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Cat update
I heard from the vet this morning. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
julian_tiger has kidney disease.
We need to figure out/decide what to do next. There's a wide variety of possible diagnostics: so far I have authorized them to culture the urine sample [to test for occult infection], and need to schedule a time to take him in for an ultrasound, blood pressure check, and the rabies vaccine we postponed. One of my outstanding questions is whether the food she recommended is available at the pet store, or a veterinary prescription thing we'd have to get from them or some other more complicated method.
Also, the vet thinks that small amounts of fruit and vegetables are better tidbits than things with fat, salt, or protein, but "a few licks of cream" should be okay. So he will still get some cream, but significantly less.
Apparently there are a range of choices in terms of how aggressively we want to treat this that are compatible with the cat's quality of life.cattitude and I have discussed this a little; there are issues of the cat's comfort, our comfort (pilling a cat can be difficult, she noted mildly), and expense. We are prepared to spend some money on this, but not infinite amounts; I am rather hoping that we won't have to quantify that. Best case, the specialty food for cats with kidney disease will be sufficient on its own, as it was for Artemis.
Other possibilities for treatment include medications to prevent nausea, stimulate appetite, supplement potassium, and bind phosphorus; I have a bad feeling that these are four different medications, and no idea how difficult it will be to get him to take them.
I am not thrilled that I asked several questions in my email to her (after she emailed me with the test results and basic explanation) and the only one she didn't answer was about what her practice would charge for the things she was suggesting. I will ask that again tomorrow, along with questions about scheduling. I'm willing to take Julian to the vet by myself; I'm not sure I can get him into the carrier solo, which constrains possible appointment times on workdays, and if I read the email right they only do ultrasound on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays.
julian_tiger has kidney disease.We need to figure out/decide what to do next. There's a wide variety of possible diagnostics: so far I have authorized them to culture the urine sample [to test for occult infection], and need to schedule a time to take him in for an ultrasound, blood pressure check, and the rabies vaccine we postponed. One of my outstanding questions is whether the food she recommended is available at the pet store, or a veterinary prescription thing we'd have to get from them or some other more complicated method.
Also, the vet thinks that small amounts of fruit and vegetables are better tidbits than things with fat, salt, or protein, but "a few licks of cream" should be okay. So he will still get some cream, but significantly less.
Apparently there are a range of choices in terms of how aggressively we want to treat this that are compatible with the cat's quality of life.
cattitude and I have discussed this a little; there are issues of the cat's comfort, our comfort (pilling a cat can be difficult, she noted mildly), and expense. We are prepared to spend some money on this, but not infinite amounts; I am rather hoping that we won't have to quantify that. Best case, the specialty food for cats with kidney disease will be sufficient on its own, as it was for Artemis.Other possibilities for treatment include medications to prevent nausea, stimulate appetite, supplement potassium, and bind phosphorus; I have a bad feeling that these are four different medications, and no idea how difficult it will be to get him to take them.
I am not thrilled that I asked several questions in my email to her (after she emailed me with the test results and basic explanation) and the only one she didn't answer was about what her practice would charge for the things she was suggesting. I will ask that again tomorrow, along with questions about scheduling. I'm willing to take Julian to the vet by myself; I'm not sure I can get him into the carrier solo, which constrains possible appointment times on workdays, and if I read the email right they only do ultrasound on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays.
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Here's hoping the dietary change will suffice for a good long time. I still think of Julian as a young obstreperous guy, but I guess he's an older obstreperous cat now.
P.
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I figured that he was still plenty obstreperous since you weren't sure you could get him into the carrier by yourself.
I also meant to express sympathy for the vagaries of taking a cat to the vet without a car, even in a place with good public transit.
P.
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Does he like pill pockets? Oz is on three different meds now. Pilling him is made much easier by the fact that he loves pill pockets so much that he will eat anything stuffed in a pill pocket.
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Does the vet have any idea how the kidney disease happened? Is it reversible?
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How it happened is probably just age: kidney issues and cancer are the commonest failure modes as cats get old (the way that heart problems are a common failure mode in humans).
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Please know that we are thinking of all three of you, and we're here if you need to talk either about the medical logistics or moren generally.
-Nameseeker