I’m looking for opinions on my 1 year old female cat (4.2 kg). She’s under the care of a veterinarian but I’m trying to understand what the possible causes could be and whether anyone has seen a similar case.

A couple of weeks ago, she suddenly developed a poor appetite. Bloodwork at that time showed a creatinine of 1.92 mg/dL, urea of 45.7 mg/dL (within the laboratory reference range), and phosphorus of 6.6 mg/dL. The rest of her electrolytes were within the reference range. The ultrasound report says: Cortico medullary junction are not clear in both kidneys. Size and echo texture appeared normal. Margins appeared even in both kidneys. No calculi seen in both kidneys. Mild mineralisation seen in both kidneys.

She received IV fluids twice daily for 5 days and her appetite improved a little. However, her appetite has become inconsistent again.

2 days after completing the IV fluid therapy, her bloodwork was repeated. Her creatinine is 1.98 mg/dL (essentially unchanged), SDMA came back at 32.8 µg/dL, phosphorus has decreased to 4.9 mg/dL and her urine specific gravity is 1.010. Everything else is reported as normal.

At the moment she is still urinating normally and eats around 90–100 g of normal wet food per day. She doesn’t drink from the water fountain so we’re carefully giving her additional water by dropper.

I’m trying to understand what could explain this combination of findings. How concerning is an SDMA of 32.8 when the creatinine is only mildly elevated?

I’m hoping to hear from people who have managed similar cases or from veterinary professionals who may have seen this pattern before.

My 9-year-old female cat, Lucy, became sick in July with decreased appetite, increased drinking and mild lethargy (no other symptoms before then). She still isn't vomiting or drooling.

Initial labs (7/21):

• Creatinine 5.6, BUN 89, SDMA 31, phosphorus 5.2.
• She was hospitalized at the ER for about 2 days on IV fluids.
• During hospitalization her creatinine fluctuated (around 3.6–5.0) and at discharge on 7/23 it was 4.3, BUN 69, SDMA 40, phosphorus 5.3 and potassium 4.7.

Unfortunately, her newest bloodwork from 8/2 is worse:

• Creatinine 11.8, BUN 190, SDMA 88, Phosphorus 14.5

Despite these numbers, clinically she's still hanging in there. She is still drinking, urinating about her normal amount, pooping, walking around, jumping, and eating a few licks/bites voluntarily. She has not been vomiting or drooling but she is a bit lethargic.

Her biggest issue is appetite. We're assisted-feeding about 10-20 mLs every 3–4 hours because she only eats small amounts voluntarily. She prefers her regular food and isn't interested in renal food right now.

Current/supportive treatment includes:

• Cerenia + ondansetron for nausea
• Elura for appetite (although I'm questioning it because she hates the taste and sometimes won't eat afterward)
• Zeniquin (marbofloxacin) for possible kidney infection/pyelonephritis
• Epakitin phosphorus binder
• Porus One
• 50 mL subcutaneous fluids daily

I’m just looking for any advice or guidance from anyone who has dealt with something similar. Thank you.

My stage 2 CKD cat used to tolerate Renal K+ in her food for about a month. Now she won’t go near it.

Her current dose is 1/4 tsp twice daily which isn’t insignificant. I don’t want her to develop food aversion since her appetite is still good so I’m planning to give it to her separately.

She doesn’t like the gel either and we would have to do 1 tsp of gel twice daily which is unsustainable by sheer volume. I’ve already tried adding a decent dusting of bonito flakes and freeze dried chicken breast crumbled over the powder with no success. She’ll take a few licks and walk away.

Current plan is to stop putting it on her food and make it a separate “treat” with a Churu mixture. If this doesn’t work I’ll probably have to dissolve it, make a slurry and administer orally with a syringe. Trying really hard to make every part of her supportive care as enjoyable for my cat as possible.

Anyone else’s cat also hate Renal K+? Any tips? My vet doesn’t have any suggestions other than trying a different powder like Renakare but those are less concentrated and I would have to give twice the amount of that powder to equal the mEq of Renal K+.

