tomorrow afternoon i am saying goodbye to my beloved Valentina. she has been my guardian angel over the hardest fives years of my life. a reprise in the darkest moments i have experienced and my reason to keep going on days when i felt like giving up.

i adopted her in 2021 as a senior gal. she was diagnosed with ckd about two and a half years ago. she held strong and steady on her treatment plan but has been declining pretty rapidly for the past few months. i knew i would have less time with her since she was already ten but i know that there would never be enough time with her.

we went to the vet yesterday to get confirmation that it was time to say goodbye. we were so lucky to have the most amazing care team who helped bring her back from all her crashes. the staff at the clinic all came to say goodbye to her and it meant so much to me!

we have been having extra snuggles the past few days. i wrote her a letter that i’m going to read her tomorrow. we’ll be saying goodbye in the safety and love of the home that we shared. i’ve braided a piece of my hair to send with her, along with the letter, leaves from the backyard that she loved to hunt as the fell on the balcony, and a red flower.

thank you to everyone in this community for offering such a gentle place to land amongst the hardships of this disease. i learned so much through the posts her and that helped me take care of her. i spent so many nights scrolling this subreddit trying to find answers and it helped me feel less alone. thank you for reading if you made it this far.

i’ll end this with what i always say when i leave the house - “bye boushkie (short for baboushka), i’ll be home soon!!!!”

💓💓💓💓

My 15-year-old void was recently diagnosed with early stage kidney failure and I want to ask this sub specifically about diet. Obviously my vet suggested limiting dry food and focusing on getting him to eat as much wet food as possible (and drinking lots of water). But I was curious to learn she doesn’t recommend switching to a renal/low phosphorus cat food. She said this is commonly taught in vet school, but in her many years of experience, she no longer suggests this. She said since those foods are lower in protein, the cats that switch to these foods often waste away very quickly and lose a lot of muscle mass leading to poor outcomes. So she suggested sticking to his normal wet food and just making sure he eats and drinks as much as possible. She did mention as the disease progresses, she’ll likely recommend adding a phosphorus binder to his food. But that it’s not quite time for that yet.

Is this a reasonable approach for his diet? It seems like everyone here places a big emphasis on switching to a renal diet ASAP after diagnosis.

Hello,

Our sweet 16 year old kitty, Nala, is struggling so much right now. She was (and still is) having accidents outside of the boxes, is lethargic and has stopped eating which prompted us to get her into the vet on Tuesday. She has a 104F fever, elevated white blood cell count and elevated kidney levels. After fluids, an antibiotic shot, vet said it was early stage renal failure (did not give a stage) but did not want to start a kidney diet until she gained her appetite back.

Initially on Wednesday she ate one of her favorite treats and some chicken baby food and thankfully had no accidents until today when he peed on the rug again. We have 4 total boxes that are cleaned daily since we have 2 other days. She prefers to pee on a rug by the front door and we have no way of moving on closer due to our 2 dogs.

I am just at a loss and hate seeing her suffer. We try different meaty baby foods and offer wet food multiple times a day but she is not eating anything substantial. The appetite stimulant given by the vet makes her drool.

Does anyone have any advice in how to get her to eat or I hate to say it, when it's too late to help anymore.

Thank you all 🐾❤️

My sweet boy Arthur was diagnosed in May of this year, after a crash that left him hospitalized for 2 days. After 5 too-short months, we lost him this past Monday. In my grief, I've been looking for signs I missed, answers of what went wrong. In my search, I found an email from my vet in December with an ultrasound report attached, from his regular check up. In the body of the email the vet says "Everything looks good." That's it. Again, this was 5 months before diagnosis, before I knew what CKD was and before I knew I should always read everything thoroughly myself. So I open and read this ultrasound report now and on the bottom of the second page, below the section where it says his organs look normal, the ultrasound tech had written:
"Suspect early kidney disease due to low USG. Recommend rechecking a water fasted urine and creatinine in 3 to 4 months. Kidney disease could be the cause for hypertension."
She also suspected nausea as the cause of his appetite loss and suggested cerenia and mirataz in the report. That had never even presented this to me as options. I had attributed his weight loss to age, and appetite loss to arthritis, which we were treating at the time, so I thought we could get his weight back up with arthritis treatments. I had no idea about cerenia and mirataz for his appetite until doing my own research on CKD months later, which we did use for those 5 months.
I am devastated all over again. He was going through this for 5 more months than I knew. I am so sad for him. I am so angry at myself, so angry at my vet. The pain is worse than I could have imagined. If I had known back in December, I would have had more time to learn about this awful disease and maybe with that extra time I would have gotten better at treating him and he'd still be here today. After his diagnosis, I started to research, read, and track everything in an effort to make him comfortable and keep him with me. But it was too late. Why wasn't I doing that before? I feel so stupid that I caused him to suffer so long in silence. I could have done so much more for him and I hate myself for it.

