How can you tell if your cat has kidney problems?

The easiest way is to take your cat to the vet for check-ups once they turn 10 or 11.  Kidney failure is one of the most common causes of death for older cats, and it often goes undetected until most of their kidney function is gone.  Once it's gone, you can't get it back.  If I had known this, I definitely would have taken mine for check-ups instead of only taking her when she got sick..

As it was, I noticed that my cat seemed to be drinking a lot more water.  She always had a drop of water on her chin from drinking..  If it seems like your cat is drinking every time you turn around, you're probably on to something. Also if he/she seems to be urinating more.  You can tell if you are having to scoop the clumps out of the litter more often.  Both are signs that there is a problem.  It could be kidney failure, or it could be diabetes.  The only way to know for certain is to take them to the vet.  They'll take a sample of your kitty's urine and a blood sample.  Once they test them you should have an answer.  If it turns out that your cat's kidneys are failing, your vet will give you some information, and a diet food.  If they're a really good vet, they'll give you samples of several kinds of kidney diet foods, both canned and dried, so that you can try them on your cat and see which one(s) they prefer.  Whichever they seem to like best, you may have to slowly mix it with your cat's existing food in order to get them used to it.

This is actually a huge topic, as there are a lot of different foods and opinions on what you should and shouldn't give your cat, so I'll write more about it at a later post.  This should at least get you started on how to know if your cat's kidneys might be failing.  Kidney failure in it's late stages is a pretty horrible disease, so watch your cat and catch things early.  And if it all possible, take them to the vet when you first notice problems.  I know that it's expensive and sometimes if you wait they get better. But as I learned the hard way, they may SEEM better, but could actually be getting ready to die.  If you wait, they might die a painful death which could have been prevented.

My precious girl a month or so before she died

Water for the dehydrated cat

Hopefully you know that if you have a cat with CRF (Chronic Renal Failure), you MUST keep a supply of fresh water for them at all times.  The water fountains are great because a lot of cats (like mine) are attracted to the stream of water. I was told to always give animals distilled water, so that is what I use.  I've also found that  when I pour Smart Water in my cat's bowl she really seems to enjoy it and acts more perky after she drinks it.  It could be my imagination, but there are electrolytes in it, so who knows?  At this point anything I can do to help her feel better, I'll do.
More tips and links to come.  And to keep it from not getting horribly depressing, I'll try to put some pictures of my jewelry creations in here and there.  Here's a picture of my "baby" sleeping in one of her favorite spots.  For awhile I thought it was just because she loves me, but I realized that since she's lost so much weight, she gets cold easily.  My head gives her a warm spot.  Like I said, anything I can do for her...

We're still here

After a long hiatus, we'll be back to posting soon.  Buddy (the blog's kitty author) has been very sick lately.  Her kidneys have been failing for 4 years now, and in the past few months she has gotten much worse.  She has lost so much weight that when I pick her up I can feel all of her bones.  This has been breaking my heart and it's hard to be creative when  you feel that way.  But I've always felt that if someone else can benefit from the wisdom I've gotten from a bad experience, that means that the experience was not 100% bad.  So I plan to change the blog's focus somewhat.  I want to share the information I have found on chronic renal failure in cats. There is a lot of good information on the web, and I've learned so much more than the vets have told me.  I also have some good friends who have been through the same thing with their cats and they've given me great help as well.  I want to share all of that for other cat owners/parents.   I hope to get back to creating jewelry soon, too, and when I do that I'll post my new creations like I used to.
Also, if your cat has CRF (aka kidney disease) and you have questions or helpful information, please share it in the comments.  The more we help each other, the better it will be for our cats.