Around early November, our cat, Chai, suffered acute renal failure. At first, he stopped eating Purina One, which he usually eats, and he almost stopped eating for 2 days. He’s had very few likes and dislikes until now, so what’s the matter? I thought it might have gotten bored, so I changed it to Beauty Pro, and he ate it again for a few days. After that, he didn’t eat at all. He drinks a lot of water, and the color of his urine is very light, and the smell of his urine is light. I thought this was bad and rushed to the animal hospital, but it was renal insufficiency as expected.
His blood test showed that his creatinine index was 12.8 and his BUN was over 230, so he could die at any moment. In spite of that, when I went to see the veterinarian in the middle of November, he was relatively healthy just not eating food. He did blood tests and gave him an IV drip, and he hated it so much, but he managed to put up with it. During that time, he ate a few bites of wet food for renal disease and even licked Chaochur, but he gradually stopped eating it. I used to give him Chao Chur after a nail clipper, and when I picked up a nail clipper, he flew up and got on my lap, so he was conditioned, but now he’s not very energetic.
When I took his blood again a week later, his creatinine index was 11.5 and his BUN was 195, showing little effect. By the way, normal levels of these factors were creatinine of 1.6 or less and BUN of 40 or less. According to the veterinarian, if the number is high, he will lose his appetite due to nausea or something. Even with an IV drip, he keeps losing weight. His weight went from 3.9 kilograms to 3.5 kilograms, to 3.1 kilograms, to 2.7 kilograms a month later. I tried force-feeding with syringes, but he vomited after a while. The cat never vomited until now, but it seems that it doesn’t accept food anymore. It looks painful when he vomits again, so I can’t watch him.
There is information that it is good to warm the part where the renal is located, a little below the rib on the back, and if I warm him with something like Yutapon (A heating pad that can be kept warm for a long time when heated in the microwave), his appetite may come back, so I have been warming him whenever I have time, but unfortunately his appetite has not come back. In other words, once the renal function drops, it doesn’t recover, so I think it will be difficult once the value of the measuring instrument is exceeded. There are some cats that survive well even in renal failure stage 4.
A cat’s renal disease costs a lot of money for tests and other medical treatments. We have pet insurance, so it helps a little, but we paid a lot. Even a conscientious veterinarian costs money. But it is rather pitiful to take a cat that doesn’t like to go to a hospital even though there is no chance of cure. At home, I gave him an IV drip and force-fed him, so the cat didn’t like me and he wouldn’t sleep on my lap or beside my head on the bed. He ran away when we approached him, so our hearts were breaking. He can’t walk straight anymore, he has incontinence. It is very difficult for me to change my understanding from thinking that I could maintain the status quo and live a decent life with treatment to thinking that I have no choice but to wait for his death.
After talking with my wife, we decided to stop drip and force-feeding and let him live as he likes. For the past few days, he has been waddling, barely able to walk, and he wants to go to a place that is very cold and dark, and he just stays still. He has no appetite, so I bought Mirataz ointment from overseas mail order, but I think Chai will be crossing the rainbow bridge by the time it arrives.
But why did he suddenly get sick when he had only given Royal Canin and Purina One for his cat’s food, and he had only given Chao Chur for his occasional snack? I wonder if it would have been better if I had given him more variety of foods since he was a kitten. I don’t think it’s lack of exercise and I don’t know what the cause is. I should have had frequent checkups when I got him the vaccine.
The progression of the symptoms is quite rapid and getting worse in no time, so my mind can’t keep up. I think he will die in a few days, so I have to prepare my mind. I would have been hopeful if AIM medicine had become common a little earlier, but it is a pity.
(2024/12/03)
