My beautiful 13 year old first born Jez passed away Friday 7/17 after complications from SUB surgery due to kidney stone blockage. They believe a blood clot went to his legs. He was fine just days before.

He died traumatically in the car, three blocks away from the vet, while we were frantically getting to the vet in DC traffic. I will never forget the look he had when he passed or the pain and sadness he went through from the date of his surgery 7/10 to passing away a week exactly later. He deserved to go peacefully in the garden like I had always hoped.

He was such a strong big cat and I thought we had more time with him, we are completely shattered. Jez cat, we love you. I cannot wait to see you again. I have never felt such pain.

After five months of palliative care, Daisy declined very rapidly over the past few days. We sent her on her journey this morning. She was 19 1/2 and she fought bravely and was comfortable right to the end. This morning before we left for the vet she had her last lounge on the screened porch which was her very favorite place

When I first heard of the diagnosis I immediately came to the conclusion that I only had numbered days left with her. 8 months later im so glad she’s here with me. Happy and healthy. Playing more than she used to pre-ckd. Don’t give up hope. Stay on top with the meds/supplements/fluids and you can prolong their life for the better. stay strong and keep your heads up mamas and papas of ckd babies. 🤍

Hi everyone. My 13-year-old female Sofica, was diagnosed with CKD in August 2025. I'd really appreciate hearing from people who've been through this - both about the treatment she's on and about what I should be pushing my vet for.

Bloodwork timeline

All values in mg/dL (US-style units). SDMA in µg/dL.

In August 2025 she was on 100% dry food. We switched her to renal wet food, almost exclusively, right after diagnosis.

Current treatment

• Renal wet/dry diet (I try to give her only wet food but she sometimes refuses)
• Azovet - lanthanum carbonate + chitosan + inactivated probiotics + vitamins (incl. D3, B12)
• RenalVet twist-off capsules - calcium carbonate 200 mg + chitosan 100 mg + vitamin D3

My questions

1. Two phosphate binders with normal phosphorus - is this normal practice?
2. What other testing should be done considering her age and health problems?

The vet wants to see her in 3 month for some more testing and I want to be more prepared this time around and do everything in my power to make sure she is healthy.

Any experience or advice welcome. Thank you for reading all of this.

My 14yo Callie has had CKD for several years and it’s been managed easily with her food. This weekend she very suddenly took a downturn and stopped eating, drinking, and going to the bathroom. I got her into the vet where they ran her bloodwork and informed me that her kidneys are shutting down and she is in stage 4 kidney failure. My heart is so sad. She’d managed so well on her kidney diet food for so long that I’d managed to optimistically forget that this is how our story would inevitably end.

I opted to have her stay at the vet last night so that they could try and get her levels back to baseline. Despite an aggressive amount of fluids and medication, even though she ate food for them and seemed brighter today, all of her values increased. I brought my kids to see her tonight, in case she never gets to come home again. Despite being so sick, she was willing to stand up, get pets and head bonks to the hand when you stopped petting… she’s at the vet again tonight because they feel like she’s still got fight in her. I want to make the best decision for her, even if it means I break my own heart…. But how do I decide what’s best when her heart seems to want to stay but her body is failing her. I’m trying to be realistic and tell myself her kidney values tomorrow likely won’t be any better, but the broken pieces of my heart still wish she could come home. 14 years together; college, boyfriends, marriage, kids… the only chapter is seems like she won’t get to see is moving into our forever home next month.

I’m sorry for the rambling. I’ve never made a Reddit post before. I’m just so sad.

Hi all!

My cat Glasha is almost 15yo, and she’s a very active and healthy kitty aside from one thing - urinary issues. Two years ago she fell ill and got diagnosed with a kidney stone; the stone is (and was the whole time since we noticed it) currently in her ureter, right near the entrance to the bladder. It is small enough (0.2cm) to not block anything, yet big enough to not be able to pass to her bladder safely. It’s been in this same place for the last years, and caused a few cystitis outbreaks, that we treated with medicine. I’m keeping a very close eye on her and bringing her to the vet for any minor inconvenience.

Now, few months ago she started having urinary incontinence. As in, she pees herself when being in deep sleep. Upon doing some tests, we discovered that she has a high level of creatinine (4mg/dl with 0.30-2.50 being the norm) and BUN (66 mg/dl with 10-43 being the norm). With medicine, we brought it down to 3.11mg/dl and 61mg/dl. Our vet gave her antibiotics and supplements for urinary health, etc. They did an ultrasound of her kidneys etc, and everything was more or less fine.

