#if any like actually veterinarians see this u are so welcome to add onto this with actual facts i dont know shit

[shinynx]

So I wana make a post about the signs of kidney failure and chronic kidney disease/renal failure in cats. I'm not a vet or anything of the sort but I am a frustrated cat owner. If I had known the signs sooner maybe my kitty could've lived a longer life. I'm not going to get into the numbers and bloodwork stuff because that doesn't make any sense to me or probably to the people this post is directed at. This post is just meant to help you know what to keep an eye out for, and potentially ask your vet about.

If you're like me and working or out of the house a lot, it's very hard to notice these things in your cat. I really wish I was paying more attention when it mattered most.

The signs of kidney disease comes in 4 stages. If your cat is in stage four, there's not much that can be done. They will have at best a couple of months up to a year with treatment. You will definitely notice something is wrong at this point. Your cat will probably lose a lot of weight very quickly over the course of a week, and stop eating.

If your cat is drinking a lot, and vomits occasionally and/or has awful smelling breath, you should absolutely take them to the vet and ask to get bloodwork to check for kidney issues.

It's also a good idea to regularly weigh your cat at home, even if they are not showing any signs. I'd say to weigh them once a month, and keep a journal with their weights and dates and maybe make notes of how much they drink and pee.

My cat was always eager to drink from every water source, and after she turned 7 she had a problem with throwing up. I took her to the vet and she was prescribed special food for sensitive stomach. I thought that was all it was. I trusted the vet. I had no idea this was a sign of kidney failure. After switching her food she was throwing up a lot less, but still around a few times a month. I figured maybe it was because i occasionally gave her special treats that wasn't her prescribed food and that made her puke. I figured her breath was bad because she threw up sometimes... But now I know it was CKD.

So yeah, I'm hoping by making this post it might help a few kitties. Now you know the signs. Don't make the same mistake I did. And for the love of all cats everywhere PLEASE. Keep your cat IN DOORS. And do not bring lillies into the house. Check every plant online to find out if it's safe for cats. And of course keep your cat away from poisons, chemicals, antifreeze and medications.

If you have the means consider tipping this post or check my pinned for other links. I am still trying to pay off my cats ER bills. I still need $2,000. Even a dollar makes a difference. Thank you for reading and take care of your kitties!

[ny-writes]

fxf stardew valley inspired. will be making a series out of this - so this is pt 1.

1667 words rated E (rating will probably go up in later chapters)

---

Tess groaned inwardly, waiting for the clock to strike five so that she could finally leave. There wasn’t much longer to go, sitting at her cramped cubicle, but it felt like an eternity as she waited impatiently. Her supervisor walked by, giving her a look, probably because she wasn’t tapping away diligently at her computer, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. Working in data entry was a boring and unrewarding job, and she felt like if she had to spend one more minute staring at an Excel spreadsheet, she was going to lose it.

Once upon a time, she had wanted something else from her life. Certainly she had never imagined that she would end up someplace like this, the basement of an office building, surrounded by other people with nowhere better to be. At one point she had wanted to be a veterinarian, another, an author, and for a while she had even dreamed of becoming a farmer. None of those things was going to happen for her, though. She hated the hustle and bustle of classes and attending college, so she had dropped out after her second year, and now she couldn’t afford to go back and do something better with her time.

As soon as five o’ clock rolled around, Tess clocked out at her station and walked away, dreading that she was working again the next day and hating herself for signing up for so many shifts that week.

Home was within walking distance, so she decided to leg it instead of taking the bus, which would take the same amount of time and cost her two dollars. Halfway there, her phone rang, lighting up with the familiar face of her best friend.

“Hey, Nik,” she said, answering the phone before it vibrated again. “I’m on my way home from work, what’s going on?”

Nik - otherwise known as Nikki or, on serious occasions, Nicole - sounded ecstatic on the other end. She was a somewhat successful businesswoman, and was generally excitable, so this wasn’t out of the ordinary. “Tess, babe, you won’t believe the opportunity that just came up. I can’t explain everything right now, but it’s amazing, and I want to take it. This is just what we need,” she gushed.

Tess smiled wistfully at the familiar feeling of talking to her best friend, and patiently waited for her to pause so she could get a word in. “Nikki, you haven’t told me what this opportunity is,” she finally interjected.

“It’s a surprise!” Nik exclaimed. “But I need to know - how attached are you to your job and apartment?”

She laughed as she considered her answer. “Not at all, but this better not end up with me jobless and on the streets,” she said, and after Nik confirmed that indeed it would not, they chatted until Tess arrived at her apartment building and needed to get into the elevator.

Inside her bare apartment, Tess sunk into her couch and wondered what her friend was up to. But at the end of the day, she would trust the other woman with her life, so she didn’t worry too much about it and instead went about getting dinner ready. They had a standing appointment for dinner on Wednesdays, and Wednesday it was, so she made some soup and stuck a store bought loaf of french bread in the oven to heat up.

