Postings by Kaci Sunshine - Dreamgirl #3's Family

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Kaci- Sunshine - Dreamgirl #3 Mommy thinks i'm- adorable!     Purred: Fri Apr 5, '13 10:21am PST  The advice regarding food for CRF cats I've heard over and over again from all sources is: Feed them anything they'll eat, as long as they eat! It's a good thing that you're checking this with your vet -- perhaps there's another brand of prescription food Joey would prefer. However, if Joey won't eat any of the prescription foods, please don't worry about it! In that case, my advice is to feed him the Fancy Feast he loves. If it's the phosphorus content in the food that worries you, there are supplements Joey can take if his phosphorus number should become elevated. That may never happen. Kaci has eaten nothing but non-prescription canned food since her diagnosis 2-1/2 years ago and her phosphorus level has remained normal. When Kaci first starting getting subq fluids, I was TERRIFIED to do it. The thought of sticking the needle in her made me want to faint. Plus I felt I couldn't control her on my own. One of the techs from my vet's office offered to come to my house and give the fluids. She charged half of what it would cost if I took Kaci to the vet to have it done. I bought the fluids, lines and needles and the tech came over at least 3 times a week for over a year and a half. Then Kaci needed subq fluids every day and I could no longer afford to pay the tech to come every day (and she didn't want to come here every day either!) so I had no choice -- I had to do it. It was hard in the beginning (with mishaps that now make me laugh) but I did it and now it's a breeze. It also helps that Kaci is now resigned to getting the fluids and no longer struggles. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Kaci- Sunshine - Dreamgirl #3 Mommy thinks i'm- adorable!     Purred: Wed Apr 3, '13 2:31pm PST  I'm so sorry Joey has chronic renal failure. Kaci was diagnosed with chronic renal failure (aka chronic kidney disease) in October 2010. CKD can be managed and cats definitely can have a good quality of life living with CKD. There are ups and downs with this disease, esp. when the cat has other diseases that complicate matters like Kaci does. There are prescription canned foods you can get from your vet made esp. for cats with kidney disease. The companies who make this food are Hills, Iams, Purina and Royal Canin. If you want to try them, maybe your vet can give you a sample pack so that Joey can try each one (my vet did). Yes, there's controversy about these foods and I don't have access to any official statistics or studies proving these foods are better or worse for cats with kidney disease. I know of cats who started eating the prescription foods when first diagnosed and have done very well on them. When my cat Jennifer was first diagnosed with CKD, she started eating Hills canned k/d food and also getting subq fluids 3 times a week and lived for 3-1/2 years after diagnosis. Kaci absolutely refuses to eat any of the prescription foods and eats commercial grain-free canned cat food only. I feed her an assortment of brands: Fancy Feast (only the *classic* grain-free flavors), Nature's Variety Instincts (chicken), Wellness (salmon & turkey and chicken), Performatin (lamb and turkey), GO! (chicken, turkey & duck), Great Advantage (chicken) and a few others. Her CKD often makes her tummy upset and her appetite go off and she often needs to take an appetite stimulant to get her to eat but other than that, she's done well eating those foods. There's no one-size-fits-all treatment plan for CKD cats and your vet will help in that area. E.g., some cats won't need subq fluids, at least in the beginning, and others need them. Some cats need phosphorus binders and others don't (Kaci doesn't). Some cats have problems with their potassium levels. CKD can cause high blood pressure and blood pressure should be checked and monitored. There are meds for high blood pressure. Other common CKD issues are appetite loss a(n appetite stimulant can help), weight loss, constipation and vomiting. Kaci stopped eating a few weeks after diagnosis and was hospitalized because her kidneys started crashing from a suspected kidney infection. Afterwards, she started getting 150 cc's of lactated ringer's solution every 3 days for several months. Over a year and a half ago, I started giving her 100 cc's every day. She's lost a lot of weight over the past year and now gets between 60 and 80 cc's daily. If I miss a day or cut the fluids below 60 cc's, she gets dehydrated and constipated, starts drinking tons of water and ends up getting sick. Without the lactated ringer's solution, she wouldn't have made it as long as she has. I know you must be doing lots of research and reading about this disease. If you haven't come across these excellent websites yet, you should check them out: Feline CRF Information Center: www.felinecrf.com Tanya's CRF website (very comprehensive!) I don't have the url but it's easy to find by googling. Good luck! If you have more questions, send me a pawmail and I'll do my best to help. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Plus Power of the Paw > Purrs and POTP for all in the path of Sandy

Kaci- Sunshine - Dreamgirl #3 Mommy thinks i'm- adorable!     Purred: Mon Nov 5, '12 5:14pm PST  Happy to see so many friends checking in and glad that you're all well! Lacey, I'm sorry you still haven't heard from your friend yet. It is good news that she's not on any lists and hopefully she's staying with relatives or doesn't have power back on yet. From what I heard on local news tonight, about 1 million homes are still without power here in NJ and I'd guess most are on the coast. Purring that you hear from your friend soon! my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Cat Health > Lomustine vs. leukeran

Miss Mittens- (Angel DG- #14) I'm a soft,- gentle summer- breeze     Purred: Mon Nov 5, '12 5:09pm PST  So sorry you have lymphoma. I had small cell intestinal lymphoma. My specialist put me on cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan), which I took twice a week along with daily prednisone and it worked very well. There were no side effects of any kind and my cancer went into remission. Perhaps it could be an option for you? I also highly recommend the Yahoo Feline Lymphoma group. You'll get good answers to your question in that group. Most specialists initially prescribe Leukeran for smell cell lymphoma but there were other kitties in the Yahoo group with smell cell lymphoma who were also successfully taking cyclophosphamide. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Plus Power of the Paw > Purrs and POTP for all in the path of Sandy

Kaci- Sunshine - Dreamgirl #3 Mommy thinks i'm- adorable!     Purred: Wed Oct 31, '12 2:21pm PST  Lacey, I hope and pray your friend evacuated but so many didn't, esp. the elderly, because they wouldn't leave their pets or because last year Irene didn't do much damage except to us folks who live in the inland and many thought all the warnings about Sandy were nothing by hype. If your friend didn't evacuate last year and didn't want to leave her kitties, it breaks my heart to say she may still be there and in trouble. We're watching CNN and a man from Toms River was just on the air with Wolf Blitzer. The man was close to hysterical talking about all the people who wouldn't evacuate, esp. some elderly neighbors who wouldn't leave because of their pets or go to a shelter because the shelters wouldn't let them take their pets with them. He tried to persuade them to leave before the storm and they wouldn't and he tried to get back and check on them and says there are a lot of people, esp. elderly people, who desperately need rescuing. They have no power and can't leave their homes because their homes and the streets are flooded and he's afraid of fire because of gas leaks. The man sounded frantic. Praying hard for your friend and hope she evacuated or has been rescued and is safe. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Kaci- Sunshine - Dreamgirl #3 Mommy thinks i'm- adorable!     Purred: Wed Oct 31, '12 12:28pm PST  MILO, Skylar, Lacey, Nonny & everyone! So HAPPY everyone came through OK! It's not so good for those living on or near the NJ coast and in NYC and our purrs and prayers go out to them. Luckily for them, none of our friends or family lost power, just us. One of my friends told me a huge tree fell across the road near her apt. complex, bringing down wires, another tree landed near her apt. and a generator near her apt. blew up and caught fire, yet she never lost power. I'm simply glad everyone came through ok though. Lacey, people in Tom's River were asked to evacuate before the storm because of fear of flooding. Of course, not everyone did evacuate and many people don't like to evacuate for many reasons (including leaving pets behind). The bad news is, Toms River did flood and a newspaper said Toms River is a *flooded war zone.* The storm flooded streets and homes and many residents are trapped inside their homes. I think it's one of the towns were rescue efforts are underway. I'm purring for your friend and her kitties and hope they stayed with relatives or friends or at a shelter and she and her kitties are all ok. Hope you hear from her soon! Glad you're both ok Skylar & Biggles, it sure was a scary storm! my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Plus Power of the Paw > Purrs and POTP for all in the path of Sandy

Kaci- Sunshine - Dreamgirl #3 Mommy thinks i'm- adorable!     Purred: Tue Oct 30, '12 8:26pm PST  Checking in at last and we're fine! I'm happy to see that all of you got through the storm ok too and are all safe and well. We lost power about 8 pm last night and it came back on an hour ago. Last night was a nightmare. Before we lost power, the skies were lighting up with bright white and blue lights from power generators blowing out from the wind or fallen trees. Some parts of our town had evacuations and so did some towns near us, but we don't live near the river or the creek or roads that flood, so that was one thing we didn't have to worry about. I don't remember any storm in my lifetime with winds so strong and fierce. Around 8:30, there was a loud crash that made me jump out of my skin. When I looked out the back window, I saw that the giant old oak tree next to our house had fallen. Thank God it didn't fall on our house or our next door neighbor's house! We would have been severely injured at the least. Our next door neighbors (brave souls!) came over to make sure we were ok and then we went out back (bracing against winds that almost blew us away) to check the tree and any damage. The storm had ripped the tree up by the roots. When I looked at the tree this morning to take photos, I saw the giant roots had pushed against our back porch, ripping the screen but fortunately not damaging the porch. What a giant tree it was! Thank God it didn't fall on our house! The oak tree had fallen across our back yard and crashed into our Maple tree and split it down the middle and its branches also damaged another one of our trees. The tree also landed in the back yard of the neighbors in back of us, squashing part their metal fence and damaging some of their trees. Hopefully our homeowners policy will pay for cleanup and our neighbor's fence. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Plus Power of the Paw > Purrs and POTP for all in the path of Sandy

Kaci- Sunshine - Dreamgirl #3 Mommy thinks i'm- adorable!     Purred: Mon Oct 29, '12 10:14am PST  Thanks Lacey! It's steadily getting worse. The rain is coming down harder and harder, the wind has really kicked up and there have been a few wind gusts that made me jump out of my skin! Something hit our roof and there are branches down in our backyard. And this is just the beginning! Meanwhile, we can't go out (everything's closed anyway) and there's not much to do but sit around listening to the storm and anticipating horrible things. It's NOT good for the nerves! On the news they report that Atlantic City is flooded, including streets that almost never flood. Other coastal towns are flooded too. It's going to be horrible for them tonight when Sandy makes landfall. Praying hard for everyone who lives along the eastern coastline and praying hard for all of us in the storms path! my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Plus Power of the Paw > Purrs and POTP for all in the path of Sandy

Kaci- Sunshine - Dreamgirl #3 Mommy thinks i'm- adorable!     Purred: Mon Oct 29, '12 8:14am PST  Hope everyone's doing well and staying safe! The storm arrived here in inland NJ a few hours ago. The storm began this morning and it's been raining hard and very windy but not really too bad yet. It'll be very windy and rain really really hard all day but the really bad part of the storm won't arrive until this evening or tonight. We lost our power this morning but it came back on an hour later. That surprised us 'cause the storm was just starting and we couldn't imagine why we'd lose power so fast! We're very grateful it came back on. I guess the power company was able to fix it 'cause the storm isn't bad yet but how long we'll still have power is anyone's guess. Purring for all of you! God bless and stay safe! my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Kaci- Sunshine - Dreamgirl #3 Mommy thinks i'm- adorable!     Purred: Sun Oct 28, '12 11:46am PST  Lacey, Tate and Kally Kat! Thank you for starting this thread Lacey! Here in southern NJ not much is happening yet. The skies are grey and wind gusts are kicking up and getting stronger. Mommy brought the furniture from our back porch indoors and then let me out there for awhile. The wind is blowing the leaves across our backyard -- it was lots of fun running across the porch chasing them. Anyways, the *tropical storm* part of the storm will hit in the early AM hours tomorrow, bringing strong winds and very heavy rain and flooding. According to the latest updates, Sandy herself will hit the Jersey shore around the Atlantic City area sometime later tomorrow and head for the Philadelphia area. We live about 60 miles from Atlantic City, even less than that from the eastern beaches and not far from Philly. If Sandy follows that scenario, we'll be in the direct path of the hurricane and will get hurricane force winds. Mommy says this storm really scares her! If I can I'll post here right after the storm and let you know we're ok. If we lose power, as soon as we're back up, I'll let you know. Purring for all of you and for everyone in Sandy's path. Purring that everyone comes through this Safely! my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

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