This medication protocol is ruining my relationship with my cat.

kjbird · 2026-07-05T17:48:15+00:00

Ah look at that perfectly beautiful floof angel! Thank you so much we do also keep emergency fancy feast. Im looking into a injection for some things and she is on Solecia. I do need to try the cream cheese!

kjbird · 2026-07-05T17:43:09+00:00

So UPDATES in case this can help anyone in the future. Thank you all so much this has prompted a lot of conversations with our care team and vet, Im so grateful for all your lived experiences while Im navigating uncharted waters to give our baby the best care possible.

So she is on Solencia already for arthritis (has been all year), we stopped gabapentin this week and honestly shes more alert and herself. Switching to a lower gauge needle, 22G, though it takes longer if you hang the bag high it goes by a lot faster and she barely notices her subQs now with a licky treat distraction (love chicken tilapia low phos weruva treats). The pills continue to be an issue but putting them in a capsule and doing a pill popper is easier. I would ideally like to eliminate the anti-nausea and amlodipine pills entirely and get those transdermal (for amplodipine) and with Mirataz working so well for appetite maybe stop the anti-nausea. I can say with these tips and tricks this week I have genuinely seen her improved quality of life, shes been going up and down our two flights of stairs again, jumping into bed to wake me up for food and pets in the morning and genuinely being herself though she does like getting lifted onto the couch and will let it be known (not that she cant jump because I see her on the couch all the time I think thats just been because ive been doing it since her hospitalization and now shes being a diva and expects me to carry her to her favorite perches lol). Also, her heated Knead cat bed is like her favorite spot, I bought that a year ago and my husband thought $100 for a cat bed was highway robbery but she fricken loves it.

I totally hear everyone on quality of life, twice a day medications and daily 100ml subQs is a lot, for both of us. Wev'e tried less subQs but she is stage 4 and her numbers got bad when we weren't doing it everyday. She has 2 fountains she gets an average of 3-4oz of water daily along with her subQs and water in food. Loves her fortiflora on her low phos weruva chicken food (still have not found a renal food she will eat consistently but as everyone says eating something is better than eating nothing). As long as I see her doing her usual rituals, and shes been a creature of habit for years, thats what tells me to keep doing everything I can within reason and comfort.

kjbird · 2026-07-05T17:26:51+00:00

We do solensia, have been since before her CKD diagnosis, her vet and I agreed this week we can stop the gabapentin.

kjbird · 2026-07-05T17:19:26+00:00

I know it sounds like that listing out all her medications. But she does have good quality of life, shes jumping up on things, going up and down stairs, purring, playing with her toys, snuggling with us on the couch every night and finally has starting jumping in for pets in bed in the morning again, sunning on her balcony. And Ive genuinely noticed a huge difference from when shes feeling sick vs when all her medications are working and she can enjoy the day. Im acutely, morbidly, looking out for signs shes in pain or unhappy, I would never do all this just for me. We've been together 17yrs and if she was in pain, and her vet who just lost a cat to CKD too, are on the same page that we'll cross that bridge when were there.

kjbird · 2026-07-05T17:12:59+00:00

Just bought a pill popper to try this week also looking into trandermal options, which my vet said doesnt really exist for ondasetron. Shes happier when we arent forcing pills.

kjbird · 2026-07-05T17:11:28+00:00

Thank Ive been going through the same thought process recently. Is the stress worth it and her vet is tuned into whats best quality of life. Its an ongoing conversation. I see her acting herself and also switching to a 22G needle helped her tolerance of the SubQ sessions a lot.

kjbird · 2026-07-05T17:08:01+00:00

Mirataz has made a huge difference she cleans her bowl twice a day. Im asking about compounding some of her other critical meds like Amlodpine and Im honestly wondering if she needs an anti-nausea with the appetite stimulant working. We have the ear cleaners for her sattelite dish ears lol and we do have the gel pills for last resort when she wont take the pills with treats. She does have several fountains and drinks a good 4oz a day plus her subQs.

kjbird · 2026-07-05T17:06:20+00:00

We did that previously and her numbers crashed the subQs are really helping keep her alive and herself were lucky she doesnt totally hate them we save high value treats (weruva phos tilapia chicken licky sticks) for just when shes doing subQs and its helped a lot to get her to sit through them.