A week ago, Mojo got diagnosed with stage 2 chronic kidney disease. He is 15 years old, and if I'm being completely honest, I'm surprised that something like this hasn't happened sooner. He has an autoimmune disease called Pemphigus Foliaceus and has spent most of the last 11 years on steroids,which whilst treating the autoimmune disease, it's hard on the body.

This last week has been insane. I'm so overwhelmed trying to learn about CKD and working out what I need to do now. This is not the first time that I've had to learn about a chronic health issue in cats, but this one seems different somehow. Maybe because I've had Mojo since he was only 5 weeks old, and unlike his autoimmune disease, not much can be done other than trying to manage symptoms.

I keep getting mixed up with the advice the vet gave to me before the diagnosis, when it was suspected that arthritis was the issue and things I've been told afterwards. It's just a lot to take in. What's worse is that I've found so much conflicting information online, that it's hard to know what's true or not.

Has anybody had success using niacinamide to lower phosphorus levels for your cat? Thanks

To be honest, Noah's CKD started about 3 or 4 years ago. She was about 12 then, and the slight damage was attributed to her age: she was already a senior cat, and she had no apparent symptoms. She was diagnosed after a lacunar infarction, most probably the result of hypertension, but on the follow up appointments her blood pressure was always normal. In July this year, she suddenly crashed, CKD had officially made its presence known as Stage 2: time for the renal diet, the Porus One, Megaderm she would never ever take. The crash was attributed to an episode of hypertension and a UTI. She was declared Stage 3 about one month ago, and she got better for about three days (with anti-inflammatory and antibiotic, as this was also a suspected UTI) until she began feeling down again, like she never truly got over the bump of her illness. She began hiding more than usual, and I made her a little bunker in the closet so she couldn't need to move too much. I brought her water, food, which she slowly stopped eating. It had been such a short time that her blood test results came in while her good times were already gone: her toxin levels were much higher, even with PorusOne. I bought CatneyOne to help with her phosphorus, but I'm pretty sure it made her constipation problems even worse. She pooped a large chunk and didn't poop anything but a tiny pellet five days later. Worse still, nothing could make her eat: not milk, not her favorite tuna water. I would open a can of her favorite food and she would lap at it once or twice, then stop accepting it. This deterioration was on the course of the last two weeks, from feeling slightly down to absolutely fasting. I learned to give her SubQ hydration at home so she didn't have to visit a clinic, as she hates vets and being away from home. This past week I finally decided the stress was worth it and sent her to be hospitalized for 72 hours of hydration and nausea medicine. I had the thought that maybe she hadn't been fully cured of her previous UTI, so I asked for a urine culture: find the right antibiotic, everything back to normal. But then the hospital showed severe anemia, maybe that's the cause? Ran around the city trying to find Aranesp, spent what I have left of my monthly salary on the tiny vial that would cure her. That day she looked better, she even jumped to my shoulders like she loved to do. So she stayed one more night for observation; the next day her PCV started to improve, but she seemed worse for the wear. She could barely stand but the vet attributed it to laxatives, to her not having pooped lately, to the buprenorphine she was administered for any constipation pain. When I brought her home, the vet told me she should be feeling better by the next day. She didn't she actually took a turn for the worse. Laxative didn't have any effect, she couldn't poop at all, but sedation was too risky because of her weakness. We assessed to wait until the next day, but I called the vet as an emergency because her breathing became laboured.

