Expert: Jessica - 5/13/2011

Question
I have a chronically ill cat 11 year old Balinese siamese cat who has sick for the last couple months.He has been seen by vets and was diagnosed with inflamatory bowel disease.He is being treated with predisone and other medications.But through his illness he has lost almost 4 pounds and right now he appears to be a bit dehydrated.He is about 12.4 pounds right now.Yesterday I picked up an IV fluid to give to him at home as I have done it a couple years ago.Although last time I got it from a different vet and the instructions for the amount given were different then from this vet.But I have forgotton the amount that I was instucted to give then.The vet where I got the IV from said to give him 200cc fluids once a day and that I should give half on each side.Do you think that sounds about right or do you think maybe I should divide that dose twice a day?I read on line that an average cat should have no more then 100-200ml at one time but I am not sure if this is the same amount in the 200cc as I,m not that knowledgeable about these meaturements and the amounts.The IV I have has 9 numbers on it and I just remember giving about an inch or so to to next number..The IV bag is a 1000 ml bag.but the cat probably isn,t drinking water right now and so he needs a suffient amount.I just want to make sure I don,t give him too much.I am hand feeding him canned foods 3 times a day and so he is getting some fluids that way.Please let me know what you think.
        thankyou,Marcie

Answer
Hi Marcie,

A 12.4 pound kidney patient will usually receive about 150 cc's a day. That's to the 1 1/2 mark on the bag of fluids (the first dose will go to the line between "1" and "2", the second dose will go to the line that says "3", etc.). You can give the fluids all in one spot. If you're finding that he's very dehydrated by the time you give him his next dose, you can see how he tolerates 200 units, but be careful not to overdo it. Kidney patients are often anemic, and giving too many units can actually thin the blood out. Then, the patient has trouble receiving enough oxygen. So if he hasn't absorbed all 200 units within several hours, skip the next day's treatment, and then drop back down to the 150 cc's.

Good luck!

Jessica