Filou's news

[Barbara]

Ok, it is mixed:

It is the kidneys. But a very early stage. I did not get it completely (as I haven't seen the vet myself but in his bloodwork a value that should be 46 and is considered normal until 83 is 89. This gets dangerous once the same value is 140 or more. So he is above his limits (it may be the purine in the blood but who cares) but we got it early. He is getting 3 steroid injections, the first was Friday and after that the doc will check again.

He was first a very good boy being calm when he got the injection but then immediately and with no warning jumped on his dad's shoulders.

He has to eat less purine. The doc recommended that we mix a rice in his normal food. He says it will be easier to get him to eat that than the special kidney diet. However I will get more information about food- there may be seveal options.

Filou is not feeling sick- he is just himself.

Thank you for all your concerns and prayers. I have no idea how we could deal with this if we hadn't all of you to hold our hands- virtually at least:)

[Killearn Kitties]

I have no experience of dealing with this myself, but the diagnosis doesn't sound too bad. I hope Filou eats his rice all up like a good boy and keeps himself stable for many years to come!

Lots of scritchies to Filou and encouraging hugs to everyone else!

[Randi]

I'm glad to hear it's not as bad as you feared. :) I hope Filou will eat his food with the mixed rice and stay helathy for many years to come!

I know it's common that older cats get kidney problems, I better get Fister checked too. He's going to the vet on thursday.

Give Filou scritchies and kisses - and also Tigris. :)

[RedHedd]

I'm glad you got it early. I caught Mishi's kidney problems early too. The vet gave us samples of several special kidney diet foods and he liked the K/D the best. Hang in there Filou! Cats can live with this, with the proper care and diet.

[Laura's Babies]

I hope he will do well and stay healthy and happy.

[lizbud]

It's so good to hear that this problem was found early on.
I hope he thrives on the new diet & shots when needed.:)

[Prairie Purrs]

I'm so glad you caught the problem early. Eat your rice and be well, Filou!

[krazyaboutkatz]

Barbara, Thanks for the update and I'm so glad that you caught this early.:) Lots more prayers and positive thoughts are being sent your way. I hope that Filou will like his new diet.:)

[jenluckenbach]

I am sorry that the news isn't perfect, but the problem was caught early and isn;t too far advanced so that is good. You can make it through this for many long years, I am certain.

[Felicia's Mom]

I hope Filou eats his new diet.

[Vio&Juni]

GOOOOOOOD! Now we can relax our fingers, we had cramps already.

I'm sure dear Filou is going to be ok, with such a meowmie... :). It's good to worry about the little furries, since they cannot tell us if they have a problem. Now, with the shots, his levels will be normal in no time :)

Juni sends kissies :)

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

I'm glad you caught it early. The best route to intervention is to catch it early. I don't remember what Tubby's levels were, but I will check when I get home tonight. If 83 is still considered normal and Filou is at 89, that does seem like a real real early stage.

There are special kidney diet foods on the market and it seems most vets here in the states are parital to Science Diet, so the K/D seems to be the most recommended brand. When Tubby was first diagnosed he was already eating the Science Diet Senior formula. I asked the vet if I should put him on the K/D and he said that the differences between the Senior and the K/D were so slight that they weren't worth the increased cost of the K/D. I took his word for it and never personally compared the ingredients. I do know that when he stopped eating they gave me a pouch of the K/D wet food to give to him to get him to eat again - and it didn't work - so I think the most important thing is to find a food that Filou likes. I also think that you can feed the same food to Tigris. He doesn't have the same problems, but the food may just help prevent him from getting it, and at the very least, it can't hurt him.

Good news, Filou! I know your meowmie is still worried, but you're going to be ok for many many more years to come.
:)

[Sus]

Thank you for sharing your concerns and news on Filou's health. I'm glad to hear that he is OK. The bad news about kidney problems are, of course, that they won't go away - but the good news are that with his new diet, Filou will probably live to be just as old as the next cat! :) :)

When I lost my old Chili due to kidney problems 1½ years ago, he was 16½ years old. I guess that's an ok age to achieve for any cat? Chins up! It'll all work out fine!
:) :)

Lots of love,
Sus and the Bellacat

[Barbara]

Thank you Debbie for these details. I have looked up several types of renal diets and want to ask my vet about it. I should be able to get the Science diet stuff and hope I can check out some more. I'll have to check whether I can get Science diet senior formula. All the special diets are only available via vets and it would be good to have some other stuff to feed him.

I want to check out the diets as noone here (at least of the 4-paw drive purrons) is a big fan of rice.

And up to now I feed both at the same time. It would be a major training thing to get then to eat at different places.

Yes, you are right I won't stop worrying before I don't have an acceptable feeding routine.

I must say it is mainly Siegmar's work as he is a stay-at-home dad;)

Tomorrow it's Filou's second injection.

[Catsnclay]

I'm glad to hear the "good" news Barbara!

Debbie is right, Science Diet is the top choice here. Lucky is a VERY picky eater, and he didn't seem to notice the change at all! :p I do have to feed Lucky seperatly from Fluffy and Yoshi though, just to make sure he eats all of his food. Sometimes this can take up to 1/2 hour to do :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

The S/D K/D comes in 2 different types, a pate and ground, Lucky has had both and prefers the pate, which is almost the same as the regular S/D food. Maybe he can't tell the difference?! :confused:

Good luck, I know things will turn out well :D

[NoahsMommy]

I'm so glad this was caught so early. That'll help a lot.

Hugs to you and Filou.

:)

[Barbara]

This morning Filou was a very good boy at the vets. No more jumping around- he let Siegmar pet his chin while he got the injection. Third one will be Thursday.

Our vets are a married couple and we like them both but they are different. Today it was Ms. Vet and she was more open to the idea of diets. She said that the Science diet is what cats like most (just as pointed out by you:)). She does not have it in stock but will order it.

She gave Siegmar a sample of a Royal Canin food that contains rice and at home we could see that Filou loved that much more than the normal food with cooked rice. From the end of this week we will be in holidays and the people taking care of my cats will be happier if they don't have to cook rice:D so we took the vet's full stock of 24 pouches of this food.

For those of you who are worried about us being in holidays so long: The people to take care will be our cleaner (we have a new lady since January!) and she is a nurse! She owns a dog and a cat plus he knows about the importance of diets. I think she's heaven sent. The second week my sister will stay here. I have pointed out before that she loves animals more than any humans - she has been breeding wire hair dachshunds in the past. So I know that my boys are in the best hands.

And the latest after the holidays we go into the real diet food business:)

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Yeah! Barbara, I'm so glad Filou likes the new food and not surprised you cleaned out the vet's stock of it. :D

It sounds like your boys will be in the best of hands while you're gone, and another reassuring thing is that this is not a crisis situation. Even if Filou continued on his regular diet while you were gone, it wouldn't make a dramatic difference in his overall health and/or decline of his kidneys. Two weeks is not going to make or break it, but I know it will put your mind more at ease to know he has a food that's easier on his kidneys while you are away - galavanting all over the world (have I mentioned how jealous I am? ;) ).