r/RenalCats

I've had my Garfield for 18 years, ever since I was three years old. He was diagnosed with kidney disease in July, stage 3 but fluids brought it down to stage 2. It wasn't the kidney disease though; he had so much he was fighting, he was such a strong cat, and I think he just couldn't take it anymore.

Last week he was acting strange- more lethargic and just generally not himself. We went to a vet appointment and she put him on miralax because he was backed up about 6 inches worth, and amoxicillin because of an infection of his acne.

Friday he was ok. I was going to do a photo shoot with him for spring and I was so excited. He had sunglasses, bandanas, and my favorite was a pink sweater and jean jacket. But he didn't feel good on the weekend so I figured I'd wait. I thought he would bounce back, but he had been fighting for so long (heart murmur, hyperthyroidism, kidney disease, high blood pressure, anemia, IBS, kitty acne, needing his teeth brushed, then the constipation and infection) and i think he just gave up. I really, really thought he would beat it, I really did, so I kept trying to ignore the signs. It was last night, on the phone with my therapist, that I watched him try to drink but he couldn't get the angles right and kept inhaling water and flinching back and huffing.

He had lost about .5 pounds between Thursday and Tuesday. I thought it was just the constipation. Our vet gave us permission to put his miralax in heavy cream or whipped cream if we thought he'd eat it. He had always hounded us for milk and dairy so I thought he would want it. He'd sniff it, make like he was gonna drink, then change his mind. It was that way for everything. Either brand of his treats, his kibble, his water.

He wasn't even sleeping towards the end, just in a crouch. He stopped even acknowledging me and my gf. There was no chirping, no purring, didn't even look up. He hated taking his medication too, when he's always been ok with it. He was medicated for everything but the heart murmur. He always took it really well and the last few days he clamped his jaws tight to the point I was worried I'd hurt him.

I had scheduled to take him into the vet today at 2:30, but, staring at him, crouched and not looking up last night, we took him in then. He passed in my arms.

He was my best friend. He always had been. He was the only family member who believed me when I told him stuff, the only one who I felt safe with and who would do his best to take care of me. I loved him so much I can't even explain it. He was more important to me than the rest of my family combined, and I would've done anything to keep him around and healthy. I can't believe he's gone. The only reason I'm not gone is because of him, and I can't fathom keeping on without him by my side. I feel like I could've done more. The kitty kidney drug that's been under development in Japan is on the market and, even though it was expensive, I just ordered it last week.

I wish I had known he wouldnt be getting better from this. The vet told us in April that his values indicated three months, but i think he was just too tired to keep fighting. And I can't say I blame him, he put up such a good fight. He fought harder than anyone else would've.

I feel like I didn't do enough. I feel like I could've saved him, and I'm not sure what to do without him.

I’ve included my favorite pictures of her, she was the funniest, most loving, perfect angel cat. I’ll miss you more than words can say, Mochi. 4 years was not enough at all.

Hi ya'll! After a really desperate attempt to vent and look for help coping with the possible loss of my cat, he is today actually doing amazingly good! Eating well and back to moving around and playing and being just the best- I ended up holding it together for around a week where he barely ate and refused to take any medicine and just rested all day and decides then to try another vet. This one heard me out, did a simple test to check him and give me a single medicine for him, at the same time showed me how to give him subq fluids. He is on 100ml everyday for like three weeks now and is doing great. I have an appointment tomorrow to go check on him

One important thing i did was change his food to 100% prepared food. At the beginning he only wanted to eat shrimp (boiled) and then accepted grinded chicken meat. Now he accepts and eats renal cans! This change of diet also keeps his glucose under control so he hasnt needed insulin at all- im going to check with the vet for an affordable meal prepared package available in my country that will help the financial load

But yeah! He is doing much better- in glad i did not went through with euthanasia just yet, i was so close seeing him suffer so much but he is really strong and pulled through

Ozzy was diagnosed with Stage II CKD in September. Since then, we’ve tried all Royal Canin Renal Support foods and all Hills K/D foods (canned and kibble for both). 2 of them he refused to touch, the rest have given him diarrhea.

Currently, we have him on Hills K/D chicken dry food mixed with water (all the wet foods gave him diarrhea). We’ve had him on it for 3-4 months solid and he has awful gas and urgent poops to where he can’t make it to the litter box. He hasn’t lost any weight and his kidney values have improved, but both I and the vet feel like we should explore other food options due to his bathroom issues.

Before his diagnosis, he was eating Smalls and was thriving on it, he absolutely loved the food. Does anyone know any fresh-frozen options like smalls but more renal friendly? Has anyone else had a cat that had diarrhea from every prescription renal diet?

