Angel is a very beautiful cat who first came to the RSPCA on the 12th February 2024. When we first came into possession of her due to her previous owner passing away, she had luckily been able to use the cat flap to get outside to have food and water, otherwise she may not have survived. Angel couldn’t come directly to the branch as the owner’s relatives were unsure whether they would take her.
For the time being, Angel went to one of our fosterers to take care of until this was decided on, but unfortunately the fosterer’s daughter was allergic to cats and hospitalised, so Angel was taken to one of our branch’s catteries.
Initially, we were trying to work out whether Angel was spayed or not – checking this through a blood test isn’t always accurate, and the surgery to confirm this is often expensive. The cattery staff noticed that Angel was loosing weight and drinking excessively, which they made a note to mention at her next vet visit which was to happen soon. When attending the pre-appointment for her spay to check that the medications didn’t result in any reactions, it was noted that Angel had a high count for her blood creatinine levels. The spay couldn’t happen until this was investigated properly.
Angel had actually already received an application and a successful visit, with the hopes of adopting her once the spay was done: but now things were upturned. Unfortunately the interested adopter heard of Angel’s symptoms and suggested she could have diabetes, which would be a concerning factor for her due to experiences they had with their previous cat, and they decided to withdraw their interest in her.
Angel had a urine sample taken, the results of which diagnosed her with stage 1 kidney disease. She may have always had this or it could have been a recent development, but she would have to have monitoring to ensure it didn’t progress any further. Poor Angel was also losing her appetite and not drinking as much as she should have, which was worrying.
She needed a strict diet of renal food to give her as best a chance as possible of stabilising her condition, and to monitor to see if this improved her situation. The vets told us that because of her condition, they weren’t comfortable giving her an anaesthetic in case she never woke up from it. But there were good chances of Angel living a happy and healthy life with just this special diet, as many cats with renal problems caught early enough do not suffer any symptoms unless it progresses.
After a barrage of tests in the following months, every interested adopter for Angel baulked when they heard of her condition. However, eventually an application came through which sounded perfect: and on speaking to them, it turned out the adopter themselves had kidney disease, so was more than well-versed in what rehoming Angel could entail!
Angel has since been rehomed to this wonderful adopter, and now has another feline companion to live with. We’ve since heard that “she’s eating and drinking much better now too and she’s such a lovely little fuss pot!”