She seemed to be in too much pain because of constipation, so he made the enema right then and there, hoping it would make her feel better and perk up. After the enema, she seemed better, and he told me we would reassess in the morning. We should let her rest, get some sleep myself. I slept beside her for two hours, and when I woke up she was unresponsive but breathing. The vet returned to help her rest. Fortunately, mom, dad, my aunt and me (the ones who she loved the most) managed to arrive right on time to be with her. The doctor told me that, after the enema, she didn't seem in pain any more. Metabolic acidosis and excess toxins seemed to be the culprit.

She faded too fast, practically rushed from stages 3 to 4 and then she left me. We all tried everything. I have two other cats but she is my eldest, my first, she had been with me almost half my life and she was the one closest to me.

Darling Noah, my 16 year old princess, who bunted my chin and rode on my shoulders, who slept on my chest and woke me up every two hours to feed her. Now I feel like I'm falling apart. I can't sleep and, when I do, I wake up as if I had a nightmare but the nightmare is in the real world. I feel numb to everything pretty, and everything ugly seems too loud, too sharp, too hurtful. I have my two other boy cats, and it makes me feel sad to approach them (as they remind me of her absence) but guilty because they don't deserve me being this distant with them. I feel too hurt to ever adopt another cat because I can't see a cat without thinking of them growing ill and dying. I just... Hope I eventually feel better. This is a very cruel disease.

Rest in peace, Noah. You are no longer in pain.

My girl is very likely to be on stage two of CKD. We are waiting on urine analysis but as of today her numbers are
SDMA 20
Bun 25
Creatinine 2.3
Phos 4.2

The vet was in between early kidney diet and traditional kidney diet and we started her on hills traditional kidney.

I’m interested in anyone’s suggestions based on experience in this stage, and perspective on her numbers (if it looks promising or concerning)? She’s almost 14, and about 12.5lbs holding steady. My goal is of course to keep her in this stage as long as possible. No obvious symptoms, she eats plays and uses the litter box like she always has.

Hi everyone, my cat is stage 4 CKD and he’s been having soft stools for a bit. My vet recommended psyllium husk powder - do any of you use this for your cat? if so, which brand? Thank you!!!

My 11y/o cat was diagnosed with CKD and non-regenerative anemia in early September and a treatment of Varenzin and prescription kidney food has not worked. My vet told me that no other treatments are available and to prepare for his end of life, but I saw many people on this Reddit recommend Darbepoetin. I discussed this option with her and she told me she didn’t recommend it because another patient in their clinic has been unable to find any pharmacies that can fill it. Sure enough, Walgreens, CVS and Sam’s Club have all told me they can only supply the pre-filled syringes. The only place I have found with it available is ThrivingPets, but I am unsure of the legitimacy. Has anyone else had luck with pharmacies that can fill this? If it helps I am in the greater Atlanta area.

apologies if this is not the correct subreddit

rushed my baby into the vets on tuesday as she was very listless and lethargic, and walking bow legged despite seeming perfectly fine hours before, they kept her in for the day and suspected that she may have had pulled tail syndrome as she had no reaction to pain on her tail and was unable to move it, they gave her an IV while she was there too due to her being a bit dehydrated, we brought her home tuesday night for monitoring and had an appointment for wednesday (today) at 10am, she seemed a bit perked up but was still not using her tail and didn't eat or drink over the course of the night (though i managed to get her to lick some juice from her wet food), she also wet herself

we went back today and opted to do bloodwork, as though she was still a lot better than when we had brought her in yesterday. the vets noticed she had regained a bit of feeling in her tail which was a good sign, however they called me back to let me know her blood work came back showing kidney issues as something was at 800 for something that should be 200 (forgive me, i haven't slept and was upset so i didn't really catch what it was), they are keeping her in overnight until friday on an IV in hopes that it flushes the toxins out of her system

we went back again around 5:30 to bring her usual food, the vets had given her an antidepressant to stimulate her appetite, and when we arrived she looked miles better, she was eating standing up, waving her tail and very responsive which was looking very promising, the vets did let me know then that they believed it to be Acute kidney injury

she is a relatively young and strong cat (she is about 2-3 years old) and the vets said we brought her in really early and that the IV yesterday was beneficial as it was a bit of a head start, so we are praying that she pulls through, the vets did warn me that nothing is set in stone until we do bloods on friday and see how she does off of an IV as she may crash or be fine, and also warned me that she may require medication and a restricted diet if we do get out of the woods

was wondering if anyone else had any experience with AKI, and how did their kitty do on/after the IV treatment?

