u/Shyres0122

Our 11-year-old kitty Chloe recently progressed to stage 3 CKD. We have a 10-day vacation coming up in a month that was previously planned, to look at properties in a different country. She just started supplements and we're still getting things under control - inconsistent eating schedule (though better appetite than when I took her to the vet 2 weeks ago), and she hates the oral supplements we give her, though we can usually get most of them in her. She is on aluminum hydroxide gel, and potassium gluconate powder mixed with water, both given via oral syringe since she will only eat out of a shared bowl with her sister (who does not have CKD and should not be getting the supplements). I'm worried about what to do with her while we are gone.

Previously, anything over 7 days, we leave both cats with my in-laws who love them. But I don't want to make them responsible for giving her oral meds/any health issues that might arise. Thus, my husband and I are torn on how to move forward with their care during our trip.

1. I lean towards boarding them at a place with little indoor rooms for the cats (not cubbies, not cages), that can watch them 24/7, monitor health, and are trained in giving medications.
2. My husband wants them to stay at the house to reduce stress of a new place and thinks it will be enough for someone to come by twice a day to administer the supplements, e.g. from Meowtel.com or Rover.com.
3. I proposed having someone stay at the house that my coworker trusts implicitly/has experience staying at her house and watching her cat that needed sub Q fluids, but my husband isn't comfortable with a stranger staying in our home all day for 10 days.
4. He has also suggested bringing them to his parents still but having someone from Meowtel/a vet tech come over to administer the supplements.

My concern with both of his proposals are that Chloe isn't eating at consistent enough times that we can guarantee she'll eat during the 20 minutes someone comes to check on them, which means we can't guarantee they'll be able to give her the aluminum hydroxide. And for his first proposal, I'm paranoid that, because it's only been 2 weeks and we haven't gotten the supplements dialed in yet, she needs someone to monitor her more than just 20 min a day, twice a day.

What recommendations do you all have for how to proceed (other than canceling the trip)? Please understand that we just want to do what is best for Chloe. The cost difference isn't significant enough to me to be the deciding factor between what we do.

Need advice regarding administering supplements.

One of our kitties, Chloe (F, age 11) recently progressed to CKD stage 3 and our vet is having us give her aluminum hydroxide gel for phosphate binding and potassium gluconate powder (both are acquired through DVA pharmacy). Both supplements are administered orally using a syringe. However Chloe HATES the aluminum hydroxide gel. She doesn't get violent (at this point) but is becoming progressively more avoidant with us, will run away when we try to approach her, and is difficult when we administer the supplements. Half the time we can only get the aluminum hydroxide in her before we're concerned about her level of distress and let her go.

I know that these supplements are intended to help her quality of life and comfort, medically, However I'm concerned that they're bringing a high level of anxiety in her life. Are there any recommendations to different types of medication or methods of administration that would cause Chloe less stress?

Her medication info: 2 ml aluminum hydroxide gel twice/day with meals, delivered via oral syringe + 1/4 tsp potassium gluconate powder which we mix with water to deliver via oral syringe. We can't mix it into her food for 2 reasons: 1st is that she can always tell and avoids the food, 2nd reason is her sister does not have CKD and they refuse to eat out of separate bowls (and if we block Skylar's access to the food then Chloe refuses to eat). We're debating trying a food bowl that has separate, controlled bowl access by a collar chip but they have been strongly anti-collar in the past.