FUS kitty won't eat or take meds...

hey, everyone. i'm new here and am hoping some of you could help answer a few questions i have.

my cat, firefly, has just been diagnosed with FUS. she has crystals in her urine and the vet gave me antibiotics and special perscription food for her. i've been researching feeding a raw food diet for my three kitties, but fly refuses anything but dry kibble. she's been drinking a little chicken broth, but that's it. i also haven't been able to give her the antibiotics with the dropper and have no food to mix them in that she'll eat. i was sure she'd get hungry and eat the wet food i've been giving eventually, but it's been almost 5 days and i'm a little worried.

i'm not feeding the perscription food because it's full of meat by-products and fillers. i've bought some high quality human grade protein wet food until i get all i need and do all the research to start a raw food diet.

i've been looking for a holistic vet nearby and haven't had any luck. i mentioned the raw food to my current vet and he shot it down immediately and they tried to give me dry food which i've read contributes to FUS. also, fly had diarrhea today and i'm just worried and trying to do what's best.

any advice or a holistic vet reference in the orlando, florida area would be great. thanks!

I would use that food for now because Coco has that food and it will stop the crystals. I know its not the greatest food though. I also use Royal Canin Urinary Cans which is better. I tried not to give Coco C/D before but the crystals come back everytime I stop it. Is the Antibiotic Clavamox? Coco was on that but it made her throw up and gave her a stomach ache. She ended up and a few beforewe found one that works for her.

I'm really concerned that, apart from a a little broth, Firefly hasn't eaten for almost five days.

A cat in that situation can rapidly develop a very serious life-threatening liver disease - if the cat is not getting sufficient calories from food ingestion, the liver begins drawing fat from the body...trouble is, the liver draws more than it can process and it, itself absorbs the fat. This is called Hepatic Lipidosis - we've recently lost a cat on this forum due to this condition. So, you need to do more than just wait for her to eat.

I'd suggest you get some plain meat baby food and the type of syringe used to give drops to infants - mix some water with the food and get some into her. Read below for how to syringe it in.

The same goes for the antibiotics - I wouldn't bother trying to mix the meds with the food - you'll never know whether/not she has had the dose. Flush the meds into the corner of her mouth, close her mouth and stroke her throat - you can also gently blow into her nose.

You need to be very careful that she doesn't aspirate the liquids - that would create a separate and very dangerous problem.

This is all separate and apart from your focus on diet change - but it needs to be your priority now.

Please call your vet ASAP and tell him she hasn't ate in 5 days, she might have developed Hepatic Lipidosis which can be fatal. Please consider just putting her on c/d for a little while, you could change later if you do research on the diet of crystal prone cats.

I am very byproduct leery too, but byproducts wont kill him-crystals can. Alot of so called 'urinary formulas' at the store still have higher ash and magnesium than the c/d. I am going through this with one of my cats (though his was severe and he had to have penis removal surgery, he passed too many crystals and it scarred up the inside of his penis until he could no longer pass urine on his own) and he is currently on c/d. My other male cat had to be on c/d earlier this year, and he is no longer on it-but I have to read every label, even if it is the same brand and same flavor, companies change their ingredients all of the time, and I make sure that the ash and magnesium are the same or lower than the c/d.

If I didn't have the patience to read the label on every cat food that I buy I would definatly just have my crystal prone boys on c/d. You would be suprised how many times some cat food companies change their recipies, and most of the time it is in the same bag, with no indication that it has changed. The reason that this is so important is because the ingredients effect the ash and magnesium (ash and magnesium need to be low for crystal prone cats) and your cat could end up in the same situation.

i did give her the vet food and she's not interested in that either. the only food she wants to eat is the old iams dry food she had before, but is that going to help the problem? i just don't want to make it worse by giving her the same dry food she was on when she got the crystals in the first place. i'll definitely give her some for now tho. thanks for the help.

PLEASE discuss food options with your VET... YES some OTC can be effective but they normally dont match the RXs as the RXs are medicinal and should be thought of a RX for you vs a OTC ....