Kidney failure
By ElicBxn
@ElicBxn (63594)
United States
August 3, 2015 10:02pm CST
No, not me, my kidneys are fine... well, I suppose they are fine since nobody has said otherwise. Its my roomie's kidneys that are failing.
We've been told to get our cat population down and we've been working on it. We haven't taken in a cat or kitten in nearly 3 years. At that point we were at 26 cats...
I hear your heads explode and you think we are hoarders, but I can assure you that we are not. For one thing, none of our cats, even our feral cats, are reproducing. And another thing is that we are walking through feet of cat feces or have any dead cats lying around.
This year we did lose one to old age and actually found a home for another cat so we are down to 24.
One can hope that before we need to because of her kidney failure, we can get the cat population down even lower. Since we have 3 cats who are 13 and 2 who are 12, even 2 who are 11 and kidney transplants tend to be 5-7 years on the waiting list, we are one year in on it, that we will be down at least these 7 cats, I hope not, they include Taj and Timus.
So, are you diabetic? Do you have high blood pressure? These are what damaged the roomie's kidneys. If you are, take care of yourselves, you don't want to be on dialysis (she's not yet) or get a transplant. As her kidney doc said, it exchanges one illness (kidney failure) for another (immune suppression.)
14 people like this
16 responses
@Oceanblue71 (132)
• Melbourne, Australia
4 Aug 15
When I was married we had 6 cats a mother, father and their 4 kittens.
I sat with the mother for 4 hours whilst she had the kittens I couldn't bear to give any away.
The kittens were full time inside cats and the mother and father were inside at night time.
After the mother had kittens everyone was desexed.
They were family.
Wish your room mate all the best.
@Oceanblue71 (132)
• Melbourne, Australia
4 Aug 15
@ElicBxn They are our babies and life can be so unfair toward our animals.
Love to all of your babies you are a very kind person.
@Oceanblue71 (132)
• Melbourne, Australia
4 Aug 15
@ElicBxn The father cat Roger was a far better mother than Ostaria the mother. She wanted to go off but Roger used to stay home and look after the babies. Many species the father does the mothering I guess so long as one parent does look after them.
1 person likes this
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
9 Aug 15
I could take my PHD in diabetes and kidney failure. My husband had both and it was a terrible time for me to raise the money to fund his health care. It is awful. diabetes is a silent killer and does so much damage to any or all organs. I did everything I could and it was hard - not that I regret doing it but it was very hard. Four children and three jobs:(
3 people like this
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
10 Aug 15
I could barely hold down one job even when I was younger, so I can't even imagine doing 3! My mother was diagnosed with borderline diabetes when I was in high school. She controlled it with her diet, she never got full blown diabetes. I suspect that she wasn't really diabetic. I know I have problems with low blood sugar...
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
10 Aug 15
@cynthiann That alone was, no doubt, very hard to deal with. I've lost friends and my parents, but since I've never married, I have not had to deal with that.
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
10 Aug 15
@ElicBxn Well - one of them was writing a weekly column for a local newspaper and it was not so difficult but yes - these were hard years and my husband was dying.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (160696)
• United States
6 Aug 15
Other than all the extra work, how does having cats affect her? I am diabetic, but with the moves we are making my blood pressure is going down. We had 32 cats and kittens when I was small. Six simultaneous mamas.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (160696)
• United States
6 Aug 15
@ElicBxn that is what I was wondering. I know you do what you can to keep the kitties all healthy.
1 person likes this
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
9 Aug 15
I was wondering this too although we did not have cats on the farm - just at least 8 dogs. I wonder what is the problem. Thank you for asking!
1 person likes this
@allknowing (136540)
• India
4 Aug 15
Cats luckily do not need as much attention as dogs. But even then that number could be quite a job to handle.
