CRF and sub-cut fluids in cats

Re: CRF and sub-cut fluids in cats

Kelly Bainbridge RVN — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:13:54 GMT

Hey everyone, just to say Moses had a check up yesterday and touch wood his renal values are around the same, his asthma is not giving him grief and his SCC has remained the same size for two months. Just another quick thanks for all your help and advice :) x

Re: CRF and sub-cut fluids in cats

Kelly Bainbridge RVN — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:46:34 GMT

oh bugger, we took him off fluids wed pm and he seems ok touch wood. Thats interesting, I didnt know that will definately heed the warning in future x

Re: CRF and sub-cut fluids in cats

Steph Worsley — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:22:45 GMT

No probs, always happy to help!

Just remember not to stop his IV fluids suddenly we tend to reduce by 25% a day (for example if on maintenance at 8ml/hr we would reduce to 6 on day 1, 4 on day 2, 2 on day 3 and then stop) you can sometimes cause an acute on chronic crisis if IVFT is stopped suddenly

Re: CRF and sub-cut fluids in cats

Kelly Bainbridge RVN — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 16:11:44 GMT

Thanks everybody, have just repeated his bloods and CREA back down to 377, UREA 20 and PHOS 1.3 so more along the lines of his level. I have a burette and fluid bag to take home and attempt sub-cut fluids three times a week, I think he will love the attention being the diva he is. Steph thats a really kind offer and I will deffo take you up on that if I need some support :) Its hard to think logically when its your own isnt it

Thanks again

Kelly and Moses cat x

Re: CRF and sub-cut fluids in cats

Steph Worsley — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:03:16 GMT

blinking computer....thought it had eaten my first post so retyped and now both are here!!!

Re: CRF and sub-cut fluids in cats

Gemma Burden RVN — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:26:36 GMT

Although we don't have any clients doing it at my current practice, one of the vets at my previous practice was a real fan of clients giving subcut fluids to their cats with CRF at home. From what I can remember, he used to use a burette so that they could be as accurate as possible with the amount they were giving, and usually used 500 ml bags of saline. From what I can remember, 20g needles were used as it sped the process along a little. How much was being given and how often did depend on how well the cat tolerated it, but most were getting around 60ml every other day. Most tolerated it really well, but then again, the sort of owner that was happy to administer subcut fluids is usually the sort of client that is pretty confident handling their cat and is determined enough to make it happen. It seemed to work well and I would definetely give it ago on my cat if he needed it.

Re: CRF and sub-cut fluids in cats

Steph Worsley — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:20:24 GMT

Hi,

We recommend them all the time to our CKD beasts (even done some dogs) and have lots of success, the amount and frequency varies on level of dehydration and azotaemia and type will depend on electrolytes

Normally it's 20-30 ml/kg in one site using a giving set and a 23g butterfly needle.

If you want to pick my brains (I also lecture on this) then feel free,

I have only had 2 cats not tolerate it, one is a naughty tortie who tolerates nothing at all, and the other is a 20yr old DSH (had CKD for the past 4 years) and is still looking great, he will tolerate it with us and his RV practice but not at home.7We normally start every other or every 3rd day.

Re: CRF and sub-cut fluids in cats

Steph Worsley — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:06:08 GMT

It's something that we recommend (and have been doing for about 4 1/2 years) and we have had a lot of success, amounts we give are all dependent on the level of azotaemia and dehydration indicators (so PCV/TP as well as urea/crea) as is the frequency.

We normally start of at 20-30ml/kg every other day, using either hartmanns or NaCl depending on the electrolyte situation, in one spot using gravity from the fluid bag and either a burette if using a 500ml bag or just a small bag of fluids and a 23g butterfly needle.

I have found that they tolerate it normally very well, although we do have one guy who is fine when we do it but hates it at home!

Re: CRF and sub-cut fluids in cats

Kelly Bainbridge RVN — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:41:18 GMT

Thanks Carol I will have a look x

Re: CRF and sub-cut fluids in cats

Carol Cottrell — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:39:15 GMT

http://www.fabcats.org/owners/kidney/subcutaneous/info.html

Hi there,

there's some good information on s/c fluids on the fabcats website. We quite often run them in the surgery but not for clients at home (yet!) & they are generally really well tolerated. We tend to run them through using a drip pump too!

Good luck, hope your dude does ok x