Beginning of the end?

[UTH]

Bloody tough weekend.
Late on Friday night, Katy (17 years old) suddenly appeared near me on the sofa, looking far from her usual self. I was about to go to bed, so I thought maybe she was just not feeling great, as I suppose can happen to all creatures/humans etc now and then, so thought maybe overnight she'd be ok.
Next morning still not good, so I take her to the vet. Her initial fear was something to do with diabetes....."diabetes crisis" or something?
I'm sent home while she stays with the vet for blood tests, in bits, expecting the call at some point to say that glucose is sky high, and there is probably only one end to this. At 17, it would seem pointless to go down the route she suggested 'could' be the option to try and stabilise then manage diabetes from then on.

Short version - bloods come back clear on that side of things, but kidney related things not looking great. She spends sat night and sun night in a different vet/emergency centre......anti biotics and fluids. There is a slight positive response to this and the numbers are going in the right direction.
I picked her up this AM to take her back to our usual vet, she's been there all day on fluids again, bloods again and ultrasound. The numbers are still going in the right direction, but ultra sound shows up what 'might' be a small kidney stone, but isn't sure. Sending the scans off to specialist for an opinion.

So, it's not QUITE as bleak as it looked on Saturday, I'm just about holding it together today, but I can't help but feel at this age it's not exactly sounding overly positive or that we have years ahead of us
Always hated reading these sorts of posts on here, and dreaded the day it might be my turn.

And of course I am now regretting whatever the hell made me think insurance wasn't worth it......thousands paid so far. No idea what made me not get it.

[garythesign]

i wish you and your cat all the best.

This time in their lives is hard for them and us

[rossub]

I try and look at it that at 17, she’s had a great innings and you gave her a good life.

For me,16+ for a cat is a good result considering all the dangers (assuming she gets outdoors). Things could have been an awful lot worse.

I say that with a 16 year old myself.

[UTH]

Well, update - we've been back and forth from the vets pretty much every day since Sat, long story short it seems that perhaps this is some sort of awful kidney infection which she is recovering from more and more each day with the antibiotics.

I'm allowing myself to think she isn't far off being back to her normal self - but of course, she is 17 so it's not like we have years and years ahead of us, but it's not looking like the imminent game over it felt like on Saturday.

So, perhaps this has all been a bit more dramatic than it needed to be, and I'll try not to think about the thousands this has cost me.

[moorx]

Keeping my fingers firmly crossed for you both.

[MG CHRIS]

Not to put a downer on anything but cats dont really do well with diabetes. Its often picked up very late so often the damage is already done. The kidneys are often already damaged before its picked up so its just a case of when not if. We went through it with our much loved boy socs a few years back. I noticed over christmas one year his coat wasnt looking is usual shinny self and lossing weight despite wanting food all the time. After a change of vets first one was useless we found a new place who were excellent with him. The owner had experience with big cats in africa and lived with cats that had diabetes.

He was very clear with the path and what would likely happen. We got another 18 month with him before he went down hill fast stopped eating stopped drinking couldnt control is bowels and what was coming out wasnt pretty. We took him down on the friday for a check the vet pretty much said its end stages gave him some fluids told us to take him home spend all the time with him as you can and if he makes it the weekend bring him in monday.

Saturday he was actually picking up and went out for a good few hours started eating again, all though come back stinking. Quick bath dried him and left him in my arms on the sofa which he never previously liked. His breathing massively slowed down and he just stayed still for 2hrs. Looking back he was telling us his time was up. My sister had him for a few hours we left around 9pm as i had a race stint with our team endurance league within 45 mins of starting my sister came running through the door in floods of tears. He had a seizure and collapsed we lost him that night.

He was just short of his 18th birthday.

In all honestly even though we got to say goodbye to him that evening we wished we hadnt put him through that last few hours but we can never tell these things. All i can say is spend all the time you can with her and dont feel guilty when the time comes you know when its time. Take care and hopefully she come around soon with a bit of care and love.