Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK
Cat Health & Behaviour => Health & Behaviour General => Topic started by: Daisymac on November 12, 2010, 17:09:06 PM
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We have been at the vets a few times with JO Ripley with what we thought was a urine infection, it turns out he has a very high level of crystals in his urine and he is now on a special diet, my problem is he wont eat the Hills and he wont eat the RC Urine food so I am now worried that he will starve himself, also the logistics are proving really difficult as he is normally fed with the other cats and now he has to be fed seperately and this is stressing him out and in turn stressing me out, the other cats can now not have biscuits left down all day which they have been used to for all of their lives and they are going mad, does anyone have any experience with this that they can give me before I burst into tears ? xxx
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:hug: :hug: :hug:
Poor JO Ripley :care: I know the food thing must be a nightmare for you with 11 cats :hug: Did the vet say he'll have to be on this food permanently then? Really hope not especially if he's not taken to it :hug:
Are there any urinary biscuits that could be left down that they could all munch on? I bet the massive bags don't work out that much more expensive than regular dry.
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After Memphis had his blocked bladder we were left with getting rid of the rest of the crystals (struvite) he was on Hills prescription s/d tins for a month, then he was on the maintenance diet of c/d for a couple of months afterwards. Whilst he still had crystals he wasn't allowed any other food. Then on the c/d his strict diet was slowly lifted and I got him the c/d dry which he had alongside the tins. Then after a couple of months I switched his wet back to his normal food (though I now limit the amount of fish pouches to 1 or 2 a week) and then I gradually switched c/d over to a different dry.
He ate it with no problem. I know a few Purrs cats haven't like prescription urinary diets.
If you got him a dog crate and popped him in there for feeding times do you think he would be ok? .... he could eat on his own and still be with the others.
:hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:
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Lexy was on the RC Urinary for a couple years. Unfortunately for this conversation, she loved her dry food. I've really struggled to get her to eat anything new as she was still on urinary pouches (chicken) when we left London. She's on the normal RC food.
Claire this is an adjustment. Cats are not silly, they will eat when they are hungry so it might be that you have to confine Ripley for a few days with only his food so he learns to like it. He'll eat eventually. Male cats and cystitis are not a good combination so they need even more attention that most. Lexy would normally take the wet food reluctantly but she would lick the jelly (and that's got all the medication), so maybe just squeeze out the jelly and let him lick it off your fingers so that he gets a taste for it.
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Presuming they are struvite crystals, they tend to form in urine that is too alkaline - the best way to make the urine more acidic as it should be - is to feed wet food (with no cereals, grains, veggies - or other unnecessary fillers) with a high meat percentage if poss, or even a raw diet (properly balanced) will keep the urine at the correct pH.
My Ben had crystals and ultimately went on to block several years ago no, I didnt know so much about diet then and went along with the presciption diet (dry biscuits) recommended by vet - well he wouldnt eat it - so I did my research and immediately changed all cats onto raw diet (well not immediately, but did the change over a week or so) no more dry (except as treats) and we never had any more prob with him. He now eats raw, various tinned (none with cereals etc) and probably a small handful of dry as a bedtime treat.
If you can do timed meals, rather than leaving dry out, that would help, then your others could have their dry at a later meal, while JO Ripley is having his plate of wet food perhaps.
By the way, stress can also be a factor in crystals forming, so I'd get some Feliway on the go if you havent already :hug: :hug:
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I have no idea what advice to give, but I can understand how difficult it is come meal times.
I'm sending you hugs and hope things improve for all of you
:hug:
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I can understand how hard and stressful this is for you and the other cats. :hug: :hug:
Luckily Misa has only had one episode of urinary problem which was stress related but when trying to train Sasa to love me, the behaviorists method was food which meant that Misa couldnt have his biscuits left down or wet food and we had to stop a couple of weeks in cosisa was so upset and also me.
Justto also that cats will starve themsrelves if they dont like the food cos my Kocka was one of those.
I hope that the others advice helps cos you must be tearing hair out :hug: :hug: :hug:
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:hug: :hug: Oh Claire. not entirely sure what to suggest; my first thought was to put a microchip cat flap in the door to one room and programme everyone but Ripley in....not entirely sure it's viable though.
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Thank you for all your replies, I am going to do some research on various diets, I am perservering with the RC at the moment and picking it up chunk by chunk and he will eat it then from my hands, I will also get a Feliway plug in and try that. Kenny was neutered yesterday as well so we have had a belly full of vets over the past few days :(
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Have a look at this Claire http://catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth - its written by vet Lisa Pierson and might help you with the diet research.
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Hope he's on the mend soon :hug:
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I'm just so sorry Clare. No advice to offer I'm afraid but sending many :hug: :hug: :hug: to you and JOR of course :(
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I dont really understand how JOR has got this, he is fed TechniCal dry food and plenty of wet food and I know what he was fed at Paws Inn and that was quality food too. The vet says some cats are just prone to it but from what I am reading that is not the case, maybe TechniCal is was not good for him ??
