Flutd

I have a 3 year old Siamese who two weeks ago was hospitalized at the vets for a urinary tract infection. Apparently his kidney was 3 times normal size as was his bladder - it happened rapidly and though everything appears to be heading in a good direction we are still dealing with some problems.

The vet is now stumped as no crystals were found in his urine, only blood. He is on amoxycillan and slowly (very slowly I think, but the vet said different cats recover at different speeds)recovering. Now the biggest problem is one that the vet has told me he is unsure of and sent me off on a research trip... meanwhile while I wait for answers from the places he told me to call... has anyone else dealt with this and have any advice?

Now to the problem - he will not eat. We used to feed him Dad's Special Diet which he loved, however we got a new kitten who was eating Friskie's canned kitten food and the vet says that caused the infection most likely. We have been given Science Diet s/d canned and dry, Walthams s/d canned and dry and Purina UR Moist food to try and he will not eat any of them. He is now down 1 1/2 lbs and still refusing to eat after a week. The vet said eventually he will get hungry and eat, but after a week the vet isn't sure - we only know he needs to eat - so the vet has me checking on human foods that are acceptable since Kit still mooches Tuna at lunch time. He will willingly eat tuna, but the vet is sure it is bad for FLUTD...

Any advice?

Hi and welcome to TCS!!!
There is an excellent article on FLUTD in the health section of this site, http://www.thecatsite.com/health/flutd.html

You might try to see if you cat will eat human baby food if you haven't already done this. Also make sure the baby food doesn't contain any onions which are harmful to cats.

There are others here who are very knowledgeable and may be able to give you better help. Good luck with your kitty and please update us on how he is doing.

Can you get him a tube of nutrical from the vet? And see if he will eat that? Also dribble a little bit of sardine oil in his food to see if that will stimulate him. Some kitties love the baby food green beans when they don't feel well, or any of the chicken or turkey variety of baby food. Also nuke his food a little to warm it up and make it smell stronger. Somewhere I have a url for a support group for people with cats with FLUTD if you like, I will see if I can find it for you?

At this stage of the game, I would think that it doesn't so much matter WHAT he eats, so long as he gets food on board. In my opinion, the FLUTD has become a secondary issue now ... as I see it, the week-long anorexia is the primary problem at this point.

The best advice I can give you is to to get the smelliest food you can find - cat or human, and then mush it up with a bit of hot water so it gets soupy. If he will eat people tuna, then perhaps you could take a small amount and put it in a bowl with some of the water packed in the can, then add a little hot water and stir it all up. While in the long run, no, it really isn't good for any cat, FLUTD or not, if it encourages them to eat, then sometimes we have to cater to the lesser of two evils.

Best of luck with this, it doesn't sound as though you have an easy road ahead of you.

Yours,

Gaye Flagg

I'm sorry to hear you kitty is not doing well. I have a cat with CRF, so trying to get a sick cat to eat is something I have become very farmiliar with. First of all I would try putting water with the food & heating it up, that usually does the trick for my cat. If she really isn't feeling well then I have to try other things. I have been told that some cats love the smell & taste of garlic. My cat didn't like it, but try putting some garlic powder on his food. I've also been told tuna juice, or clam juice has been known to make sick cats eat. For me when my cat is just not eating enough I break down & make some lightly buttered rice. (Yes she loves it, I never said I had a normal cat). However, before feeding any human food I would make sure that it won't make your cat more sick. I hope this has been of some help & I hope your kitty is feeling better real soon.

The vet told me that tuna was not the way to go - it would make it worse, so I had to stop... then last Friday even on the antibiotics he was not peeing at all again and crying when he tried to go. So the vet said we would have to bring him in again... another $600 which we could not afford, so we were stuck. We did take him in to have him put down, I didn't want him to suffer. While we were there the vet pulled out a 3 inch long 1/4 inch wide mucus plug and he immediately urinated. They had never seen a mucus plug that large.

He is still barely urinating though. The vet did give us another food to try (Hill's Science Diet C/D) and he eats a 1/4 cup of it a day, so that is better than nothing. But now that his antibiotics have ended, we are watching to see what happens next.

The vet had originally offered a $1500 surgery to widen his urethra, but with the mucus working its way from his bladder and getting stuck - he said that operation would end up being a waste of money until the mucus clears out.

Oh this poor kitty! Here is a website, staffed by veterinarians. Perhaps they can help you and your kitty get through this. They are very good and compassionate vets who moderate the boards. You have to register to post, but registration is free. Good luck!


VetCentric

Autumn Girl:

I don't know where you are, but is pet insurance available in your area? Suki had cystitis(similar to your problem) and we had her insured. The Vet bill came to over £400 but we only paid £50. If you can get it please do, it's worth the small monthly payments.

I really hope your cat pulls through, and I'm sure he will. All of us here are praying hard for your cat, and our thoughts are with you.

Please keep us updated.

All the best.