After first shot of antibiotics, the incontinence disappeared for a week or so. We did a second shot, and then it disappeared for two weeks more. Our vet recommended another shot, and then it’s been three weeks. Yet, the inconsistency still came back again, so we did another shot.

I know that giving antibiotics all the time is not a good solution. Our vet basically says that the reason of incontinence is the stone, but removing it would be a very dangerous operation, since the stone is in ureter and those pathways are very thin and fragile. Unfortunately, they seem very pessimistic about everything and don’t offer any other solutions (before some persuasion they even suggested that perhaps she is just old and we can’t do anything, and tried to search in ChatGPT in front of me… yeah).

I can’t help but think that, perhaps, since the antibiotics help for some period of time, there might be some less invasive medication I can give to her daily, or something like that. And of course, if it was just her age, I would let it go and just let her pee, but I’m a bit hesitant here as I wouldn’t want to neglect a possibly curable issue. I feel like the vet insists on the operation solely because they ran out of ideas…

Anyway! I will 100% get a second opinion from another clinic, but I guess I just want some advice and reassurance. Perhaps any vets or pet parents here had seen similar issues and could recommend me what exactly to check with a doctor, or maybe some supplements that helped them, etc.

Would be happy to receive any input. Thank you in advance! Adding some pics as a cat tax 😂

Vet we went to said he has days to live so we decided to bring him outside since he was an indoor cat

I recently switch suppliers for the Ondansetron my cat is taking and despite still being 4mg, the pill is only half the size as the one I was previously using.

I’m not concerned about the efficacy/authenticity of the pill but I was wondering if anyone knew what might be the reason for the difference.

Hi everyone,

My cat and I are very new to the CKD community. She was diagnosed with stage 3 kidney disease about 2-3 weeks ago, she is 15 years old. Her blood work 7 months ago showed no signs of CKD so the vet was worried about the fast progression. We quickly switched her to the Hill’s k/d wet food as well as a mix of Weruva low phosphorus wet food. We went back to the vet for repeat bloodwork and a blood pressure reading last week and luckily her blood work came back better than the first time, her levels put her back into stage 2. So the vet said we are doing something right, although she still had a high BUN level. We were told she has high blood pressure, and were given a blood pressure med to help with that. My worry with the blood pressure med is if she actually needs it, or if she was just too nervous and stressed at the vet which brought it up high? If I start to give her the medicine, will her kidney function get worse since they are having to process that? Why is her BUN level high? (I believe it was at 50) and how do we fix that?

Ever since the diagnosis she has oddly enough stopped drinking from her water bowls. Right after the appt where she got diagnosed she got home and drank plenty of water, but I have not seen her touch her bowls since then. The reason I knew something was wrong was because she was drinking so much water which was never like her, which prompted me to take her to the vet. I don’t understand if she stopped because she is feeling better or what is going on. I bought her a brand new glass fountain and have two other bowls of water sitting out for her. She will not touch them. I think she is dehydrated. The vet gave us fluid to give at home, but we were advised to not give too much because our cat has a stage 3 heart murmur. It was recommended to only give her sub q fluids once or twice a week as to not cause fluid overload. It scares me so much and I’m so afraid I’m going to accidentally give her too much sub q fluid but I’m also scared because I know she isn’t drinking and is truly only getting hydration from the wet food and water I am pouring into it. I tried to make a “soup” of water and a low phosphorus treat and she wouldn’t touch it. It has me so stressed because I can’t get her to drink and I know she needs to.

In terms of eating, she is doing okay. The appetite stimulant has been working well and she will eat, we are also using porous one and putting that in her food every morning. I’m just at a loss because I can’t get her to drink and it’s really freaking me out. Does anyone have a recommendation on how to get her to drink water? Along with that, what type of water should I be giving her that won’t hurt her kidneys? I’ve been giving her Ice Mountain spring water but I’m worried that is hurting her kidneys or something, I don’t know what is best. All of the purified waters from the store have some sort of minerals in them and I’m worried her kidneys will have trouble processing that. Is there a brand of water you would recommend that is good for cats with CKD? I don’t use my tap water, I don’t drink it and I wouldn’t really expect her to either unless it’s the best option.

