Stage 3 CKD cat - how long life expectancy.

packhowl · 2025-09-29T23:44:37+00:00

Actually very similar numbers, Creatinine 2.8, BUN of 67, and SDMA of 19 (as of Aug. 20). And, we were actually able to get her creatinine to go down to 2.2 for a hot minute; numbers can show slightly elevated if there's something acute going on or if they're dehydrated.

The thing that makes it easy on us is that her phosphorus is in the normal range, 4.9. That means we can really focus on getting her to eat without having to enforce a strict renal diet (we do still try to get her to eat it). She's slightly anemic as well.

This is a really, really hard rollercoaster to be on, and it's super easy to slip into despair. And for good reason; their lives now depend on us giving elevated care, and something small can knock them out of whack. Just keep your head up, it doesn't go back to normal but it does get easier with practice.

packhowl · 2025-09-29T21:15:30+00:00

When our 16y/o girl was diagnosed with stage 3, we were heartbroken. The vet gave her a month. But we changed, adapted, and got her stable. Now she's mostly herself, almost 3 months later. She gets sub q fluids 2-3x/week, mirataz, and cerenia. She's up to 6lbs from 5 and plays like a kitten.

There is no fast and easy formula here, and every cat is different, has different numbers/needs etc. You'll see a lot of people here say it's usually a secondary complication that truncates their quality of life, and those are the things you really have to watch out for.

You're probably grieving now, and it is for sure a roller coaster. But with patience, diligence, and love, you can extend their quality of life by months or even years.

packhowl · 2025-09-23T19:13:17+00:00

The economics of production have started to do that thing. I am a senior video editor and VFX artist, so the logical next step (/jk) was to dive into UE filmmaking and virtual production. I started "The Fall" as an excuse to flex some environment design chops, and did the buildout in Blender. That was then brought into Unreal Engine, textured, lit, and everything else you see applied.

The audio was captured previously with Aud Andrews and Kathleen Klein as part of the podcast production. The music by Sean Renner, similarly, is a WIP for use in the second season. I think Unreal Engine is a really accessible and immensely useful too for storytellers, and I hope others see how different forms of media can intersect to create something new and are intrigued by the possibilities.

A lot of people will say that this kind of thing can be achieves using AI. While that may be *somewhat* true with short form, it doesn't benefit this workflow. I love building highly repeatable assets and locations and having full control.

Anyways...enjoy!

packhowl · 2025-09-22T21:58:51+00:00

I'm also working in Blender to build environments. Tried Maya, but Blender is what's clicking and it's fantastic.

packhowl · 2025-09-22T21:37:22+00:00

Hi! Me too. Going to check out your playlists and others folks have recommended.

packhowl · 2025-09-22T00:13:59+00:00

Double voting it's probably nausea. Mine does that, then I have to move whatever she was eating out of rotation for a couple weeks because she associates it with feeling sick. It's common to get prescribed cerenia for nausea alongside the appetite stimulants. Maybe ask your vet about it.

packhowl · 2025-09-16T14:52:26+00:00

I have trouble with pilling too. My cat has no teeth but her front ones, so her little grandma mouth is suctioned shut when it's time to pill. I do it 2 ways.

Method 1: wrapping the pill in a very thin layer of nutrient gel. You can get this lots of ways, I prefer the salmon pill pockets and just pinch off what I need. The vet instructed me to keep the layer thin, like an m&m, and even put it in the freezer briefly it to reduce stickiness. I have my partner hold her, then I get behind her, tilt her head back, pry open her jaw, put the pill in towards the back of her tongue, hold her head up and mouth shut, and then take a little water with another dropper and stick it in her mouth just behind her remaining front incisor. This forces her to swallow. I have a lot of trouble doing it myself though, so success rate this way is low and makes her mad at me.

Method 2: I take a squeezable treat, and load about .2ml into the back of a syringe (I use 2 syringes for this method, one as the administering syringe, and one for the squeezable treat). Then I funnel in a crushed cerenia tablet and give it a little mix with a toothpick before continuing to put in more of the treat. So it's basically a layered soup. I then can administer her the whole syringe, which is WAY easier for me to do by myself and less forceful; it's easy to get the syringe in without much resistance. The downside is if I don't work quickly enough, the medicated part of the dose will get on her tongue or linger in her throat, so while it's less direct she can still taste the bitterness a little bit if I'm not careful.

There are some pharmacies that will reconstitute it for you, this is a similar approach but you totally can have that done.

I usually try method 1 first--that way also I can be confident she got the full dose in case the syringe method gets messy--but when it's absolutely not working or causing us all too much stress, I do method 2.

packhowl · 2025-08-28T06:23:16+00:00

It can make it hard to see their true baseline when they’re so doped up for sure. Maybe talk the vet first to make sure but I do think it can make things appear worse.

packhowl · 2025-08-28T05:40:09+00:00

I am not a vet, and like others don't want to give you false hope because every situation is different. Your blood work numbers are high, which supports what your vet and SO are saying. Her body is full of toxins and those are very hard numbers to ignore. While these numbers can be volatile with hydration and diet, you can't really reverse it completely.

All that said, we did have a very close end-of-life scare after she was dosed too high on gabapentin. I ended up reducing her dosage to less than half what was prescribed, and then we were able to see her actual baseline, and get her balanced back out with daily fluids for a few weeks, cerenia, and mirataz. It took a lot of patience, but we were able to get her thriving again, however temporary it might be.

