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My cat is 16 yrs old she was just diagnosed with chronic kidney failure. Her bun and creatine levels were very high. She recieved iv fluids for two days at the vet and I brought her home last night. She just wants to lay with me n sleep. I tried all kinds of food to get her to eat she picks at it but isn't eating very much. I tried her old dry food the hills kidney diet food and a wet food. I don't know what to do I know she needs to eat more. She's on amoxicillin for a bladder infection and I'm giving her Pepcid ac once a day I start the sub fluids tomoro.
I'm sorry to hear about your cat. You could try all meat baby food. Make sure there are no spices in it. Just plain, all meat baby food. It's easy for them to digest. And hopefully, it might kick start her appetite.
This was me, about 6 months ago. We were not at IV fluid stage, but I had a cat come home from vet, diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, and she wasn't much eating.
A day or so of just coming home and readjusting, after being overnight at the hospital, it may still turn around on its own. But you may have to be prepared for more not eating. My cat gave me this kind of scare, basically zero food for about 3 days. My cure, at the time, finally, was meat baby food. Gerber in the little glass jars has baby food that is just meat and water and salt. Chicken has the most calories; ham was perhaps a better taste hit at times. But on that third night I sat there with her and fed her the chicken off a regular spoon, and she finally ate. She went through about half the jar in one sitting. What a relief that was at the time. Eventually it got harder again, and this is not ideal long term because your cat needs to have taurine and other nutrients that are not in the baby food. But it can sometimes help kick start things.
The vet might recommend Hill's a/d. It's worth trying. Yes there are better foods for kidney disease, where you are looking to have lower phosphorus content in the food. But most importantly the cat must eat enough. Wet food is what you want to feed. If she eats the dry, then whatever, but if she's not eating anything then just push some wet. Anything. Pick out any cans of anything you think she might eat for now and worry about ideal composition later. People food if she'll eat it, like just regular canned tuna in water. That is far from ideal but if it kick starts her interest in food, that's probably most important.
In my case, we had additional complication (congestive heart failure) which made balancing the fluid tricky (made her retain too much). It also results in breathing issues with the fluid, and nothing stops a cat eating faster than breathing trouble apparently. We ultimately had a lot of syringe assist feeding, very hard thing. But this might not be in your future, at least not just yet.
Are you giving the Pepcid as regular pills? Usually this is 1/4 pill dose, something like that. (We did this for a while too.) This pill is pretty nasty so you ideally want a way to mask that. I finally acquired some tiny size 4 gel capsules, which I could only find online. Amber had several meds to take and would no longer take them in pill pocket treats. I eventually got half decent at pilling her, despite my protestations on here that it was not possible.
You should have hope that you have some months or even years of quality time left with your cat. But there's no denying that there are likely going to be some rough times in there. Make sure you take care of yourself too; sometimes this is the harder part.
Thank you. I tried the hills kidney food she won't touch it in wet or dry form. I am giving her the 1/4 of Pepcid just in a pill form. She's very good about taking everything I give her. It's just eating that's a problem. I'm going to get the baby food thank you. I read that website I'm just overwhelmed with all the information. Everyone gives diff supplements and I don't know what to try. I just gave her an iv injection bc I could tell by her skin she's dehydrated already. I feel very hopeless and want to do everything I can.
Thank you. I tried the hills kidney food she won't touch it in wet or dry form. I am giving her the 1/4 of Pepcid just in a pill form. She's very good about taking everything I give her. It's just eating that's a problem. I'm going to get the baby food thank you. I read that website I'm just overwhelmed with all the information. Everyone gives diff supplements and I don't know what to try. I just gave her an iv injection bc I could tell by her skin she's dehydrated already. I feel very hopeless and want to do everything I can.
Just take it one step at a time. You'll be fine. I had a diabetic cat and a poster on here directed me to a web site for diabetic cats. There was SO much information! I know it can be overwhelming. Your first step should be getting her to eat. Just focus on that for the immediate time. If you have a printer then I would suggest printing out the info from the site that Greg42 gave you. That way you have the information handy and can read it any time you want. That was easier for me than having to be tied down to the computer.
You sound like a good, sensible, caring cat parent.
It's scary. But take a breath. Start with basics. Hydration and fluid, you have that sounds like. You are giving the sub-q at home? Surprisingly, this was for us the easiest part of the routine. We all got used to it including the cat.
And food. This is where you focus. Any food. Note that Hill's a/d is not the kidney formula but is instead a sort of recovery diet for cats not feeling well. It's probably more palatable than the kidney stuff. But really all you need is anything that you can get her to eat right now. Any kind of cat food is a better formulation than the baby food, but that is certainly worth trying in a pinch.
