FUS from New Kitty - time for new home?

Turns out my first and moist spoiled resident female cat is so stressed from the new family member - now 11 weeks old - Kink that she has FUS. I did the proper introductions. He actually lived in the bathroom, completely separated from my two other cats for the first 3 weeks he was with us. We found him at 5 weeks and so he wasn't old enough to be tested for FIV and FeLV.

During the third week, we'd let Kink out to investigate and see how the other cats reacted. They hissed a little, but nothing aggressive. Pico, the male, just hissed and ignored him. Merlynn, the female, would hiss and run away. When Kink would go near her, she'd growl and run away. But other than that, nothing too bad as far as I was concerned.

So at 8 weeks, I had him tested and vaccinated. He was negative for the diseases so I decided to keep him. (Note: He was a foster, but my fiancee and I decided we wanted to keep him.)

Well, now, my little Merlynn has just been diagnosed with Cystitis (aka FUS/FLUTD). The doc sent us home with salmon oil for omega 3/6 fatty acids and some anti-anxiety pills. He also recommended a change in diet so I have switched her to Nutro canned and only canned. They suggested a prescription diet, but that's a whole other post.

So I am very heartbroken that it was because of Kink that Merlynn is distressed. He is still young enough that I can find him a home rather quickly. I can work with a local rescue group to help me find a great home. But is that necessary? The vet said she's be okay with the anti-anxiety pills. But she is my baby and if this is going to just keep her sick, I don't want to continue. It will be sad to let him go....but if it needs to be done...

Does anyone have any experience with this? What did you do? What would you do?

The same thing happened when Hannah came to live with us. Callie, my resident cat got a kitty cold and a urinary tract infection. I started using Comfort Zone with Feliway diffusers and that's helped tremendously. I also used to use Bach's Rescue Remedy with Callie until the severe anxiety dissipated. She's doing great now, but is in the beginning stages of CRF, which is most likely due to her age, not really related to Hannah's adoption.

Stephanie

thanks for the response stephanietx. aww. your poor little girl. hope things don't get too bad.

the pills seem to be working, but she was so doped up that this morning i woke her up. usually she wakes me up at 630-7am with head butts. but this morning we slept in until 9am and i actually woke her up. poor thing. i'm going to talk to my vet about giving her the meds every other day. or just using feliway spray...today, merlynn was actually playing a little with kink. so that's a great sign.

i was talking with my coworker/friend today and she thinks merlynn is also stressed, if not more so, by the fact that my fiancee recently left for marine boot camp. maybe she is associating his absence with this new kid. we did have kink for 3 weeks before he left, but we had him in the bathroom most of the time. after my fiancee left i let kink out to be with merlynn and pico...maybe she's stressed about that. my poor girl.

thanks again. wish us luck.