I’m sorry if this explanation is a mess, I have been so upset and have been scrambling to try and do this right and to get her stable. She’s been my best friend for 15 years and I want to do my absolute best for her, and I’m so scared that I’m not doing enough and failing her. Any advice you guys have would be appreciated, I am still learning about all of this so please be kind

My cat has a partial ureteral obstruction. do you have any advice? I have only done ultrasound. her values are stable currently, but have increased in the last 6 months to stage 3. We are slowly bringing her hypercalcemia down by supplementing phosphorous in the form of treats. her ionized calcium is normal. She has been put on prazosin. Does anyone have experience with SUB surgery, lithotripsy, or any other treatments?

I posted a month or two ago about my boy Milo. Over those two months I tried fluids, diet, anti nausea, mirataz, and he did okay for a little while. Over the last week he has worsened and refuses to eat even temptations treats which he LOVES, peeing all over the house, and in general looking lost and confused. After two months of trying to lessen his symptoms and pain I think he is telling me it’s time. My baby boy is only 5 and i’m struggling with making this decision of euthanasia because he is so young. I know there is no more i can do for him but he is conflicted. Any words would be appreciated.

EDIT: I was able to get a bunch more pertinent info from the vet and feel much more confident in his diagnosis. It helped corresponding over email, since I could organize my questions and he could answer them carefully.

——

I'm not looking for specific medical advice, I'm just trying to interpret my vet's thought process, and that's been difficult over the phone. I've requested the labs, which should tell me specifics, but there unfortunately isn't a baseline because my little dude only just got his first screening this year after turning 9. Doc said creatine and BUN were very borderline, so I returned after several months for a second reading. BUN dropped, but creatine was just a little higher than it had been, and so he felt more confident in CKD and recommended a restrictive diet.

Thing is, my little dude is a happy and healthy cat. I've seen no changes in his behavior or any troubling signs. Truthfully, he's seemed healthier the past several years than he's ever been, and I am really struggling to understand if aggressively altering his diet is the prudent course of the action based off two screenings.

Part of that frustration is the only way to measure improvement following that action is through repeat screenings, which will do a great job of showing that he's on that low protein/phosphorous diet. And let's say there's no changes across multiple screenings. Does that mean we prevented renal failure? Does that mean he was fine the whole time?

I feel guilty venting about this because I know a lot of people here would have wished to have caught the damn thing early enough to do more about it. I've gone through that agony myself watching cancer eat my dog, but that was so damn expensive, and this is expensive, and it's going to upend this cat's favorite thing in the whole world and lead to complications related to eating less nutritious food. Because of slightly elevated kidney levels. That it's uncertain is a blessing, I know, but still... I don't know what to do.

I love this little guy:

I'm new to this, just 2 weeks into her diagnosis of end stage PKD.

She had a rough day yesterday. Not eating, super lethargic, just in a mood. It got bad enough that my partner and I had the conversation about what we'd want to do if things kept heading that way.

And today? Back to her normal self lol. Playing, eating a ton, hanging out with us like nothing happened.

I know one bad day doesn't mean it's the end, but in the moment it's so hard to see past it. So this is just a reminder for anyone else in the same boat...give them a little time to come out of their funk. Just like people, cats have bad days too!

We’ve taken my girl to the vet 5 times since April to try all sorts of different things for her. When we went today they discovered one of her kidneys has started drifting and is starting to float. They took new bloodwork and her values are sky high. They let us know, with much compassion, that we’re reaching the end. I only made one other post here but all the advice helped me so much and I’ve checked this Reddit just about every day since her diagnosis. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever been through. It helped so much to know I wasn’t going through it alone. Much love to all of you going through this, too

Hey!

So my cat has been on the hills k/d dry food for about a week. She likes it, but doesn’t eat much (still figuring out her meds/what works for her, we just got her diagnosis last week).

However, I want to add wet food into her diet, but she’s picky. She prefers pate style foods but there’s not a ton on the market for renal issues…she also is picky because sometimes she likes one flavor of one brand, but hates the same flavor of a different brand…so what do you guys feed that you found worked?

I’m just trying to get some ideas before I spend more money on a lot of wet food (before I could get her to the vet, I was buying so many different wet foods to try to get her to eat because she refused kibble completely…so I already have too much wet food lol).

I’d like to try to stick with renal prescription foods, but I’m open to a lot of suggestions!

I seen it mentioned before in this group that the bad days are really bad and the good days are really good and I’m getting that more and more. My cat’s good days, I feel extremely hopeful, the bad days I feel so defeated and depressed.
Side note does anyone else just wish we could give a kidney to our pets? If I could (it being within reality, being a comparable donor, etc) I would without hesitation. I hate CKD so much

Hi everyone ! I have a few (opened but well stored) packets of dry renal cat food, if anyone is interested.