Get your vet on speed dial and learn how they will react to phone calls, how fast they call back, that sort of thing. I always got a call back from mine in a few hours, and I always felt better afterwards. My vet's office very much encouraged me to call in as often as necessary when she wasn't exactly stable. Most times the vet would call back. Sometimes if it was a simpler tweak of meds or something just the tech would call back and confirm. When you're approaching or past 2 days with her not eating you want to call them and see what they suggest. They should be okay with providing some info over the phone. You don't have to do this all with just online help, although I understand wanting to hear from others who may have gone through such things. You may be faced with differing suggestions from the vet and from online stuff. This is part of the reason I never found great comfort in the Yahoo groups for example. I couldn't help but read and read and soak in a lot of info, but I also put a fair amount of trust in my vet.
Save the supplements and stuff for later. One thing at a time. Focus on the eating.
I had a cat who had kidney disease.....he made it to 21.
He would NEVER eat the Hills kidney diet.
Royal Canin and Purina also make kidney diets for cats. My Nicky liked the Purina the best.....but, whenever he got tired of it, I would give him the Royal Canin....he liked that too.
It is nice to be able to offer a little variety.
When Nicky didn't want to eat at all......I used a drug I got from the vet to make him hungry......Cyproheptadine.
That drug worked miracles......within 20 minutes or so......he would eat.
It is not a drug you use a lot of.......one dose would usually break the not eating spell for days or weeks at a time.
In the beginning, he hardly ever needed it.....towards the end he needed it more often.....and then, eventually nothing worked and he passed away from end stage kidney disease.
I used the Cyproheptadine for YEARS.....without it.....I am convinced Nicky wouldn't have lived as long as he did.
Cyproheptadine for appetite can be highly effective in patients who have a
reduced desire to eat, or need to gain weight. This medication is an
antihistamine intended for the management of allergies, but can cause increased
appetite as a side effect. A medical practitioner can use this in an off-label
capacity to help a patient who is having trouble eating, especially if the
patient is struggling to meet a recommended daily caloric allowance. It is
suitable for long-term use, which can be advantageous for some patients who
don’t know how long they will need to take the medication.
Studies evaluating patients who take cyproheptadine for appetite indicate the
medication can be a very effective appetite stimulant.
Needless to say.....if a doctor ever wanted ME to take cyproheptadine as an antihistamine......I would tell him "NO WAY! Pick another drug." The last thing I need is a drug that makes me hungry! LOL
Appetite stimulant, yeah. We did some of that, and I think it didn't work because either the fluid or something else was still making her feel bad. Mirtazapine was certainly interesting though. (We did that after cyproheptadine.) I know different cats can react differently, but your description Annie definitely strengthens my belief that something else was still going on.
Alyssa, how's the kitty doing? Give us an update when you're feeling up to it. I know if you're still trying to get her to eat it can be exhausting.
Appetite stimulant, yeah. We did some of that, and I think it didn't work because either the fluid or something else was still making her feel bad. Mirtazapine was certainly interesting though. (We did that after cyproheptadine.) I know different cats can react differently, but your description Annie definitely strengthens my belief that something else was still going on.
Alyssa, how's the kitty doing? Give us an update when you're feeling up to it. I know if you're still trying to get her to eat it can be exhausting.
Like what? He was old and he had kidney disease.
Cyproheptadine might work for the OP.....and if it does....... it will be a godsend.
It is far better than feeding food that will hasten the decline of kidney function.
It certainly can't hurt to ask her vet about it. Her vet will know if it is safe to try for her cat.
I think I was in a hurry earlier and wasn't clear. Particularly, I didn't mean to imply that the OP should not inquire about appetite stimulants, as they might be just as helpful as in your case. Indeed I meant just the opposite, that the OP should check this out because your case gives me hope that MY case was an outlier.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Annie53
Like what? He was old and he had kidney disease.
I was talking about with my cat, something else was going on that made the appetite stimulant not work for her, either GI issue or just fluid buildup from the congestive heart failure. What you wrote is a striking contrast to my experience. We went to max doses of cyproheptadine, then added mirtazapine, and we never got a significant response from these used as appetite stimulants. Given that they are widely used and usually pretty successful, as in your case, that is why I say something else must have been wrong in mine. With the mirtazapine there is a noticeable effect, so it was clear when she got a dose of that. It just didn't stimulate much eating for her. We spent the last weeks syringe feeding, thinking we would still turn a corner, or at least I did.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Annie53
It is far better than feeding food that will hasten the decline of kidney function.
The most important thing is always that the cat eats vs doesn't. Feeding food with lower phosphorous is still generally thought to be beneficial, but there is even some question as to whether we can really regulate this very much with the food intake. I wouldn't disagree with trying appetite stimulant plus the renal formula foods, but first priority is any food! Another thing that can be used if it comes to that is phosphorous binders, but I think we're getting ahead of things here. Any food, and ENOUGH food to maintain weight, is always first.
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I had a diabetic cat and a poster on here directed me to a web site for diabetic cats. There was SO much information! I know it can be overwhelming. Your first step should be getting her to eat. Just focus on that for the immediate time. If you have a printer then I would suggest printing out the info from the site that Greg42 gave you. That way you have the information handy and can read it any time you want. That was easier for me than having to be tied down to the computer.
(We did that after cyproheptadine.) I know different cats can react differently, but your description Annie definitely strengthens my belief that something else was still going on.
