Please Help us Save Charlie

Hello,

 My husband and I are the cat guardians to 17 indoor cats (all spayed and neutered now) We pride ourselves on being able to give care to each of our cats when needed and not even wanted .To that effect, we even dedicated a care credit account JUST for our animals in case of any emergency. Our boy Charlie was taken into Premier Veterinary Group 351 S. Randall Road Elgin, IL 60123  847-695-3652 (an Emergency pet ER)  6 am Saturday April 9th in Elgin.il. He is 5 years old. We found him near motionless in our living room.AS devastating as that was, it only got worse once we got him to the ER. Charlie's potassium level was above 10, he is blocked with crystals or something that they can't even see just yet. he's on his 3rd catheter, and he's just peeing blood. We've paid for everything  we could, $3400 just for diagnostics and medicine to keep him comfortable. He is going to need to surgery and we THOUGHT we were prepared for this sort of emergency. Once the $3400 was used, they asked us if we wanted to keep trying (code for no more money would you like to put him down?) Absolutely not! WE are trying to get him stable enough to get him to our regular vet Monday. The amazing part of our financial commitment is that my husband and I are NOT well to do. I'm on disability awaiting a transplant, and my husband is self employed. This was why we kept that open line of credit.

The reason I'm contacting cat shelters and websites is because, I feel that people on Social media sites are suffering from crowd funding fatigue. Most people would believe to put a cat or ANY animal down than spend the money we have. I'm reaching out to my cat communities because WE know how important these babies are to our lives. We started a go fund me for Charlies surgery. They think he may need to be away from us for more than a week. I've looked on websites for links for assistance however our situation wouldn't qualify. We have to save his life and, as unfortunate it is that it comes down to money, this is where we are.

www.gofundme.com/charlesbogie  anything you can give, even if its one dollar we would be beyond grateful!

Thank you for your time



Sincerely,

 One out of her her mind worried THEcatmoma

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Good luck to you and Charlie.

I see Charlie appears to be stable now, thank goodness.  Good luck with HIS surgery, and hopefully you'll get your transplant soon too

Thank you so very much! It's a miracle Charlie was able to recover and get stable. My husband says that he found Charlie that morning and he felt cold.( later when we went to the  vet, he told us that Charlie's temp was 90) Today as I type, my husband is coordinating with the vets to get him to our regular vet. Oh Yes Surgery is next and a special diet. I'm not sure HOW we're going to do that with 17 cats, but we're figure it out I'm sure.

Charlie is safe and sound at our regular vet. He's having his catheter replaced again because it keep getting clogged with crystals. We're just so glad that he is at a regular vet. They say that it s a possibility that he will just need diet to keep this from happening again. So my question is, does anyone know a great alternative to science diet C/D urinary care? It's sooo expensive and we have 17 furbabies to feed.

THEcatmoma said:

 
Charlie is safe and sound at our regular vet. He's having his catheter replaced again because it keep getting clogged with crystals. We're just so glad that he is at a regular vet. They say that it s a possibility that he will just need diet to keep this from happening again. So my question is, does anyone know a great alternative to science diet C/D urinary care? It's sooo expensive and we have 17 furbabies to feed.

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You should probably  start up a new thread in either the Health Forum or the Nutrition Forum regarding what foods to try to feed him.  I've seen people ask these type of questions in both Forums.  Be specific in whether or not you are feeding kibble or canned foods, and which type of crystals he has, struvite or the other (can't recall the name of the other right now ). 

GREAT NEWS!!!!!!!!!!          Charlie is home!!!! So, Now the real work begins. I  guess he smells different, because some of our boys are hissing at him and trying to pick fights. I'm keeping him in the room with me but he HATES that!

THEcatmoma said:

 
GREAT NEWS!!!!!!!!!!          Charlie is home!!!! So, Now the real work begins. I  guess he smells different, because some of our boys are hissing at him and trying to pick fights. I'm keeping him in the room with me but he HATES that!

