Kitty Prayers

[Diamond*Dana]

Aw, I am so happy to hear that your kitty is on the way to a full recovery at home! Hang in ther little guy, and feel better!

 

[omieluv]

Thanks to all of you for your continued support!!

When I arrived, she greeted me right as I walked in the door. Immediately, I spent some quiet time with her and gave her a good brushing. She purred the entire time and her coat is fluffy again. My poor BF though. Last night, she was very clingy and wanted to be pet. My BF observed drops of blood in her box last night, so I advised him to call the emergency animal hospital. He was told not to worry, so my BF felt better, but still felt he needed to call our vet, who basically said the same thing.

 

[Catmom]

I''m so glad you are back home with Omie and I bet she really starts too heal now with all her humans surrounding her!

 

[Lorelei]

Glad you are back with her, and she is doing well!

 

[Madam Bijoux]

My prayers and hopes for your cat''s quick recovery.

 

[bee*]

Sorry for not seeing this earlier-was holidaying! Hope your kittie is doing well. Until you find out what crystals it is there is not a huge amount you can do with the diet, as with what your vet said, different ingredients can cause different effects in different cats. The two main types of crystals are struvite and calcium oxalates. The vets in the our clinic usually recommend hills c/d or s/d. If they have struvite crystals, then cranberry supplements can be very useful but if they are calcium oxalates, then the cranberry can actually increase the risk of calcium oxalate stones. A lot of times struvite stones are caused from infection and so no diet change is necessary.

I''m not sure if you will be able to see these journals (we get to log onto them free in college) but here are some journals that have articles based on the above

Am J Vet Res. August 2003;64(:1059-64. Clinical Trial

J Am Vet Med Assoc. November 2001;219(9):1228-37.

These are some that have reference to the use of cranberry supplements

Gettman MT, Ogan K, Brinkley LJ, Adams-Huet B, Pak CY, Pearle MS.
Effect of cranberry juice consumption on urinary stone risk factors.

J Urol. 2005 Aug;174(2):590-4;
Terris MK, Issa MM, Tacker JR.
Dietary supplementation with cranberry concentrate tablets may increase the risk of nephrolithiasis.

Urology. 2001 Jan;57(1):26-9.
Narda G. Robinson, DO, DVM, MS, DABMA, FAAMA
Shipley Professorship in Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Colorado State University, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

The good news is that you caught it quickly and recovery usually is 100% once you find out the cause of the stones and it is treated due to this. Give a kiss to you kittie for me!

 

[Harleigh]

I am so glad your sweet kitty is back home and doing better now! Your BF did a great job taking care of her!

 

[omieluv]

Omie seems to be getting better, however, I do have a concern. She has been vomitting (approximately 2-3 times each day since the surgery), which primarily consists of what looks to be her food and a clear liquid resembling water (no blood or anything odd in color). I gave her the rest of her pain medication on Sunday and her antibiotic finished yesterday, so I am wondering if she was reacting to her medication. If she continues this through Wednesday, I will call the vet.

Date: 1/15/2008 8:17:37 AM
Author: bee*
Sorry for not seeing this earlier-was holidaying! Hope your kittie is doing well. Until you find out what crystals it is there is not a huge amount you can do with the diet, as with what your vet said, different ingredients can cause different effects in different cats. The two main types of crystals are struvite and calcium oxalates. The vets in the our clinic usually recommend hills c/d or s/d. If they have struvite crystals, then cranberry supplements can be very useful but if they are calcium oxalates, then the cranberry can actually increase the risk of calcium oxalate stones. A lot of times struvite stones are caused from infection and so no diet change is necessary.

Bee - thanks for the information, I am very interested to learn the composition of her crystals - when I know, I will update the thread. You mention if the stones turn out to be calcium oxalates, then cranberry can increase the risk of these stones. I find this of interest because cranberry is part of the ingredient listing in Omie''s food. Though, I have no idea how much cranberry is included, I am wondering if she could have developed calcium oxalates from it. Of course, I can only speculate about this now. Hopefully I hear from my vet in a week.

 

[bee*]

Yeah it''s strange-I never would have thought that cranberry would have caused anything like that. On one of the vet sites I have access too, there''s a discussion forum for vets and they were discussing it and they posted the links above to those journals. I suppose once you find out which type it is you can go about eliminating things that cause them. Glad to hear that he''s doing better.

