I write about cats a lot but in scattered places. I decided to focus here.
Today I heard from my vet about my cat Dapple. I have two cats: Dapple, who is 15, and Toonces, who is eight. Dapple has had constipation issues for a long time, since well before I adopted her. When I brought her in for her first checkup with my vet a mild kidney disease was discovered. I have gradually changed her diet from dry to wet, from average canned to organic canned plus additional water. I give her two medications, each twice a day, before meals. To me she is doing well, doing better than she was at the last checkup. Her stools look much better, her fur looks good, she seems healthy.
But her blood work shows that her kidney disease has progressed. The vet wants to take her blood pressure now, then decide if she needs blood pressure meds as well as a special diet - a low-protein diet. I just read a post by another vet on the subject of prescription cat foods. I remember that the writer made a case against these foods, pointing out that no studies had been done to show that they actually provide a benefit. I told my vet I had been reading something recently and would have to look it up because I probably will have questions about moving Dapple to a prescription diet.
In the meantime I am just feeling a little sad. I am looking at Dapple and thinking this kidney disease could progress quickly and I could lose him. I lost two cats in the last year and both were so very difficult for me, not to mention for them. I don't want to lose another so soon.