Since switching to a primarily wet food diet, the advice is to look after your cat's teeth. Before, when my cat was on a primary dry food diet, teeth weren't on my radar, but now, transitioning to wet food entirely, it's a necessity, and I don't know where to begin or how my cat will react when I touch her mouth lol. I know there are like green chewing sticks for dogs, but are there ones specifically for cats? Are they renal-friendly (maybe diabetic-friendly) and safe for them to consume? Any advice would be appreciated, as I am new to navigating this. (The pictures of the list of supplies I found from research on Facebook. Not familiar with any of the products listed lol)

UPDATE: I’ve been wanting an ultra sound and they got us in today and hoping to find out if there’s anything we are missing. If not, great. If we are, great. Then I’ll know if we are up against anything else.

She was doing so well and last night just took a bit of a turn. I haven’t needed to give her any anti nausea meds for two and a half weeks. She was eating great and feeling wonderful. Then yesterday she started turning her nose up to food and after dinner threw up a few times. She had her fluids yesterday. I tried giving her anti nausea meds but she threw those up too. I didn’t wanna give her more with fear of overdosing so I’m waiting until tonight. She lost an ounce in two days and has hardly eaten today. She even turned away from the good “bad” stuff. I still tried to sneak in a stimulant but I’m just so worried. She’s been sitting in the hunched position where she looks to be in pain. I’d call the vet but both I go to aren’t very responsive so I turn to the internet. I’m not sure what I’m looking for. I just wish she didn’t have to go through this. She is still interested in her cat tv and using the litter box. Sometimes I wonder if part of her problem is constipation and had mentioned to vet but still didn’t get much help. I’m just so lost.

Hey everyone,

I’m the indie developer behind Felingo – Cat Translator, an iOS app that analyzes your cat’s real meows and behavior to give human-readable insights.

For a limited time, I’m making Lifetime Premium free.

Just to be clear: Felingo is not a prank app or fake soundboard. It does not play random cat sounds. Instead, it uses your cat’s actual audio/video recordings to help interpret real behavior patterns.

The app can show things like:

- Possible emotion
- Urgency level
- Confidence score
- Audio + video-based behavior insights
- Per-cat history and replayable past analyses

The app is still new, so I’d really appreciate honest feedback. If you try it and find it useful, an honest App Store rating or review would really help me improve the app and reach more cat owners.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/felingo-cat-translator/id6698877920

Thanks for App Store rating!

This is The Cat (the definite article, you might say). Also known as Thelma Catherine, Thermonuclear Catastrophe, Bean, Beanie, and more. She’s 17 years old and has been in the family since she was a kitten, joining my partner’s family when he was a teenager. When his mum moved house back in 2018, she came to live with us. She’d always been a chonky girl and enjoyed her food, but we got her down to a healthy weight.

She was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and ckd in November 2024, and we moved her onto a renal diet (Smilla wet food from Zooplus) and thyronorm. She was fine for over a year, slowing down over time, but still enjoying her retirement by basking in the sun and destroying any cardboard she got her paws on. She had some dental work done that she needed in November 2025 after her regular blood tests came back with acceptable levels.

A couple of months ago she started to leave more of her food behind. We have another cat, but we’ve got microchip feeders so they can’t get at each other’s food. We tried her on some different foods, but none of them seemed to appeal to her any more than the original. She was also drinking and using the litter box more. We took her to the vet, they confirmed that her ckd had progressed since her last blood test in November, and she was now stage 3. We were given Mirtazapine tablets to increase her appetite. She hated being given them — we did enquire about an ear gel, but it was significantly more expensive and the vet didn’t seem enthusiastic about it. She wasn’t fooled by a pill pocket, so we had to use a pill popper. Luckily her thyroid medicine is liquid and she eats that with a renal-friendly churu/lick-e-lix type thing we found (Kattovit Special Cream). We also supplemented her food with Recoactiv kidney tonic, which she seemed to enjoy.

Mirtazapine maybe did pick up her appetite a little, but we were still concerned, and took her in again two weeks ago. She’d not lost any weight from the previous appt, so we must have been managing to give her enough to maintain. We were given more tablets (ondansetron for nausea). We also raised concerns about arthritis — because of her sporadic eating, she’s not been having her YuMove supplement as reliably. So she also got a Solensia injection, which was expensive but lasts a month (and no more pills to force her!).

We had hoped things would stabilise a little after that, but she’s now gone off food completely — renal or otherwise. She still eats a little if we put something right under her nose, but only if it’s the churu or tuna (her lifelong favourite food). Even the kidney tonic, which she used to lap up spoonfuls of, doesn’t appeal to her. And the tuna she only takes a few bites of. She’s now mostly staying in the same spot, and doesn’t appear to be drinking much at all (after having had an increase in it over the past few months) or needing to use the litter box.

She hates being forced pills, she hates going to the vet, barely tolerates being touched (she was never a cuddly cat, she likes hanging out in your vicinity but would rarely get up close and personal). She’s lost a lot of her “spice” — she used to make it very clear that she didn’t approve by hissing etc, would try to escape from being picked up. Other than expertly moving her head away from the pill popper, and managing to spit out those that do make it in, she’s not really offering any resistance any more. She’s just… existing.