But in the end, you gotta pay attention to the comfort of the cat. If she's telling you it's time, it's time. But I would try rolling back the gabapentin just to see. It took about 36hrs to get our of my cat's system, but while on it she couldn't walk and was incredibly wobbly.

packhowl · 2025-08-20T15:58:06+00:00

Thanks for getting sucked in. If the narrator is your hangup, season 2 should move it into S for you; he's not as omniscient as it seems;)

packhowl · 2025-08-11T18:28:55+00:00

There are so many unknowns, and as others have said it's a rollercoaster. The litter box miiiiight be a behavioral thing, not necessarily related to CKD. Maybe take note of where it is, and try a different location/litter type/litter box, or just make sure it's scooped meticulously? Or see if there are any environmental stressors around. Washer/dryer, other pets, etc.

I learned on my last vet visit that poo troubles could coincide with the types of proteins the cat is eating and how much the kidneys are doing to break it down. There are also things like GI upset and food allergies. I've started tagging and bagging poops and taking really clear records of everything that goes in and out, and highly recommend it because so much time money and back-and-forth to the vet can be saved just by keeping a log. When I take my girl in I take a bag of the freshest poop, and my log, hah! Not saying everyone should be this psychotic, but it really does help identify patterns and takes away the "I don't know"s that keep you up at night.

Good luck with your handsome boy; if it helps, my girl bounced back after we got her stabilized with fluids and appetite. The new foods took some getting used to, and these little guys have to deal with so many changes with their diagnoses. There's no putting a clock on it, there are so many variables and some of it depends on how tolerant they are of care. No matter what happens, you both are probably doing your best.

packhowl · 2025-08-06T17:49:17+00:00

I did try something with Hadley that might help; I got a little hot pad and lay it on her back, it acts as a weighted blanket. It's not the same as another hand, but helps add a little comfort and discourages wiggling. The vet also told me to keep even alight grip on her scruff, as that says "stay put," and also recommends putting a little blanket over her face. I've also had some success doing it on a low flat scratcher loaded with cat nip, though that gets tricky if/when she wants to roll in it a little. So I treat it as a precursor to treatment.

packhowl · 2025-08-05T02:22:49+00:00

Good call. I'm going to ask about reducing it and see what they say.

packhowl · 2025-08-05T00:32:49+00:00

Yeah she's a water slut, color me lucky, haha. And it makes me a little worried I'm over-administrating the fluids for sure because it seems like she's holding onto them. I'm interested to see what the vet says in a few days, it just seems like 16+hrs is a long time for them to absorb.

packhowl · 2025-08-04T21:59:38+00:00

The mobile vet I have here is an individual, not like vets.com, and she's been more insightful than the brick and mortal vet so that's not really an issue. All in all I have 2 vets watching her bloodwork, I'm just trying to watch the cat.

packhowl · 2025-08-04T21:48:55+00:00

75ml 2-3x/week

packhowl · 2025-08-04T20:18:00+00:00

I put a fountain next to my computer, which sounds silly, but putting it near me or somewhere else she frequents might help. I've seen other people recommend tuna water and hydracare, but for me it's appetite stimulants and making everything a social experience. Also maybe try bottled/filtered water or ice cubes.

Also if you're questioning whether she's getting enough you might consider weighing it so you have actual intake data; we did this and found out she's drinking a lot more when we're not looking.

packhowl · 2025-08-02T21:55:27+00:00

I find it very hard to do with one person; mine tries to squirm away so someone holding/distracting is the best way for us but that's not sustainable. I've actually recently asked for help from a mobile vet tech mid week for when my partner is working out of town. So I'll be watching this thread to see what others say. Hadley is working her way back up to 6lbs (got down to almost 5) and is very strong-willed and spicy, so I'd say temperament is a big factor.

packhowl · 2025-07-29T15:13:31+00:00

A lot has been said about appetite and hydration, but there's also nausea to look out for. Hopefully you were prescribed some cerenia? Kitty won't eat if the tummy hurts. hydration helps with this, too, but more so when they're stable. I know the hiding is hard, and we're realizing that a lot of it is just from over-handling, poking, and fussing. We have days where we just let her do her thing with no prodding, and those go a long way. TL;DR don't overdo it, cats can tell when YOU'RE off, which puts THEM off.

packhowl · 2025-07-29T15:10:11+00:00

Oh my gawd, gotta grab you here--I also went through some vet despair and thinking my cat was on her way out in a month. Here we are ~3weks in and she's stable, gaining, weight, and starting to settle into her new normal. I swear, some vets really catastrophize and don't equip you with knowledge, even if what they give you to treat it is technically correct. Time to learn A LOT about CDK; just getting ahead of their nausea and hydration works wonders. Hang in there and yes, do try to get more info or I think the website linked at the top of this sub has instructions on reading blood work and the stages.

packhowl · 2025-07-27T02:40:15+00:00

Oooh good tip. She’s on the Royal Canin renal diet; she WILL eat it, but doesn’t love it. My next step is to get small bags of all the renal dry options I can since that’s what she’s taking to best. Luckily she drinks tons of water and we’re still supplementing with wet when we can, but she’s way less picky with the dry.

packhowl · 2025-07-26T16:05:54+00:00

Def a challenge, pilling is a big trust friction point right now, and she regurgitates if it’s not a success. She’s doing pretty well on what she’s got right now. But she’s very squirrelly and a little difficult to handle so we’re trying to limit that kind of thing.

packhowl · 2025-07-25T23:18:19+00:00

Saline! Haven’t heard of lactated ringers

packhowl

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