It sounds like you are doing all that you can.

And that you're compassionate enough to put her needs before yours when the time comes.

She's a beautiful girl and obviously well-loved.

You might ask your vet if kitten replacement milk would be good for her. It would give her calories and liquid, although you couldn't hide her other meds in it. But it might be too rich, which is why I wouldn't give it to her without speaking to your vet first.

She's lovely! She sounds a lot like my 17 year old Cali, who is also suffering thyroid disease. We have found she loves those "lickable" sticks of cat treat (one brand is called Churru), and sometimes we can get her to eat a pill hidden in some of that. Also, we use Tiki Cat soft treats, they work really well for hiding pills in although we have to break up the pills pretty small.

It's so hard to let go. My partner says Cali will "let us know when it's time" and I suppose that's true. She still seeks affection, attempts to play a little, and thankfully she still has an appetite. But we know time is limited.

My thoughts are with you and Moppet.

He also goes for a similar product called Delectables, a tube filled with a pureed cat treat.

and they'd lick it off. They loved it, and it kept them going a little longer.

💔

We had to let our Claudia cross the bridge at 17. Thyroid issues, too.

We have Toby now. We love him. But it is never easy. I am so sorry.

I have a mackerel tabby like her, with the M over the eyes.

Is she in pain? Sometimes they just decide when they want to go and start reducing their intake. My last one had kidney disease, and he just wasted away, but he still liked to be with us until the end.

Give her some super gentle cuddles for us. It's so hard to lose them, and after 20 years-- you will miss her like crazy, I know. But you've given her a lovely life.

She received both Solensia and Cerenia injections on Sunday. The Solensia is a pain medication for arthritis and the Cerenia was given anti-inflammatorypurposes.



Depending on how things go on Saturday at the vet's, she'll be receiving the Solensia every month.



Thankfully, she isn't laboring to breath today.

Same bright inquisitive eyes.

for both you and your cat. Cats in late stage kidney disease do have nausea and
eating becomes a challenge. Some vets recommend Pepcid to ease the stomach symptoms.

I have had several older cats with all these issues. I would prepare chicken thighs or turkey
breasts to entice them. Boil the chicken in water, then puree in a blender for easier eating.

During this time when you want to make the best decision for precious Moppet, you might
considering reaching out to Lap Of Love. Their website is very helpful in helping you at
a time when your judgement is frazzled by love and concern.

In many areas of the country, they have local vets who specialize in end-of-life care who
will advise you and come to your home when it is time. They will work with your other vets.

I have found many times that this is the easiest and best way to say good-bye your dear friend.

https://www.lapoflove.com

Even blended in a slurry

High quality kitten food, like Royal Canin. Whatever she does eat will have more nutrients than regular cat food.

Blessings to the whole family

right there for her until the end. Hugs.

If her thyroid medicine is to supress thyroid production, then seafood will be working in opposition to that goal.

Is that an old photo? If recent, she looks amazingly good!

The photo is two years old.



I started taking lots of photo's of Moppet after Bermuda passed away.

Try giving the kitty chicken baby food, this meat has less protein than turkey it is easier on the kidneys. Mix the chicken baby food with baby rice cereal and milk or ensure for babies. Put this mixture into a syringe and give it to your kitty by the side of its mouth. How do I know these things I had to do hospice duty for my last kitty and four toy poodles. I lost my last pet in April of this year. I had to put Emma down after a terrible seizure that she wasn't going to come back from as the vet said the brain cancer was frying up her brain. I knew that even keeping her alive for a few more hours would have been more terrible pain for Emma so please do not feel bad just sad if you need to end your kitty's life to keep the kitty from suffering more. When Emma my poodle did not want to eat I found that feeding her veal could get her to. Gerber used to make veal baby food but I could not find it in any store. You could get ground veal and use a food processor to blend it down to baby food though.

I’m so sorry that your time together is coming to an end. 19 years is a long time which makes it even harder. I hope you can extend her well-being, but Moppet will let you know.
I send you much love and light.

and I bought that stuff by the case. She would also get the Fancy Feast broth down, she loved that stuff and whatever they used for flavoring made her thirsty so she'd drink water after it.

She'd always been a kibble kitty, turning her nose up at everything else, until her CKD became severe.

Even at that, she was stable until she developed the big "C" at age 21. When she told me she'd had enough, I took her in for that final set of shots.

I still miss all my furry companions every single day. While I can have a cat whee I'm living now, it's just not practical. I've met a few of the resident dogs. I keep hoping a cat will escape and turn up at my door for a visit.

I've been where you are. I know how difficult it is to deal with chronic kidney failure and I truly understand your heartbreak. Just do what you can to make her comfortable and she will let you know when it is time.

