We took Daisy home as a foster cat from the shelter in September of 1995.
She was about a year old and had been found as pregnant stray wandering the streets in Massachusetts. She appeared to be a Persian-mix with her rounded head and slightly flatter nose and she was a beautiful Red Torti.

About a week after we brought her home, she delivered 5 adorable little kittens (with the help of my husband). Her 3 girls and 2 boys grew quickly and the entire family was healthy. When the kittens were 8 weeks old we returned them to the shelter for adoption. I told my husband that Daisy was only a 'foster' cat and after I had her spayed, she would return to the shelter as well.
But ... somehow, I just never got around to bringing Daisy back.

Daisy was a true redhead: confident, cuddly and a bit of a pest to our other cats in the house. She quickly became one of the top cats in the family.
In September 1999 during her yearly check-up, my vet detected her kidneys seemed slightly larger than normal. Blood work was normal and since Daisy had no other symptoms we decided to watch her for a while. Then in September 2000, again at her yearly checkup, her kidneys were still large. Blood work again was normal but we decided to do an ultrasound. The diagnosis was not good: PKD.

Polycystic Kidney Disease is an inherited disease that has been found in Persian and Exotic cats. It is a progressive and symptoms appear with enlarged kidneys and kidney dysfunction. It is an inherited illness with cysts present from birth. When the cysts begin to grow, they destroy the kidney resulting in kidney failure.

There is no real treatment for PKD. You reduce their protein to try and prevent extra stress on the kidneys, check for urinary tract infections and monitor blood work every couple of months. We did all that as well as trying to treat Daisy with Holistic veterinary medicine.

By September 2001, Daisy was still appearing healthy and her blood work was normal ... but her kidneys had increased to 3 times their normal size. Then on November 9, 2001, I noticed she was not as active as she normally was and her left kidney was even larger. So I brought her right up to my vet. Daisy was in total renal failure and the outlook was not good. She had stopped eating, so we fed her baby food through an oral syringe and started Sub-Q fluids. I put her up in a room by herself so she would not be bothered by the other cats. She was warm and as comfy as possible, but I could tell she was not well. We cared and prayed for her but in my heart I knew she had only a few days left.
Daisy died 5 days later on November 14, 2001.