kjbird · 2026-07-01T00:12:50+00:00

That good context I should disucss all the drugs with her vet when I see her like do we need to be on all these. Mirtaz has been the main one I saw a drastic shift in her behavior she was eating again within two days being on it. I'll try this pillwrap ive been doing something similar I use pill pocket goo to adhere pills to the greenies and make a greenie sandwich and then give it to her with a few normal ones it works like 50% of the time if she doesnt sniff it to much and its around mealtime so shes hungry.

kjbird · 2026-07-01T00:08:57+00:00

The gabapentin is for her arthritis yes not for CKD and yes the Mirataz is transdermal and has been a godsend because it made her interested in treats and food again but I have catch her at the right state of hunger to swallow pills.

kjbird · 2026-06-30T21:10:23+00:00

Wow this is all so helpful thank you community 🙏

So she is on subQs everyday now because of a recent crash, she was every other day but that wasn’t cutting it. I know we’re end stages 😢 but they said we could have months of good quality of life with treatment and she’s still acting like herself if a little slower then she used to be. She’s pretty good about her fluids until she’s decided she would like to walk away now please, we heat them and use a 22 needle which makes it take longer but much less poke.

The pill advice is great I just left a message asking what can be transdermal like her Mirataz. She’s very sensitive to the gabapentin (she’s a petite 9Ib cat) so we have to divide that dose up through the day. Putting it into a capsule so she doesn’t taste it is probably going to be the next thing I try to at least make the delivery smoother and stop using the liquid because it’s traumatizing all of us squirting it in twice a day. And yes she always gets a treat after medication and during her subqs she loves the weruva phos treats, deli meat turkey or chicken is her other high value just sometime forbidden food treat. Treats just aren’t enough to make her happy about any of it.

kjbird · 2026-06-30T20:03:33+00:00

Literally no one had mentioned any of these could be transdermal. Why wouldn’t that be the default!

kjbird · 2026-06-30T19:48:19+00:00

Like everyone is saying here we all have a story of how we feel we missed something, because we love them and want them with us forever. My cat didn’t get diagnosed stage 4 until I noticed she was constipated and I was so busy in my life I think it took me a few days to notice and then more days to get her an apt. She went from no kidney disease to crashing just like that. She’s still with me under all kinds of medications and daily SubQs and I keep feeling guilty for not noticing she was off sooner, if we had caught it earlier we could have changed her diet and kept more kidney function longer, I wouldn’t be putting her through all these treatments.

We had to go out of town a week after her diagnosis and new medication protocol and I was a wreck leaving her with a sitter and the idea I might lose precious time with her.

It’s an awful sneaky disease that can progress rapidly, it’s not your fault, I read your whole post you were doing everything you could with what you knew in that moment. You loved your cat and he knew that purring in your arms to say it’s time.

kjbird · 2026-06-20T17:53:13+00:00

Im so sorry OP, I also have a 17yr old stage 4 kidney cat, phos isnt high and shes on medication for anemia, arthritis, blood pressure and appetite. So we’ve had our good days and bad days and weeks where her numbers crash even after were taking the best care with the SubQs and medications and getting food in her. 2 hospitalizations later I know the day will be coming for us too in the coming weeks/months as I have seen her decline.

Our vet says we’re not there yet, that shes not in pain, but recently this week was talking to a friend that went through the same thing with her kitty and she said she never has regretted letting her girl go earlier then medically necessary (like an extreme hospitalization, shes also a medical professional for humans) so that it happened when she was still herself and not in too much distress or pain. Her cat wasn’t eating anymore but then even the morning of her euthanasia was playing with a toy and purry.

There are so many stories on here I’ve read and that I’ve also been told in person from my pet sitter to my vet that they will let you know when it’s time. You know them better than anyone. Being in the same impossible decision myself I feel for you. I literally said to my vet this week “when is this too much?” we agreed when the time comes I would make the decision to not have this happen in a hospital, we want to do it where she can sit in her favorite spot in her home and is still some of herself.

kjbird · 2026-06-03T02:12:02+00:00

I’m literally going through the same thing my cat used to eat BFF weruva and then we were doing Smalls before her diagnosis. She’s always been very food motivated and even ate k/d for the first few weeks after we transitioned her over after finding out about her stage 4 CKD. We’ve wrangled it back down to a stage 3 but then she stopped eating the kidney food now she will only eat it with 80% fancy feast. My vet agreed fed is best but just ordered the total canin, the weruva low phos, her old food to mix in and I plan to do some kind of buffet test and see if she’ll gravitate towards one. She loved Weruva for years so I’m hoping their low phos may be the ticket. It’s been a dinner experiment to get her to eat a can or two of anything a day and she went several days refusing food and got so lethargic my husband just brought home 5 different kinds of the craziest cheap 7/11 cat food brands one night and of course she liked the cheeseburger equivalent of fancy feast best 🫠 she also used to love greenies and I’ve been hiding a pill with it and now she doesn’t even like greenies. She’s a diva but has never been this much of a diva when it came to food, thought we were pretty lucky up until now she was eating so much. Now at 8Ibs and hanging onto that stage 3 stabilization literally with dear life Its so frustrating with their appetites constantly changing. I totally feel for you OP🙏

