My cat has been very ill...

[jbeany]

My fur baby, Murphy, was not doing well when I got home Friday.  He was cranky and listless, and trying to throw up but not getting any thing.  I figured it was a hairball, stuffed a bit of treatment goo down him, and crawled in bed.  Saturday morning, he wasn't any better, and seemed worse.  I called my vet.  He was out with mobile clinic, so he had me drop him off Saturday night.

Normal hairball treatments didn't help, and although the xrays didn't show any real problems, by Sunday night, the poor kitty was really miserable.  The doc called and got permission to do exploratory surgery.  He called back after 11.

My poor little boy had a kidney stone that blocked him off completely.  The pressure on his bladder actually caused it to blow a hole.  Murph's abdomen was full of urine and blood.  The doc repaired the hole and cleaned him out and stitched him back together.

It's now Wednesday, and his condition has gone up and down a bit.  I've been frustrated trying to get info, because the staff won't really say anything besides, "The doc will call you."  Except he doesn't.  I finally called his emergency line tonight and got him directly.

It was an interesting conversation with the doc when I finally got to talk to him.  My last talk with the staff was about the need for blood work to check his kidney function.  When I got the doc on the line tonight, I asked him how Murphy’s kidney’s are doing.  “Well, he’s doing okay, but still not back to normal.  He probably needs to stay and get fluids a few more days.”

Then I told him I had a kidney transplant.

“Oh!  Normal creatinine in a cat is 1.5.  His highest was 3.1 and he’s at 2.5 now, and the trend is all downward.  His lipid panel and his CBC are both in normal ranges, and his leukocytes are only slightly elevated.  He's not showing any other complications or secondary organ failure.”

There, now that's good news!

[MaryD]

Hugs for you and Murphy!     

Hope he's home soon.

[MaryJoe]

I'm really sorry to hear Murphy is not well.  I hope he continues to get better and can come home soon.  I know you and Murphy will both feel better when you are together at home. Isn't it awful when your pet needs to have surgery - I was never sure my puppy would understand why I'd leave here some where and let them do all that awful stuff to her!  Hugs (gentle hugs) to both of you.   

[galvo]

Poor little fella! I hope he continues to improve. Give him my love and, Camilla's (which is completely false as she cannot stand tom cats).

[Rerun]

I'm so glad they could save him.  Poor fur baby.  I think he just needs to come home and heal and drink lots of water.

Keep us posted.   

[cariad]

Give him my love and, Camilla's (which is completely false as she cannot stand tom cats).

Well done, jbeany. So glad you were paying attention and noticed before things went irreversibly sideways. Best wishes to Murphy, and plenty of genuine love from me and the resident males.

I love the vet! "Ah, so you're fluent in Renalese. Let me brief you...."

[KatieV]

I read an article recently about a cat that had a kidney transplant.  Poor thing ate a lily and went into renal failure.  The vet hospital takes animals from a shelter to use as donors.  The owners of the recipent have to adopt the donor cat.

Glad Murphy is on the mend!

[amanda100wilson]

 

[Riki]

That's very close to what happened to Reese, only his stones were in the urinary tract and not the kidney.  His bladder burst when they tried to clear the stones.  The doctor said that they could try and fix the damage,  but the odds of him making it past the surgery were 50/50.  I didn't want to put him through the pain of the surgery if he wasn't going to come back to me.  Even though I have Cleo now, I still miss my four-legged bed warmer

[Chris]

Glad he is doing better. Did you tell doctor "Now was that so hard to tell me that?" 
 
Hope he comes home soon, I bet his sister "kinda" misses him.

[jbeany]

A friend asked me this morning how Murphy was doing.  I rattled off the same thing the doc told me, and had to laugh at the blank stare.  I totally get why the doc was giving me platitudes!

[natnnnat]

I love it!  The renal version and the non renal version.

[Poppylicious]

Awww, poor Murphy.  Qyzen and Dora send (gentle) *huggles* for a speedy recovery.

I read an article recently about a cat that had a kidney transplant.  Poor thing ate a lily and went into renal failure.  The vet hospital takes animals from a shelter to use as donors.  The owners of the recipent have to adopt the donor cat.

That seems ever-so slightly sweet, yet awfully wrong at the same time! I wonder if the donor cat has to have a psych evaluation first ...

 

[willowtreewren]

What a story. I hope Murphy is home and purring in your ear soon! 

Aleta

[deniferfer]

I hope your fur baby is doing well and can come hope soon. I'm glad they were able to help him and take care of the problem.