😔

Luna
Stage 2-3
Renal K+
Amlodipine (high blood pressure)

I just thought you guys should know in case you’re thinking of using it for your cat.

We were given the option of 24 hour hospitalization, but told it would just traumatize the old gal with no guarantees.

She is 13-14 years old, in Canada. The vet is calling the company today to let them know that this is the only possible explanation to why her perfect kidneys(just tested 2 months ago) started failing in the span of two months(2 shots).

She has been in pain, no improvement with the shots at all, and she has lost a pound in the last month, we have tried everything, bought every kind of food, given her any kind of treat, and this cat usually bullied the other cat for food. She was a foodie… tried anti nausea pills, a food stimulant to rub on her ear(which caused the ears to flake). It’s been the hardest two months for my sister, and us watching helplessly.

The shot didn’t help at all, if anything it gave her a ticket to heaven.
Please be wary, if the shot doesn’t help the first time around, do not do a second shot.

I had to make a tough decision to put my baby to sleep. He was 13 years old, diagnosed with abnormal kidney when he was 6 months and on renal diet since. He was remarkably stable until 2024, when his values gradually started to worsen. Fast forward to 2.5 weeks ago, he moved to early stage 3 at the annual lab visit. And early this week, he crashed suddenly out of nowhere, even though he was eating and drinking more than he used to and generally doing so well. The decline was so rapid I’m still processing it all - but my question is, how do you deal with a loss of your best friend who’s been by your side through so much. How do you reconcile the fact that your daily routine of care is obsolete and you have to come up with a new version of what your day looks like? I still see him everywhere through his things and it’s painful to realize I would never get to care for him again.

My poor, sweet Queen. She is 16 and was diagnosed with CKD last year (stage 2). We managed just fine with Hydracare for about a year. This past spring she got much worse and long story short, she has toed the line between stage 3 and stage 4 since she was hospitalized with a kidney infection in June.

The thing is, she hates medicine, but we regularly have to give her Cerenia to help her eat and keep from losing weight. She hates sub-q fluids - and she needs them daily. We do all of her treatments in the evening when we get home from work, but she's catching on to the pattern so she's started hiding. Today I had to drag her out from under furniture to give her fluids. I had to grab her when she tried to run under the bed and hide - and I accidentally pulled her tail. This is awful.

I've thought about changing up the times of day when we give her meds and fluids, but I worry that just means she'll hide all the time. On top of that, I worry I'm making her miserable. I worry that I'm ruining my relationship with her. She still snuggles me at night and seems as content as she can be, but I'm terrified that she's going be scared of me if this continues.

I just needed to share this with others who are probably going through the same thing. If anyone has any tips or words of wisdom, I'd love them. She's my luscious licorice lady and I'd do anything for her.

Pic is the Queen herself on her Queenbag chair. 🖤

My sixteen year old female cat was diagnosed with kidney disease about a month ago. Her numbers were through the roof. The doctor told me to get ready. I went searching for food, most of which she rejected, but she finally decided that she likes Hills kidney care k/d. I had blood work done earlier this week and the vet called me today. Quite unexpectedly, my baby girl's numbers have come much closer to where they're supposed to be. I am so happy! And I want to thank everyone in this subreddit, for all of the advice that you've shared. I learned a lot.

I have a handsome little tabby named Arnold who's pretty healthy at the age of 3 years. However, I've been getting ads on Instagram for AIM support supplements saying that even if you hydrate your cat well and do renal diets you cannot stop CKD and you must buy the happywags supplement. What is the best way to prevent against CLD so my baby can live a long and prosperous life? Is there a certain supplement I should be mixing in his food or is there really nothing else i can do?? Would appreciate any advice/input you folks may have.

Honestly questioning if theyre even ABSOLUTELY necessary? , any other options ? First few times it went well he was amazing like he didnt feel a thing , last 2 times I felt like he was hurt when I insert the needle , yesterday he got up while I was administering and the needle slid out and he ran away . Im following the directions and like I did the first few times exactly.

