My cat, Nala, has kidney disease and her levels are going up. She is currently getting fluids 3x a week. She’s not eating much and has tried two appetite stimulants and was allergic to both. I have a new medicine to try this week but was wondering if there are more natural ways to stimulate her appetite? Also, does anyone have experience with kidney support gold? It’s a supplement from pet wellbeing.

Creatinine-5.7
BUN-81
IDEXX SDMA-31

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Cat Kidney Frugal Diet Ideas

So I took one of my cats to the vet because he wasn’t feeling good. The vet done some bloodwork and found out he is in early stages of kidney failure and advised me to look into a meal plan specialized for kidney care such as: (Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Renal, Hills Prescription Diet k/d, or Purina NF.) I’ve since looked into the food.. and the prices are outrageous.

There’s not even coupons or anything.

I typically feed my cat (Nutrish Indoor Complete: RachealRay) and its a huge bag thay lasts an entire month for around $30 or so… but this new food, the small bags that would last at most.. a 1-2 weeks as I have 2 cats.. plus occasionally my roommates cats will steal a couple bites.. is about $40+ and I simply cannot afford that. Any ideas on a frugal meal plan. I don’t want him to get worse but I don’t want to break bank either. Please help!

My cat, Mattie, is 12 years old currently and has been acting a bit strange these past 2 years. She wanders into bathrooms in the middle of the night and yeowls loudly, but when you investigate she seems disinterested in you. I found that she has a habit of drinking from the toilet and assumed that the water in her dish was inadequate. I make it a point to refresh the water dish every time I pass her water bowl. However the yeowling continues. The vets I’ve visited have ruled out blindness and dementia, and simply say shes lonely. I don’t really know how to feel about this as she isn’t a clingy cat. Recently, she has been diagnosed with Kidney Disease, and I was instructed to put her on prescription food (Dry and Wet), and I can’t help but wonder if her midnight caterwauls are due to an illness I can’t see. Is there anything I can do?

Dear Dr. Magnifico,

I’m writing to you about my 19-year-old cat, Molly who was recently diagnosed with FCE or IVDD. I have a few questions which I hope you can answer for me.

Two weeks ago tonight, I left home for a few hours. Molly was fine when I left. When I got home, I found Molly under the bed with her back legs paralyzed. Although Molly was paralyzed, she did not appear to be in pain. Molly has always had a strong appetite. I fed her canned cat food through the night by slipping it under the bed. She ate normally.

I took Molly to her vet on Thursday morning. The vet did an xray and said that she thought Molly had either FCE or IVDD. Molly had no movement in her back legs, but she did have deep pain sensation in both back paws. The vet told me that if Molly had FCE, then she had a 25% chance of recovering significant leg movement within 2-3 days. If after 2-3 days she still hadn’t recovered any use of her legs, the chances that she would ever recover decreased to 10%. The vet said that if Molly had IVDD (which is the diagnosis she was leaning toward) then she had no chance of recovery of function in her legs. The vet recommended waiting until the following Monday to give Molly a chance to recover some leg function. If she didn’t show signs of recovery by Monday, she recommended euthanizing her. The vet gave me a prescription for prednisolone and gabapentin and I brought Molly in to the office 3 days in a row (Thurs. Fri. and Sat.) for a laser treatment.

Between Thursday and Monday, I did some reading and watched some YouTube videos about FCE and IVDD. What I learned appeared to be at odds with what the vet told me. There is a YouTube video showing physical therapy exercises one man did with his dog who has FCE. This man’s dog was paralyzed for 2 months. In the third month, the dog began to walk again. I watched every video you made about Hank and his recovery from IVDD. Hank appeared to be in worse shape than Molly was in the beginning. Molly lost back leg function, but her front legs were fine.

On Monday, I told Molly’s vet that based on what I’d learned about FCE and IVDD, I was planning to give Molly more time to recover. The vet said that she was very skeptical about Molly’s chances of recovery but it was my choice. She recommended that I continue to bring Molly in for laser treatments. Other than that, she gave me no advice or guidance on how to help Molly.

Molly has other health issues. She was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism at age 14. It’s been under control with methimazole since her diagnosis. She was diagnosed with kidney disease at age 17. Her kidney values have remained stable since her diagnosis. Also at age 17, she was diagnosed with high blood pressure. Her blood pressure has remained normal since she began taking a small dose of amlodipine daily. So, Molly has some health problems, but everything was under control with medication.

