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similiar thing happened with our boy about a year ago but not the girl, the vet said it was probably the Friskies we were feeding him, he said it affects some cats and not others…
anyhoo, our boy sounded a lot like your’s, he would go to the litter box, try then cry out a little, get out then try again not long after…took awhile to get a good sample out of him but the vet said he had crystals in his urine and switched him to a special food…he’s now a happy kitty….
hopefully a simple diet change will fix your’s up….
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4. September Raffle Prize 2022 AHD Male GriffinOH NO! Not Ajani kitty! :BIG HUGS: Now you definitely need some sushi when I visit in a few weeks! I do hope that the blockage stays at bay for a bit and that a change of diet helps him out! Poor little guy! I hope he gets well soon!
Wait, you had Faye sleeping ON you and not spazzing out with being around people? Or was that Haru?
Oh no, it was Haru! Faye still hates people… lord knows if she ever gets sick I don’t know what I will be able to do cause I’ll never be able to catch her! My house was TORN APART when we tried to frontline her 0.o I still haven’t been able to get her spayed because I can’t get her in a cat carrier. I thought she would mellow out eventually, but now, after a year, I think I have actually “touched” her about 5 times in my life
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My best thoughts! Wampus has some great advice. A lot of this often comes back to dietary issues, which is frustrating because even vets will sell you dietary stuff that really isn’t good in the long term (I have major rants against Science Diet). ANYHOW. I know you have a lot of pets but is there any way you can meal-feed Ein so that the cats can’t get into his food?
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My art: featherdust.comMy best thoughts! Wampus has some great advice. A lot of this often comes back to dietary issues, which is frustrating because even vets will sell you dietary stuff that really isn’t good in the long term (I have major rants against Science Diet). ANYHOW. I know you have a lot of pets but is there any way you can meal-feed Ein so that the cats can’t get into his food?
THIS. Some vets are paid to push brands(science diet is a big one) that arent necessarily the best for what you need.
Not letting the cats eat dog food is good advice. Since cats are obligate carnivores, a lot of the things in dog food they simply cant digest easily and their kidneys cant handle it long term. Thats why I ‘meal feed’ as Jennifer puts it. Feed them the amount that they eat completely in one sitting, then dont give them any more.
As I said on FB, I hope your kitty gets better. With the extra info, it does sound like crystals (which makes your vet’s doomsday talk seem unnecessary and strange).
I second trying a high protein food. I would not do Science Diet though – it seems to work sporadically. Gave my girl the runs *ick*, even though it works fantastically for my parent’s cat, whose kidneys are (still) failing.
The other issue with SD–especially the kidney/renal/bladder versions–is that a lot of cats don’t seem to find them palatable. You’re already dealing with a sick, stressed out cat, and then it refuses to eat the $40 a bag food the vet “says” is the only thing you can feed it? (or the equally outrageous by comparison canned version…)
Then you add in the convenience factor–those nights when you realize suddenly you forgot to get the food from the vet and now they’re closed. No thanks. Go with something more commonly available locally from a store with hours you can work around. All those Wampus recommended are very good, are readily available at the big chain stores, and are probably both cheaper and healthier than Science Diet.
(As you can guess, not an SD fan either.)
And with two dogs and two cats currently, no one in our house is free-fed either. Part of that is just plain due to the fact that 2 of the 4 would eat themselves sick if we left food down all day, part of it is so they don’t steal the other half’s food–which apparently is always better tasting… 😉
LOL. I see many people don’t like Science Diet. 🙂 It’s expensive, but the versions I’m talking about are the prescription brands. They are formulated to effect the levels that create the crystals. The most common type are Struvite. I had a cat once who developed Oxalate crystals, she needed a very precise diet because the majority of foods caused her body to create those. Science Diet CD actually accelerated the growth of Oxalate crystals while SD XD kept her from developing them.
I am currently feeding my 11 year old female husky SD KD for her kidney disease. She loves the food and is doing well. She was diagnosed about 3 years ago and the food seems to have significantly slowed the progression of the disease. We have regular testing done to monitor her PH levels.
Each animal is different, and I have had wonderful luck w/ the prescription foods when I’ve needed to feed them. You might also add Uri-ease to your kitty’s diet. It’s a cranberry supplement my old vet used. Her 18 year old cat was having chronic UTIs and issues, and they started the Uri-ease. That cat lived another 5 years before succumbing to a heart attack.
If you go the prescription diet route always buy the biggest bag. Yes, it’s a large outlay, but it’s cheaper by the pound for the food. Get a plastic container that seals and you can feed for a few months on the one bag.
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Sun Dragon Koi #3I’m pretty sure most of us use “Science Diet” to cover Hills’ Prescription diet products as well, especially since vets tend to sell the Prescription formulas. But to be fundamentally clear: Both versions use animal byproducts (and sometimes soy) as their primary sources of protein. Byproducts are the lowest grade of protein you’re going to get, including some of the stuff that isn’t suitable for human consumption. I’m not going to gross everyone out by detailing what can be included in that category, but it’s pretty disgusting. Soy is not something your pet would eat as a common source of protein in nature; it’s in there because it’s generally cheaper than meat, not because it’s a ideal substitute for meat.
