Best of luck to you both.
Posted on 12/01/2008 6:40:48 PM PST by yankeedame
EXCELLENT link...thank you very much!
Agree with this post of “who knows what evil”. We’ve had cats for over thirty years, currently have 16 here at the ranch.
A good Veterinarian will probably advise you on a diet change for the cat upon clearing the blockage to prevent recurrence. The Vet will probably advise you about ash content as well.
It’s been many years since we were faced with the FUS problem, and there may have been advances in medications, technologies, foodstuffs, since then, therefore I’m not recommending anything other than get the kitty to the Vet, and take the problem quite seriously as FUS kills cats.
When I say “a good Veterinarian”, I mean one that cares for the animals versus caring for the almighty dollar by putting the animals through multiple testings running up the bill as so many seem to do anymore. We have found that the small time Veterinarian that is holding your animal, talking about the weather, Thanksgiving, Christmas coming etc. feeling the animal all about while talking always gets the diagnosis correct the first time without running up the bill with onerous testing.
The caring, knowledgeable Veterinarian can feel where there is excessive heat generation if there is infection. They can feel the swelling of specific organs, and they can tell you just by feeling the animal and looking at the animal in some cases precisely what is wrong.
We’ve been fortunate finding such Vets, but when we moved here 21 years ago just such a Vet sold out to the other kind of Vet within a year. We saw the difference in the business versus the care. We saw we were being milked for money for problems with the animals. We were familiar with many of the typical problems yet the Vet insisted upon spending our money doing tests we knew we needn’t have to pay for had the Vet been oriented to caring for the animals rather than caring for the almighty dollar.
We searched about and found an old fashioned type country Vet who has been taking care of our animals needs ever since. They are out there.
My cat had this problem years ago due to the crap cat food I was feeding him. Once we got the crystals dealt with I started feeding the C/D catfood (canned and dry). My cat lived until he was 19 years old. He died in my arms the day before Thanksgiving this year. I cried like a baby.
Never be another one like him.
Your vet can fix him up. A lot of good dietary solutions for this, but no one has mentioned a Drinkwell Pet Fountain. I got one for my cats a while back and it works great. They drink more water than ever and that will ultimately help more than dietary changes. You can find them pretty much anywhere pet stuff is sold (though maybe not Wal-Mart style stores) or online...JFK
...similar to many 'human' doctors. :-)
I’ve thought about getting the feeder mice from the pet store but the nuts would probably play with or torture them and then let them go. That is something I KNOW I can’t deal with.
That’s interesting. What do you recommend?
Oh, I’m so sorry about the loss of your cat. 19 is a good long time, but I know I’d always want just one more year with mine.
Our cat, who is now 12, had this when he was about 1. We didn’t know he wasn’t urinating. My husband picked him up one day and squeezed him - squirting urine all over. Probably saved his life. He had the crystal blockage. Vet said he would have died within a day. Anyway, had to keep an eye on him and had the crystals broken up a couple times,
but eventually it got better. Hasn’t had a problem since.
He eats Purina One Urinary Tract food. I think it has helped. Good luck to all of you.
Most people just don't know any better, and our pets suffer for it. Spread the word about 'crap cat food'. I use the 'ever chase a cat out of your cornfield' line at the grocery store, and you can see the light come on in the pet owner's eyes...
Our cat stayed for 3 days and came home with 20 pills I had to stick down his throat every morning.
We think his blockage was due to a change in diet when we brought a new kitten home and he took a liking to the kitten chow. I finally had to isolate the kitten in a separate room to keep him away from the food.
Also switched his diet to Urinary Tract Health Formula and he hasn't had another problem.
Amazon has a nice selection, they really do get the cats to drink more. I call ours a water gurgler. I did have to put ours on a piece of no-slide, grippy drawer liner.
Some crystals are due to diet and some to water, if I'm not mistaken. It's my understanding that very hard water can cause problems in male cats.
Best of luck to you both.
There are quite a few good nutritional cat foods out there...as with people, though; you have to watch the carbs, even with wet foods. Try to find an independent pet supply store in your area...they will usually have some recommendations. What works for MY cats may not work for yours...we all know how that ‘finicky’ nonsense goes. For example; 3 of them love the Azmira canned cat food; but the fourth thinks it sucks out loud. It’s ‘good for him’, but he doesn’t give a rat’s rear end. What can you do? Mine get wet food, and I leave a bowl of ‘Taste of the Wild’ dry for them to snack on if the wet stuff runs out while the humans are elsewhere when hunger comes calling. Just avoid the stuff at the box stores and the grocery stores as best you can...most are loaded with cheap and cost-effective grains. Read the info at the link in #35 up above...excellent info.
FLUTD is probably it...our cat had it a few times...he needed to lose some weight and is on a special diet food from vet...no problems since...
Yes. My guys drink only the finest filtered water... :-)
“...similar to many ‘human’ doctors. :-)”
Yes. We are familiar with that too. Being 26 miles from Hemet, California (Retirement community famous for the bumper sticker “I survived driving in Hemet”), and having moved here in the first place to be closer to Hemet where my IL’s lived. We have Heart and Breast Cancer milking Doctor stories to tell.
But not now. :)
To be honest, it’s hard to know what to believe. Our cat was on Purina Kitten Chow until she was one, then she ate Purina Cat Chow for about 2 years until we switched her to Iams for the next 3 years. At about 6 years old, we were back to Cat Chow until she was 10. At 10, we put her on Purina One for senior cats and she is now 16 years old. Over the years, our veterinarian told me that the premium foods were mostly marketing and not appreciably better than Cat Chow. In central Ohio, the local news station did a survey of central Ohio vets about 5 years ago and our vet was the second preference among vets surveyed as to who they would want to care for their pets. Maybe that was just a popularity contest, I don’t know, or maybe it was indictative of his expertise.
On the other hand, we have fed our dog a premium product called Healthy Balance since she was a pup five years ago. We decided to go that route. We may be just throwing our money away but we hope not.
If he/she is referring to the 'premium' foods sitting next to the 'Cat Chow' on the grocery store shelf; I would agree. But if comparing them to 'premium foods' at your pet emporium; I call BS.
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