cat with kidney failure, now has bladder infection

[HereToday]

Hi - my siamese cat was diagnosed with kidney failure last Feb. and is on epakitin and azodyl. Last week I thought she had the cat flu as she had vomiting and diarrhea - the vet said if it goes on more than 2 days to bring her in. After 2 days she seemed to be ok again and then last night she started pacing back and forth to the litterbox and I saw blood in it. She also urinated on the carpet and I saw it was bloody when I wiped it up so took her to the vet thismorning and he did blood and urine tests and gave her an antibiotic injection. He said the injection lasts two weeks and I didn't have to take antibiotics home, he said it was some new thing. He recommended the k/d feline renal health canned food. Can anyone recommend what other foods I can give her? Maybe there is a good dried food, she seems to prefer the dried food now. Another thing I was wondering - the azodyl capsules say on the bottle to give whole, not to crush or open them but they are huge. I have been mixing them with canned food (receptionist at vet said this is ok) but was wondering if I could mix both of the meds with water and give them with a syringe (another receptionist at the vets suggested this). Has anyone ever dealt with these meds? I will get the results of the tests Saturday. Thanks for any info. anyone can give me

[HereToday]

this k/d feline renal health is not working at all, she will only eat a little bit of it and it is $2.50 a can plus 12% tax. I was feeding her Fancy Feast chicken feast in gravy which doesn't seem to be too bad on Tanya's Guide, the Wellness and Merrick brands have quite a bit more phosphorus.

[growler~GateKeeper]

Originally Posted by HereToday

Hi - my siamese cat was diagnosed with kidney failure last Feb. and is on epakitin and azodyl.

Is she on fluid therapy yet? Do you have a copy of her test results?

Originally Posted by HereToday

Last week I thought she had the cat flu as she had vomiting and diarrhea - the vet said if it goes on more than 2 days to bring her in. After 2 days she seemed to be ok again and then last night she started pacing back and forth to the litterbox and I saw blood in it.

Was she given a subq fluid injection to combat dehydration from concurrant vomiting & diarreah?

Originally Posted by HereToday

Can anyone recommend what other foods I can give her? Maybe there is a good dried food, she seems to prefer the dried food now.

She really should be off dry food entirely especially with this new bladder infection. Canned of course is much much better than dry & with the dry you need to make sure she is drinking enough water, however if it is a matter of her not eating or eating

Wellness Healthy Weight has a dry matter phosphorus of 0.79%, Wellness Indoor Health has a dry matter phosphorus @ 0.85%, Eagle Pack Original Adult Cat is .77% dm phos.

Originally Posted by HereToday

Another thing I was wondering - the azodyl capsules say on the bottle to give whole, not to crush or open them but they are huge. I have been mixing them with canned food (receptionist at vet said this is ok) but was wondering if I could mix both of the meds with water and give them with a syringe (another receptionist at the vets suggested this). Has anyone ever dealt with these meds? I will get the results of the tests Saturday. Thanks for any info. anyone can give me

According to Vetoquinol the makers of Azodyl opening the capsules & mixing with food/water may reduce effecacy http://www.vetoquinolusa.com/CorePro...al/Azodyl.html

I've only ever given them whole, you can put a tiny bit of butter on the capsule to make it easier for your cat to swallow & then follow with a yummy treat or meal.

Be sure to keep them in the fridge even if the bottle is not open yet.

Originally Posted by HereToday

this k/d feline renal health is not working at all, she will only eat a little bit of it and it is $2.50 a can plus 12% tax. I was feeding her Fancy Feast chicken feast in gravy which doesn't seem to be too bad on Tanya's Guide, the Wellness and Merrick brands have quite a bit more phosphorus.

The k/d will only work if the cat will actually eat it, and many will not, so finding another low phos food with good (not too low) protein levels will encourage eating.

Re the Fancy Feast alot of the food choices depends on what she will eat cuz no matter how low the phos if she won't eat it, it's not going to help. Also depends on how comfortable you are with the ingredients in the Fancy Feast vs the holistic brands ie "wheat gluten" and "meat by-products".