If I have a sick animal, my primary goal is to make it as healthy as possible. If I have a critter who’s already struggling–he/she doesn’t need to be fighting to get some decent useable protein out of the crap and fillers some brands use. That means no to food that has ingredients that are not human grade, yes to food made with as few preservatives as possible–even if that means I have to buy more often, and preferably organic ingredients only. If I have a well animal, my goal is to keep it that way–which still boils down to the same criteria. Yes, this means my pets do in fact eat better than I do myself. LOL My two feline renal failure patients were both fed on homemade food (with proper supplementation & vet approval) and they thrived on it. But that’s expensive and time consuming, so it isn’t practical for many. Heck, I probably couldn’t do it myself now with my own health. But IIRC, Wysong has a very good food for that, without the issues inherent in Prescription Diet (or at least they used to–if I were dealing with it nowadays, I’d research again to see what’s changed, because companies change hands or suppliers or formulas sometimes)
It takes some digging to find out what you need, but Wampus’ list of brands is exactly where I’d start.
If I lived in a place where my only choices were Friskies quality or SD/PD, obviously I’d buy the Hills. But there are literally half a dozen other brands that do the same thing, with higher quality ingredients that are more easily digestible, and often they’re available for less money per ounce (wet) or per pound (dry). Given that, I just can’t advocate Hills’ products. For those they work well for, I’m glad that’s a viable option that’s working for your pets.
But for a one year old cat that’s already having issues at barely past kittenhood? Over the short term of “let’s get the right kind of food into him right away”, fine, I’d use the smallest size available of whatever the vet suggests, because the goal this minute is to get him on a food that won’t make things worse. But then I’d do the homework of finding a better food that does the same thing. Odds are high that he’ll do better over the long term with a higher quality food than what Hills provides, and if I hunt around, I can probably save money on it too. Win/win, when we’re talking about feeding a specialized food over hopefully the next fifteen years.
Just my .02 worth, after dealing with all sorts of health issues over the years–including while feeding the “supposedly” good Hills products. My pets have needed a lot fewer vet visits since I switched to the *real* high quality brands 10 years ago.
Aaaah! Dragon, I’m sorry about your furbaby, that’s awful! I went through the EXACT same thing with Harley a couple years ago to, it was a horrible, expensive ordeal. Major hugs for you and kitty. 🙁
Harley is healthy and happy now though, so there’s hope for sure!
Wampus’ suggestions on foods were spot on. I had Harley on Purina Urinary Tract formula for the past year and a half, but just recently took him off it and washed my hands of those big-brand foods and their nasty fillers!
I’ve had him on Blue Buffalo, the Indoor formula. He’s been on it for about 2 months now, no trouble so far, and he LOVES it. He used to vomit a lot, but he’s been a barfy cat ever since he was little so I attributed it to him getting into the garbage. Well, when I switched him to BB, the vomiting stopped immediately. YAY 😀
Diet is the best place to start though. Honestly once I got Harley over the hump when he blocked, keeping him healthy is as simple as making sure he has good nutrition.
Best of luck and keep us updated…
Please do any food trialing with the supervision of your vet, especially where crystal issues are involved. Most should be happy to work with you to find something that eliminates those crystals.
The last thing you want to do is mess around on your own without regular urinalysis and cause another blockage or worse, stones – which do require surgical intervention and can cause UTI after UTI because they irritate the bladder.
Even if they suggest a Science Diet Rx food, consider it, but it’s fine to ask them if they have an alternative (Purina and Royal Canin have Rx diets too, and there may be more since I left practice). As a general rule, vets are not out to do you or your pet wrong, and they aren’t ignorant (while no one has said this, this is how I take some food comments sometimes. No vet I ever worked for ever took money from Hills to sell Science Diet!!! We made a profit on the bag just like everything else we sold, but that was IT). Be knowledgeable, of course, but be flexible and listen to what that vet has to say. You might be surprised, especially if they’re a recent grad.
Well, I searched ALL OVER town and found at a local vet office (not science diet, but it IS by Hills) a brand of Perscription food called CK
All everyone else sold was Purina brand stuff and I didn’t want to go with that.
He is ACTING normal again, he was peig a lot when we first got him hme, not he’s peeing often, but only in small amounts. I’m not sure if that’s “back to normal” peeing or if he’s getting blocked again. I’ve lost so much sleep and have been so worried I’m not sick as a dog myself. >_< I have a 103 temperature and have bad things coming out of every part of my body right now. Shaun's getting there too, he just started having the symptoms today of what I was like about 2 or 3 days ago.
Here's to anther fun filled week… as long as Ajani is okay, I can deal. I just don't want to have him back at the vet again.
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