Libby's in the Kitty Hospital tonight, and probably will be until early Monday morning. She's very lethargic, hasn't been eating, and definitely is not being herself. The emergency vet says it's very likely to be chronic renal failure (CRF), which is essentially a slow kidney failure. Further research finds that this condition can be quite common in older cats (over 7 years old). Libby's about 11 now, as far as I know, which is getting old for a kitty.

CRF is a progressive disease, which means it never gets better. But it can be managed. The hard part is finding the balance between prolonging the kitty's life and giving the kitty the highest quality of life during her last days. Libby can have anywhere from months to years before she reaches end-stage CRF. In the meantime, treatment can be quite expensive, and is constant.

I just don't know what to do. It's all very overwhelming right now.


UPDATE: 23 Oct 2006 18:23: I took Libby to the regular vet this morning, and they put her back on the IV and gave her some more medications. Her blood chemistry is doing much much better, but she's been having upset stomach today. The vet is keeping her overnight in case she's still feeling ill since they are better equipped to handle that sort of thing. But aside from that, she's doing much better. I got to visit with her a bit tonight, and she seems to be much more herself now. The curiosity and liveliness that I knew is starting to come back. Tomorrow we'll see how her overall health is doing.

By the way, I like my vet a lot. He seems to be genuinely interested in the well being of his animal patients and their human owners, and I value and respect that very highly. He seems to have a veritable cornucopia of experience, and has a very gentle and soothing bedside manner. If you're looking for a vet near where I live, let me know and I can give you his name.


UPDATE: 25 Oct 2006 23:27: Well, Libby's off the IV now, but even with the reduced flowrate of IV fluids she got today, her blood chemistry levels were going back toward the "not so good" numbers. The vet wants to try a couple of days of subcutaneous ("sub-Q") fluids, where they put a bubble of IV fluid under the skin as like a portable IV. On Friday, the vet will do another blood test to see how Libby's doing. If she requires continuous IV to keep her levels stable, then it'll probably be time to let her go. :-( Even more than 2-3 times per week of sub-Q would be pretty strenuous for her.

They say that kidney failure is by no means a painful thing for cats until they get to the very very end stages of it. Her spirit is much lighter now than this time last week, which tells me that she's not feeling any pain as a result of her condition.


UPDATE: 30 Oct 2006 21:35: Libby seems to be 90% her old self again. :-) She's jumping up to her favorite sleeping spot(s), playing with the catnip toys, and snuggling with everyone in sight. And I'm sure she's glad to not need to be at the vet's all the time. I will be giving her subcutaneous fluids at home now (the vet showed me how to do it... very easy), and we're switching over to a special diet food to help regulate her blood chemistry.

Kitties like Libby are hard to find. It'd be really sad times to lose her. =^..^=

¶ 1:43 AM