Kitty Prayers

[omieluv]

My cat was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection (aka UTI) on Tuesday. Since she had not strayed from the litter box, I had not noticed anything odd about her until this past weekend when she seemed to be more sluggish than usual. I decided to take her in and they performed the urine analysis, which showed she had a bad UTI. My vet suspected that she might have crystals, so my BF brought her in this morning for the test (I am out of town on business now). He called to let me know they discovered 4 crystals and suggested that they remove them now. Of course, I told him to move forward. The vet anticipates she will fully recover from the surgery and it will be routine. She will have to spend the night and hopefully my BF can bring her home tomorrow. This is my first cat and I have no children, so she is like my baby.

I think the worst part of this is the timing, I wish I could be there for her, but I will be home Saturday.

 

[Angel7]

I''m so sorry for your kitty. I''m sure its so hard for you to go foward not being able to be there with her but she has your bf to love her while you are away and you''ll be home before you know it!

I''m sending some prayers and well wishes for your baby!

 

[sumbride]

I''m sorry Omie! It is routine though and she will be ok, and she will be very happy to see you when you get home!!

Are they crystals or stones? If crystals, they can usually break those up with ultrasound and surgery isn''t always required. Stones are bigger though. She''ll also probably be on antibiotics and pain medication. My cat came home from that with an fentanyl patch on his side, which worked well for him, but it took a while for his window of hair to grow back. They had to shave a spot for the patch! They didn''t tell me they were going to do that! But he didn''t mind, I assure you. That vet was particularly fond of those patches but I don''t think I''ve seen them used by the vets I''ve seen since then. They may just give her a shot.

You will have to change her diet to prevent it from happening again. If she avoids her litterbox because she associates it with pain, there is a litter out there that is WONDERFUL for this situation. It''s called "Cat Attract" and cats can''t help but use it. They gravitate toward it.

Good luck! and hang in there! She will be fine!!!

 

[omieluv]

Angel7 - Thanks so much for your kind words and prayers. My BF loves her and will take good care of her, so I am happy I have him to help.

Sumbride - According to my BF, the vet said crystals. Perhaps she has large crystals, which is why they are surgically removing them, I am not sure. We will find out more information after they test her crystals. The vet did mention that these probably formed due to diet, which sucks because the food I feed her is a premium quality brand. However, it could be that her system does not react well to it, so we will have to explore other options. Regarding her liter box, she was not urinating outside of it, so I am hoping that she will continue to use it like normal. Thanks for info on Cat Attract though, it is good to know that there is a product out there that will be able to help in case she avoids her box.

 

[Lorelei]

Oh Omieluv, I feel your pain but hang in there! Omie will be fine, please keep us posted.

 

[Sparkalicious]

I''m sorry to hear about your cat being sick, Omieluv ... Wishing you and kitty all the best!
It''s a tough time but you are doing everything that can be done and cats are resilient ... Kitty will probably be up and about and recovered before you get over it emotionally.

 

[marvel]

Hi omieluv, I''m sorry to hear about your kitty, but it sounds like you caught it on time

What kind of food are you feeding her and how old is she? I had a cat die from this about 20yrs ago. I thought the pet food industry had become more diligent about this. Anyway, I''m glad the vets diagnosis is promising and kudos to you for getting her to the vet before it got worse.

 

[AmberGretchen]

Oh poor Omie! And poor you

I''m glad they caught it though and that it will be treatable, and I''m sure as others said, she will up and about again long before you are over the trauma of it. I''ll send her healing thoughts and prayers from me and my three kitties here, and good thoughts to you as well - I can only imagine the anxiety and worry you must have.

About the food, I know that there are prescription diets that actually do work, but I think there are some higher-quality foods that can be fed that will minimize the chance of re-forming crystals as well. You''ll need to find out from the vet if they are struvite crystals or the other kind (I forget the name - sorry), as the two types are formed due to different conditions, and you have to feed/treat specifically for the type that kitty got. I''ll see if I can find some good websites for you about this.

In the meantime, best thoughts and wishes going out to Omie and to you at this time.

 

[nytemist]

I''m sorry about your fur child, omieluv. Hopefully it was caught early enough so she won''t have to go through what one of DH''s cats went through. He was diagmosed with crystals in the urine when he was about a year or two old. Unfortunately, he needed suergery twice to open the urethra and he has to eat prescription cat food. Last year he developed a UTI as well. The only way we noticed was that he was drinking a ton more water. When DH took him to the vet, he learned that his cat also had diabetes and is now onl insulin. It''s been tough, but DH wouldn''t have done anything different since he loves him so much. He''s now almost ten and doing pretty well considering.

