As has already been said, CRF is not necessarily an immediate death sentence. Many cats with CRF live months or years, and end up dying of something completely unrelated to the CRF. My 14-year-old kitty, Beau, was diagnosed, and with meds and sub-q fluids, he lived a year with severely reduced kidney function. Through an ultrasound and analysis of his symptoms, we discovered that Beau also had pancreatitis (which apparently can both cause kidney failure and be a secondary symptom of it). Once we treated that, his appetite came back and he was like his old self--and I mean how he was when he was 5 years old. I didn't realize just how gradually he'd gone downhill until we got him back on track.
Beau was on Hill's Prescription k/d and I swore by the stuff. He went through phases with it, at times only liking the dry food, and other times refusing everything but the chicken-flavored canned food. As long as he was eating, I gave him whichever version he wanted. When he was in fussier modes, I'd buy tuna in water (no onions in the broth) and would add a little bit of that to his canned food. I also bought him a kitty water fountain to encourage him to drink more water.
We were given another wonderful year with him before he finally experienced an irreversable "crash" and decided he'd been through enough. It was extra effort, and certainly an extra expense that not everyone can handle, but I would do it again without hesitation.
Administration of sub-q fluids is very easy to do. There is no reason why it can't be done at home--it took about 5 minutes of instruction from the veterinary assistant at my vet's office, and a little bit of experimenting with Beau to figure out how to keep him calm and still long enough to get the fluids in him. It ended up being our special time together, even though the whole process took less than 10 minutes. That said, some cats, and certainly some owners, aren't conducive to doing sub-q treatments at home. Cats who won't sit still or refuse to be restrained may have to be treated by the vet. Since sub-q treatments usually have to be done at a minimum, once per week, and more typically, every other day or even every day, this can be a logistical nightmare, not to mention an expense.
Just like with my own health issues, I found I needed to be educated about Beau's condition, and found the online forums and informational web sites to be a valuable source of info about caring for CRF cats.
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Sue S
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