Zach's Nine Lives

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Four months ago my beloved cat Zachariah almost died. He was in severe renal (kidney) failure. His condition came out of the blue – as he had no previous kidney problems. After a roller coaster ride that lasted several days and involved the heroic efforts of three vets, he miraculously pulled through. It’s such an unusual story that I thought I’d share it with you.


I woke up on an October morning and like any other day, I greeted my family - my dog Cookie and two cats Zach and Cali - but this morning was different. Zach was still in the same spot I had seen him in for at least a day. He was sleeping on a chair in the living room and even the night before I wondered if he had ever gotten up. I had been in and out the day before so I couldn’t be sure. He hadn’t eaten the night before but that’s not so unusual. The weather had turned cold and rainy. I thought maybe he was just feeling a little under the weather. But, then I coaxed him to get up and when he did I saw something alarming. He staggered when he tried to walk, and flopped down. He had a hard time standing up and then started vomiting (a greenish liquid). I panicked thinking he had gotten into antifreeze. I knew I had to get him to the vet as soon as possible. It was only 6 am. My regular vet office was not yet open. Off we went to emergency.


They took Zach in almost immediately and did a blood test. They gave him fluids but they couldn’t immediately tell what was wrong. After the fluids, he seemed better. We went home. The next day the blood results came in and the vet called me. He said “I’ve never seen anything like this before. I’ve never seen levels so high.â€