I don't have any tips, but we are sending lots of purrs and soothing vibes
for the daily IVs.

Hi Jeanne,

Fuga get fluids once a week or when we sense that he is dehydrated.  We have
a plant hook in our ceiling that is located over one of the desks in our
office from which we hang the bag of fluids.  We had a home visit with the
vet for giving fluids and we learnt that the higher the fluids are the
quicker they flow.  On my desk we place Fuga's donut bed.  I put a heating
pad inside his bed so that he doesn't catch a chill from the fluids.  Once
we have the fluids set up, air bubbles removed, and needle replaced with put
fuga in the bed and give him fluids.  As a reward for the fluids, we give
him some regular science diet (turkey or chicken & liver).  Fuga still hates
the fluids but he knows he will get treats and lots of pets while the fluid
is being injected in him.

The plant hook on the ceiling was left from the previous tenant and the vet
noticed it and said to use it.  Now that we have been using it, I think I
would recommend it to everyone it is much easier than trying to hang it off
the door.

There is a K/D minced chicken food available in Canada and the US that is
much more palatable than the Hills K/D that is worth trying.  As well there
is a food called g/d which is for beginning stages of renal failure.  I
rotate fuga's diet between these two foods, sometimes I even mix them
together to give him variety.  If I find he's getting finicky then I will
add a little bit of regular science diet in with this food because it's more
important that they eat.

http://www.felinecrf.org/giving_sub-qs_giving_set.htm

Here's a great link on food values.
http://webpages.charter.net/katkarma/canfood.htm  The thing that is most
important is feeding cats food low in phosphorous, some think protein values
need to be lower and some don't -- there is mixed opinions on that.

We went out and bought a drinkwell fountain when Fuga was diagnosed to
stimulate him to drink more water.

Hope this makes sense. I hate this kidney failure.

hugs,

Fuga

Jeanne, sorry to hear Natasha needs the fluids.  Fuga gave you great
advice already.  I would only add that, at first, accept that you
won't do it perfectly, but that's okay.  And always remember to turn
off the little valve that lets the fluids flow before removing the
needle (she said from experience) -- lol!  I'm sure you'll do just
fine.  Purrs to you and Natasha.

Ginger-lyn

No hints unfortunately, but lots of best wishes and purrs for you to have no
problems whatsoever doing fluid by IV at home,

<snip> Does anyone have any

Thanks for all the advice and good thoughts. I didn't think about
warming the saline solution. It was room temperature today, I'll warm
it up a bit before tomorrow's session.

Here's how I did with my first session on this. I chose to do it in
the kitchen on the center island because it's someplace Natasha is not
supposed to be, and I don't want her to develop any fears of other
places she enjoys being. I hung the 1-liter bag of saline from the top
of the freezer compartment handle (my freezer is above my
refrigerator), where it fit nicely and was about 5-1/2 feet high. I
put a warm towel down on the countertop, arranged the tubing and
needle, and then got Tasha lying down on the towel.

When all was ready I pinched her skin and put the needle in - she
didn't even flinch. All seemed to be going ok, then there was a noise,
that made Tasha jump and yowl. Then I noticed that the drip-rate into
the little plastic tube at the bottom of the bag had increased
considerably. So I look down and realized that her fur is getting wet!
Yep, when she flinched at the noise she pulled the needle out. So I
shut the flow off and tried again. After I started the flow up I
looked at how far in the needle was, and not wanting it to pull out
again I pushed it in a little more (but still not the full length).

It took between 5-10 minutes to get the fluid in. The entire time I
was giving Natasha skritches to keep her from moving around, and she
just laid there and purred. She was looking around some, but since
moving her head that little bit didn't seem to bother her or the
needle I didn't get too concerned.

After we were done I shut off the flow, took the needle out, gave her
a couple snacks and a big hug (with more skritches) and lots of
praise. But she wanted *down*! Where'd she go? To the food and water
dishes. Right now she's getting a drink - feet first into the water
dish. Silly cat - I think this is bothering me much more than her! :)

TED was right - it is easy. But I sure wouldn't want to do it with a
wiggly cat!!!

Jeanne

Natasha paid another visit to TED tonight so last week's blood test
could be repeated. Thanks to all the purrs (and daily hydration
therapy) the BUN value from the blood test is back to well within the
normal range. Creatinin(sp?) is still slightly high, but it's been
slightly high ever since this "grand" adventure began back in August
of last year. TED (a nice lady named Dr Grant) says an elevated C
value indicates there's a kidney problem, but also says the kidney
problem could simply be because of Natasha's age and that nothing
works as well as it used to ^_^

Anyway, I have to bring her back in 3 *months* (yay!) for another
re-check, and while I still have to hydrate her with IV fluids (Dr
Grant calls it "kitty dialysis"), I'm to do it every 3 days or so now
- basically twice/week instead of daily (yay yay!).

Tonight I learned how to swap the IV tube set from IV bag to IV bag
while still maintaining sterility. This is so that I don't have to pay
for a new tube set every time I get a new bag of fluid. I appreciate
this because they're charging me $20+ USD for a 1 liter bag of saline
solution. :p

The needles are free.  ;)

Jeanne Hedge, as directed by Natasha