 

[omieluv]

Results from the test are finally in and it appears her stones are calcium oxalates, so modifications will need to be made to her diet. Though the vet prefers dry food diets for healthy cats for oral health, he suggests we switch her to a wet food diet (Feline C/D) because higher moister content tends to lesson the occurance of crystals. However, he did say there is a prescription dry food available if she will not eat wet food.

After I adopted Omie, her foster mom told me that Omie would not eat wet food, which I was quite happy about. My cat drinks a fair amount of water each day, so I am wondering if the dry food option will still be OK for her.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I am so glad she will be okay! Our two cats are like our children too. Our cats eat dry food though sometimes I give them a can of wet food for a special treat.

 

[omieluv]

I think we are going to switch vets, as I have never been totally satisfied with the place we take her to now. I found a place that is a cat only practice, which seems to offer more prescription food options for her. Hopefully this practice will be more sensitive to Omie''s personality, as she is such a witch at the vet.

 

[FireGoddess]

Date: 2/4/2008 3:01:10 PM
Author: omieluv
Results from the test are finally in and it appears her stones are calcium oxalates, so modifications will need to be made to her diet. Though the vet prefers dry food diets for healthy cats for oral health, he suggests we switch her to a wet food diet (Feline C/D) because higher moister content tends to lesson the occurance of crystals. However, he did say there is a prescription dry food available if she will not eat wet food.

After I adopted Omie, her foster mom told me that Omie would not eat wet food, which I was quite happy about. My cat drinks a fair amount of water each day, so I am wondering if the dry food option will still be OK for her.

Well, that''s what my Chloe''s stones were too. What they told you is basically the same thing they told me all those years ago. Chloe has been on Hills prescription formula all this time and has not had a problem since. The oxalate formulation used to be called X/D, which is what she was eating, but now they have stopped making XD and replaced it with something called "C/D multicare" which is supposed to be good for oxalate AND struvite stones (I have yet to encounter someone at my vet office that can explain how this works, they basically just told me to call Hills directly and have them explain it to me

).

Chloe has been eating a mix of both the dry AND the wet XD or CD multicare and has been perfectly fine with no recurrences. So hopefully even if omie refuses the wet food, the prescription dry food should still help her.

 

[omieluv]

Date: 2/5/2008 5:38:46 PM
Author: FireGoddess

Well, that''s what my Chloe''s stones were too. What they told you is basically the same thing they told me all those years ago. Chloe has been on Hills prescription formula all this time and has not had a problem since. The oxalate formulation used to be called X/D, which is what she was eating, but now they have stopped making XD and replaced it with something called ''C/D multicare'' which is supposed to be good for oxalate AND struvite stones (I have yet to encounter someone at my vet office that can explain how this works, they basically just told me to call Hills directly and have them explain it to me

).

Chloe has been eating a mix of both the dry AND the wet XD or CD multicare and has been perfectly fine with no recurrences. So hopefully even if omie refuses the wet food, the prescription dry food should still help her.

On another site, someone suggested that I buy one of those cat water fountain dishes b/c the water is filtered through the system and is always fresh, which encourages drinking - thus increasing moisture into the system. I have always wanted to try one of those, but have no place in my kitchen to plug it in, perhaps in my next apartment.

The c/d is correct, however I am not surprised at the fact that no one at your vet''s office can explain how the multicare works for both types of stones. I have read that vet''s are not up on their nutrition, like they are on the medical stuff. I can understand that though, humans have nutritionists that specialize in that sort of thing, where doctors have more of a generalized knoweldge, unless they have specialized in it. Maybe Bee can shed some light on that point.

So, if little Omie refuses wet food, I am hoping she accepts dry food. Maybe she will surprise me, cats can be so odd at times. it''s good to know that Chloe has done well on Hills though. I am not really a fan of their regular Science Diet line, perhaps their prescription food is of a better quality. The new vet we are looking supposedly has a variety of prescription food brand, we shall see...

 

[FireGoddess]

Date: 2/5/2008 6:59:22 PM
Author: omieluv

On another site, someone suggested that I buy one of those cat water fountain dishes b/c the water is filtered through the system and is always fresh, which encourages drinking - thus increasing moisture into the system. I have always wanted to try one of those, but have no place in my kitchen to plug it in, perhaps in my next apartment.
see...