My 15-year old void was just diagnosed with early kidney failure. I have a great vet who I trust and she’s given me all the usual suggestions. Diet changes, increase water intake, subQ injections, etc. One curious recommendation she had was stanozolol. She said it only works in about 50% of cats, but when it does work, it works great and gives them much more quality time than just doing the other things I mentioned above. But that it can hurt the liver and affect personality, so we’d have to check liver values after a month and again at 6 months.

Does anyone have experience or thoughts about this steroid? Everything I read online makes it sounds like a bad idea so I’m surprised my vet mentioned it.

My cat Peanut is 14 years old. Back in April she got her first ever bladder infection and we found out then that she was stage 2. The vet immediately put her on telmisartan liquid, Aventi Kidney Complete powder, Aventi Omega 3 liquid and RC wet and dry food.

This was a huge change for her and us. She hated the liquid meds so we now special order it in a capsule for her. We are still going through different foods for her to find what she enjoys.

The biggest problem I am having with her is the moment you put the powder on her food she will not go near it. I even tried mixing it on some warm water for her and she won't tolerate it at all.

With the Omega 3 liquid the moment she sees the bottle she runs off and hides. She cannot stand taking a liquid anything. (Which is why we pay more for the capsules of the main medicine which she will eat with out question like it's a treat). We did also try to put the Omega 3 in her food and again she wouldn't eat it.

We don't have a check up to go back over tests until next month. I have emailed a couple of times when ordering her meds asking about the powder and the omega 3 issues but never get an answer.

Can anyone let me know if you just do the foods and meds and their cat is ok or is everything needed to keep her healthy. She clearly doesn't enjoy it and won't eat it. I would rather she is fed and happy then forcing these on here if not needed.

My fussy 15yr old baby is doing very well with the dry Feline RC Renal Support Early Consult. Her bloodwork has improved. The vet said some number(s?) are now normal and another number(s?) showing slight kidney decline has improved. Her cholestrol has improved too. She has been on this food for over a year now and suddenly she doesn't like it.
I want her to stay on this food.
She has always eaten fancy feast pate since she was a kitten. Now that's the only food she wants to eat.

Has anyone else noticed a sudden aversion to this food?
I threw out the little bit left in the old bag and bought a new bag. She is not eating the new kibble either.

Hi all- my vet is pretty adamant that my cat has CKD, but I'm wondering if the lab results show conficting results.

My male cats bloodwork was done first in 2025, he was 3.5 years old. The vet indicated it showed kidney disease, even though only creatine was elevated. I followed up with a UA about two weeks later, but by that point had started adding lot of water to his food per the vets advice. His USG was 1.020, but Im pretty sure he ate right before the test.

A few days ago we rechecked yearly labs and got a UA at the same time. For this years labs, he did not eat after midnight. His creatinine, BUN, and SDMA all went up, but his USG was 1.045. The vet did not add phosphorus on this years labs- said it wasnt important until he reaches stage 3, which I find questionable. The vet was also not concerned about protein, RBC, occult blood in urine or cloudiness- she said this can happen with cystocentesis.

In between these two labs I started feeding him Weruva low phos food and weruva BFF chicken checkmate (was recommended as a lowwer phos option). His weight was within a few ounces of last years. He doesnt vomit frequently, or show any signs of issues with urination. Sometimes he is picky about food, so I got one of the Royal Canin dry renal foods to sprinkle on top of his wet- I did start this in the last few weeks and I have noticed an increase in him finishing his food.