As the soup began to bubble on the stove, there was a knock on the door, and then Nik let herself in with her key. “Oh, Tess, that smells really good. What is it?”

Tess smiled. “It’s chicken, potatoes, and cheese,” she explained. “Now you tell me what that phone call earlier was all about, I’ve been on the edge of my seat ever since.”

“Okay. Maybe sit down,” Nik said, and waited until Tess was seated at the small kitchen table to continue. “I went out on a limb. I know how much you hate your job and I know you don’t like living in the city . . . So when I saw a house for sale in a town a couple states over, I had to buy it,” she said.

The other woman sat completely still for a second, blinking several times before she spoke. “You . . . bought a house,” she began.

Nik grinned from ear to ear. “I bought a house! For us!”

“You bought a house for us,” Tess repeated. “In a town.”

“A house, for us, in a town. It’s a farmhouse, there’s a lot of land around it to farm and raise animals,” Nik continued a little more carefully, suddenly seeming a lot less sure of herself. “I know it was a big risk, I hope I wasn’t . . . I didn’t mean to . . .”

Tess stood suddenly and almost tackled her with a very aggressive hug. “You bought me a fucking farm, Nik, oh my god,” she said. “I’ve dreamed about owning a farm since I was like, fifteen. Where exactly is it? Tell me everything.”

Nik sagged with relief and sat in the other seat at the table to continue talking. “It’s in a little town called Evergreen Village. Well, a village, I guess. It’s in this beautiful valley, their main export is lumber, and they desperately need people to move there so they’re offering bonuses to people who buy property. We get a free class on farming - well, you do. And some seeds and stuff, like tools, too.”

Satisfied with this description, Tess went to the kitchen and grabbed them both bowls of soup and spoons, returning to take the bread out of the oven and slice it into wide pieces, good for dipping into the thick broth. Nothing tied her here - her lease was actually up the next month, and she wouldn’t really be burning any bridges by quitting her job. Over dinner, they discussed travel plans, how they’d move and when, and other details of their new house and village.

---

Two days later, Tess drove a U-Haul into town and was immediately flagged down by a woman waiting by the town welcome sign. She looked perfectly in place, wearing tattered coveralls and her dark, curly hair tied back with a bandana. “You must be the new homeowners here,” she said, as soon as Tess rolled the window down. “I’m Irene, the home seller! It’s nice to meet you. If you’ll follow me, I can lead you to your new farm. GPS tends to get a little confused around here, what with all the little roads.” Upon receiving confirmation that they’d follow her, Irene climbed into a pickup truck as battered as her clothes that had been pulled over onto the side of the road and pulled in front of them, guiding them through the town.

No one seemed to be around, aside from a few people in what she assumed was a grocer’s. It was still early in the morning, though - they’d been driving all night. Soon enough, they exited the town and drove down a road that seemed to get progressively rougher and narrower as they went. They passed through a gate in a falling-apart wooden fence and slowed to a stop in front of a small home. In front of the house was a man, sitting on the edge of the porch. He sprung up as though he’d been waiting for them.

As the women climbed out of their vehicles, the man walked up and shook Tess’s hand, and then Nik’s, and gave Irene a friendly clap on the shoulder in greeting. “I’m Marcus. It’s nice to meet y’all,” he said. “I’m the carpenter here. I just finished making repairs to your new home yesterday, so you’re right on time - Irene told me what time you’d be coming in and I just wanted to greet you personally. Now, I did good on your house, and I don’t think you’ll be having any problems anytime soon, but I want you to know that I can do more than repairs. If you provide supplies, I’ll be able to add rooms to your house. Right now, it’s just two bedrooms, a bit of a kitchen, and a bathroom. Let me show you inside.”

Tess, nervous suddenly, nodded and followed Marcus inside, looking around as they went. The front door opened into a small kitchen with barely enough space for the little table they brought, and she could see the doors for the bathroom and the two bedrooms. The tour was over quite quickly, and Marcus said his goodbyes and left - though not before reminding them where his carpenter shop was. Irene waited until they seemed satisfied and ready to start moving in their belongings before she, too, departed for whatever she needed to do that day, leaving Tess and Nik alone in the house that they owned. The reality of the situation was sinking in and she was extremely anxious.

Nik squeezed her, ever excited, and started talking. “Let’s move things in, Tess. It will seem more like home when our furniture is in!”

She agreed, and they spent the morning moving their possessions into the house, small as it was. Luckily, they managed to fit their beds into the small rooms, and they agreed to take a nap and then go into town for lunch after taking showers.

The day passed quickly, with them unpacking most of their boxed items in the evening and then eating a dinner of leftovers and going directly to bed, exhausted from driving all night and unpacking all day. Though she’d been anxious earlier, Tess felt herself filling with the excitement that Nik was already feeling as she considered the training on how to farm she would be attending for the next week. Nik herself was simply working remotely from her previous job, something many employees did. After all, they had to be able to pay for groceries. She fell asleep thinking about the animals they’d be able to raise and that maybe, just maybe, this was exactly what she had wanted.