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- Mar 6, 2013
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I thought I would give everyone an update on my cat Pounce.
He has struggled for the last 3 yrs with FLUTD symptoms. At first he had a bad infection (when this all started), then he had several flare ups (every few months), which eventually turned into chronic urinary issues.
He was eventually diagnosed with struvite crystals in April which the original urinalysis (es) missed, as he passed crystals inconsistently. I was told to put him on a prescription diet, which made him terribly itchy due to his allergies. He also had accidents every single day on the prescription food. I tried the prescription for a month and gave up.
For his allergies he does best on Instinct Limited ingredient so I switched him back and added DL methionine tablets crushed up on his food. He was on 1000 mg a day, and is now on 800 mg. Luckily he likes to use the people toilet so I can catch urine samples to check the ph.
He was still struggling so I added Pentosan to his food, and oral glucosamine.
At that point I moved my one cat that he "hates" to her own separate room. She gets supervised outings to make sure everyone is mostly getting along.
I also discontinued his allergy medicine. He was supposed to be on prednisolone which made his urinary issues 10x worse. It turns out anti-histamines do the same thing. Once I discontinued the antihistamines his urinary issues have almost disappeared.
He has no crystals, normal ph with the DL methionine, and is healthy minus the allergies.
In total it took 5 months from his diagnosis of struvite crystals for his urinary issues to go away. Poor boy spent a lot of time being crated, locked in the bathroom, and I had to spend a ton of time cleaning the house.
My parents insisted it was behavioral... Once he stopped straining he started using the box again. I can tell the difference as when I put him in the box he can pee right away instead of wagging his tail and straining for 5 minutes before he can go.
Another sign that it was a physical problem was that if he got excited, scared, or nervous he would loose complete control of his bladder.
I'm hopeful we are finally over this issue and can focus on his allergies next!
He has struggled for the last 3 yrs with FLUTD symptoms. At first he had a bad infection (when this all started), then he had several flare ups (every few months), which eventually turned into chronic urinary issues.
He was eventually diagnosed with struvite crystals in April which the original urinalysis (es) missed, as he passed crystals inconsistently. I was told to put him on a prescription diet, which made him terribly itchy due to his allergies. He also had accidents every single day on the prescription food. I tried the prescription for a month and gave up.
For his allergies he does best on Instinct Limited ingredient so I switched him back and added DL methionine tablets crushed up on his food. He was on 1000 mg a day, and is now on 800 mg. Luckily he likes to use the people toilet so I can catch urine samples to check the ph.
He was still struggling so I added Pentosan to his food, and oral glucosamine.
At that point I moved my one cat that he "hates" to her own separate room. She gets supervised outings to make sure everyone is mostly getting along.
I also discontinued his allergy medicine. He was supposed to be on prednisolone which made his urinary issues 10x worse. It turns out anti-histamines do the same thing. Once I discontinued the antihistamines his urinary issues have almost disappeared.
He has no crystals, normal ph with the DL methionine, and is healthy minus the allergies.
In total it took 5 months from his diagnosis of struvite crystals for his urinary issues to go away. Poor boy spent a lot of time being crated, locked in the bathroom, and I had to spend a ton of time cleaning the house.
My parents insisted it was behavioral... Once he stopped straining he started using the box again. I can tell the difference as when I put him in the box he can pee right away instead of wagging his tail and straining for 5 minutes before he can go.
Another sign that it was a physical problem was that if he got excited, scared, or nervous he would loose complete control of his bladder.
I'm hopeful we are finally over this issue and can focus on his allergies next!
