Oliver the Cat seems to be doing better and better over the past couple of days. He had been a bit removed and seemed to not be feeling completely well up until a day or two ago. That seems to have changed as he has become rather chipper and more active.
I've been giving him regular doses of Pepsid A/C lately (1/4 of a regular pill) and have been more consistent with giving him fluids. I'll keep that up and see if he continues to be his normal self.
For those of you who don't know, Oliver was diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure (CRF) last July. Since then, he's had kind of a rough time with plural effusion (fluid on the lungs), hepatic lipidosis (a liver condition triggered in cats who have a sudden weight loss), and some sort of immunological malfunction where his liver was being attacked by his own immune system. Each of these conditions have been delt with one-by-one over the past year to the point where his bloodwork now appears to be as good as can be expected for a CRF kitty.
He's on a low dose of Chlorambucil (a chemotherapy drug) every other day in order to keep his self-destructive lymphocites in his liver at bay along with prednisone every other day. He also takes, or rather is given, Amlodipine to control his blood pressure and the afore mentioned Pepcid A/C to keep his tummy from feeling upset, which is apparently a problem in cats with renal deficiency. Finally, he gets 150ml of lactated ringers injected under his skin (subcutaneously) every other day to help his kidneys flush out his body.
It's quite a production to keep up with all of this, and I've had to resort to printing up a schedule and posting it on the fridge in order to keep up with all of his meds. Thankfully, all of the time and money that we've spent to treat Oliver has given him some extra time with us and given him a very good quality of life as well. Had we not treated him, he would certainly be dead or near death by now; instead, he continues to be a happy, alert, and loving member of our family.
Jeff
Posted by Jeff at June 13, 2003 06:30 AM