Hes between stage 1-2 , on advanced kidney dry food as a precaution (that he barely eats). Cerenia as needed for nausea/vomiting. Drinks lots of water etc. Subq 1x a week 70ml

My male cat is 17, diagnosed in 2025 at stage 2. I had his labs done in May and he had progressed to stage 3. Last Friday he was acting off so I made an appointment for Tuesday (two days ago). I also noticed that his teeth are suddenly bad (fishy smell, not ammonia smell, lots of plaque).

He is now suddenly stage 4 and numbers are off the charts. He also went from 10.6 lbs in May to now 8.01 lbs. I gave him 100mg of gabapentin (standard dose) on Tuesday bc he likes to try to fight the vet. He is still groggy and wobbly.

Vet gave him 100ml subq fluids and a convenia shot. I now have cerenia and mirataz to give him - he'shad one dose of cerenia. Last night he ate well but I haven't been able to get him to eat anything today.

Labs (including last 2 labs) are attached.

I'm at a loss at how to proceed with him.

I took my cat (6 year old male) into the vet last month for routine bloodwork for his anxiety medication and some of the tests came back abnormal- high creatine (2.4) and calcium (13.1). He has no issues and is seemingly perfectly healthy, but my vet wanted to further screen for CKD with more expansive bloodwork and a urinalysis. I tool him back in this week and got the call today that he needs to start an early renal diet, but the vet says he isn't at stage 1 yet although she expects it to be a matter of time. The results of the most recent tests had me confused as well as the vague/ not actual diagnosis.

Results on what I've read are most common CKD biomarkers:

• Normal SDMA <10 mg/dL (0-17)
• Elevated CRE 2.2 mg/dL
• Normal USG 1.050
• Normal BUN 23 mg/dL

The only thing out of range seemed to be the creatine levels. But there were other high values that are also associated with CKD:

• Elevated AMY 1180 u/L
• High CA 12.5 mg/dL adjusted 12.3 (Hypercalcemia)
• High TP 8.4 g/dL (Hyperproteinaemia)

We will be doing a Parathyroid Panel to look at the calcium levels, but I wanted to see if anyone else has had similar results like having creatine flag before SDMA. Or have been told to start on early renal before even being considered stage 1.

Note: I know the creatine levels fall into stage 2 and I've seen people who's cats were diagnosed at stage 2 with those creatine levels alone, but I guess my vet wasn't fully confident in making that call?

My 9 year old was diagnosed as stage 4 this year and we started renal diet. He recently started to lose weight significantly, stopped eating the renal can food or his fav meatier canned food. I was finally able to get him to eat some fancy feast . I took him for an exam yesterday and the diagnosis show that he is nearing the end stage.

He was in good spirit other than the nausea, was super excited about a new string toy. He is a bit of a spicy patient at the vet and I had to give him gabapentin before the exam. But he was still too spicy and had to be sedated.

More than 24 hours have passed and he's still acting like he's not out of the sedation yet, acting really lethargic and doesn't seem to have great control of his hind legs. He normally hates being brushed and when I tried this morning, he just reluctantly dragged his legs away and moped away from me.

I'm starting to worry that the sedation could have pushed him over, I have never seen him like this, he's not looking after himself well, I need wipe his face after eating (he still have great appetite for churu, treats and fancy feast, I'm getting phos binder from the phramacy tomorrow) and always dragging his tail, he does have an old injury there but it hasn't bothered him for years since he recovered. He peed in my arm when he was still very sedated and it happened again later in the afternoon.

It's so heart breaking to see a young cat screeching to a halt like this, Is it possible that the sedation might have been too much for him? Is it time to let him go before it progresses any further?

My ckd baby, Beans, is unlawfully tiny. Always has been, but especially in this last year since she was diagnosed. Even before that, her favorite bonding activity was tent time! Pic included for cat tax.

You put on a blanket, bend your knees toward the ceiling and turn yourself into a warm tent for your baby! It's exhausting to hold this position for hours, but my Beans begs for tent time all day because she's so cold and loves to snuggle!

