Hi nemesis
welcome to the forum & the CRF cat club
. It is absolutely ok that you post here, this was my hope when I started this thread - that we could all gather our experiences & ideas in one place to help ourselves & others.
At this point the more important thing is getting him to eat, not really
what he's eating, especially considering his previous refusal to eat. Fancy Feast does have a number of varieties that have good phos numbers,
the most recently updated food table listing by dry matter phos shows quite a few flavours under 1.20% dry matter phos
. You want to stay below 1.25% max and try to stay away from fish varieties as much as possible.
When posting blood/urine values please put the reference range for the lab that did the tests (like you did for the phos
) depending on the equipment the numbers can vary quite a bit.
That is a very good drop from the previous numbers
Cats realize pretty quickly when something is making them feel better & will adapt relatively easily to the changes. My
crf girl Duffy went from being a pill spitter to a cat who would willingly sit & wait for her twice daily supplement regiment.
Giving fluids for the 1st time yourself at home can be a scary thing, but if you go into it with confidence you'll do fine. It definately gets easier with practise to the point it just becomes routine.
Here's a step by step instruction guide you can refer to:
http://www.weirdstuffwemake.com/weir.../catjuice.html
I would recommend getting a price comparison of the fluids, lines & needles from the vet, a human pharmacy and/or a medical supply company if there is one in your area. I found a local medical supply company to be the cheapest, fastest & easiest to get supplies from.
Most vets will use a Monoject 18g needle for giving fluids to cats, ask your vet for a Monoject 20g instead, the needles are smaller & therefore the "poke" not so noticable. The fluids will run slightly slower through a smaller gauge needle, but in & out it's more comfortable for the cat. If your vet carries Teurmo Ultra Thin Wall needles that's even better
, get those in a 20g. The Teurmo 20g UTW needles are super sharp, have a bevelled edged & the shaft is much thinner so the poke is hardly noticable at all - even compared to a Monoject 22g (even smaller needle). Given the thinner walls the fluid flow rate is about the same as a Monoject 18g.
Every 3 months is standard time between appointments, unless you notice something "off" ~ eating less, lethargic, change in behaviour/litter box habits or Smokey looks like he's slipping towards a crash.
You should always keep in mind that you can call the vet at any time to ask a question or give an update, if they think something is not right they'll have you bring Smokey in.
One thing I found very helpful is a cat journal - each day write down how Smokey is feeling (content/grouchy/playful), what his attitude is like (social/unusual hiding), how much he ate (more/less/same/doesn't like this flavour or that brand), litter box habits (more/less/same), what he did that day (slept all day/watched the birds/played w/toys/terrorized the dog). This will make it easy to spot any subtle changes before they become an issue.
A journal will also give a good reference point in relation to when he gets fluids - ie: the day before his fluids he feels really grouchy etc as compared to the rest of the week. A couple of months down the road maybe you notice the amount of time he feels better after fluids is getting shorter, so you can talk to your vet about changing the schedule or volume of fluids.
Most of that drop is due to the IV fluids, fluids directly in the bloodstream flush out far more of the toxins that cause the rise in values. However it also flushes out many essential minerals, nutrients etc that the body needs, which is why IV fluids is not done for an extended period of time.
Since Smokey was brought in with high numbers, it is best to keep him on Subq fluids for now until there is a stable value shown over the course of a couple of tests. Your vet has already adjusted the schedule to less frequent treatment to compensate for the better numbers.
Personally
I would keep him on 2/day. According to the
IRIS Staging Guide Smokey is in Stage 2 of kidney disease, Azodyl is ideally suited for stages 2-4. The Azodyl will not have a negative effect, but instead continue to help reduce the toxin levels making him feel better which in turn may increase his appetite.
If Smokey is still at a fragile/unstable point weight wise I would keep him on both right now, until he gains more ground in that respect. At 5lbs that's just tiny
w/no room to lose, once he gets a bit more weight on him you can try some of the tips here:
Transitioning Dry Food Addicts to Canned Food
As for the canned food, that depends on Smokey, some cats will jump right in & try something different whereas others need it mixed so the change is less noticable. Slowly adding a tiny bit of new canned to the FF is a good way to "trick" him into eating a better food without turning him off right away. Some cats take better to change than others but slowly changing shouldn't be anymore upsetting to his stomach than if you did a straight switch, unless he's intolerant to a specific ingredient.
Things to watch for: any changes in drinking/eating/litter box habits/mood/time spent sleeping, any new symptom you hadn't seen before like lip licking, vomiting, unusually bad breath, drooling.
Are you familiar with the skin pinch test for dehydration? Have your vet show you what to look for - grasp the skin between the shoulder blades between your thumb & first finger, gently pull it up so it's taut & let go. If it "tents" or takes longer than 2-3 seconds to go back to normal, your cat is showing clear signs of dehydration - if it tents & stays up go to the vet asap.
You can also, if he'll allow, rub your finger along Smokey's gumline - if it's wet & slick he's fine, but if it's dry, sticky/tacky - he's showing clear signs of dehydration & you should contact a vet asap.
I've found this site
http://www.felinecrf.org/index.htm to be a invaluable resource written by a woman whose been throught it all before.
Paranoid lunatic? no Good pet parent? yes