KT is 16 and has arthritis in her front knees, but until now, she's been otherwise healthy. A month ago, she started drinking lots of water. We thought it was just greediness as she loves to be picked up and put on the bathroom counter so she can drink from the faucet.
A week ago, she started to have accidents in the bathroom. We don't have a litter box. Instead, we let her go outside whenever she wants and she's had no problems with that. The smaller Catican Guard, a chihuahua mix, occasionally has accidents in the house when no one is home and she's too scared to go outside. Our Maximum Leader's accidents were right where the little Guard had gone, so we figured that was just odor-induced.
A few days ago, she started throwing up much more than normal and became listless. We took her into the vet and everyone suspected that #1 killer of cats, kidney failure. Tests were run and while we were waiting, we discovered that dry food makes her throw up, but wet food seems to be fine. All of these symptoms match kidney failure.
Things looked bleak for Her Serene Furriness.
The tests came back yesterday. She's close to the beginning of kidney failure, but she's not there yet. No need for special diets, but she's eaten her last dry kibble and she's going to get all the water she wants. We installed a litter box upstairs in the bathroom to stop the accidents.
So far it's all working fine. She's back to her normal self and there have been no more accidents. The litter box is a total drag as she has decided it's far easier to go there then bother wandering outside. The clumping litter can't be flushed and she's tracking litter all over the bathroom. Still, those are solvable problems. Kidney failure is not. I'll take that trade any time.
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| Gushifud from now on? Awesome! |
5 comments:
So sorry to hear about her health. My Mom's cat has been fighting this for many years.
Sorry your cat is in failing health, but 16 years is already above average, so I guess it's inevitable.
On the litter front, we actually did use flushable litter for a while, and it seemed to work OK (we stopped using it when we moved out of town, and weren't sure whether it would behave OK in our septic tank). But then, we switched to putting the litter in the compost, and just used a non-clay litter (when we tried this with a conventional bentonite clay clumping litter, the stuff expanded in the compost, and made quite a mess). I've seen a lot of people arguing that you shoudn't put used cat litter in the compost, but as long as it wasn't clay we didn't have any issues with it.
As for why we didn't put it in the garbage, we have to pay by the bag for garbage disposal. And I'm a cheapskate.
Sorry she's starting to show her age.
We had to say goodbye to our "basement cat" six weeks ago. We'd been dealing with hyperthyroid for a while, but in February it became evident that he was in the 5% for whom the cause is a malignant tumor. And the road went downhill steeply from there. All that to say, I understand where you're at.
With the good care you will give her, her majesty should be able to continue her reign for some time. Best of luck and gushifood!
Good luck! I had a cat with CRF who had it for five years before I lost him. But it was lymphoma that took him. I still miss him. (His brother died from lymphoma six months later.)
We love our little furry family. They do bring us so much joy, companionship.
Thanks for the kind words, all of you.
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