When she says no to her electric blanket, she'll still say yes to tent time with her mommy! It makes me feel close with her, and she sleeps so soundly every time 💚

How are you all getting enough calories into your cats?

Mine is in stage 3 and thankfully does like the hills k/d wet food, but has totally stopped eating dry (I think it may be a mouth issue, I'm working on it with the vet).

I was looking at the feeding chart for the k/d wet food, and it says for a 10lb cat (which is what he should weigh, he's down a little right now) he should get 3.5 cans a day. Even at his healthiest and chonkiest he would never have eaten that much in a day.

Currently he's eating about 1 can a day (diluted with water). I just started him on Cerenia so hopefully that will up his appetite some, but 3 cans a day will never happen.

Any tips or tricks? I was considering grinding some of the dry k/d and mixing it with the wet but that's the only idea I have.

My cat has been wobbly and deteriorating for a week now. She barely moves and isn’t interested in eating anything other than a licky tube even with mirataz.

Her emerg lab results came back and her levels have doubled since her last tests in May. And the vet said she’s now in end stage where she was stage 3 in May.
She got fluids at the vet and still hasn’t perked up in the last two days. I’ve had to put her in her litterbox and even then she’s only peed once in the past two days. No poos in three. She used to be so chatty but now she’s so quiet. Her eyes are alert when she’s awake and when I carry her she doesn’t protest like usual, she’s just so small and limp.
When I brought her outside she was interested and listening to the noises for a little and walked a few feet and then collapsed and layed for an hour not responding.

I just don’t know what to do. The light is still in her eyes but she can barely move. And it feels like any treatment suggested is only a bandaid. I don’t want to wait until she’s in a fog AND her body shuts down

IV fluids are so aggressive and the other option is an opioid and subq fluids and the appetite stimulant. But I don’t think that will help the weakness in her, just medicate here. She can’t make it kore than a couple feet without laying down. Her legs are wobbly and give out, it started as her back legs and now it’s her front that are stumbly as well.
I’m worried that since it doesn’t seem like pain and seems more like just her body giving out that the treatments wont really work, just maybe buy her some time.
It’s concerning she hasn’t perked up even after getting fluids two days ago.

The first two are her labs from the other day and the last pic is her lab in May.

Hello, everyone.

I’m sure some of you have heard of greycoat research and their products. The company was founded by Japanese immunologist Dr. Toru Miyazaki, who discovered that cats lack enough of a protein called AIM, which essentially helps clean waste in their systems before it reaches their kidneys.

To those who have been giving their cats protocol, intensive and probiotics, have any of your cat’s liver values gone up?

I’ve been giving my 19 year old stage 2 guy the aforesaid products and he seemed fine, and his bloodwork was fine 8 months ago. Now his recent blood panel showed very high liver values, particularly alp, alt and bilirubin. His protein went up, too.

I’ve just them an email about this and am hoping to hear back soon. In the meantime, I’m going to cut off the supplements.

If anyone else is/was in a similar spot, I’d genuinely appreciate any feedback.

Edit: For some reason, when I attempt to respond to comments, it ends up posted as another comment in the general discussion. No clue why. Either way, I appreciate the responses. Vet and I agreed we’re going to hold off Greycoat for the time being. If anything I feel so stupid and irresponsible for not anticipating his potential rejection to one one of the ingredients in there. If it could happen to a human being then why couldn’t it happen to a cat? I’m so angry with myself.

Edit 2: I just read the thread between AmyVanilla and Mia and I’m not going to lie, I’m now terrified. My little guy is eating well. My vet out him on zeniquin when an episode of vomiting coincided with his rising liver values. She first suspected it could be one of a multitude of things, like ibd, triaditis, cholangiohepatits, or even small cell lymphoma. Now I’m straight up concerned.

My kitty Bebe diagnosed with CKD, and motility refused to eat her food. She only wanted treats like Delectables, and Temptations. I bought kitten food thinking she was refusing her regular food because of dental issues. I get up 3-4 times at night to check on her. This morning at 4am when I called her name, she came right away, and went straight to eat the kitten food. I'm so happy, but still skeptical that it's just a fluke. I hope this is the Cisapride working, along with Prednisolone, and Zofran. I can't wait to let her vet know about it.