Our girl has been in renal failure for a few years...she is 20+ now. We thought she was leaving us two years ago when she stopped eating. We were going to take her for a final visit to the vet when she downed a bowl of food.

We do give her the transdermal appetite stimulant once a week or so and it gives her a boost. She gets anything she wants, and a big variety, to eat.

Tuna water and tunafish. Baby food of various types. Various pate foods. Fancy feast. Chicken and liver. Honey maple turkey from the deli. Salmon. She also likes quinoa based dry crunchies...Temptations too.

We give her a mix a few times a day. Kind of a soupy creation. She loves the Delectables likable treats (broth one especially). We use the senior ones. Also use chicken and beef broth. This way she is always eating something.

Its touch and go. We think some days that this is it. But she drinks, urinates, eats just enough and spends time with us. She'll let us know when enough is enough. (we lost a previous cat to renal failure...that one was much quicker).

Hang in there and love your cat.

I have no suggestions, they are all different.

I am sorry you are looking into the hard parts of the journey.

You're so lucky to have had her all these years for however long that ends up being.

I wish I had a cat like that.

Dear Niagara, I'm an old guy and I can't begin to remember how many cats that have shared my home. Every one of them have been special and I know exactly how you feel about Moppet. I would say that in the end kidney failure claimed the majority of them.

Your vet is correct. If she won't eat anything else she may eat turkey baby food or human canned tuna. I don't want to go here, but bitter experience has taught me that when a cat reaches the stage where it has quit eating, there is no saving them. That is just a terrible fact that you need to prepare yourself for. I know there have been times when I have waited too long to make the fateful decision. I'm sure you will know when it is time.

Moppet is 19 and that is a good run for any cat. Just keep giving her love and pets. I'm having a hard time writing this because I am still grieving over the loss of the Redd Baron in February of '22.

First off, , there are things you can try to bring your kitty around to more stable health. Sorry for the length, but there’s a lot of nuance to this. I learned about diet needs for CKD after poring over Tanya’s CKD site: Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease - Everything You Need to Know to Help Your Cat

Initially, our Tweedles was diagnosed in March 2020 with stage 4 renal failure and improved to stage 3 within a year. Her levels have been hovering just above stage 2 for the last 1.5 years. It has required care commitment and a ton of luck, but it is worth trying! Luckily, her heart health has been good the whole time, but she did develop hyperthyroidism 1.5 years ago — my big advice for that is getting liquid meds from a compounding pharmacy.

Backstory:
She had precipitously lost weight over maybe 10 days time and had been puking small amounts of clear liquid at increasing frequency over those days. Also had been ‘loafing’ — a sitting posture in cats that is an indicator of decreased kidney health.

She was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney disease and her vet prescribed Renal K+ powder, renal formula wet food and a referral to a specialty vet hospital. The regular vet set our expectations low, but the specialty vet gave her a chance IF we administered daily subcutaneous fluids at home. That’s right - daily injections of saline under her skin. It was scary at first, but! it is doable and our sweet kitty now comes and sits for her treatment without prompting.

We also used Mirataz gel to stimulate her appetite. Also, per her hospital vet, an acid reducer like pepcid or omeprazole dissolved in water given with an oral syringe, helps reduce stomach upset and improves appetite.

What I learned in those early months is that it is more important for them to take in calories (even if not the perfect renal food) than breakdown their own muscle for energy. So, here’s the diet tricks I used for her:

Putting weight on in the first 2 weeks:

I combined turkey baby food with water, high calorie gel, and duck fat (kidney cats need a higher ratio of fat to protein or carbs than a typical cat diet). I used a 5ml oral syringe to give her the mix by hand after she got a smaller syringe of a partial, crushed omeprazole, water, and ham baby food. For the duck fat — I bought a jar of pure ol’ duck fat, let a scoop of it liquify at room temp, then would draw it up in 5 ml oral syringes. Would refrigerate the drawn syringes of fat, then take one out a few mins before needing to mix with food. She’d get her nasty meds with the one syringe, then a 5 ml syringe of the mixture in several squirts to the mouth. I think this set her up to eat the food I put in her dish.

In her dish, I would combine one of the following pouch foods mixed with like 2 ml of duck fat, and ~ 3 ml high calorie gel: Fancy Feast Broths Adult Cat Wet Food; Friskies Lil' Soups; Hartz Bisque

In her regular wet food bowl, I would put out the combination mentioned below during this two weeks time, but the packet food mix and syringed mixture were essential, imo.

