I'm stuck and don't know where to turn. I've recently moved here and don't have a vet that I really trust yet. There's nothing wrong with the one we saw, but I've only been there once and just don't have a great relationship there yet.
Here's my predicament:
Toby is 7, DSH
As a kitten he had bloody diarrhea which we felt was inflammatory. Did a bunch of elimination diets and ended up with the knowledge that duck, venison, lamb, salmon, rice, potato, (and maybe chicken) seemed to be the best. I've been feeding him the EVO 95% meat venison or duck (wet) and Medi-cal Gastro (orange bag = duck/potato) for a long time. That combo seems to work well, but he has always had small amount of blood in his stool for his whole life (but no diarrhea, good weight gain etc). So that's what I've stuck with.
Now we went for dental cleaning and pre-anesthesia bloodwork showed some mild kidney failure - resolved with IV fluids.
Urinalysis showed alkaline urine with some oxalate crystals, but no stones or obstruction.
And I'm stuck. I don't know if he needs a renal diet or a urinary diet or just elimination of his dry food and a pure-canned diet.
I'm a physician for humans and if there's anything I know it's that a lot of "knowledge" out there is controversial or not based on research. The reading I'm doing right now about cat diets suggests the same thing is true for veterinary medicine.
The vet we saw gave us a urinary diet. One that's full of pork, wheat, corn, by-products... all things I don't think are necessarily good for him and I'm pretty sure will make his bowels flare.
Does anyone know of an expert I can seek advice from?? A specialist that would do telephone consultations??
Here's my predicament:
Toby is 7, DSH
As a kitten he had bloody diarrhea which we felt was inflammatory. Did a bunch of elimination diets and ended up with the knowledge that duck, venison, lamb, salmon, rice, potato, (and maybe chicken) seemed to be the best. I've been feeding him the EVO 95% meat venison or duck (wet) and Medi-cal Gastro (orange bag = duck/potato) for a long time. That combo seems to work well, but he has always had small amount of blood in his stool for his whole life (but no diarrhea, good weight gain etc). So that's what I've stuck with.
Now we went for dental cleaning and pre-anesthesia bloodwork showed some mild kidney failure - resolved with IV fluids.
Urinalysis showed alkaline urine with some oxalate crystals, but no stones or obstruction.
And I'm stuck. I don't know if he needs a renal diet or a urinary diet or just elimination of his dry food and a pure-canned diet.
I'm a physician for humans and if there's anything I know it's that a lot of "knowledge" out there is controversial or not based on research. The reading I'm doing right now about cat diets suggests the same thing is true for veterinary medicine.
The vet we saw gave us a urinary diet. One that's full of pork, wheat, corn, by-products... all things I don't think are necessarily good for him and I'm pretty sure will make his bowels flare.
Does anyone know of an expert I can seek advice from?? A specialist that would do telephone consultations??