Since it was four crystals, there should be complications for her afterwards, but she may need special food. DH''s kitty was diagmosed too late so ultrasound wasn''t helpful.

Sending vibes for a speedy recovery!!

 

[omieluv]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers!

It appears that Omie made it through the procedure and is awake. They are going to keep her isolated and quiet for the night and make sure she is healing up well. Omie ended up having 4 stones in her bladder and the bladder wall was inflamed, which was flushed out in addition to the stones being removed. What is good is the vet used a stitchless technique so there is nothing for her to pick at. As Sumbride suggested, she is going to need pain medicine for a few days, but should be 100% in a week. Because the visit can be so stressfu are so stressful for Omiel, the Vet said that if she is healing up well, she does not need to return. We will not know what type of food to change to for about two weeks. She said that we need continue her on her current food until we get the results back from the stone culture. She said that a stone will not build up in two weeks and then when we do switch, we need to do it very slowly.

Marvel - I currently feed Omie Natural Balance, which is a premium food (the linky will take you to nutrition info). The vet said that there is no way of knowing which foods will cause stones/crystals in a particular cat, so while this food possibly caused it for my cat, another cat could eat it for its lifetime without a problem. From what the vet said, it will take about 2 weeks before results from the test comes back to find out what caused her stones to form and if it is from food, they will be able to figure out our next move.

AmberGretchen - This is all new to me, so any info you can share would be wonderful! After the vet finds out exactly what type of stones she had, I will update this thread and perhaps you will have a suggestion or 2 that can help.

Nytemist - I am so sorry for your DH's cat, it sounds like he has gone through quite an ordeal. Glad to hear DH's cat has been able to live a full life, considering the trouble he went through. I also noticed that Omie was drinking a higher frequency of water than normal, which was also a sign that something was not right with her, but did not react right away. I am just wondering if I would have had her in right when I noticed (about 2 weeks ago), if that could have meant that they could have used the ultrasound for her. Do you know if crystals turn into stones, or are they the same thing? The vet said that she should be 100% recovered in a week. I am wondering what I can do to make life more comfortable for her though.

 

[Catmom]

I''m so sorry, Omie! It''s so hard when you are not there to be with your baby! My most positive thoughts are going her way so that she recovers quickly and painlessly! I know you will spoil her rotten come Saturday.

 

[sumbride]

I''m glad she made it through just fine! It will be a rough week for you more than her, but she will recover, and female cats usually recover from this faster than males. My male cat had a catheter and then had to get his muscle strength back so he wasn''t leaking.... it was a mess. But females are better equipped to handle this and she will be back to her old self again shortly.

Once they find out what kind of crystals they were, your vet will be able to tell you which direction to go n mineral content. I put my guy on the prescription food for a long time and though he never redeveloped symptoms, it had a lot of fat in it and he chunked up a bit. After 5 years, we took him off of it. I didn''t know where to turn other than the prescription food at that time so you''re lucky to have the resources here! AmberGretchen knows her stuff!

 

[omieluv]

Date: 1/10/2008 1:00:42 PM
Author: Catmom
I''m so sorry, Omie! It''s so hard when you are not there to be with your baby! My most positive thoughts are going her way so that she recovers quickly and painlessly! I know you will spoil her rotten come Saturday.

OMG, she is already spoiled!! However, she is going to be completely spoiled rotten by the time she recovers!!

 

[AmberGretchen]

OK omieluv, I am swamped at the lab right now so can''t do as much research as I''d like, but here is what I have so far, hopefully its helpful especially once you get more detailed diagnostic info from your vet. Also, I know bee is in veterinary school, so she probably knows more than I do about these things and will hopefully chime in.

The most common type of crystals in cats these days are the struvite ones. Struvite crystals result from urine that is too basic (not acidic enough), so the goal of treatment is to acidify the urine to a pH of <6.5. The active ingredient in foods that causes the acidification of urine (or one of them at least) is DL-Methionine. You should check ingredient lists for this ingredient, and apparently it can also be added in powdered form to kitty’s food – that would be a really good thing to ask your vet about.

Also important to note: lowering the urinary pH too much can result in oxalate crystals (the other kind), so you have to be careful about that.

There are those who claim that feeding either an all wet food diet or a basically raw-food diet, to more closely mimic what cats eat in the wild, will prevent the formation of crystals. However, while these claims seem entirely logical and plausible, I couldn''t find the scientific evidence to support them. Here''s a link that discusses some of the rationale for this and also this website sells a raw food diet. It might be worth trying, but I would definitely take this kind of literature to the vet and discuss if with them first, and also only make that transition under close supervision from the vet. There is an abundance of anecdotal evidence that supports this approach as well.