Hope your roommate gets the right treatment to contain further damage to her kidneys
2 people like this
@Lolaze (5093)
• St. Louis, Missouri
4 Aug 15
I'm not, but my best friend has stage 3 renal failure. They have no clue what is causing hers. It may be related to a medication she took some years ago, but they can't confirm it. So far she is stable at least. It is just hard because she has to run to the bathroom a lot.
3 people like this
@gabs8513 (48686)
• United Kingdom
11 Nov 15
Like GG I was wondering too how the Cats will affect her? You have always rescued and given the Cats a good home so this must be hard on you
Because of my Illness I was tested to see if I would be affected by Gissi and Buttons 3 years ago but lucky I wasn't but the Consultant said at the time not to worry if I was as there is medication so I would not have to let them go ....... well I would not have let them go anyway
All the best to your Room Mate
1 person likes this
@owstalaga (4707)
• Philippines
29 Aug 15
Uh, I don't get it. Does having too many cats have anything to do with getting kidney problems? I do hope she gets better... Her kidneys are still failing and have not failed yet so there should still be hope to make it better and healthy again.
As another myLotter mentioned, there should be other ways for her to get better. Lots of articles are on the internet. Hope she finds a way to heal her kidneys! 
1 person likes this
@owstalaga (4707)
• Philippines
30 Aug 15
@ElicBxn Oh I see... now I understand the connection. Thanks for clearing it up. 
Oh at least her kidneys are still functioning a little. I do hope they don't get worse. I dunno maybe there's still a an alternative way for her kidneys to get healed. If prayers don't work there are other healers out there that your friend could try to go to.
Oh at least her kidneys are still functioning a little. I do hope they don't get worse. I dunno maybe there's still a an alternative way for her kidneys to get healed. If prayers don't work there are other healers out there that your friend could try to go to. 1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
17 Aug 15
I hope your roomie's health holds up and she does well with her transplant - certainly better than a life of dialysis. But that is a lot of cats to have and probably even one or two pets carry a danger. I hope you can manage to keep your cats and keep roomie healthy following surgery. As you say, some natural thinning of the population will occur as they age. It's hard to see pets go, though.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (223099)
• Chile
6 Oct 15
My mother just passed due to kidney failure. She had been on dialysis for over 2 years and that meant pain and hard work for those around her in spite of her being able to hire someone to care for her. I guess that with so many cats around, there will be a minute when you will not have a choice and it is better if you find them nice homes before it is too late.
1 person likes this
@TiarasOceanView (70022)
• United States
6 Aug 15
Sorry that is happening to your roomie. Who is telling you to get rid of cats? Sorry to hear about the cats being sick too.
1 person likes this
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
9 Aug 15
@ElicBxn Oh I get it now! I was wondering why she shouldn't be around cats!
2 people like this
@Missmwngi (12915)
• Nairobi, Kenya
3 Nov 15
Sorry about your roomie.
How do you take care of all those? I few having a pet thinking i might not give them enough care but with all those in the house ooh ooh
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
3 Nov 15
I pet those who think they have to be pet RIGHT NOW when they need to be pet. With the 3 feral cats, they don't think they ever need attention, so they are easy, still, we enjoy the two girls. Gizmo is semi-feral, and he comes for attention at night when I go to bed. I had 11 cats there for a bit last night... hee hee...
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
4 Nov 15
@Missmwngi ya just do. Its not like I PLANNED to have so many cats, but I love all of them, well, I'm not real fond of Elmer, but since he's one of the feral cats, he's not a major impact.
1 person likes this
@Missmwngi (12915)
• Nairobi, Kenya
3 Nov 15
@ElicBxn I don't know what i would do with all of those ;D
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@flowerchilde (12529)
• United States
12 Aug 15
oh dear, I pray all goes well for your roommate.. good luck with finding homes for the kitties!
1 person likes this
@Number_Z3r0 (48)
• Lancaster, New Hampshire
4 Aug 15
Elic,
Sorry to hear about your roommate. I really hope things turn out okay for you guys.
-Zero
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