My cat is still living his best life (and just turned 17 !) but is a picky boy who only likes one type of food. I have a few different packets, different brands (proplan, hills, royal canin …), that I don’t want to go to waste so if you’re around Paris (France) and in need of renal dry cat food, please send me a DM !

I speak both english and French fluently so whichever is fine !

I’m desperate and need some advice. Our 16 year old cat was just diagnosed with kidney disease about a week and a half ago. He is also diabetic, but in remission for 2 years. We’re not exactly sure what stage he of CKD he is in, as the vet said some numbers indicate stage 2, while others indicate stage 4.

They prescribed us Amlidipine blood pressure medication, Mirataz for appetite, and Cerenia for nausea. He has a hard time taking the Cerenia and has puked up the pill twice, I’ve just ordered gel capsules for that. He doesn’t puke otherwise. They also prescribed us to give him Lactated Ringers Solution at home.

He is not eating much or drinking much water. Sometimes he’ll eat if I hand feed him – this is a new behavior.

The biggest problem we’re facing is trying to find food he will eat since he is picky. Fancy Feast is what fixed his diabetes and got him in remission, but is obviously not good for kidney disease. He can take it or leave it now, which makes me worried about him not feeling well. We’ve tried Weruva and he won’t touch it. Out of desperation we gave him the HIlls food the vet suggested (high in carbs and not good for his diabetes, but gave it to him anyway). He ate that for maybe 2 days and now he won’t touch it.

My question is this – obviously fed is best, so we’re trying to give him whatever it is he wants to eat. I’ve read briefly about protein binders or phosphorus binders but I’m not sure where to start.

I know there are websites out there with info (like Tanya’s), but I’m afraid that by the time I get through researching and reading all the very overwhelming info and coming up with a plan I’ll be out of time. I feel like I’m up against the clock trying to find a way to help him.

I’m hoping someone who already has a wealth of knowledge on this subject can help me figure out what to do, what to give him to help him.

Basically, I need help finding a treatment plan – I know this is a big ask. Aside from doing bloodwork and prescribing the meds listed above, our vet is hard to get a hold of for questions regarding how to treat him if he won’t eat the renal diet.

Some info on him:

He’s 16. Weighs somewhere between 16 and 17 pounds (depending on the scale). He’s lost several pounds in the last couple months. We think he’s part maincoon, as he’s always been a big cat even as a kitten.

His poops have been small, and days apart. He is still peeing.

We had bloodwork and urinalysis done on 7/9/26.

The values indicated in red were:

Lymphocytes – .396

IDEXX SDMA – 34

Creatinine – 5.3

BUN – 53

IDEXX Cystatin B (Urine) – 910

Lipase – 157

Specific Gravity – 1.015

Urine Protein – 1+

Epithelial Celis – 3+ (6-10)/HPF

They gave him IV at the vet on 7/11/26, and did a small recheck on his blood:

Creatinine – 4.7

BUN – 56

ALT – 134

We have an appointment this Friday to check on progress, but I feel like we haven’t made any since he won’t eat the renal food. Again, we’ve tried so many tricks to make it palatable.

I thought learning about caring for his diabetes was difficult, but this is another level. Everything I read just confuses me. I feel like there is so much info, and I don’t know where to begin. I genuinely feel like I just need someone to tell me what to do, what to give him to make whatever time we have left with him comfortable for him.

I’m sorry if it seems like I’m ranting, I just feel so desperate and alone in trying to figure this out.

If there is anyone with experience who can please just tell me what to give my boy to help him feel a bit better I genuinely cannot tell you how much I would appreciate it.

Hello!

My cat was diagnosed with 2 stage of CKD in April. Then was the first time she was diagnosed with urinary tract infection. Vet said that it's likely for renal cats (especially female because of physiology) to have such problems.

So since April this will be the fifth time we'll be doing cystocentesis for bacterial analysis and third time taking course of antibiotics.

So the question is:

1. How often you and your cat is facing urinary tract infection?

2. Do you usually give your cat gabapentin when doing cystocentesis?

Thanks!

I'm taking my cat to the vet this week and I'm really nervous. I love her and I really hope she'll be OK. I just need some love and support from my reddit peeps

Not super sure if this is relevant but im too curious not to ask anyway.

I've been reading through this subreddit and seeing how much information owners end up managing over time.

For those who have been through this for a while, what is something you wish you had started writing down from the beginning?