The crystals themselves are made up of magnesium, ammonium and phosphate. Thus limiting magnesium in the diet also makes sense, as does limiting phosphorus. This would be my only concern/hesitation about a raw diet, is that raw chicken (and I’m guessing some other raw meats/fish) contain relatively high levels of phosphorus. But I couldn’t find good information on how that influences phosphate levels and specifically with regard to crystal formation.

A cranberry supplement or as an ingredient in food may also be helpful to promote overall urinary tract health.

Once the vet gives you a breakdown of what kind of crystals they were and what food is recommended as a prescription diet, I would check the ingredients and nutrient profiles for as many foods as you can find and try to find ones that come as close as possible in terms of the important factors – magnesium, phosphorus, ash (if you can find the information), calcium, and oxalate. As an example, Hill’s c/d prescription food, which is listed as being good for urinary tract crystal-prone cats and is said to combat both struvite and oxalate crystals, has 0.02% magnesium content, and lists DL-methionine as an ingredient, and has information about the rest of the parameters listed above, with the exception of the ash content, on the hill’s science diet website here (link). As an example, you can compare this content with that in Fromm''s tuna and chicken canned entree, here.

Anyway, I think that this seems like something that you''ll definitely need to get yourself and your bf educated about, and take as much information as you can to the vet when they come back with more detailed diagnostic information about Omie''s specific crystals.

I really hope that was helpful, and as I said, hopefully someone with a better understanding will chime in as well to give additional guidance. Please do let us know how Omie is doing and also what the vet says when the results come back in - I think the type of crystals will have a large bearing on what the treatment plan is.

 

[omieluv]

Sumbride - Yes, we are very fortunate to have AG here, she is so resourceful!! You mentioned going off prescription food due to its fat content, what do you have your cat on now? Though I do realize the food you are feeding might not be what Omie needs, but it would be nice to know in case it could work for her.

Date: 1/10/2008 2:52:56 PM
Author: AmberGretchen
I think the type of crystals will have a large bearing on what the treatment plan is.

This is what the vet said as well. So, I have 2 weeks to learn as much as I can about crystals. Thankfully, you have given me a great starting point, as there is so much to learn. After the vet discovers what type of crystals she had, I will post an update.

I took a closer look at Natural Balance's nutritional content and it does contain cranberry (it is in the middle of the list). After reviewing its nutritional content, I could not find data for phosphorus, ash, calcium (though it does list d-Calcium Pantothenate as an indgredient), or oxalate but I did find that it contains 0.1% magnesium. Before I go to the vet, I might just print out nutritional information out for her to review. I took a look at Natural Balance's allergy formula (green pea & duck), and it states that calcum is .10min and phosporous is .09, it does not list magnesium or ash though. After reviewing content for Hills C/D, it states that calcium and phosporus are both .10min - I found that interesting. Of course, I am comparing canned food to dry food, which probably is not the best idea.

 

[sumbride]

Date: 1/10/2008 3:55:38 PM
Author: omieluv
Sumbride - Yes, we are very fortunate to have AG here, she is so resourceful!! You mentioned going off prescription food due to its fat content, what do you have your cat on now? Though I do realize the food you are feeding might not be what Omie needs, but it would be nice to know in case it could work for her.

We put him on a 100% wet diet once we discontinued the prescription food, but that was only for about a year before we lost him to cancer, which was, of course, unrelated to the other issues.

 

[ang3199]

Kitty prayers outgoing.

 

[FireGoddess]

Are they oxalate or struvite?

Chloe had oxalate crystals a few years back, had surgery, and has been on a prescription diet without a problem since. Hills cd-multicare wet and dry foods are what they recommend for kitties with either oxalate or struvite stones. They used to have different formulations depending on which sort of crystals the cat had (cd for struvite, xd for oxalate) but they have combined formulas or something and now cd-multicare is supposed to be for both.

It is critical that kitty stays well hydrated if they were oxalate stones, and definitely feed her wet food as much as possible if that was the case.

Whether a non-prescription diet of better quality food would work just as well as a prescription diet, I couldn't say. But I definitely blame 'meow mix'

for Chloe's crystals 8 years ago before I knew any better. She's been on Hill's this entire time. I am hesitant to switch her to Wellness (what I feed my other cat) since she's done well with the prescription diet, but I do often wonder if it would be fine for her.