I keep toying with the idea, but have never actually purchased a fountain. Chloe seems to drink quite a bit of water anyhow. I just change it every day and add a dental additive to it that''s supposed to be good for their teeth, but who really knows? Can''t hurt. Oddly enough, she wouldn''t drink that much out of her water bowl in the past, which was next to her food bowl, but one evening awhile back I caught her drinking out of my cup on the nightstand. So now that''s where her water bowl is, and she drinks quite a bit. Finicky old girl.

 

[omieluv]

Date: 2/5/2008 8:23:46 PM
Author: FireGoddess

I keep toying with the idea, but have never actually purchased a fountain. Chloe seems to drink quite a bit of water anyhow. I just change it every day and add a dental additive to it that''s supposed to be good for their teeth, but who really knows? Can''t hurt. Oddly enough, she wouldn''t drink that much out of her water bowl in the past, which was next to her food bowl, but one evening awhile back I caught her drinking out of my cup on the nightstand. So now that''s where her water bowl is, and she drinks quite a bit. Finicky old girl.

I am glad that Chole drinks quite a bit, especially since some cats really do avoid drinking. Chloe might be onto something though. Omie drops crumbs of food into her dish, which sits right next to her food. Perhaps the same happened to Chloe and she refused to drink out of her dish, unless it was clean. Cats are so interesting!!

 

[Lynn B]

Kris,
So glad to hear that Omie is feeling better! *Head bonks!* from Boo!

I bought a fountain (Drinkwell Platinum) for Boo, and he loves it. It''s a bit of a pain to clean, but it''s entirely dishwasher safe, so I just take it apart and run it through the D/W every week or so. I think it really increased his water consumption, and for that I''m really glad. Bladder health is a real concern with little boy cats, too!

 

[omieluv]

Omie is doing very well and is not spending nearly as much time in the litter box as she did prior to the surgery. After I move, I will look into the Drinkwell for her, however, I am not going to have a dishwasher (it's an old building). My concern with the Drinkwell is that it is made of plastic and I have read that as plastic breaks down its chemicals can taint the water, which is why humans are encouraged to not drink from the same plastic water bottle for any length of time. Of course, plastic on the Drinkwell is probably of higher quality than plastic used to make cheap water bottles, so I might be crossing the paranoia line. Still though, I have heard great things about the Drinkwell, so I will still consider it because Omie might not like the prescription wet food, so she will need all of the water she can get.

Also, the new vet is going to review Omie's medical history on Friday and let us know which foods will work for her out of the types she carries. So, it looks like we will be able to start integrating Omie's new food into her diet on Saturday.

 

[Lynn B]

I know what you mean. I was a little worried about the *plastic* Drinkwell, too... (also thought about it possibly contributing to feline acne)... but it seems like no one who has used one has any complaints. It''s a very *hard*, durable feeling plastic, maybe that''s part of it. I don''t think it''s a problem like reusing flimsy water bottles that were never made to be reused.

BTW, once you get the hang of it, you''ll be able to take it apart, handwash it in hot soapy water, and put it back together in about 20 minutes. Don''t worry if you don''t have a D/W... that really is the Lazy Daisy Way!

Oh, just had a thought. Can you add water (or broth) to Omie''s favorite dry food and make your own "wet food"? Wouldn''t that work?!!

Thinking of you (and Miss Diva Omie!)

Lynn

 

[omieluv]

Date: 2/7/2008 4:08:14 PM
Author: Lynn B
Oh, just had a thought. Can you add water (or broth) to Omie's favorite dry food and make your own 'wet food'? Wouldn't that work?!!

Lynn

Hmmm...this is an interesting idea, however, Omie's current food might have caused the crystals, so she will need to be placed on a prescription food. However, I really would prefer to give her dry food, so maybe adding water to her dry food would help boost it's moisture content. I will ask the vet.

The drinkwell is on the list of things to consider however.

Here is something funny, that I will share on RC. I have an aquarium. So last week I found a nice piece of driftwood for it to be used as a decoration. When driftwood is dry, it tends to float, so before adding it to the aquarium, it is a good idea to stick it in a bucket and let it soak for a week to absorb the water. Anways, I changed the water in the bucket yesterday and set it down. About a minute later, little Omie is drinking out of the bucket! At first, I thought she was just investigating, but then I saw her drinking the water! So odd!!