New with so many quesstions!

pudgenslippers

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hi everyone, i'm new here. i decided to join after one of my cats fell ill recently and i'm looking for any and all advice and help in keeping him happy, healthy and alive. we almost lost him and it made me realize how much i need to learn in order to keep him as long as possible.

my husband, daughter and i are proud owners of two 4 year old cats- slippers is our male and pudge is our female, they are siblings. we've had them since they were 4 weeks and have lived very healthy lives since, they're affectionate, well behaved and over all happy kitties. since they were old enough to eat kibble, they have been free fed dry food daily and yes, it was cheap supermarket food (terrible, i know that now). they were my first cats ever so i didn't know much about cats. last week, slippers started vomiting up his food out of the blue and i noticed his litter habits were off, he was going in and out every 10 or so mins and sitting in there for several minutes, looking rather uncomfortable and producing nothing. he still ate a little and was walking around, almost seeming normal, but in my gut i knew something wasn't right.  my husband kept saying he probably had a tummy ache and to let him go til morning. i'm so glad i didn't. i trusted my instinct and called my vet, we rushed him there to find out he had a severe urinary blockage, she told us another 12-24 hours that way and he would have died, she said we had to catheterize or euthanize because he can't suffer that way any longer. luckily we have some wonderful people in our lives who helped financially as well as a vet who worked out a payment arrangement. he was catheterized and came home 4 days later. the doctor prescribed hills prescription diet s/d canned for a few weeks then he'll switch to c/d for life. the vet said his urethra and bladder were pretty bad and he had "grit" blocking him. he seems to be doing great so far, his litter habits are seemingly back to normal, no vomiting and when i check his belly it feels nice and soft. however, he doesn't care for his new food, which i'm sure switching to wet from dry is a big change and will take time, but the vet said he ate it no problem when he was there, but now that he's home he will even choose to eat the dogs food over his canned food. i've tried heating it up and adding tuna water, parmesean cheese, catnip and even a bit of crushed up dry food, but nothing. he will lick at it, but not eat much to feel satisfied (in my opinion, maybe it does fill him up but he eats considerably less than when he ate dry food so i can't imagine he's satisfied). since it would be easier on us and healthier for her, we have to switch pudge too, who is more resistant than slippers. is there any other tips and tricks someone can offer me to help the transistion?

also, after we found out his diagnosis, i went crazy researching everything i possibly could so i knew what was right and wrong in dealing with this now possibly reoccurring, painful and expensive condition. i read that grain free and by product free wet food is best for urinary problems but the first ingredient of his new hills food is pork by products and it also contains wheat, flour and rice. is it really ok for him to be on this food now? i read that there is nothing comparable to hill's s/d for dissolving urinary blockages and that i can switch to something else instead of using the c/d when it comes time. is this true? i don't want him to reblock, i don't want additional health issues and to be honest, hill's is crazy expensive. but if it's what he truly needs and what is really best, i will do what i have to do to keep my kitty.

lastly (sorry this is so long lol), while slippers was gone at the vet, pudge, who is usually a low key, quiet and rather laid back and anti social cat, started coming out and following us around, wanting to be held and pet a lot. when he came back she resumed hiding and also, started hissing at him whenever he walked by, which she NEVER did before. is it because of his new smells from the vet? i'm hoping this stops soon because it breaks my heart. if it would help to bathe them both so they have equal smells i would (yes, my cats don't mind baths haha) but i'm not sure if it's ok to bathe slippers yet, i know he didn't have surgery perse but they did stitch the catheter in for the 2 days he had it.

i'm really looking for any and all advice in making sure slippers, and pudge, can lead healthy, happy, normal kitty lives as long as possible. it would be ideal if everything can return to normal and they can be totally on wet food by next month and getting along again. i am 8 months pregnant and when baby comes i fear i won't be able to dedicate as much time to regulating their eating habits, as hard as i will try. we have 2 cats, 2 dogs and a 3 year old as it is, i am a busy mom and wife so needless to say, i need some help making my life a little easier too. thanks for all the help!
 

mrsgreenjeens

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Welcome to TCS.  Sorry you were brought here under those dire circumstances, but at least you boy is AOK now
.  I can, at least, address you last question about the two not getting along at the moment.  It is very normal for Pudge to be hissing at Slippers
.  He does, indeed, smell like an interloper to her, but it shouldn't take too long for them to return to their old routine.  (I have one cat who used to get in a tizzy just when another went to be groomed, and he would only be gone about an hour, but he would smell completely different when he came home that there would be growling for a couple of days until the "groomee" could lick himself all over and smell like himself again
)

As far as your questions about the S/D and C/D foods, I know there are other recent posts concerning the same things, so maybe others will be able to help you with that.  Fortunately, I have had no experience with urinary tract issues
, and I am currently converting my formerly free fed kibble addicts to a raw diet, to try to prevent any future health issues, since I recently lost my eldest cat to kidney disease
..  BUT, I do know that the prescription foods, even though the ingredients don't sound good, DO work. 

