Complete Care for Your Aging Cat - Amy Shojai [111]
Cats can suffer different degrees of kidney failure, and may prefer one food over another. Some of the more common therapeutic diets available from your veterinarian for kidney disease include:
Iams Veterinary Formula Multi-Stage Renal/Feline
Hill’s Prescription Diet Feline g/d (early stage)
Hill’s Prescription Diet Feline k/d (moderate stage)
IVD (Royal Canin) Select Care Feline Modified Formula
Purina Veterinary Diets, NF Kidney Function Formula
Waltham Feline Renal Support
Fluid Therapy and Medications
Once the disease progresses to the point that diet alone isn’t enough, additional medications along with fluid therapy are the next step. Kidney failure often causes severe dehydration. Fluid therapy not only improves your cat’s physical status but also makes a difference in quality of life. “If the animal needs fluids, there is no single thing you can do for them that’s greater than rehydrating them,” says Dr. Wynn.
Initially, once or twice weekly administration of fluids at the veterinarian’s office may be sufficient. But it’s more comfortable and less stressful for your cat to have you give them at home. Once the disease progresses to the point that fluid therapy several times a week is required, the cost may be prohibitive unless you learn to give subcutaneous (under the skin) fluids.
Most owners are more concerned about the needle than the cat is. A needle-less option is the implantation of a beneath-the-skin catheter. The fluids are then administered by attaching the IV line to an external port that feeds fluids beneath the cat’s skin. You’ll find further details about administering fluids in Chapter 5.
Dr. McAnulty says that often by the time your cat requires fluids, she’ll also need drugs to control symptoms of the renal failure. For instance, medications such as cimetidine (Tagamet or Zantac) or famotidine help to control stomach acidity, and other medicine helps reduce the amount of phosphorus. “A cat that’s on home fluid therapy can get potassium supplement in their fluid, so they may not need an oral form,” says Dr. Little.
Since the kidneys are responsible for producing the hormone that stimulates the production of red blood cells, kidney failure can result in anemia. Commercial replacements of erythropoietin such as Epogen are helpful in these cases, says Dr. Little.
Hypertension as a result of kidney failure can cause a stroke at worst, and erratic behavior and yowling at night at best. In fact, increased blood pressure is one of the major factors causing the disease to progress. Some diets increase omega-3 fatty acids to help reduce hypertension, and if they don’t, you should supplement the food with fish oil, says Susan G. Wynn, DVM, a certified veterinary acupuncturist and holistic veterinarian in Marietta, Georgia. Hypertension can also be treated with a number of drugs, says Dr. Little. She says one of the best choices for cats is a human heart drug called Norvasc (amlodipine). “That can make an amazing difference to their quality of life.”
Dr. Wynn is a great believer in natural therapies, if the cat will tolerate additional medications. “There are some herbs that are pretty amazing. A Chinese herbal formula called Liu Wei Di Huang Wan really does seem to help some of these animals live longer, feel better, and it just seems to be the little extra something that some of them need.” The herbal combination also is known by the brand names Six Flavor Tea Pills or Rehmannia Six. These prescription medications are available only through a holistic veterinarian.
Golden Moments: Tending Daffy
Last July, Chris Jevitz of Chicago noticed that her 15-year-old tortoiseshell cat, Daffy, just wasn’t herself. “She’s a fairly outgoing cat,” says Chris, but she seemed to be losing weight and not eating as much. “She spent a lot of time under the bed, and I also noticed she was dehydrated. Daffy was more lethargic than normal.”
Daffy always had an annual geriatric screening, and everything had checked out fine in January. “But