Light's Urinary Health

[Paradox]

Hey all!

I've come to you with a concern for my cat's long-term health and hope that you can give me some advice. My Colorpoint Shorthair named Light has struggled with urinary issues all of his life. He used to be on grain-free hard food, which obviously worsened the issue. I got a special water bowl with running water to encourage him to drink more, but it didn't do much good. After trying the prescription hard food & struggling with the fact that it had grains and caused him to have horrible diarrhea, I made the permanent switch to wet food. I did my research, made sure that I picked a healthy grain-free canned brand that I could afford and settled on the Chicken flavored 12oz Wellness cans. More infections followed. I then began to mix in warm water with his food so that he was eating a soupy mix & staying more hydrated. And that's where we're at now.

It's awful to know that my pet is in pain and it's awful to have a cat eliminating outside of the litter box constantly because of it. I'm so tired and frustrated. I feel like I've tried everything. I skimmed some threads on here and heard some mention of Wellness being linked to urinary issues despite being what I thought was a healthy wet food. Can anyone shed some light on this? Do you have any other grain-free wet food brands to recommend for this sort of issue? Any and all help is appreciated. I'm picking up yet another round of antibiotics from the vet today but at this rate, he's going to end up immune to them.

Edit:
Just got back from the vet with another week's supply of Amoxicillin as well as a new medication called Gabapentin. They said that Gabapentin may be a permanent solution for his urinary pain as it acts like a painkiller. Does anyone have any experience using this with their cats? Are there any long-term issues? The vet seemed confident in it as the ultimate solution, but I'm not finding much on the internet to back it up.

 

[cheeser]

Have you checked out the catinfo.org website? It was truly a godsend for our kitty.

Buddy kept having flare-ups every three months until we started following Dr. Pierson's dietary recommendations.

For Buddy, it wasn't enough to just switch him over to a wet food only diet. We had to also eliminate anything with fish in it, and get rid of anything that was high in carbs. The term grain-free can be very misleading, because sometimes a cat food company will load up a product with potatoes or something that will really drive up the carb content.

The vet also recommended that we get some Feliway diffusers, since stress can contribute to some kinds of urinary tract problems, as well as Zylkene, which is an OTC stress relief remedy.

However, until the benefits of that kicked in, we did go through some rough patches. Our vet prescribed Onsior for pain, Prazosin in case he had any urethal spasms that were making it more difficult for Buddy to pee, antibiotics, and sub-Q fluids.

I'm not familiar with the use of gabapentin for urinary tract problems, but maybe the underlying cause of your cat's problems are quite different that ours. All I know is that Buddy has been blissfully symptom free once we really committed to following the recommendations at catinfo.org.

 

[cheeser]

Oops. Forgot to include the link to Dr. Pierson's Protein/Fat/Carb/Phosphorus Chart, which was a good starting point for us to figure out which foods were low in carbs. But we still had to read the labels to make sure fish wasn't listed as in ingredient.

Also, if you haven't already, I highly recommend you read some of the other articles on Dr. Pierson's website, especially this one about urinary tract diseases.

Good luck, and hope you and your vet can help your kitty feel better soon!

 

[Paradox]

Thanks! I read over that page a bit before posting actually. I've bookmarked it to more thoroughly pick through, especially if I ever get the time & resources to try feeding raw.

An update on the situation: starting a round of antibiotics & we are 1 dose of the pain medication in. I spent a huge chunk of yesterday using our carpet cleaner to flush out all of the urine from the carpet & covered it with an enzyme cleaner and some newspaper afterward. I caught him on camera peeing on the carpet an hour after I left for work this morning :'( so frustrating. Getting the blacklight out to see where else he may be soiling is going to be a nightmare.

 

[duckpond]

Bless his heart. I have not had to deal with this, and hope i never do. But from what i have read wet food, and controlling stress are big steps in the right direction. Some cats do well with an anti anxiety medication from the vet.

A lot of people do feed wellness, and you can read bad things about almost every food out there. But i do say i have read quite a bit about blue buffalo and wellness being thought of as causing urinary problems. I don't know if it is so, or just because those are popular foods and a lot of people feed them? so its just a coincidence?

If he is not hard to feed i don't think it would hurt to try some different wet food. I feed Dr. Elseys dry, which you dont want to do with your guy. But they also have wet food. I have not tried it yet, i may soon, it is pate and my guys are not real big fans of pate. It might be worth trying, they have a turkey or a chicken he might like, high protein, and very low carb. Chewy has it and they are great about returns if your guy hates it.

my guys eat a lot of tiki cat, the after dark flavors, and the Koolina luau chicken. These are a bit low calorie, but high protein and low carb, you just need to watch the calorie count to make sure he is getting enough food. They do have quite a bit of liquid, which is good.

 

[Furballsmom]

oh, goodness, hang in there!!