After the first 2 weeks:

The high calorie gel wasn’t needed and we didn’t need the omeprazole as often. We got her a robotic bowl (SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder) that weighs food as it’s consumed, to help monitor her eating rate, and to keep her chunky monkey brother out of her food. I bought a variety pack of Royal Canin renal foods and found that initially she like the E wet food. I would mash that E flavor food with some preferred flavor of fancy feast and 1-2 teaspoons of water and a measured dusting of the Renal K+ powder stirred in. We put out fresh wet food 2-3 times per day. Now, this was all at the start of the pandemic and I had two other adults in the house full time to help make this all work. Ask for help with your cat’s care - spouse, niece, neighbor, friend to help cover these early days. The routines can get easier as you build systems.

By 2 months later, she preferred Royal Canin D renal wet food, with water and Fancy Feast. Silicone lids for putting partial cans in the fridge were indispensible.

Since the end of the first year, both of our cats each eat 1/2 can of Fancy Feast mixed with 2 tablespoons of water, twice a day. We also put out renal formula dry food. You absolutely can add water to cats’ wet food. Start small and work up the quantity over time. Got my niece’s cat started on water in wet food as a kitten, and lol, he loves it/knows no difference.

Please talk this over with your vet — is what worked for my sweedle Tweedles, but can tailor an approach for your kitty’s heart health issues.

Moppet's been on Royal Canin food and Renel K+ powder for awhile now.


I might have to make start mixing it with the Fancy Feast since she seems repulsed by the both the E and D Royal Canin.

I read some comment at that Tanya site about the need for calories being more important than if it is the perfect food, and I just ran with it.

I’m hoping to get Tweed and her brother to 20 years, like your cute Moppet. Best of luck and holler if you have questions, etc.

She is a FIP survivor. At only 2 1/2 she has been emergency hospitalized 4 times this past year with nearly fatal pulmonary failure. We give her inhaler “puffs” twice a day and reward her with treats. We used Delectables for months but they changed the packaging/product 6 weeks ago. We mix other crushed meds in her treats so we had to find a replacement and landed on Churro. I just had her evaluated and tested at length at the U of Minn vet hospital. Much $. I can’t even tell my husband or others how much $.

I know how difficult this can be. I gave my former Siamese boy baby food and liver when he had cancer and quit eating. He went to the Rainbow Bridge at age 20 and I am right now tearing up writing this.

They are so precious. We love them so. Good luck.

The vet sais he had never seen such a high bilirubin result. And then he started on alll thie things that you know and I know - that I had given him a good life, that I wouldn't want him to suffer, all of that -you know it as well as I do. Through ter, I said, "But ut hurts." He then replied so bluntly that I won't repeat it here. It would sound callous to most people (It sounded callous to his wife, who was a close friend, when I told her). But it was esactly what I needed o hear ti stiffen my spine though it didn't stop the tears.) Anyone who responds well to bluntness (or anyone actually, but I warn you again, he was blunt) can replay and I"ll rsend a DU email, or send me one and I'll reply. Anyone who does not respond well to bluntness, I recommend, don't ask.

Our Zoey was lying in the bathroom floor one Thursday, unable to jump up onto the toilet seat b/c she had gotten so weak. I took her to the vet late on Friday, and they gave me really bad news. Her kidneys were almost shut down. I had to decide whether to leave her at the vet's over the weekend and decided against it -- she was a super-sensitive kitty and I didn't want to leave her among strangers in what might be her last hours, like our first cat was. Then she wasn't eating, drinking, or using her litter box. Very soon she was barely moving. All we could do was hold her on our laps and soothe her. Amazingly, she survived until Sunday night, and I was hoping I could get her to the vet on Monday, but she passed during the night. Only five days earlier she had seemed fairly healthy for an older cat.

In 20/20 hindsight, I should have put her to sleep on Friday, but Mother was undergoing medical treatment herself and was "out of it". I was afraid to put her cat to sleep when she was in no condition to decide herself -- she was perfectly capable of forgetting what she had said and done, and would blame me for putting her to sleep too soon. It was just the worst possible coincidence of events and I had to make a decision without enough time or information to go on. I wish we had discussed her situation more earlier, so I would have been prepared to make the necessary decision when it was time.

I encourage you to have "the talk" with your vet ASAP, so events don't catch up to you too soon.

add baby food. spares helps. i need cat.

Tuesday night when I went to bed, I didn't know if Moppet would still be with us in the morning as her breathing was labored.



I got home from work a little while ago, she's not laboring to breath today and she greeted me at the door. Although, she's still not bossing me around like she usually does.



I'm keeping Saturday's vet appointment and we'll see how that goes.



Thank you for all the love and support for our beloved Moppet.