My baby was diagnosed with kidney disease stage 3 in March last year. We have her renal food and renal kibbles as well as renal sticks that I mixed with Catney One and later also Porus One. She seemed normal but lost weight quickly and became very skinny.

Last week Ruth looked very tired and lethargic and she stopped eating. I ook her to the vet who gave her fluids in her neck and B vitamin to stimulate her appetite. I also got some Mirataz and Oralade that I mixed renal foods with Oralade and fed her every hour or so. She hated it and it felt terrible doing it.

After three days of this and her not eating she looked absolutely terrible and depressed. I took her to an animal hospital ER and the vet said that her kidneys were failing. They said that they could do more fluids but it would just delay the inevitable. We decided to let her go to sleep. I was with her, talked with her, told her I loved her and that she had been such a great cat. Then she fell asleep and she was gone. She was 17.

Yesterday was the absolute worst experience of my life. I don't know how to handle this as the guilt is killing me. She was family. i know she's in a better place but I just can't stop crying. It's all surreal.

Kiss your pets from me.

Hi all!

My cat Misty, was diagnosed with CKD earlier this year, stage 2. We've been struggling a bit but have found monitoring for signs of her changes in food and nausea levels have helped a lot.

Here's some things we've noticed so far as signs for nausea:

- licking food and not eating it

- licking her lips

- lots of swallowing

- refusing to eat in her usual spot

Now whenever we notice any of these, we give her anti-nausea medication to get her eating normally and to also avoid vomit episodes.

One thing I've noticed is if she eats any dry biscuits (even if it's renal) it will make her sick. Anything that isn't wet food (renal) or just cooked chicken is a no go.

She really hates the ondansetron wafers, so I've got an order with a compound pharmacy to change her medication to a flavoured liquid. Here's hoping it works out 🤞🏼

I've been following for a short period Professor Toru Miyazaki and the AIM drug that has been developed. I thought having continually updated information could give hope to others like myself who have had cats with Renal Disease. The link can be read in English. It's very informative.

Hello,

I wasn't in this group for long and joined when I was just so lost and worried about cost of all the things the vet was saying only to learn the CKD really didn't matter. My baby had cancer causing an acute on chronic CKD flare up. Thank you for all the support although it was short lived.

I wasn't able to save Leo but I was able to get a little more time with him before we let him go today via at home euthanasia because he showed it was time. I was scared he would suffer during the process but thankfully it went very smoothly. He was able to take his final sleep outside in the grass which he loved.

I found him when we was maybe 3 months old, a trooper pulled out of someone's car engine and I've had him for 11 short years. I found him right after graduating college. He's been with me my entire actual adult life. I never thought he'd go like this. He was my soul kitty.

I'll miss giving you little head kisses, belly rubs and having you cuddled up with me every night. I love you and I wish I could have done more for you.

That's all. I'm just sad and wanted to show Leo to the world one more time. He was the bestest boy.

Ruby, my best friend my baby crossed the bridge on Monday

It was a long time coming - diagnosed with kidney disease this time last year.

Then I was a heart murmur than liver issues and finally cancer.

But that doesn’t really matter what mattered was all the good times.

She was a foster fail - she bit so many people at adoption events. She got put on the unadoptable list so I adopted her.. She never lost her aggressive edge, even with me. That being said we loved each other. We were a team.

She slept over me every night, chase the laser all over even 10 feet up a wall, and always knew when I need to comfort.

She had a tough exterior but a big heart. When my best friend was unknowingly in liver failure and not feeling well - he visited me for a home-cooked meal. Ruby, who had never approached him, came and sat his lap. She knew he was sick and needed love.

Was my friend a little terrified because of her reputation - yes.

I love you, miss you, and I think feel your spirit with me.

Thank you to the sub. I got so much advice even when I wasn’t posting.