I don’t want to force feed her, she’d hate it, and it’s not like she’s going to get better from this. I know regular sub-q is popular in this subreddit but we’re in the UK and vets here seem skeptical of it. At her last appointment they gave the option of her being a day patient, where they’d give her fluids and monitor her, but would we learn anything more than what we know already?

I dont want to give up on her, but I’m heartbroken to say that I think she’s given up herself. Is there anything else we can do, or is it time to say goodbye?

Edit: we took her into the vets this afternoon and agreed the kindest thing to do was let her go. It was quick and she was peaceful. 💔🌈

Hey ya’ll!

My baby girl Olive passed away recently, and i have a bunch of foods, meds, and supplies i’d love to give to someone from this community. All the info and conversations on this subreddit was so helpful during her life, and id love to give back at least a little. I can’t ship anything, but im in the brooklyn area & often frequent manhattan, so if anyone local would like anything, please comment and we can sort out a time and place!

- 23 small cans of Hills kidney care k/d wet food - expires 2028

- Nearly full bag of Purina Pro Plan advance care kidney function kibble (nf) - expires 2027

- 13 big cans of Purina Pro Plan early care kidney function wet food (nf) - expires october 2026

- 1 unopened small bag of subQ fluids, some 22 gage needles, and some 21 gage butterfly needles, but no syringe for it (sorry) - no expiration dat, got the fluids around 2 months ago

- 6 cerenia tablets - cant find expiration date

- a little bit left of mirataz (used probably 3 times)- expires 2027

- about half a jar of Phos-bind powder - expires 2028

- potassium citrate pills (300mg) - expires september 2026 (not pictured)

- some VERY expired gabapentin that expired in 2023 (not pictured, probably not wanted but offering anyways)

- 6 choolip kidney tube treats - expires 2028

- almost a whole bag of Hills kidney care k/d kibble BUT its been mixed with Phos-bind powder at a ratio of 1/4tsp powder to 1/4cup of kibble (no one may want this because of that, but figured id still offer!) - cant find expiration date but got about 2 months ago

Its first comment first serve to whoever can make pickup easy!

Much love from Me and Olive 🖤🤍🖤

Hi everyone, my 15yo sweet girl got diagnosed with chronic renal failure a few months ago and today after a checkup the vet recommended putting her down without much of an improvement in the future. has anyone else dealt with this? i'm wondering if there is a chance to maybe giving her a few months with us with all the necessary meds and without pain of course, but is it possible? I'd appreciate any advice, i just see her spend time with us, eat and drink normally and I'd hate to make the wrong decision early

My girl (14-17yo, 6.2 lb female) has been crashing for a week since we fed her Purina ProPlan Urinary Health Salmon Pate last Sunday. (She wasnt eating as much so I thought i'd buy a couple of new cans to see what she liked.) This is my biggest regret to date as she hasn't been the same since eating it. I don't even know if I would have ever fed it to her- my partner just opened it, gave her half, and she wolfed it down. The next morning she puked it all up and hid under the bed for 5 days, only coming out to use the litterbox and eat. She's way better the past 3 days than she was a week ago, but I just got her labs from yesterday back and they are really bad. Can a sudden change in food cause a kidney injury this severe? My biggest question is: has anyone had a cat bounce back from levels this bad?

Last time she was checked was March and she was:
BUN -> 90
CR -> 3.8
SDMA -> 18

And now she's:
BUN -> 187
CR -> 8.1
SDMA -> 22.7

She also has a mass on her lung that was found on an xray yesterday but we're choosing not to proceed with diagnostics. She has a heart murmur and can't be put under anesthesia. She is lethargic - still eating, but not nearly as much, and not really interested in water (whereas this time 2 weeks ago she was attached to her drinking fountain.) I'm still giving her 50ml fluids daily and mixing as much water as I can in with her wet food. Sometimes she'll take hydracare, but sometimes not. I'm giving her phos binder and Porus One. She is still content to sit on my lap, but its clear she is struggling. I'm just feeling like i've failed her.

My 15 year old cat Mr. Pisze, was just diagnosed with stage 4 chronic kidney disease.

Despite the diagnosis, he still eats, drinks, purrs, and seems to have a pretty good quality of life overall. If I didn’t have the paperwork from the vet, I honestly wouldn’t believe he was this sick, his behavior hasn’t really changed at all.

The vet told us it’s very hard to predict how much time we have left with him, but I doubt that we have a short time with him, at least based on how he is acting day to day. Still, we should start preparing ourselves.

I also started giving him Ipakitine a while ago, just because he’s getting older. I don’t know if it’s actually making a difference, but I keep wondering if it might be helping him stay as stable as he is, considering he’s already in stage 4.

If anyone has gone through something similar with a cat in late-stage CKD, I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences.