Is a cat with chronic renal failure in pain?

Question

My act is in stage 2 of chronic renal failure. My vet says that he feels no pain and this is not a painful condition until the very end when he will develop sores and ulcers. I read from other posters on these boards that a cat with his condition is in fact in pain. So what is your experience?

Answer 1

I seen a lot of cats with renal failure. It's always hard to judge if a cat's in pain, but I would say it's more misery than pain with renal failure. They are very ill, and probably feel sick and weak and generally lousy. I've also known a couple of people who have had kidney infections, and they say it is extremely painful - but that would depend on whether your cat's kidney's are failing from infection or not. Again I'd say, from the cats I've seen, it's more misery than pain.

You know your own cat, you'll know when he's so unhappy that he no longer has any quality of life. Then you'll know when it's time to take the kindest option.


Chalice

Answer 2

I had a friend who had renal failure and was on dialysis and he said it was painful, he had pain prior to that stage so if not painful it would I imagine be very uncomfortable and a miserable thing to have.

If he seems depressed or unhappy, then I would let him go if it were me. It's the hardest thing in the world so I understand if you're not ready for that.

I lost a cat with renal failure, we had no idea anything was wrong until he stopped eating, started sitting in the wet shower and giving a pitiful meow now and then, by then it was too late, he seemed to not know who I was and it was like he'd lost his mind. His creatinine and BUN levels rose whenever they removed the drip so his kidneys had totally shut down. Sadly there was no choice but to have him euthanased, we could have had a kidney transplant but that involved travelling and that was hard to organise because a vet and one of us would have to go on the plane with him and he may not have made the trip

He looked great when we went to the vet to be with him while he had the green dream, it was hard to believe he was so sick. I expressed that to the vet and he asked if I would rather remember him like that or so sick that he didn't know who I was, we did what had to be done.

Answer 3

I found that my Prarie Dawn lasted almost a year in chronic renal failure and got sub Q fluids daily and he enjoyed the time together, at the very end, he couldn't jump on the bed and looked at me and I could tell he didn't hurt he was just tired of all of the effort it took to continue.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

I don't know if they're in pain exactly, but they are weak and feel nausea. Don't make him hang around for a long time. I know how hard it is, but this is a miserable condition. Good luck.