This is going to be long, but I'd really appreciate some advice on how best to care for my boy. So thanks in advance for any help people can give me!!
Nearly two weeks ago one of my cats (Tank) became restless and was rushing to the litter box every few minutes but wasn't producing any urine. I work at the vet (I'm a dog groomer), so I gave them a call and asked whether I should be worried or not. I ended up bringing him in straight away in case it was a blockage. The vet said he is just inflamed (no crystals or anything else, just inflammation). We determined that the cause is most likely stress from a dog that we were looking after for a friend at the time. So we got a 10 day course of anti inflammatory medication for him.
Everything seemed to be going well, he was almost back to his usual self when on the last day of his medication (10 days after first issues started), he suddenly relapsed. He started looking agitated again, licking at his privates and constantly rushing to the litter box, not producing much urine but what was coming out was filled with blood... and of course this happened on a weekend
I suspect it may possibly have been triggered by having one of my ferrets in a cage in the laundry recovering from desexing surgery... My ferrets are usually in their play pen outside...
We rushed him back to the vet on Sunday morning. Vet said his bladder is small but felt very hard and sore. An ultrasound showed no stones or debris. Thankfully he wasn't blocked yet (although the vet was surprised that he wasn't blocked!). She wanted to put him on IV fluids to help flush everything out, but being the weekend she didn't want to leave him on fluids at the clinic alone in case he did block. So we dosed him up on pain killers, valium and injected some fluids under his skin to get the process going and I took him home for that night.
Next morning (monday) I brought him to work with me and they put him on a drip straight away. He's been on the drip now for over 48 hours and he's staying on it for tonight as well. As far as I'm aware, he is improving, slowly though.
I'm pretty sure he has what they call FIC (or FUS or FLUTD... they're all basically the same right?)
I'm keen to have him home because Its a bit lonely around here without him. But at the same time I'm absolutely terrified of this becoming a regular issue.
He's 6 years old and has never had any issues like this before... Its all very sudden and unexpected! Since we've had him (4 years) he's been on dry food (Supercoat for the first while, Blackhawk for the last 6 months or so).
The vet is pushing that I switch him to 'Hills Prescription diet C/D Multicare Feline Bladder Health'. I'm not so keen on it because its crazy expensive and also because the ingredients don't look very good at all! Everything I've read about cats with bladder problems says that water intake is key and putting them on a meat diet is a great thing to do!
What I'm thinking of doing is putting him on a BARF raw diet. Most likely this brand https://www.bigdogpetfoods.com/products/turkey-barf/ (they also have other flavours - Fish and Kangaroo). I'd also give him some of the Hills C/D food, but only small amounts, it definitely wouldn't be his main diet!
I'm also going to get a water fountain and possibly use Feliway to help keep him relaxed.
He loves being an indoor cat, he rarely wants to go outside, so to reduce the chances of fights with stay cats or being chased by dogs and such, I'm thinking of setting him up with an outdoor cat enclosure that he can go in when he wants to go outside.
I'd appreciate peoples thoughts on if I'm doing all the right things and if there is anything else I can do to help prevent any further problems!
Thanks so much in advance everyone
Nearly two weeks ago one of my cats (Tank) became restless and was rushing to the litter box every few minutes but wasn't producing any urine. I work at the vet (I'm a dog groomer), so I gave them a call and asked whether I should be worried or not. I ended up bringing him in straight away in case it was a blockage. The vet said he is just inflamed (no crystals or anything else, just inflammation). We determined that the cause is most likely stress from a dog that we were looking after for a friend at the time. So we got a 10 day course of anti inflammatory medication for him.
Everything seemed to be going well, he was almost back to his usual self when on the last day of his medication (10 days after first issues started), he suddenly relapsed. He started looking agitated again, licking at his privates and constantly rushing to the litter box, not producing much urine but what was coming out was filled with blood... and of course this happened on a weekend
We rushed him back to the vet on Sunday morning. Vet said his bladder is small but felt very hard and sore. An ultrasound showed no stones or debris. Thankfully he wasn't blocked yet (although the vet was surprised that he wasn't blocked!). She wanted to put him on IV fluids to help flush everything out, but being the weekend she didn't want to leave him on fluids at the clinic alone in case he did block. So we dosed him up on pain killers, valium and injected some fluids under his skin to get the process going and I took him home for that night.
Next morning (monday) I brought him to work with me and they put him on a drip straight away. He's been on the drip now for over 48 hours and he's staying on it for tonight as well. As far as I'm aware, he is improving, slowly though.
I'm pretty sure he has what they call FIC (or FUS or FLUTD... they're all basically the same right?)
I'm keen to have him home because Its a bit lonely around here without him. But at the same time I'm absolutely terrified of this becoming a regular issue.
He's 6 years old and has never had any issues like this before... Its all very sudden and unexpected! Since we've had him (4 years) he's been on dry food (Supercoat for the first while, Blackhawk for the last 6 months or so).
The vet is pushing that I switch him to 'Hills Prescription diet C/D Multicare Feline Bladder Health'. I'm not so keen on it because its crazy expensive and also because the ingredients don't look very good at all! Everything I've read about cats with bladder problems says that water intake is key and putting them on a meat diet is a great thing to do!
What I'm thinking of doing is putting him on a BARF raw diet. Most likely this brand https://www.bigdogpetfoods.com/products/turkey-barf/ (they also have other flavours - Fish and Kangaroo). I'd also give him some of the Hills C/D food, but only small amounts, it definitely wouldn't be his main diet!
I'm also going to get a water fountain and possibly use Feliway to help keep him relaxed.
He loves being an indoor cat, he rarely wants to go outside, so to reduce the chances of fights with stay cats or being chased by dogs and such, I'm thinking of setting him up with an outdoor cat enclosure that he can go in when he wants to go outside.
I'd appreciate peoples thoughts on if I'm doing all the right things and if there is anything else I can do to help prevent any further problems!
Thanks so much in advance everyone