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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / April 2006Cat at vet--need some hand holding
I dropped off Ginger this morning for some bloodwork and a UA. She's my CRF cat that *had* been doing very well, until we went on vacation for a week. We had a pet-sitter who stayed at the house and took care of the animals. When we returned, there was evidence that she'd been pooping behind my computer desk. That resolved, but it became apparent a few weeks later (just a few days ago) that she wasn't peeing in the litterbox that was only a few feet away. I'm so torn and so sad about this kitty--she's been happy lately, always out and purring, but I really can't have her peeing all over my study. Once I realized she wasn't using the box, I made an appointment with my vet and moved her into the laundry room. She was so unhappy in there. To make everything worse, Ginger is a ... special kitty. I got her from my hay guy, and I think she's *highly* inbred. In addition to oddly formed legs and head, she's really not very bright, and I don't think she can see very well. Because of her issues, I don't think it's fair at all to confine her to the laundry room on a long term basis. She just doesn't handle it well. So, I don't know what to do. I guess I'm hoping her UA will come back bad--at least then I'll have something to treat, and maybe she'll start using the box again. If it's all normal, I don't know what I'm going to do. :( Thanks for listening, Corey PURRS, HUGS AND PRAYERS FOR YOU AND THE FURBALL >I dropped off Ginger this morning for some bloodwork and a UA. She's my >CRF [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > > Corey My heart goes out to you and Ginger. Let us know how it goes. My best, L > My heart goes out to you and Ginger. Let us know how it goes. Thanks LB, Matthew and those of you who emailed me. Good news: we have a medical cause for the inappropriate peeing. Bad news: sure looks like her ureters are partially blocked with stones. Ginger is still with the vet--he hasn't been able to palpate her bladder all day. He took a radiograph to get an idea of where her bladder was, and found the stones. Her kidneys look clear, but her bladder is oddly radio-opaque. So, my vet is running some fluids, taking a couple more radiographs, getting some pain meds on board, and will attempt to get urine later today. (There have been pee spots in her litterbox, which is cleaned daily, so I know that she can pass SOME urine.) This is SO frustrating. Two months ago, her urine was free of crystals or stones, and her radiographs looked FINE. I switched her to Royal Canin renal diet from Innova after her CRF diagnosis, started her on sub-q fluids at home, and her bloodwork came back better. Now this. Poor kitty :( Corey >> My heart goes out to you and Ginger. Let us know how it goes. > [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > > Corey Corey it will all work out some way some how there is a plan even though we may not see it or understand may not even want it to happens. Everyone is purring and praying for a good outcome. It can be so frustrating when we have something we love with all our heart is hurt or in pain and there is nothing we can do but be there and do the best we can for them. Just remember Corey THEY KNOW AND WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER They know keep that in your heart it will help at night trust me! >This is SO frustrating. Two months ago, her urine was free of crystals or >stones, and her radiographs looked FINE. I switched her to Royal Canin >renal diet from Innova after her CRF diagnosis, started her on sub-q fluids >at home, and her bloodwork came back better. Now this. Cory, if you were feeding RC Renal LP pouch food, that was recalled by the company (along with some of their other vet foods too for both cats and dogs) due to the fact that it had too much vitamin D in it which could cause hypercalcemia in pets (and did to some): If you were feeding this food, please contact your vet about this. RC should have contacted all veterinarians regarding this and the vets were supposed to send the products back and contact thier clients who were feeding it. I think RC is paying for all bills for testing animals who were eating their food. http://www.felinecrf.org/which_foods.htm http://www.dailytidings.com/2006/Mar%202006/0317/031706c1.shtml > Cory, if you were feeding RC Renal LP pouch food, that was recalled > by the company (along with some of their other vet foods too for both [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > were feeding it. I think RC is paying for all bills for testing > animals who were eating their food. Hi Anna, I remember when that notice came out! Ginger was on the RC Renal LP dry. I tried and tried to get her to eat the pouches--or any wet food, for that matter--and she said no way, no how. Thanks for the reminder, though. Maybe I'll contact Royal Canin with Ginger's info, just to let them know. I have no idea if their food had any role in Ginger's condition today (for all I know, this would have just been the natural progression of events) but I do think it's odd that she had NO crystals on Innova, and now her urine is loaded with calcium oxalate. Corey >I dropped off Ginger this morning for some bloodwork and a UA. She's my >CRF [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > only > a few feet away. The walls of the litter pan are probably too high for her to step over because of weakness in her hind legs. You can get a plastic storage box top and put newspapers on that for her. After my cat, Sara, began peeing in the bedroom, I put newspapers down for her, and she then did her business on those. > The walls of the litter pan are probably too high for her to step over > because of weakness in her hind legs. You can get a plastic storage > box top and put newspapers on that for her. After my cat, Sara, began > peeing in the bedroom, I put newspapers down for her, and she then > did her business on those. Not the case with Ginger--she was willing to use the box when confined to the the laundry room. She's also only 6, and has good muscle tone. The cause turned out to be stones, crystals, infection...hopefully all fixable :) Thanks, Corey Poor Ginger. My vet loaded her with fluids, gave her some pain meds and finally got some urine. It was NASTY. RBCs, WBCs, clumps of RBCs and WBCs, tons and tons of rods and loads of calcium oxalate crystals. The ventrodorsal radiograph clearly showed a stone in each ureter. Kidneys were obscured by fecal matter, so it's not really known if there are kidney stones. The lateral radiograph didn't show anything obvious in the kidneys. Bloodwork should be back tomorrow, but I doubt it'll look very good, considering how sick she is. So, she's on 100cc's sub-q fluids daily, X/D food (trying to get her to eat the canned, but she's never been interested in canned), 21 days of Zenequin, pain meds, and a B vitamin complex. Recheck after the AB's are completed. She came home looking more "normal" than when she left, which I'm glad for. She never displayed typical cat in pain mannerisms, but wasn't acting normal--one very noticable change was she was purring ALL the time. I guess now I know that means she's hurting. In addition to the standard vet medicine, I'm considering the remedy found about halfway down on this page: http://www.holisticat.com/kidst_arch.html Can't hurt, might help? Any reason I shouldn't? Corey >In addition to the standard vet medicine, I'm considering the remedy found >about halfway down on this page: http://www.holisticat.com/kidst_arch.html >Can't hurt, might help? Any reason I shouldn't? Never consider any treatment without discussing it with your vet. You just never know if it will reduce the effectiveness or even have an adverse effect on your Vet's treatment. -mhd >In addition to the standard vet medicine, I'm considering the remedy found >about halfway down on this page: http://www.holisticat.com/kidst_arch.html >Can't hurt, might help? Any reason I shouldn't? If this "Dr Shook's Remedy" worked to dissolve stones like they say, vets would be using it. Personally, I would never try anything I found over the internet without consulting my vet. One of the ingredients is "tissue salt"; if that is just salt, a cat with cal. ox. stones should not have excess salt. Here are a couple of links for info on cal. ox.: http://consumer.vetmedcenter.com/consumer/display.asp?fn=P-MR-M-Ur_5-CaOxUrolith so1XX.xml&dt=A http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_feline_oxalate_bladder_stones.html Hard to say if this would have happened to your cat anyways or if it has anything to do with the RC food (one of the ways a cat can get cal. ox. stones is by getting excessive vitamin D). Might be a good idea to ask others at this crf group if any of them have had problems lately with their cats eating that food: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Feline-CRF-Support/ |
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