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Well, good news that he's home, bad news that he's being stressed out because of the "hospital smell".  Try brushing him and then brushing the others that are hissing at him, then brushing him again to transfer the smells to everyone.  Don't clean the brush in between the brushing.  Just a few strokes around the neck and shoulder area should be enough.  Repeat with Charlie several times to make sure his particular scent is picked up and transferred most.   Hopefully that will work  

Ive got one male who hisses everytime another one makes a Vet visit, but thankfully it doesn't last too long.  Boys will be boys! 

Have you figured out what to feed Charles, or are you starting on the C/D first and then working on the food situation later?

Hello! I will definitely try that! Well, we did buy the canned C/D just to give him something immediate. We bought a bag of purina urinary tract health dry food. Online it's got pretty good reviews for cats in Charlie's situation. He's such a good boy he'll  eat anything we give him. I can honestly say that we are pretty lucky that we don't have any finicky cats when it comes to cat food.

THEcatmoma said:

 
Hello! I will definitely try that! Well, we did buy the canned C/D just to give him something immediate. We bought a bag of purina urinary tract health dry food. Online it's got pretty good reviews for cats in Charlie's situation. He's such a good boy he'll  eat anything we give him. I can honestly say that we are pretty lucky that we don't have any finicky cats when it comes to cat food.

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That Purine Urinary comes in canned too.  For uninary issues, canned is best, unless you can get him to drink TONS of water every day. 

Wow!  Aren't you luck.  17 cats and none of them are finicky   I'm so jealous .  One of mine is SO bad, I don't know what  I'll do if he ever needs to switch foods.  Thankfully he does eat wet food, and it's a good food, but still, I always worry about recalls, that sort of think.  And now my other guy is starting to get picky .  He used to eat everything but the kitchen sink, but suddenly he's decided nothing is good enough for him.  I think he's a little jealous because we had a sick girl for years, and she got very special attention, and now that she's gone, I think HE wants that attention .  For instance, I used to hold her bowl for her in the middle of the when she ate on our bed (because she needed her food to be raised, and I didn't want to have to get out of bed ), so now HE seems to want me to hold his dish for him to get him started eating.  So strange because he didn't need this when she was alive.  But not only that, he doesn't want his usual assortment of foods.  (maybe he wants HER old food ).  Whatever....finicky cats, be thankful you don't have them ...wth 17, you wouldn't have time

We think they are so great because they are are mostly all related. Both original mothers were strays. But yes you are so correct! I don't what we would do if we had just one finicky eater! we're trying to figure out what to do with just ONE guy that has special needs now. I have to be honest we hadn't really been feeding them wet food with the exception of  medicine treatments. I'm thinking we should now go back to weekly wet food nights so that this doesn't happen to another of our babies.

I agree with you about the wet food.  If you have a tractor supply even remotely close it's so worth going.  They have 5.5 ounce cans for around 69 cents AND it's grain free and by product free.  It's better or equal quality to even the most costly foods and will allow you to fed wet economically.  In the long run it will be much cheaper than treating your cats for crystals.

Oh Yes! that is point very well taken!

Hi, I just had to respond because I've been through something similar. My youngest boy Duke was blocked several years ago and stayed in the hospital for a few days. Euthanasia was implied to me also, but there was no way I was going to do that and I moved him to another vet.

Please, I beg of you, do everything you can do feed him wet food, it is SO important. Duke was on Urinary S/O for a while, but after a ton of research, I began switching him to canned food and he has been great. I found Your Cat: Simple New Secrets to a Longer, Stronger Life by Dr. Hodgkins and Lisa A. Pierson's website both extremely helpful. Currently I am able to get canned Canidae (the green All Life Stages formula has the most meat) or canned Triumph from Chewy dot com. I get a 12 pack of the 13 oz cans, usually for $15-$16 dollars, it kind of varies every few weeks which brand is cheaper. It is suggested that cats with previous blockages don't get too much fish. Also, if you have an Ollie's Bargain Outlet store anywhere near by, they frequently get canned cat food in for a really good price. I was able to pick up a ton of Red Barn Naturals 24 packs for $6! I hope Charlie continues to stay well!