We had a dalmatian that went into renal failure and sadly we had to put her down but a intresting story we saw on the new at that time was a family had put their dog on PD to save them. it work and i thought that was amazing!


 

[jbeany]

The vet just called a few minutes after 11 pm.  Geez, this guy needs a partner!  But he thinks I can have Murphy home on Sunday.   

His litter mate sister Dora is completely insufferable without her brother around to play with.  She's whining and clingy and is borderline hysterical when I come home from work after being gone all day.  She misses him dreadfully.  The favorite treat for both of them is a dab of peanut butter.  (Jif, gotta be Jif.  They won't eat any other brand.  No, of course I don't spoil them.)  I had some tonight, and I put the usual two tiny dabs on a dish, not even thinking about only needing one.  Dora, who is normally a little hog who gets lectured for grabbing Murphy's treats away from him, wouldn't touch her brother's share when I set the dish down for her.   He can't come home fast enough for either one of us!

[okarol]

Awww that's so sad, hope he recovers well.
I think the vet may have violated a Hippa law ...... 

[MaryJoe]

I think it's sweet that Dora wouldn't eat Murphy's PB treat. I hope she gets to see Murphy soon. It will be interesting to see if she plays more gently with him until he's fully recovered from his surgery. My puppy seems to know when I'm not feeling my best, and I'd bet Dora will have the same instinct about her brother. I know you miss him terribly also, I hope he gets to come home on Sunday. Hugs to all three of you!   

[CebuShan]

      Hope Murphy comes home soon for both of you!

I think the vet may have violated a Hippa law ...... 

   

[jbeany]

Murphy is home finally - and the fun has just begun.  Dora, who has missed him terribly, has spent the afternoon growling at the antiseptic smelling, half-shaved beastie who came home with me.  Poor Murphy is dreadfully confused by this, since she still smells just fine to him and he wants to curl up with her and snooze.

The basic Blue Bag Purina cat chow they've been eating since they outgrew Purina kitten chow, is now off limits.  Instead, I've got 90 days of feeding Murphy measured doses of some dreadfully expensive prescription Science Diet cat food, before switching to the bladder health maintenance version after that.  The food switch, of course, has to be for both of them, since there's no way I could keep one out of the others' food.  I also am supposed to switch them from the unlimited feeder option they have had since kittenhood to once daily feedings.  Yeah, right, that's gonna fly.  I put out a small scoop of the expensive stuff, and left it for both of them to pick at.  They have both had a turn covering it up.  Not to mention that the last time I checked, Science Diet food is almost $3 a pound.  I could just feed them a steady diet of chicken breast and steak for that price....

I've also got twice daily antibiotics to stuff down Murphy.  Oh joy.

But he's home, and doesn't have to go back to the doc for 90 days, to check to see that the new food is clearing the last of the stones/crystals from his urine.  They said I could just take a sample in, but didn't give me any good way to get it besides take away his litter pan, lock him someplace small, and only give him plastic to pee on.  Oh,yeah, that's fabulous.  Just what I want to train him to do in the house = pee on whatever plastic there is on the floor.  Awesome.

But he's home, and once his sister forgives him, we can all get back to semi-normal!

[Rerun]

   sorry but you are funny. 

It gets hard when our fur babies get old or ill.  But, we love them. 

[CebuShan]

I remember when my Cleo had to be on Prescription Diet. Make that X4! Was the most expensive food we ever bought but they all did fine on it so I can't really complain! She ended up staying on it for the rest of her life because when we tried to "step her down" her bladder infection came right back! Tried 3 times before the vet agreed that she would just have to stay on it. She crossed the Rainbow Bridge when she was 20.

[jbeany]

And Murphy is sick again - wheezing and full of snot.  Well crap.  I'm going to give him his normal food back.  After almost two weeks with no food, he may just be too weak to recover.  If that doesn't help, I'm going to have to put him down.  I can't even begin to afford another week stay at the vet's for him. 

[MaryD]

Oh beany  ...   ...

Hugs to you both.  I hope he picks up.

I gave Ed some oven smoked salmon the other day - he loves regular smoked salmon - and he turned his nose up at it.  Shortly afterwards I put his regular meal on top of the salmon.  When I went to clear his bowl for the day, he had carefully eaten everything except the salmon.  If they don't like something they wont touch it.

Can you try Murphy on something which would normally be regarded as a treat?

Ed sends his best wishes.

[jbeany]

If his regular food helps him, I'm going to start adding in a lot of fresh meat, too.  He loves chicken and turkey, and there's nothing in those to make kidney stones worse, really.  He may not be getting meds for it yet, but I've got to keep him alive first!