Since the time that Molly was diagnosed with kidney disease 2 years ago, she has used the litter box frequently – about every 2 hours. She eats a lot of canned food and drinks a lot of water. The vet has said that she’s not dehydrated. I give Molly a potassium supplement and B12.

Molly seems to feel good. Her appetite has remained normal. She is alert and affectionate – she has continued to be this way since developing paralysis two weeks ago.

Right after Molly’s paralysis, I thought I saw some small movement in her back legs. Two weeks later, I see some unmistakable movement now in both hind legs. But the movement I’m seeing is far from normal movement. On Christmas Day, I made a video which I uploaded to YouTube of some of the movement I’m seeing in Molly’s legs. I’d like to know if this movement is a step toward Molly recovering her leg function or not.

Molly Saying Hello – 19 seconds – Dec. 24, 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDf0NvJnA4M

Molly Leg Movement – 3:30 seconds – Christmas Day – In addition to the movement seen in the video, I’ve seen Molly stretch her leg backward and curl the toes of both feet on multiple occasions.

In the very beginning, when the vet said Molly’s condition might be FCE, I found a YouTube video on physical therapy for FCE (https://youtu.be/T_l_OWRT0ck). It was basically moving the affected leg in a bicycle motion 25 times 4 times a day. I did that with Molly for a few days. I did it very slowly and gently. It didn’t cause Molly any pain (she often fell asleep as I did it). After I started thinking it was more likely that Molly has IVDD, I became concerned the PT exercises were the wrong thing to do and almost discontinued doing them. Now, I wonder if that was a mistake because Molly’s legs have become much stiffer than they were in the beginning. I can no longer do these exercises with Molly because of the stiffness in her legs.

I just need some guidance about how well or badly Molly is doing and what to do to help her recover going forward. I plan to continue working with Molly’s current vet but would like input from someone knowledgeable about IVDD.

Thank you so much for sharing your opinion and thank you for the wonderful, helpful videos on IVDD. I wish I lived near your clinic because Molly would be your patient tomorrow if I lived near you.

With appreciation,

Lisa Crabtree

Hi. My 12 year old cat,Lola, has stage 2 kidney disease (according to the blood work). She has lost almost 3 lbs since July. She has not eaten dry food for a month. Lately she prefers the gravy from her wet food only but the last couple days has been eating some of the wet food (not much). Two Fridays ago she received a fluid treatment and an anti nausea shot. For the last 4 days she has vomited at least once a day, usually in the early morning. Today she has thrown up 2 times and has had smelly diarrhea twice within 7 hours. She has been eating Friskies brand food. I did just give her some kidney diet food and she ate it. She has slept a lot but still is bossy, purring and wanting attention. She has a vet appointment on Monday night but I was wondering if I should bringing her into a vet hospital or can I wait until her appointment? Thank you!

My 7 year old female dog, has just been diagnosed with kidney disease and diabetes , ?? quality of life? Or downhill quickly?

Hello! My cat gags every time he smells human food. His apetite is okey – he eats Royal Canin food, he uses his litter box as usual, and there are no sighnificant changes in is behavior, except for he sleeps a lot. Help me, please! I am very very concerned about my cat’s health. Is the gag reflex a sign of a serious health problem? Can it be liver/ kidney disease? What exactly shoud I do to help my cat? P. S He is 2 years old.

I looked down at my cat licking himself to see one of his nipples red, with surrounding redness. He is 4 1/2 years old and was nuetered when he was a kitten. He also was diagnosed last year with Stage One Kidney disease and is on special food to help. What should I do?

We need to find lower-cost cat food alternatives for our cats if possible. 1. Our 4-year-old ragdoll spayed cat Mei-Mei went from boxy and large-boned to obese. She is otherwise perfectly healthy. At her last physical, we learned she needs to lose 3-4 pounds but only 4-8 oz per month at a time. Is there a lower-cost alternative to Science Diet Prescription Metabolic that won’t hurt our old cat if he eats some? 2. Our 13-year-old neutered Maine Coon, Murphy, has the very beginnings of kidney disease and has always had a tummy prone to barfing. He is currently on Science Diet Prescription Kidney Diet. He is doing well but could use a little more weight. Any lower-cost options for him? Thank you.

I have already asked a question before about my 12 year old cat, Atra, but I have to ask another. We have not been to the vet because the symptoms are fading but a long time ago we took her to two different vets and 1 of the 2 of them said she had kidney disease but we just don’t know. My mom also looked up and saw that if an older cats schedule gets messed up (which it did because we where gone for 2 weeks cause of another incident) they can act different do you think that is just the case?