My 5 1/2 year old grey cat Yoda hasn't been himself for a while and he seemed to be drinking more water than usual and has lost some weight. About 2 weeks ago, he refused his normal cat food. Now this is a cat that normally eats everything and anything, including vegetables, bread and dry instant porridge! In December, I lost my 16-year old cat after a long battle with failing kidneys so I am aware that those symptoms could be pointing towards kidney disease. I ran my suspicions past my vet and she agreed that it would be a good idea to do blood tests.
Yoda is what is termed 'fractious' by vets, meaning that he becomes aggressive and uncooperative during consultations and he once attacked the vet when I took him there for a minor leg wound. Needless to say, he isn't her favourite patient.
I eventually got him into the cat basket, with lots of hissing, and he meowed all the way there, scrabbling around in the basket, trying to escape. Once at the vet, he growled like a dog but he allowed the vet to look at his teeth and was injected with a sedative, Rompun so that his neck could be shaved and blood drawn from his jugular vein. I left him there and returned later once the tests were completed and the sedative had worn off. Apparently, he needed slightly more than the normal dose before he was quiet.
According to the tests, his kidney function is very much normal, but his liver enzymes are a little elevated and we don't know what exactly is wrong with him. It may be that his food is upsetting his stomach but we are unaware of this because he always toilets outside so for now, I have opted to change his diet and give him liver tonics. I suppose I'll have to wait and see. At least the vet agrees that he is a somewhat better patient than he used to be and he holds no grudges since he came home but he is a difficult cat to handle and as much as I love him, I know that our treatment options are limited by his personality so I'm hoping for the best.
Even as a kitten, he liked biting and chewing on his human. A lot.
