Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Tungsten's Test Results Are Known


While Tucker has been undergoing his most recent tribulations, the results of the creatine test on Tungsten have come back. Though not discouraging, they are not quite the opposite, either.

My orange one is on the verge of having kidney troubles. Her ‘numbers’ stand at 2.0. If they rise any higher, then steps will have to be taken to combat kidney failure, I understand. Certainly, kidneys that are not doing their duty does not mean the end of a cat. I will do all that is necessary to keep Tungsten alive and comfortable, though at the moment, I know only that I will have to give her sub-cutaneous fluids, if her organs are not working. I suspect that there will be more medicine to give her.


She is drinking more water these days. I had always urged her to drink more, and now that she is following my wishes, I want it not to be necessary. I turn on the bathroom basin’s tap for her whenever she asks, and I know that she is drinking from the little bowl I leave there during my absences. She refuses to drink from it so long as I am present to cater to her desires.


Tungsten is growing old. She will be, by estimate, fourteen this year. I realise that there are many good years ahead of a fourteen year old cat, even one with renal problems, but I recall the seven year old I adopted. She could leap straight up five feet to land on a bookcase, and was continually jumping onto the micro-wave oven from near by surfaces. And not so long ago, she was easily cresting the refrigerator, to stand like a tiny tigress.


These days, though, she spends most of her time curled up in her heated cat-bed, though she still likes to join me many nights in my own heated bed. She doesn’t play anymore, though that may simply be disdain for a childish activity. But she loves being rubbed; I rub her ribs fast and hard, too hard for a ‘senior’ cat, one would think, but she loves it, gripping the sides of her cat-bed and putting her head back. She also loves having her minuscule head enveloped by my hand and rubbed as quickly as possible. Tungsten remains, despite her changes, as fascinating and frustrating as ever.


8 comments:

  1. If you're not already familiar with Tanya's CRF web site, here it is:

    http://www.felinecrf.org/

    It's known to be THE web resource, I believe. I've not yet done more than skim a few pages here and there over the years, but every Yahoo cat group I used to belong to mentioned it, at one time or another.

    I would think it's better to take what steps you can now, rather than wait till she's in a bad state.

    Purrs to Tungsten!

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  2. purrs to you both....mom says it is hard to watch us age no matter the circumstances

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  3. Purrs to you sweet Tungsten from all of us.

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  4. Purrs for Tungsten, she's a fortunate girl to have you in her life.

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  5. You asked about hyperthyroid in cats. Our Yoko was diagnosed with a high normal thyroid in 2007 when she was 14. She also had the beginnings of chronic renal failure which complicates treating the thyroid. My vet said that if you treat the thyroid aggressively, the kidneys will fail faster so we went the herbal route for both ailments - I gave homeopathic Thyroid Soothe by Pets Alive.com along with Thyroid Support Gold by Petwellbeing.com. Both are liquid drops that were easy to give. For her kidneys I gave Feline Renal Support by Standard Process which is not made anymore. In later years I added Tripsy by NHVnaturalpetproducts.com, another herbal liquid. Yoko lived for 6 more years with fluid therapy added in her final year. She passed in Dec of a tumor in her jaw, but not from kidney or thyroid issues. I also added the herb hawthorn for her heart as the thyroid makes the heart work harder. Sounds like Tungsten is the beginning of CRF too - I would start him on the Tripsy as soon as possible. Go to the websites and read the testimonials of other pets with both thyroid and renal failure. Let me know if I can help in anyway. My other cat Chica had CRF and lived to be 22 years old after being diagnosed with CRF 7 years ago.

    Cheri of Cats of Wildcat Woods

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  6. Sounds like Tungsten has a mighty good Dad that is going to take good care of her in case of Kidney failure. I have had several cats with it and it is not hard to maintain. Sending lots of purrs your way Tungsten. Take care.

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  7. Oh Dear.... :(
    Sounds like the road I just traveled....

    My purrayers for your baby ♥

    Ask your vet about RenaVast .

    You can check out these links:

    http://www.renavast.com/

    http://www.homevet.com/pet-care-products?page=shop.product_details&category_id=11&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=168

    Sunny was on it, it certainly helped his appetite,he seemed better with it.

    The pumpkin is good all the time, I give it to all of them. Pumpkin helps with constipation in dogs and cats mostly so it would make it easier for the hair to pass through the digestive tract. 1 tsp. in their canned food good! ^.,^
    Good Luck! and Purrayers ♥ ♥

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  8. Purring that the increase in intake is enough for the old fellow
    Our Buddy Budd is starting to miss jumps and Dad worries as he is now 13
    Purrs

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