- Joined
- Jul 17, 2002
- Messages
- 58
- Purraise
- 1
Two months ago, my Siamese became very sick and Urinary Tract disease was too blame. We spent $900 on the iv's, catheters, blood work, urine work, special foods, etc. and had no promise he would live even after that money. But, I kept him on the vet's special (expensive) diet, monitored his daily water intake and urine that passed as I was told and he recovered. Now 7 weeks later, we came home last night and he is just as sick as he was the first time. I can't afford another $900, so we are faced with putting him to sleep.
This disease sneaks in and just hits so hard. He was fine yesterday morning - while I was doing the morning cleaning of the kitty litter he came into it and urinated, so I know he was fine in the morning... he also came into our bed that morning and snuggled under the covers as usual, purring away happily.
We spent the day with relatives who have come up to Vermont for the long weekend, got home 8 hours later and he was throwing up, straining to urinate and passing nothing, won't eat, growls if you touch him... I am amazed at how quickly this hits.
Per my vet - male, neutered cats are more susceptible to this disease. Feeding a diet of dry food is not the best - canned foods with low ash and magnesium are better and if you can get cranberry juice or extract down your cat - that is even better. Make sure fresh water is always available - one of those $30 water dishes that circulate the water every 15-30 minutes can be a Godsend as some cats prefer circulating water over plain water that has been sitting there for a few hours. Monitor your cat's intake of water and food. FLUTD hits rapidly and can turn deadly in less than a days time, monitoring your cat's urine is another key. If he/she starts to strain, it can already be too late because as the bladder fills and is not emptied, toxins start building up in the kidneys.
We have to find a vet who is willing to put him to sleep this morning and around here that is a chore in itself. We don't have emergency vet hospitals, I have to find a vet who is willing to come in and open his/her office for this one job - expensive and quite a chore!!
This disease sneaks in and just hits so hard. He was fine yesterday morning - while I was doing the morning cleaning of the kitty litter he came into it and urinated, so I know he was fine in the morning... he also came into our bed that morning and snuggled under the covers as usual, purring away happily.
We spent the day with relatives who have come up to Vermont for the long weekend, got home 8 hours later and he was throwing up, straining to urinate and passing nothing, won't eat, growls if you touch him... I am amazed at how quickly this hits.
Per my vet - male, neutered cats are more susceptible to this disease. Feeding a diet of dry food is not the best - canned foods with low ash and magnesium are better and if you can get cranberry juice or extract down your cat - that is even better. Make sure fresh water is always available - one of those $30 water dishes that circulate the water every 15-30 minutes can be a Godsend as some cats prefer circulating water over plain water that has been sitting there for a few hours. Monitor your cat's intake of water and food. FLUTD hits rapidly and can turn deadly in less than a days time, monitoring your cat's urine is another key. If he/she starts to strain, it can already be too late because as the bladder fills and is not emptied, toxins start building up in the kidneys.
We have to find a vet who is willing to put him to sleep this morning and around here that is a chore in itself. We don't have emergency vet hospitals, I have to find a vet who is willing to come in and open his/her office for this one job - expensive and quite a chore!!