Cat with chronic kidney disease

[veryfondoftea]

My 14 year old boy cat was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease back in august last year after being unwell for ages and going back and forth to the vets. He’s on renal food and lactulose but barely eats and sleeps all the time apart from when he’s throwing up or pooping in the house (very very dry poops) or drinking lots of water. We’ve been back to the vets a couple of times thinking he’s nearing the end and considering the ‘putting him out of his misery’ option but every time we go, the vet says he’s fine and still doing well.
My question is, how do you know when he’s had enough? Or is in pain? I want things to end at the right time for him so he’s not too uncomfortable but it’s so hard to know

 

[Gembo]

My 14 year old boy cat was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease back in august last year after being unwell for ages and going back and forth to the vets. He’s on renal food and lactulose but barely eats and sleeps all the time apart from when he’s throwing up or pooping in the house (very very dry poops) or drinking lots of water. We’ve been back to the vets a couple of times thinking he’s nearing the end and considering the ‘putting him out of his misery’ option but every time we go, the vet says he’s fine and still doing well.
My question is, how do you know when he’s had enough? Or is in pain? I want things to end at the right time for him so he’s not too uncomfortable but it’s so hard to know

This is so difficult. My cat had kidney disease too in her later years as well as failing eyesight, arthritis and cancer. The vet was usually more pessimistic than us about how she was doing but then she would bounce back. They say you will know when the time is right but even when that time did come for us I still didn’t feel sure and questioned it for some time afterwards.

Does your cat have frequent vet visits? I know it’s tricky at the moment with covid but something we found really helpful was having the vet do home visits. Our cat would always freeze and be a bit aggressive at the vets and they thought she was doing worse than she was but when they observed her at home they felt that actually she was doing ok.

I can’t give you any advice as such as no one knows your cat as well as you and your vet but with hindsight I do believe now that we may have left it too late. I‘m not sure id go as far as saying she suffered as we were very attentive and observant but she really did struggle. The vet said to us a few times it’s better to be two months early than two days late. I would just keep liaising very closely with your vet and don’t hesitate to contact them with any concerns.

 

[veryfondoftea]

This is so difficult. My cat had kidney disease too in her later years as well as failing eyesight, arthritis and cancer. The vet was usually more pessimistic than us about how she was doing but then she would bounce back. They say you will know when the time is right but even when that time did come for us I still didn’t feel sure and questioned it for some time afterwards.

Does your cat have frequent vet visits? I know it’s tricky at the moment with covid but something we found really helpful was having the vet do home visits. Our cat would always freeze and be a bit aggressive at the vets and they thought she was doing worse than she was but when they observed her at home they felt that actually she was doing ok.

I can’t give you any advice as such as no one knows your cat as well as you and your vet but with hindsight I do believe now that we may have left it too late. I‘m not sure id go as far as saying she suffered as we were very attentive and observant but she really did struggle. The vet said to us a few times it’s better to be two months early than two days late. I would just keep liaising very closely with your vet and don’t hesitate to contact them with any concerns.

Thanks so much for your reply. Yeah he goes to the vets quite frequently and because of how he is at home - not eating, sleeping all the time, pooping himself and throwing up often, we are always prepared they will say it’s time but they always say he’s good! He just doesn’t seem good to me :-/ so hard to know the right thing to do.

 

[SoulRebel]

It sound as if your poor little boy has had enough and is giving up now. It's a hard call but you know what you need to do x

 

[Gembo]

Thanks so much for your reply. Yeah he goes to the vets quite frequently and because of how he is at home - not eating, sleeping all the time, pooping himself and throwing up often, we are always prepared they will say it’s time but they always say he’s good! He just doesn’t seem good to me :-/ so hard to know the right thing to do.

I know, it’s so hard, a very agonising decision. We had come close just a few months before it actually happened, we had it booked in and then she really perked up so we cancelled. In fact only about 10 or 12 days before we finally had to do it the vet had come to our house and said how happy she was with her. It’s about balancing up quality of life, and this is very hard to do when you don’t want to let them go. We felt our cat did have quality of life as she still liked to have a roam around the garden, she still loved her food and would happily cuddle up with us and purr. When she wasn’t doing those things she would sleep a lot but the vet said that wasn’t necessarily a sign of anything being wrong, just that she was old and as we get older we do like to sleep more.

I think the not eating can be a cause for concern, I hate to say that. But maybe it depends on the cats personality, ours loved food above all else so for her to not eat was usually a sign something was wrong, it rarely happened though she was a greedy little thing. The pooping and throwing up would worry me though, not necessarily that it’s time but something to speak to the vet about to see if anything else could be a cause or if there was anything you could do that might help.