I'm most curious if its possible for him to have a normal USG but still have kidney disease. His labs dont indicated dehydration, but his urine was taken early AM. She recommended a new diet and PorousOne and then a recheck in 3 months. She also said we could do an ultrasound to check for renal dysplasia or inflammation was well.

Thanks for all your help! Ive attached the labs as well, starting with 2025 bloodwork and UA.

I am very confused and need someone to explain this to me like I'm 5, please.

My cat is suspected of having some degree of kidney insufficiency. We're still not sure to what degree as she has also been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, and we're working to stabilize her thyroid levels.

Prior to both issues, she was on grain free dry food and lower carb/minimal grain fancy feast wet foods. This was because she seemed to have tummy issues with grain inclusive foods. I specifically avoided anything with rice in it because she tended to get constipated every time she ate rice.

She was put on science diet K/D wet and dry. Which she didn't do well on and brought back the constipation, so after switching back and forth a few times, the vet added in science diet GI Biome with the K/D.

She has been so itchy the past couple months. Started with her ears, which was believed to be an allergy to the anesthetic (now I'm not so sure). Ears did clear up after they started using just saline for blood draws, but she has still been overall itchy. They thought maybe FHS, but I am convinced this is an allergy. Today, I noticed a small crusty sore on her face, above her eye, which looks exactly like the allergy spots in her ears did.

I've always suspected some degree of grain allergy/intolerance, hence the minimal grain in her diet originally. The vet has a hard time with this saying it's extremely rare but recommended trying a Hydrolyzed K/D diet. She assured me this would help rule out a grain allergy.

However, and heres my question (sorry that got long winded) how does the Hydrolyzed food rule out a grain allergy if the #1 ingredient is rice? Just straight up rice. I'm not spending over $100 on this diet without understanding how this is supposed to help.

We did do an allergy trial with the methimazole, took her off it for 3 weeks, and had no improvement. So its unlikely to be the medication. The vet says it's more likely to be a protein allergy, but crazy how this all started when she was switched to the prescription food which has so many grains in it. She had no issue with chicken prior.

TLDR; How does hydrolyzed food help with a grain allergy if there's rice in it? Please explain it like I'm 5.

Thank you!

Hello guys! Awhile back I made a post about my cats progression and feeling like I failed. I’m so happy to share that her levels went from stage 3 down to stage 2 levels!! She’s been having a hard time with fluids but with the medication and her diet change she’s looks so much happier and she’s been more active. Thank you for the support and words of advice I made before, it helped her so,so much <3

We are now monitoring it better and we’re gonna help her lose weight bc she’s gained a bit from her diet :,)

Allie, my sweet 6 year old kitty (stage 3/4), has been dealing with anemia since April this year. After a successful round of varenzin from May thru June, her HCT slipped down again in late July. At the same time, they discovered an antibiotic resistant silent UTI that had to be treated with nitrofurantoin. This drug really made her very ill and IMO made her next round of varenzin not work. At the end of that course, we learned that her HCT dropped to 23.4.

After giving her body a break for a few weeks, we felt positive that she was feeling better. She showed up for all her meals, bird-watched daily, groomer her brother, and even played with ribbons. So we were pretty surprised to learn her PCV dipped down to 19.

A failed course of varenzin doesn’t mean the next round will fail, and especially since Allie had a concurrent infection and treated with nasty nitrofurantoin at the same time, we felt it would be worth it to try varenzin again. However, for Allie, varenzin makes her feel a little yucky. She licks walls, hides a lot, and sleeps a lot — and it’s ONLY when she is on varenzin. So the vet suggested cerenia since wall licking could indicate nausea. (Varenzin is known to cause nausea in some cats.)

Which brings me to the reason why I’m here today. Allie seems very off on cerenia. We started her at half dose, and then last night, we tried a full dose when we noticed she was licking walls. Well what a mistake. She’s been a zombie all day laying under the bed, and I had to hand-feed her every meal and beg her to eat. The only time she actually showed up on her own was at 8pm which is exactly 24 hours after the full cerenia dose, when the drug was wearing off. (Note: the wall licking ONLY happens when she is on varenzin, so we believe it’s a direct side effect, for Allie.)