Also, I have gotten financial help in the past from United Animal Nations, I believe they are now called Red Rover, they helped me through a tough time.

I've been through struvite crystals (4 yrs ago) with my baby boy, who passed from lymphoma over 2 months ago.
I also would strongly suggest wet food only if you can, definitely for Charlie, but as much as you can afford for the others. It will be cheaper in the long run, if it prevents this from happening to anyone else.
I can't really add anything else, as the others are giving good advice.
I am glad to hear Charlie is home & doing better. Thats a blessing!

Hello @FairyCatMom   thank you for your advice. I'm finding out that so many people have had this issue in common with us.  Like I said, We stopped giving them wet food every night like 3 years ago. I used to feed my boys  wet food  every Friday Saturday and Sunday night. This was BEFORE we switched to grain free. I figured Charlie was getting enough to drink because he is really one of the thirstiest cats I've ever seen! He is ALWAYS at that water bowl. I'm learning from all of you that none of that even matters. Since he's been home I've been feeding him the C/D wet food every other day. We will probably start the wet food weekends up for them all. Charlie really likes the foods that have the extra gravy so I'll grab those so he can get all the water I can give him. This was such a scary episode for us! My husband told me that when he found Charlie he was cold and stiff. He was breathing though, so we had to try anything we could.Even though it did set us back a bit with our plans to buy a house soon, I couldn't imagine ANY house without Charlie in it!

 Oh Yes @Angels mommy   I've already started wet food with Charlie.  We have to be careful to take it slow because too much wet food gives them the "runny poops" 

THEcatmoma said:

 
Hello @FairyCatMom   thank you for your advice. I'm finding out that so many people have had this issue in common with us.  Like I said, We stopped giving them wet food every night like 3 years ago. I used to feed my boys  wet food  every Friday Saturday and Sunday night. This was BEFORE we switched to grain free. I figured Charlie was getting enough to drink because he is really one of the thirstiest cats I've ever seen! He is ALWAYS at that water bowl. I'm learning from all of you that none of that even matters. Since he's been home I've been feeding him the C/D wet food every other day. We will probably start the wet food weekends up for them all. Charlie really likes the foods that have the extra gravy so I'll grab those so he can get all the water I can give him. This was such a scary episode for us! My husband told me that when he found Charlie he was cold and stiff. He was breathing though, so we had to try anything we could.Even though it did set us back a bit with our plans to buy a house soon, I couldn't imagine ANY house without Charlie in it!

 Oh Yes @Angels mommy   I've already started wet food with Charlie.  We have to be careful to take it slow because too much wet food gives them the "runny poops" 

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Do be aware, though, that for Charlie, at least for awhile, he probably DOES need that prescription food, and may actually need reduced magnesium food for his entire life, if he's prone to crystals.  Not every wet food may be appropriate for him.  There are lots of threads over in the nutrition forum where this is discussed.    Here are a couple: (but I'm going under the assumption that Charlie had STRUVITE crystals, which may not be correct)  Also, did your Vet discuss checking his PH balance frequently?  You can do that at home with human PH strips from the drug store (or Amazon)

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/312003/best-food-supplement-for-struvite-crystals

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/302645/food-help-please

 Great news about Charlie!!! I can't really add to the wonderful advice that you've gotten here previously except to add that you might consider contacting a holistic vet about the possibility of using healing herbs in addition to regular therapy. I was raised to use herbs so my experiences are different than the norm, but I do find that my cats seem to respond well to some of the same herbs that I use for my issues.  So all I can add here is my prayers that you and your husband are blessed many, many times over for all that you have done and all that you continue to do for helping His precious creatures! Again, congratulations on saving Charlie!