One other item, perhaps try filtering your water. Even if the water bowl you got has a filter in it, it could be less expensive and quite possibly more effective in eliminating harmful chemicals/drugs et al that's in the water, to just put a pur filter that's changed every 25-30 days on the end of your kitchen faucet.
(I swear, lately there's been a time or two that I've turned on the tap and it smells JUST LIKE Maryjane....lordy. Seriously??)
In any case, that's for another story LOL

Also, try putting water bowls, running or not, in various places around the house. Try plopping in an ice cube.

In case you're not familiar, a quicker alternative to making your own raw could be Primal Pronto frozen raw nuggets or Primal freeze dried, or Rad Cat or maybe Rawz. I see that Primal offers starter packs which could be helpful.

Instinct might also be a possibility although I don't know whether the ingredients are ok for your furbud.

Also, if you're interested, Only Natural Pet (which carries lots of brands including their own), the Big Bad Woof (also carries multiple brands), Koha (although pricey) and lifesabundance are websites that allow small quantity orders.

 

[duckpond]

One more thing i might add. If you are using a dusty, or scented clay litter you may want to change that? I like the grass litters that are popular now, i use abound that i get from kroger, or pioneer brand from chewy. I also really like the Litter maid walnut litter i get from walmart
. I also quite like crystal litter, Dr. Elseys respiratory relief silica crystals, its the easiest litter i have ever used

The big thing is dust free, fragrance free, and keep it changed and very clean. Dust, bacteria, and fragrance in the litter are all thought to cause issues with cats that are prone to a UTI. and maybe keep 2 or 3 boxes going at one time. You want a clean box, so he will never hesitate to go when the urge strikes.

 

[Paradox]

oh, goodness, hang in there!!

One other item, perhaps try filtering your water. Even if the water bowl you got has a filter in it, it could be less expensive and quite possibly more effective in eliminating harmful chemicals/drugs et al that's in the water, to just put a pur filter that's changed every 25-30 days on the end of your kitchen faucet.
(I swear, lately there's been a time or two that I've turned on the tap and it smells JUST LIKE Maryjane....lordy. Seriously??)
In any case, that's for another story LOL

We have the same problem! I got a PUR water filter to attach to the faucet when I moved into town. We get a weird sulfur smell from our water, which if I find unpleasant to smell or drink, I could imagine how much more intense it would be for my furbabies!

I did try the running water dish and honestly, it helped him drink more. After moving in with my boyfriend and his dog, they seemed to prefer her large water dish & the running water dish went unused so I've put it up. Perhaps I can whip it out again and see if it gets him interested, but with as much water that I add to his wet food & the amount I see him drink, I'm not sure if water intake is a big of a concern as other factors. Hmmm...

One more thing i might add. If you are using a dusty, or scented clay litter you may want to change that? I like the grass litters that are popular now, i use abound that i get from kroger, or pioneer brand from chewy. I also really like the Litter maid walnut litter i get from walmart
. I also quite like crystal litter, Dr. Elseys respiratory relief silica crystals, its the easiest litter i have ever used

The big thing is dust free, fragrance free, and keep it changed and very clean. Dust, bacteria, and fragrance in the litter are all thought to cause issues with cats that are prone to a UTI. and maybe keep 2 or 3 boxes going at one time. You want a clean box, so he will never hesitate to go when the urge strikes.

I wondered about that, I used to always purchase the 40 lb bags of Dr. Elsey's cat litter & switched to litter crystals a few months back to try them out. Light was the first one to show interest in it and Havoc is so easily transitioned to new things that he went completely unphased. I originally started getting worried that Light suddenly stopped liking the new litter but since his urine test came up with inflammation signs and he had been using it just fine for a while there, I don't think that's the case? He always does his #2 business in the litter box as well, and if I place him in the litter box when he's acting suspicious & sniffing the carpet he immediately goes.

Why can't he just talk to me & tell me exactly what he wants/needs!?

I purchased some cans of Instinct and am going to work on transitioning him over to those from Wellness. Hopefully, that with the antibiotic and painkiller will show us some sort of improvement. Fingers crossed tight.

 

[Furballsmom]

Why can't he just talk to me & tell me exactly what he wants/needs!?

Ain't it the truth

I'm sending you HUGE loads of good healing thoughts!!

 

[Paradox]

Ain't it the truth

I'm sending you HUGE loads of good healing thoughts!!

Thank you so much.

 

[duckpond]

Its hard. All you can do is the best you can, with the food, and litter. and maybe see if the vet thinks an anti anxiety med might help him. A lot of problems i think have a root cause in genetics, he just may be prone to UTI. I hope thats not the case, and you can help him get well. Keep trying different things, and working with your vet, hopefully something will fix it.

Do keep us updated on him, we will worry with you!