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The Clan are sending lots of purrs and hisses to JOR
We feed the kittens in a kitten pen in the family room so they can see the others but at least get 1 sachet of kitten food a day of course I have all my adults looking on lovingly at the kitten food in the we never got that look so can sympathise
Multi households are hell for the special kids :hug:
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its nothing you've done hun don't worry, our Bluto who oh handreared got struvite cyrstals, like Den we used the hills diet to clear them and after that he was able to go back on his normal diet, he never had another flare up
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TechniCal is a good food and used to feed my moggies on it but was getting harder and harder to get and really wanted all cats eating the same biscuit and have changed to Purina Pro Plan which i can get from Pets at Home.
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They never figured out why Memphis got it either. Wasn't diet or stress related. It really is just one of those things :hug:
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I dont really understand how JOR has got this, he is fed TechniCal dry food and plenty of wet food and I know what he was fed at Paws Inn and that was quality food too. The vet says some cats are just prone to it but from what I am reading that is not the case, maybe TechniCal is was not good for him ??
Every human and every other mammal is unique; for any given illness there are risk factors - for example we know smoking causes cancer etc. but not in every single smoker. :( Most disorders are down to a combination of nature and nurture: you cannot control JOR's heritage (nature) only what happens to him from adoption (nurture). For all we know he may well have been a whole lot sicker without the love of Purrs Inn and you. :hug:
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I dont really understand how JOR has got this, he is fed TechniCal dry food and plenty of wet food and I know what he was fed at Paws Inn and that was quality food too. The vet says some cats are just prone to it but from what I am reading that is not the case, maybe TechniCal is was not good for him ??
Its usually a combination of things, not always ONE thing - commonly stress, diet, water intake, activity (lack of - although I suspect that isnt the case with JO Ripley :evillaugh: ) and there are some thoughts now that bacterial infections ARE a more common cause than previously thought.
By the way, all urine contains some crystals - it is normal, its only when they multiply and start to irritate the bladder (due to any of the above reasons) that they become a problem. :hug:
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Sorry to hear JOR is a poorly wee man, hope you can manage this effectively with diet change :hug: :hug:
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Poor JOR :hug: :hug:
Jess was on urinary food for 7 months and it was 7 months of hell. He wouldn't eat it. He would starve himself and just ignore it. He would only eat it when he got desperate. It caused me A LOT of stress. Milo would eat the blooming stuff then Jess would go after Milo's food. Jess would give me the cold stare as he knew Milo was getting better food and biscuits. Jess would do anything for a biscuit.
I ended up literally following Jess around with the food, it would take an age to get him to eat the smallest amount.
Can JOR have urinary biscuits? I gave them to Jess on top of his food and he'd nibble the biscuits off.
We used to keep Milo's biscuits on the work top out of Jess's way.
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:( Poor little fella, sorry to read that JOR isn't well. You know none of mine have really suffered with unrinary infections apart of our first cat Penny with a bit of cystitis on and off so I don't know much about it. I hope that you manage to sort out the feeds ok and that he's feeling much better soon :hug:
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No useful help just loads of
:hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:
love
Tab
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How is JOR doing today? :hug:
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He is eating the Hills food and is bashing Kenny up again so I think he is feeling a little better :Luv2: he realy is such a lovely boy, I need to talk to my insurance company as I picked his food up from the vets yesterday and it was £35 and I dont think that will last him more than a week :Crazy:
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Glad he's doing better. :hug: Will insurance cover a pre-existing condition? I was told it rarely did.
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Glad he's doing better. :hug: Will insurance cover a pre-existing condition? I was told it rarely did.
It wasnt pre-exisiting, he didnt have it when I insured him :hug:
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:) Pleased to hear he seems better.
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Glad to hear it. I know they look for loopholes a lot in insurance. :)
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You are so right JS, phoned them and they will cover the vets fees but not any food which is going to be the main part of the expense.
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:hug: :hug: One for you and one for Junior Officer Ripley.
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Urghhhhhhhhhhh which insurance is this?
Can you buy it online cheaper?
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You are so right JS, phoned them and they will cover the vets fees but not any food which is going to be the main part of the expense.
Thought as much. At fear of being hunted down and pelted with fruit, I don't currently have insurance on my cats. I put a little bit away as often as I can, because the "excess" part is usually pretty high anyway!
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With Tesco insurance, totally useless, will be changing them all (not that it will make any difference for JOR now) :tired:
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Sending lots of Hugs and get well vibes for JOR - my Charlie has cystitis and was quite poorly but once he was sorted out and back to normal he went back onto a normal diet and luckily had no more problems