[HereToday]

I will get her test results tomorrow, I will ask him for a printout - not sure what exactly to ask him on the phone. She was not on any fluid injections - I didn't take her to the vet at first as she seemed to get over that vomiting and diarrhea fairly quickly - it was on and off for a couple of days. She and is still drinking quite a bit of water. She doesn't seem to want to eat much canned food, all she wants is the dry - I have put it up for now but she still won't eat much canned. The Wellness on the list I printed out from Tanya's site says Wellness Chicken 1.15 on the same page as the Fancy Feast is listed at 1.12 for phosphorus. The list was 28 printed pages long so it is kind of confusing trying to locate one food that I could try. I took her to the vet once I realized that she had blood in the urine and was leaving drops of blood in the litterbox. It would be good to learn more about how to manage her kidney failure tho, I wasn't keeping the azodyl in the fridge at first, the vet didn't mention it and I didn't see it in small print on the bottom of the bottle. What do you think about mixing it with water and giving it with a syringe? It took both my daughter and I to give her pills before and now my daughter has moved out. Thanks for the info., I need to try to get regular blood tests - this one might not be reliable because of her being sick the week before and not eating much for awhile. She seems to be losing weight still - when she was put on them she was 6 lbs. 6 oz. and now is 6 lbs and half an oz. I thought she would be doing better on them.

[growler~GateKeeper]

There is a sticky thread at the top of the Cat Health Forum called Early Stage Kidney Failure in Cat you will find it to be a long read but there is a link to a summary post in the first one. Lots of good tips, info & links in there.

The Azodyl & Epakitin aren't for weight gain/management but for uremia & phos control. It will be mentioned on the label to keep it in the fridge at 4*C for best results or like some of the ones I purchased had a round green sticker on the lid that said 4*C.

I would still think whole is the most effective way to give the Azodyl, though the company is doing trials on it mixed with food

In order to maintain/increase her weight she needs to eat consistently and a good quality protein. Foods such as Wellness, Evo 95%, Merricks Before Grain 96%, Halo, Holistic Select etc will have a higher animal meat protein content than FF since they do not contain corn, wheat gluten etc.

Does she seem to be nauseous before/during/after she eats? Lip licking, droolng, heaving, holding her head over the bowl but not eating etc

Do you have her dish raised up between 2-6 inches off the ground? This will help to reduce nausea by ensuring her head is above her stomach when she eats/drinks keeping the stomach acid in her stomach. I say 2-6" so you can make it where ever is most comfortable for her size. Even if she isn't nauseous this may encourage her to eat more as the angle of her neck would be more comfortable for an older kitty. A phone book, low box, plant stand etc are good, just ensure the dishes can't slip off & scare her while she eats.

You can also encourage more canned food eating by adding a couple of crushed dry krunchies on the top, tiny bits of cooked chicken, sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

Since she is tiny & not eating much right now I would offer her a variety of different brands/flavours from the list to see what she will eat & expand from there. You don't have to restrict her food choices to one brand or flavour, in fact it's better to have a few different ones in case she decides at some point she doesn't like a particular food, then you still have more to choose from.

Let us know what the test results say

[HereToday]

I did manage to coat one capsule of azodyl in butter and give it to her whole, it was a battle tho. I don't necessarily need her to gain weight but don't like her losing it all the time. Yes she loves cooked chicken, I have been giving her some but by itself - good idea to mix it with the food. I will post the results as soon as they tell me, but I remember in February all he said to me was that her kidneys weren't working properly, will have to ask him for more details.

[HereToday]

Vet said her BUN is 23.3 which is better than it was in Feb. when it was 30.3. But her creatinine is high, it has gone from 245 to 297. She was sick for awhile before I brought her in (vomitiing/diarrhea) and not eating much so she wouldn't have been getting all her medications. No growler she is not nauseous anymore since starting these medications, it's just that she only eats little small bits at a time and then the canned food totally dries out. They told me to come in some time and they will give me a bad and needles to give her fluids underneath the skin but she actually doesn't seem to need water to me - she drinks constantly - wish she would eat that way. Anyway thanks for the info. and anything else you can tell me about her blood levels or diet. Thanks again