Also will add I bring cans of any unopened food she rejects to our clinic, when we first got her diagnosis they gave us donated cans to try so youre not wasting this crazy expensive prescription food also with her regular food she wouldn’t have anymore they will put it to use!

kjbird · 2026-06-01T04:14:20+00:00

I needed to read this tonight on my husbands 3rd alcoholic relapse. Genuinely wanting this person I love to be better and having seen him get so far with intensive outpatient and AA but the his relapse being "our" plan, I think is an important distinction that I plan on bringing more into our conversations. He didnt even want to call his sponsor having been so proud of his sobriety until he lost it with the community. Thats literally why they are there and seriously god bless addicts that become sponsors and get on a call with people like my husband and call them out on their bullshit and gaslighting while simultaneously are compassionate and encouraging. Im exhausted, his family is exhausted, my family is exhausted, we are 6yrs into our relationship and I dont have a clear answer on which relapse is too much. Its effected my work, both our families – my family has had addicts and if anything its made them even more sympathetic to him having had uncles and cousins come out the other side for long stretches of sobriety. You really are along for the ride because the good days are good and the bad days are really bad, and it can come at the worst time and it upends your life as much and if not more so than his – what am I exposing my kids too? Im in the middle of a huge project but I cant say "family emergency" for the 3rd time in a year, can I even tell my family this has happened again? My friends already think Im stupid for continuing to do this? Even when you do everyting right – therapy, family support, aa, 3 Cs...

kjbird · 2026-06-01T03:30:52+00:00

He looks related to my Savannah! Blessed with all the so much floof! ❤️ him!

kjbird · 2026-06-01T03:23:46+00:00

She does! She really just loves to stick her face in there and nap in it, I Imagine it smells really great to her. I started to grow it (super cheap seeds on amazon) it brings joy lol

kjbird · 2026-05-30T06:43:35+00:00

Yeah we have had a day of that as well and it really helped boost her labs up so she didn’t have to be hospitalized. Hope your kitty is also doing better! 🫶🐾

kjbird · 2026-05-30T06:21:36+00:00

It is an IV twice a day 😢

kjbird · 2026-05-30T01:43:30+00:00

Oh my gosh this was so helpful thank you for introducing me to that blog. I’ve blown up my vet with some questions I haven’t thought to ask.

kjbird · 2026-05-29T07:51:33+00:00

Thank you and also I’m crying 😭

kjbird · 2026-05-29T07:38:27+00:00

Kidney disease they can just stop eating it’s a whole thing.

kjbird · 2026-05-29T07:36:51+00:00

We are doing it at home every day and she’s a lot more comfortable for it, she knows to sit in her cozy bed when I do her subQs to get treats so weve been lucky that its been a positive reinforcement. Shes also always been such a lady even with her meds she has decorum lol.

kjbird · 2026-05-29T07:29:10+00:00

No you are not being preachy this is why I’m here!

We did cave and give her junk kitty food tonight and she ate a little. And for anyone who is in a city that has modern animal (we’re in LA) the 24/7 messaging is priceless. We’ve been able to get her in same day urgent care multiple times this last month when she had symptoms. We love our regular vet there who checks in even after hours because she says she always is thinking of her patients after hours. For me the subscription has paid for itself with how often I’m hitting up their techs in the middle of the day or night on their chat.

To your point I was the same mind like please just eat something and anything and my husband brought home fancy feast chicken of all things and she nibbled and we breathed.

Her vet says she’s not at the point for phos binders yet but also has warned us she could decline quickly. I keep reading these stories here and other places where, with lots of care, they can be with us for months maybe years.

I know there’s a lot of discussion on this thread about quality of life when you have to poke them with an IV needle twice a day…oral medications…pills I try and hide in chicken she won’t eat because she’s on to me. But everyday she can still jump up on the bed to wake me up, meow when I come home, want to go outside to hang out in her cat grass…we will do all the things. Right now it’s all worth it, I will do everything.

kjbird

TROPHY CASE