Chloe is suffering from what the vet wants to call "renal insufficiency" but her creatinine has only gone up in the last month or so......so I would say she has progressive renal failure. Subcutaneous fluids were suggested once a week to start with. Thomas and I decided on our own to give it to her every two days. I being a stubborn person that I am tried to give the fluids myself, but would often have to poke Chloe three times to get the 100cc's in. It was more stressful for me than it was for her I am sure. During her next visit the vet found that her creatinine had gone up some more and her potassium was low. Send us home with a potassium supplement gel. She loved the gel and Thomas starting assisting me in administering her fluids. He did the poking while I held Chloe. This is working great.....although I still get upset about doing it. We try to give her fluids Monday Wednesday and Friday. We do it in the restroom upstairs. I know this has affected her adversely because she no longer ever goes upstairs. She used to spend alot of time up there....it seemed to be "her" space and would also sleep in the study chair. Well...she no longer goes up there AT ALL; unless of course I carry her up to the bathroom for fluids. There are days where she will not show any interest in eating in the AM. Yesterday she had spit up so I gave her a pepcid and she did eat in the evening. This morning she did not eat again, but I placed the food plate in front of her and she did eat some. And by the way....I jinxed myself at the vet. She that she loved the potassium gel and ever since we got back she wants nothing to do with it. DAMN! Her creatinine has gone up even more and her potassium lower. I refuse to change her diet to the renal on because well...the first time I did it gave her the shits and it's just too hard to feed her separately. I need to accept the fact that fluids is about all we can do for her at this point. And once it gets to where she needs them more often we are going to have to assess her quality of life. She is already skid-dish around me because I am either grabbing her to get fluids or to pill her etc. I don't want her last months to be in hiding.
In another story Shelby has decided that he wants to spray the entire house. Well, not really. It seems to be directed at me! And this morning he actually got up on the bed, sprayed MY pillow and the headboard. He does not bother with Thomas' side of the bed. I no longer even have a night stand because over the months it had been sprayed repeatedly so I gave up. Now I can not leave anything on the floor because he will inevitably spray it too. He has done my pillow and the mattress/box springs. This is just lately. I haven't even mentioned the guest room closet and other areas that I cleaned up months ago. Finally found out that it was him doing the spraying and took him to the vet. She got urine and found bacteria. Treated that with a shot of convenia. Turns out the culture was negative....so....he is now on behavioral modification drugs. Namely Buspirine. He just started yesterday. Requires pilling him twice a day. God I pray that this will help because I don't know what else to do. I am ready to pull my hair out. There is no way I will get rid of him because of this because 1) he is my baby and 2) no one else is going to want a cat that sprays. Alas, I am stressed beyond words.
