Paige Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 I have an elderly female cat who'll be 16 this summer. She is active, plays occasionally, eats, drinks, jumps high, and overall looks pretty good. She is feisty enough to chase our 1yr old cat down if he's on her nerves too much. She is drinking and peeing a crazy amount, however. I took her to the vet and they did a complete work up last month. For a large amount of money, we found out that she is perfectly healthy. :glare: Everything was normal- he said exceptional for her age. He said her white blood cells were a little high-just barely- and maybe she had a bladder infection and she got a shot so I wouldn't have to pill her. Nothing has improved. She is seriously going through a large box of kitty litter by herself every week and a half and has been for several months- probably about 6 months. Those used to last months. I used to fill a large self waterer thing once every 2 weeks or so and now I'm filling it up every other day. DH filled it up today and it's already halfway gone. Something has to be wrong, right? I don't want to take her back to the vet and be told she's fine. I don't want to pay for testing again because it was so expensive and we just dropped almost $500 on surgery for another cat. I don't want to wait in the office forever to be told she's fine. I know that she looks ok from the outside and they won't find anything from an exam. I thought it was diabetes or kidney failure or something like that but the vet said she has no signs of either. If it were, what are some things we could do to help? I will not take her for dialysis. Is there something else I could ask the vet to check? He just took a lot of blood. I don't want to put her through unnecessary testing. She gets upset easily and a trip to the vet stresses her out for days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthwestMom Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 I'm sorry to hear your cat is unwell. We have 2 cats and I love them so much! And I wanted to say that up front, so you know I'm coming from a place of cat love when I say that I would just consider the litter and water the price of having an old cat. You did just get her checked out, but she IS 16. She's old. At some point in the next few years, she's going to start to shut down. If she does not seem uncomfortable I would just go with it. :grouphug: :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 I have an elderly female cat who'll be 16 this summer. She is active, plays occasionally, eats, drinks, jumps high, and overall looks pretty good. She is feisty enough to chase our 1yr old cat down if he's on her nerves too much. She is drinking and peeing a crazy amount, however. I took her to the vet and they did a complete work up last month. For a large amount of money, we found out that she is perfectly healthy. :glare: Everything was normal- he said exceptional for her age. He said her white blood cells were a little high-just barely- and maybe she had a bladder infection and she got a shot so I wouldn't have to pill her. Nothing has improved. She is seriously going through a large box of kitty litter by herself every week and a half and has been for several months- probably about 6 months. Those used to last months. I used to fill a large self waterer thing once every 2 weeks or so and now I'm filling it up every other day. DH filled it up today and it's already halfway gone. Something has to be wrong, right? I don't want to take her back to the vet and be told she's fine. I don't want to pay for testing again because it was so expensive and we just dropped almost $500 on surgery for another cat. I don't want to wait in the office forever to be told she's fine. I know that she looks ok from the outside and they won't find anything from an exam. I thought it was diabetes or kidney failure or something like that but the vet said she has no signs of either. If it were, what are some things we could do to help? I will not take her for dialysis. Is there something else I could ask the vet to check? He just took a lot of blood. I don't want to put her through unnecessary testing. She gets upset easily and a trip to the vet stresses her out for days. I would call the vet and ask if he can take a second look at that bloodwork as nothing has changed. If it is because she is getting old, ask him to explain it to you. That should all be able to be done over the phone. There is the truth that things happen as they get older, but I would push it by phone one more time and make sure you feel comfortable with the explanation you have gotten. We just had this with our dog. She is now at the point where we don't worry about the look term consequences of steroids and anti-inflammatories. We use what will make her comfortable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Hm. Are you sure she is the one doing all the drinking and peeing? Sorry if that's a no duh question. You did mention you have another cat. Oohh! and this. Good Catch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolt. Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Our elderly cat was the same way with water / litter. I think it's a common thing -- not nessesarily a serious illness or something that causes distress. We switched to silica beads cat litter and ran two boxes: the one in use we scooped poop and stirred daily, but it couldnt evaporate all the liquid, so when it got sludgy, we'd put out the other one and dry that one out completely, then swap again. That way you can use the silica for a reasonable amount of time, drying it out completely before swapping it back into use... Maybe 6 swaps per box? Our cat passed away, but he was high-water-needs for at least 2 years before he passed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paige Posted March 15, 2013 Author Share Posted March 15, 2013 Hm. Are you sure she is the one doing all the drinking and peeing? Sorry if that's a no duh question. You did mention you have another cat. Yes, we keep them separated as much as possible. The younger cat is absolutely not allowed upstairs where she lives. He's on a special diet and will gorge on her food if he has a chance because he doesn't like his. Occasionally one will escape to the other's area but it is rare and he just had major surgery so for the past 2 weeks hasn't had the strength to climb stairs. Also, if cat number 2 were to sneak into her area, we'd know because he always eats all her food, knocks her water over, there would be a fight, and his urine smells differently. I know it is common in old cats, but it's common because kidney failure is very common and I was hoping to avoid a crisis by staying on top of it before she got really sick. I agree that we don't want to put a lot of stress on her and expense in a cat who is so old, but I wanted to be sure she was as comfortable as possible. I think I'll just leave her home but ask the vet to look at her tests again when I take the other guy in for his post-op visit. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remudamom Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 I'd call the vet and ask again, then go with extra water and litter. Consider yourself blessed to have a happy 16 yr old cat. ( We put our beloved Felix down at 17.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raceNzanesmom Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Our 16.5 y/o cat drinks and pees a ton too. The vet said she's fine, so we switched to a bigger bowl for water and scoop her box twice/day. I'm just thankful she's otherwise healthy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildcat Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeannie in NJ Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 do you feed her dry or canned food? We feed our cats both and some days when we will be gone we will just put out dry food for all of them and they will drink a ton more water than on the days we feed them canned. My cats can empty out their water fountain bowl on dry food days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paige Posted March 15, 2013 Author Share Posted March 15, 2013 She eats dry but always has. I'm switching the younger cat to mostly wet because he has issues but he hates it. I think my kitty with the drinking problem is too old to try a switch. I don't mind extra water and litter as long as that's all she needs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unicorn. Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 You've received good advice, and I wanted to add that if the air is dry, those self watering things can evaporate water like crazy. We had a very dry winter and were constantly adding water to ours. Way more than usual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weaver_67579 Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 If your gut is saying check again-do it. I would have the vet re-check. I just lost my old lady of 19+ years. She had been on perscription food for 4 1/2 years for kidney failure-that is very rare to live that long... We likely got to have her for so long because I took her in after noticing the same things you do-drinking slightly more, peeing more... there was only a slight change in her kidney values when they checked, but decided to put her on the food right away. The values went back to normal and remained there till her very rapid decline after the age of 19. Very early detection can add a fair amount of a good quality of life. Her littermate also was detected early and lived 3+ years after we checked him-and then passed from cancer-not kidney failure. Good luck to you in fuguring it out and I pray you have a good result in caring for your cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoot Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 It is very possible (even probable) that your cat is in the very, very early stages of kidney failure particularly given her age and diet. Something most people don't know is that over 75% of kidney function must be lost before test results are substantially elevated. This means that your cat could very well be experiencing a deterioration of kidney function, but it hasn't gotten severe enough to show up in test results yet. Did your vet check the urine concentration? This is usually a better indicator of kidney function early on than checking the creatinine or blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels. Basically, a urine concentration test will determine whether the urine is highly concentrated (high specific gravity) or dilute (low specific gravity). I would call the vet and ask if they checked her concentration and if not, I would request it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paige Posted March 16, 2013 Author Share Posted March 16, 2013 Did your vet check the urine concentration? This is usually a better indicator of kidney function early on than checking the creatinine or blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels. Basically, a urine concentration test will determine whether the urine is highly concentrated (high specific gravity) or dilute (low specific gravity). I would call the vet and ask if they checked her concentration and if not, I would request it. I was just at the vet and asked about her test results and he said a few things were on the high side of normal. One was for liver and one was for kidneys but things that he would expect to be bad if it were a kidney or liver problem were good. He said to bring her back and redo some bloodwork and we'd see if it is getting worse or not. He said once they figure out if it's liver or kidneys (if any), then he could order her a special diet to slow the progression and keep her happier. They did not check her urine when she was there before. I'll ask them to do it when she goes back. He said they'd take much less blood this time and could do it without shaving her neck so it won't be as stressful. Thanks for all the help. Her fur is not as glossy as normal and she meows all the time. She's my first "child" and my gut tells me something is wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoot Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 If your gut tells you something is wrong, unfortunately chances are high that it is. You know your animal and you know when something is off. I'll tell you, I don't know much about liver problems, but I do know that when a vet says "high side of normal" for kidney function tests, then it's time to start treatment. Once any sort of test is able to detect an abnormality in the kidneys you're already looking at about a 75% loss in function. If it turns out to be a kidney problem, definitely talk to your vet about getting her on regular subcutaneous fluids. It makes a world of difference and they become so much more comfortable. I'm glad that you're following your instinct and continuing to dialog with the vet. Keep us updated. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giraffe Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 Liver failure is scary, fast, and often fatal. We pulled our cat back from the brink and she's now on a special diet for life. Do take her back soon and check her again. My cat deteriorated so fast it was frightening. I agree with Chrissy. If you think something's wrong, it probably is. Cats hide illness and injury well. Keep us posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.