets insanely stressed and I think it does more harm than good.
- There seems to be a bit of peripheral edema going on especially in her forelimbs. Upon auscultation and percussion, I didn't notice any abdominal distention or shifting dullness or any abnormal bowel sounds so I don't think there's any ascites yet. Should I just wait and see if the swelling seems more noticeable before doing anything?
- She drank a lot of water and went to pee quite often (4-5 times a day) but starting yesterday, she's drinking less and only went to pee twice. Volume is around the same, but I am not sure if this is a bad sign? I know that as renal diseases progress, cats tend to pee and drink more often? Since this is the exact opposite, I'm not sure what to make of it.
I know this is an extremely lengthy post so to anyone that reads this in full, thank you. It's been a rollercoaster ride of emotions this past few weeks with no real help from the medical staff here.
Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much in advance!
p.s she's only visited the vet once and only had a blood test done, no urinanalysis. She is scheduled for followup blood work in 2 weeks.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/il0u6o/19_year_old_cat_with_ckd/
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