I’m taking a night off from the kittens’ story because I am concentrating all of my energy on Rainbow right now. I managed to get an appointment with Dr. Tammy today and had some blood work run on Rainbow. She’s been losing weight gradually and since she is 17 years old I didn’t want to let that go undiagnosed. Unfortunately I have had to put it off several times because other cats were ill and needed workups, the latest being Bluebird. I can’t afford to take all of them in at the same time so it is a matter of “triage” of sorts.
In any case, tonight the call came in to tell me that Rainbow is in chronic renal failure. Her creatinine and BUN are really high. Both are indicators of kidney health. While she was at the clinic we also gave her a large bolus of fluids SQ but by the time of the phone call she had already soaked most of it up. That means she was dehydrated as well although that didn’t show. The only course of action at this point is to adjust her diet and give her fluids on a regular basis to help flush out any toxins that have built up in her system.I am terribly concerned about her and feeling very guilty about having put her health on the sideburner all this time. I’ve had her since she was a kitten so we are very close. But I had no choice. I do remember when my first cat (as an adult), Gabbie started having kidney trouble, she was 13 years old. She lived to be 17 and died of bladder cancer. I can only pray that Rainbow is able to fight the worst of this off and stay with me a few more years.
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| How Rainbow feels about photo shoots |
I’ll get back to the kittens this weekend. Thanks for following along. In the meantime I’ve love to hear your success stories of cats with kidney trouble.
Oh your Rainbow looks just like my Grandkitty Bunny. Bunny was recently diagnosed with CRF. My daughter is giving her Sub.Fluids everyday now and she is doing great. Her last kidney test came back great after being on the fluids for about 3weeks.If you go to my blog I have a post about her and you can see how much she looks like Bunny. Bunny is 18yrs.old and will be 19 in April.I do hope this makes you feel a little better..there is hope.I will be sending Purrs and Prayers your way.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! I'm glad Bunny is doing so well too. The thing is, Rainbow doesn't act sick so I'm feeling good about that.
ReplyDeleteAndrea, my Cookie is 19 and was diagnosed in June, and even as accustomed as I am to my geriatric cats and their failing kidneys I should have done something sooner. She has a few other issues but kitties are tough! My Stanley was diagnosed at about age 21 and lived to be about 25, four years with off and on fluids and other care.
ReplyDeleteSo don't beat yourself up, cats are genetically programmed to hide illness and the triage is part of most households, including mine. And now that she's diagnosed and is getting treatment you may stabilize her enough that she'll just need a touch-up now and then. Hope so!
Love your new layout. Looks like something under the microscope!
Gotta love that Cookie! I'll stop the beatings now, thanks.
DeleteI thought the layout needed something new. I kinda like the blue. I hadn't thought about the microscope thing. I guess that reflects my scientific background :)
We saw that you're following our blog and came to check you out...are so sorry that Rainbow has CRF. Our human doesn't have experience with that...yet. Hyper-t, yes. Idiopathic cystitis, yes.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if you are familiar with the site, but Tanya's CRF site is excellent:
http://www.felinecrf.org/index.htm
Purrs to Rainbow from us and universal Light from the human.
-Nicki and Derry, with angels Annie and Chumley and the human Kim
Thank-you for your sentiments and for the link. Rainbow is doing well but giving her fluids is becoming quite the circus. I'm going to have to find a new place to hang the bag so I can sit down while I administer them.
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