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

I will invoke Bast, egyptian goddess of cats, on your behalf.
I understand what you are going through, I have two cats of my own and they truely are my children. But they are resilient animals and with the love and care your baby is recieving I truely believe she should be fine.
My parents' have a cat with digestive problems and the vet told them to give her a catfood that is higher in meat than most brands, maybe that would help in your case too?
PS
She is very pretty, is she a ragdoll?

 

[AmberGretchen]

Omie - glad I could provide a starting point. I think the magnesium of NB sounds awfully high compared to the Hills c/d, and also to the Fromm''s I listed as a comparison. The magnesium seems to be mentioned in a lot of the veterinary medical articles I was able to find. Anyway, lots to read and learn, and its basically a waiting game until you know the type of crystals. But I think taking printed nutritional information in to your vet sounds like a fantastic idea, as well as discussing everything you will have learned about crystals in kitties by then.

 

[omieluv]

Sumbride - So sorry that you lost your cat to cancer, I bet you miss him. Omie should be coming home this afternoon, so my BF is going to ask the vet what we should do to ensure she is comfortable. From your experience, what can I expect? I am sure she will sleep often. Hopefully her pain medicine will help as well.

Ang3199 - Thank you for your prayers, Omie appreciates them.

FireGoddess - Omie's vet said that they will know the composition of her crystals in 2 weeks and then we can move forward in terms of her long range treatment.Thank you for providing information in Hills c/d-multicare and I am so glad that Chloe has done well with Hills. In terms of switching her to Wellness, I am not sure. Cats are picky, so would she even accept the food, especially since she has been on Hills for so long? However, it might be worth comparing its nutritional content to Wellness and speak to your vet if there is a match. Personally, I hope I can keep Omie in the Natural Balance family, as she is very picky.

brazen_irish_hussy - Thank you for your kind words as well. When adopting Omie (her story & pictures here), I was told she was a ragdoll, but that was a guess. She is very beautful and quite the diva!

AmberGretchen - I do agree that magneseum content in her current food is quite higher in comparision to Hills c/d. Given that calcium and phosporous content NB's allergy formula is comparable to Hills, I would be curious to discover its magnesium content.

 

[Lorelei]

Glad to hear she came through it ok and is coming home!

 

[nytemist]

Omie, I''m not sure if crystals turn into stones. I''m not even sure what kind of crystals, based on the scientific explanation by AG. I can ask DH. Monkee still gets them, but since the urethra has been opened he can pass them when he pees. What had happened when he was younger was that the crystals built up in the urine and he got blocked and not able to pee at all. DH and his sister (they lived together at the time) had to take him to the ER and they had to do surgery right away.

I''ve seen a bladder scan and it looks like he has sand in there at times. The food he is on has helped him alot. He is on Science Diet S-D (I think) and it''s supposed to help dissolve the crystals. Don''t feel guilty about not noticing the water consumption. We didn''t really think anything of it since it was still summertime and the condo gets really warm. It went on for a few weeks to the point he could emtpy a full water bowl in nearly one sitting and the other cat would come to the dish and whine since it was empty.

After Monkee''s surgeries, DH would put a warm water bottle in the cat bed so he didn''t feel as uncorfortable. He said it seemed to help.

 

[sap483]

I''m so glad that Omie is ok. I know how it feels to be worried about your furbaby. Lots of kitty prayers that he won''t ever have to go through that again coming his way!

 

[omieluv]

My BF called and Omie is home. She is doing very well, in fact so well, she is purring and running around the apartment. I bet she is glad to be home and I cannot wait to see her Saturday!!

Oh yeah, the vet said that each stone was about 1cm in size, which is quite large. Poor kitty!

 

[DiamanteBlu]

Poor baby! I''m glad to hear that she is home and on the mend!

 

[Sparkalicious]

Glad to hear Omie is on the mend ... Thanks for the update!

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 1/11/2008 7:10:17 PM
Author: omieluv
My BF called and Omie is home. She is doing very well, in fact so well, she is purring and running around the apartment. I bet she is glad to be home and I cannot wait to see her Saturday!!

Oh yeah, the vet said that each stone was about 1cm in size, which is quite large. Poor kitty!

Excellent news!

 

[sumbride]

I''m so glad she is back home and recovering! I was going to say to let her set the pace for her activity, and it looks like she did! She''s well on the mend.

 

[AmberGretchen]

awww...I''m so glad she''s home and starting to feel better already! They really are wonderfull resilient animals. And I''m sure she''ll be even better when you are home to worship her as well