In the meantime, since it's Easter and there may not be many people replying, you might want to read this thread  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/241788/what-kind-of-food-to-keep-my-cat-from-having-stones-again .  She has been investigating foods...maybe you could "pm" her and see what she's come up with, if your issues are the same.

Good luck to you, especially with a new baby entering the picture. 
 

catwoman707

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Hello and welcome!

I have a thread going now, I think it's titled something like feeling frustrated about transitioning my cats to all canned.

I DO understand your probs, and can say this-in my opinion, and what I would do, is do not try to feed him grain free canned food just yet. This does not have all the good tasting additives that cheaper food like Friskies canned does, see if he will eat this. If so, then I would feed it in the am, then in the afternoon give the Hills dry, then pull it, so at night when he's looking to eat give the canned again.

If he will not eat the "crappy" canned, pick up some jars of chicken with gravy ONLY baby food. This is his introduction to the taste and texture of soft food. It's basically irresistable! All cats love it.

I would continue the 1 meal a day of the Hills, as it might dissolve any remaining crystals he might have. You should only need to feed him this for a month or 2, after that work on a full transition to all canned, eventually grain free all canned.

As for the smell of the vet, it will fade with cleaning, and you can rush this process a bit with wiping with baby wipes, which will really make him want to clean himself thoroughly.

Best of luck!

I, along with lots of others here are convinced this happened from an all dry diet. Changing that will stop this from happening again.
 

finnlacey

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The best thing to do is give wet food ONLY!!! Dry food is the main culprit of so many UTI's and believe it or not, UTIs are very often caused by e coli. So put 2 & 2 together and you get a gross thought in your head about dry food. And it's very possible, even in the bag. Happens more often than you think. wet food is truly the best option. Go grain free if you can, like Evo, Nature's Variety, Merrick. Those contain a lot of water and gravy but even if you have to add some yourself, I would. And give FILTERED water only to your cats. Tap water is so so so so bad for them!!!
 

orientalslave

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What is wrong with tap water?  I know in some places it's down-right nasty to drink (Florence when I visited 20 years ago for example), but it's bad for cats?
 
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pudgenslippers

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thanks guys for the replies! we are getting one of those water fountains with the filters in a few days so the tap water won't be as much an issue soon. hopefully they use it since they much prefer drinking from the dogs bowl (even though they have their own), something i'd like for them to stop doing.

as far as switching from dry to wet food- we have decided to take our time with pudge and not force it on her as much. being that she hasn't had any heath issues yet and since she is female, she's somewhat less prone to urinary problems. we will eventually switch her to wet only but she's so resistant to it that it will take a long time. our focus right now is slippers and making sure he bounces back from the stones properly and that he doesn't reblock anytime soon. slippers started becoming more and more resistant to the prescription canned food as the days went on, even when he was starving he wouldn't eat it. it's very frustrating. as i said in my original post, i've tried so many things in the last few days that i'm just at my wit's end however, i went to walmart today and just for reference i decided to look at the canned food there (i would never put him on any of the stuff for any period of time, knowing what i know now) but i came across fancy feast appetizers. i read the ingredients and there's only 5 (i got the chicken and beef) and 3 being water, beef and chicken. it's in a broth instead of a gravy and the label says no fillers and no by-products, there's also no ash either and its for supplemental feeding only. i came home and mixed maybe a 1/4 teaspoon of the FF with about a 1/4 can of his hills food and some extra chicken broth and he ate it, and not just the bits of chicken and beef, everything! i was so happy. i no longer free feed, they eat small meals maybe 4-5 times a day so he will only get a full teaspoon of the FF a day so it's not very much, and he's still getting plenty of his prescription food as well as moisture from the chicken broth. and i'm just using it to make transitioning to wet food easier, i will use less and less as days go by until he is on 100% prescription wet food only.  does this sound ok? i looked for the best stuff i could find that i thought he would eat and i just want to make sure he gets what he needs to get better and stay healthy.
 

catwoman707

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Sounds like your doing an excellent job!

Fancy Feast is fine if it's in addition to his other canned, it tastes better to them, like Friskies too.

Some vets say they would rather see a cat fed the lowest quality canned than the best quality dry.
 
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