 

[littlepup]

Only you know but better a day too early than a day too late. Lots of love to you x

 

[Unagi]

It’s such a hard decision to make but it’s the last loving thing to do for your pet. It seems to me that your cat has little quality of life and it may be time that you prepare yourself to make that decision. It will be heartbreaking but like someone above has said it’s better a day too early than a day too late.

 

[Definitelyme]

Our dog deteriorated rapidly over just a week last summer and when I took her to the vets to discuss end of life he said “she looks well, but you are at home with her every day, and you see what he quality of life is like. You know best about whether or not this is it for her”

Your vet sounds as though they are ignoring the basic principle that you, as the owner, know your animal best. It sounds as if your poor love has a limited quality of life due to her disease.

Next time you feel it’s time for her, I would take her to the vet and say simply “her quality of life is now such that she is miserable at all times, except when sleeping, and we no longer wish to see her in that pain”.

 

[Platypusfattypus]

We had a similar dilemma last year. My 19 year old cat had cancer and we were unsure when to have her put to sleep. She was eating, drinking, loving having fusses. She would lie in the sun and seemed to be happy. We decided to only take her if she was in pain, she stopped eating or seemed unhappy. She suddenly stopped eating one night so we made the decision to take her We had an appt for the vet late morning but she died all cuddled up with us about an hour before we could take her, which I was glad about as our vets were not letting owners in and she would have died all alone in a strange place. But it was so quick at the end. This was different with my dog who had heart failure. One day we woke up and she had messed in her bed and looked so sad and upset that we knew it was best to have her put to sleep. It was so hard but she made the decision for us. I will never forget the way she looked at us.

 

[veryfondoftea]

Thanks so much for all your replies and sharing your experiences. I don’t *think* he’s in any pain but it’s so hard to know with cats, and like you’ve said, his quality of life appears poor. We’ve decided to give him over the weekend and watch him closely then go from there

 

[Saddlesoap]

Any kidney cat not eating is a red flag to me.

Try googling cat quality of life scores.
Professionally I would recommend so long as there are more 'good' days than 'bad' days she is ok to keep going.

May be worth asking your vet for a copy of her weight chart to ensure she isn't loosing too much?

 

[veryfondoftea]

Any kidney cat not eating is a red flag to me.

Try googling cat quality of life scores.
Professionally I would recommend so long as there are more 'good' days than 'bad' days she is ok to keep going.

May be worth asking your vet for a copy of her weight chart to ensure she isn't loosing too much?

That's really useful, thank you. That's how I feel about him not eating - he does lick the lactulose off the food and manages a couple of teaspoons of food but other than that just drinks water. However, looking at the quality of life scores, he seems to score quite high! He doesn't appear unhappy or pain at all. He just sleeps most of the day and night with two or three wakeful periods where he does his eating and has a cuddle with us.

 

[judgejohndeed]

My family had a cat who ended up with CKD, we only found out because she was weeing everywhere when normally she was very clean and she was sleeping all the time. When we went near her, instead of perking up and purring, she just put a paw on our hands as if to say ‘go away please’. The vets said she might’ve been okay a while longer but for us the thought that she might end up suffering or in pain because we wanted to keep her alive was heartbreaking, it is so difficult because they obviously can’t tell you but for us we didn’t want it to get to the point that she was in pain at all. We were absolutely devastated but I still feel that we made the right choice. Don’t fear getting a second opinion though, a different vet might advise you otherwise. It does sound like you could wait and risk it but equally if your cat is vomiting and sleeping a lot they don’t sound right to me

 

[OnlyHereForTheLolz]

I was devastated when at age 7 our cat got diagnosed with polycistic kidney disease. He ate great and wanted fuss all the time but we were told there is nothing they can do an it will happen fast.
Even to the end he was eating extremely well but getting skinny. We knew it was the right time when he started being very vocal because he was in pain and you could really tell. That's when I turned to my OH and said it's time.
I felt the decision was easy because I could tell in how much pain he was. I wrapped him in his blanket and we took him straight to the vet. I felt very at peace as we were with him and I felt he knew what was happening and was ready. He gave a little sigh and then he was gone. I found the experience beneficial because I felt the cat was at peace, out of pain and he was ready to go. Where as my OH found it traumatic to go in and watch him being put to sleep

 

[Justlooking19]

My 14 year old boy cat was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease back in august last year after being unwell for ages and going back and forth to the vets. He’s on renal food and lactulose but barely eats and sleeps all the time apart from when he’s throwing up or pooping in the house (very very dry poops) or drinking lots of water. We’ve been back to the vets a couple of times thinking he’s nearing the end and considering the ‘putting him out of his misery’ option but every time we go, the vet says he’s fine and still doing well.
My question is, how do you know when he’s had enough? Or is in pain? I want things to end at the right time for him so he’s not too uncomfortable but it’s so hard to know

Sending love