Luckie's Tail
Luckie's Story of Chronic Renal Failure
Luckie was 12 years old when she was diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure on October 1st of 2006. Hindsight being 20/20, the signs of disease were there long before that time--starting perhaps two years earlier when our vet at the time treated her for a kidney infection.
Wikipedia defines renal failure as
“… a situation in which the kidneys fail to function adequately. It is divided in acute and chronic forms. Biochemically, it is typically detected by an elevated serum creatinine. When the kidneys malfunction, problems frequently encountered are abnormal fluid levels in the body, deranged acid levels, abnormal levels of potassium, calcium, phosphate, and (in the longer term) anemia.“
Different sources that I have found list kidney disease as one of the top causes of death in older cats. This website is not about the disease as much as it is about living with the disease, therefore you will not find a lot of technical talk about the disease. There is a lot of information available on the Internet about the signs, symptoms and treatment of CRF. In addition to the links to the right of this page, I have found several articles that others may find useful. We do not endorse any of these articles, but offer them as potential sources of information. Check with your veterinarian for more information about CRF.