How long can a cat live with advanced kidney disease (kidney failure)?
Kidney failure is the main cause of death for older cats. We have lost 6 cats to it. Kidney failure is not curable, as the first person who answered this quesitgon said. The BUN and other items in the blood which indicate kidney failure only start showing at abnormal levels when around 75% of the kidney function has been lost – that means that the cat (and humans) can get by on only about 25% of their kidney function and, usually, by the time the failure is detected, 75% of the kidney function has been lost. A cat with kidney failure, called Chronic Renal Failure – CRF – can be helped with some medications and by monitoring and responding to increases and decreases in different substances such as potassium and calcium. At home, the most beneficial thing you can do is give the cat fluids subcutaneously. You take an IV bag of a fluid such as Lactated Ringers Solution, attach an IV tubing set to the bag and a needle at the other end of the tubing and insert the needle under the cat’s skin