For tonight, I gave her only a half dose (7.5mg). Has anyone had this experience with cerenia? I can’t tell if maybe the varenzin building in her system over the last week is making her this way or if the cerenia is getting blamed. We have given her cerenia in the past, when she was taking nitrofurantoin but she was SO lethargic from that so we couldn’t tell if the cerenia had any negative side effects.

Current daily treatments:
-Telmisarten 10mg x 2 (since 2023)
-amlodopine .6mg x 1 (since 2023)
-cerenia 7mg x 1
-varenzin 1.2ml x 1

Other, added recently:
-B12 via subq .25ml weekly
-liqui-tinic .75ml daily
-Proviable forte 1 capsule daily

Thanks for reading! Please share any advice or experience you have 🙏

Hey everyone, my cat has ckd stage 4 and is currently on subcutaneous fluids and medication. He goes outside, so I recently applied Advantage Multi for Cats (imidacloprid + moxidectin) topical solution. Would this cause any concern? I acted without thinking and now im really worried, there's not much info on this online. What do i do?

We got the devastating news on Friday night after bringing our 11 year old male cat Harry into the vet on Tuesday: Stage 4 CKD. His eating habits had changed, and we thought he was having dental issues (again) that were causing him to reject the dry food he's been eating for years. I was not expecting the call at 8:30 pm on Friday night with the lab results (Stage 4 kidney disease, dehydrated and anemic secondary to CKD, and an off-the-charts pro-BNP indicating major stress on the heart and myocardium, also likely secondary to CKD) and the "If you decide to do nothing, the most humane thing to do would be euthanasia within a week." The vet also said his mouth ulcers (discovered Tuesday) were secondary to CKD, and my husband demanded an antibiotic on Tuesday to treat them in case of infection (we were surprised the vet didn't want to give them at first, but I think maybe he wanted to see the lab results first because of the suspected heart condition).

I sent the lab results to my vet friend who said, "I'm going to be brutally honest. I would let him go." Like many of you in this community, we said "ok, not yet though" and decided to give treatment a shot. On Saturday, we got Harry on subq fluids (50-75 mL once a day), Nephrodyl, and Naroquin. I am amazed at how he has "bounced back" with the fluids and some extra TLC. I know I can't expect him to regain any kidney function or bounce back 100%, but we are at the point where we want to make him comfortable and enjoy however long he has left, whether that's days or weeks or months. Every day is a blessing.

Harry still follows us around wanting food (he dropped 4 pounds since April, down to 7.5 pounds from 11.5 pounds when he was last at the vet), but he seems to lose interest very quickly in whatever (wet) food we are giving him. Except for churus. My goodness those are miracle treats and make subq fluid administration a breeze. He ate so many different things last night over a period of 3-4 hours that he got sick around 11:30 pm, which was gutting. He's always had a sensitive stomach, but who am I to deny him if he wants to eat? I'll give him anything he wants at this point! Anyway, I'm taking him into the vet today to get a shot of Cerenia because I'm suspecting he is feeling nauseous, and the vet is going to send us home with anti-nausea medication we can start in the next couple of days after the injectable wears off. We started him on Mirataz last night, but I think that will take a couple of days to kick in.

I guess I just wanted to introduce my handsome little man and share our story, journey, and lab results so far. Lurking on here since Friday has been extremely helpful and supportive. Plus if anyone has a similar kitty, story, or initial lab results, I would love to hear what your experience has been like (whether good or bad). Also if anyone has recommendations on how to proceed, if he continues to maintain his current state and disposition, I would greatly appreciate it. You see, despite the labs being what they are, to me he isn't really presenting like he's on death's door. Is it possible he has an acute kidney injury or kidney infection? Can this get better or stay the same? My vet friend also said his SDMA being as high as it is may indicate cancer somewhere, but not necessarily the kidneys. Yes, cats are good at hiding their pain and discomfort, but he just seems like he's more sedentary and less interested in food. Those are the biggest changes. He still enjoys his daily activity of finding the best sun spot in the house, stretching out on a heating pad, and coming to us for pets. I love him so much and am not ready to say goodbye. <3 Thanks for reading.