- Joined
- Jan 23, 2016
- Messages
- 64
- Purraise
- 33
I welcome any and all feedback.
Some background: My rescue kitty, Leo is young--about 2-3 years old--an active, healthy, beautiful, little Maine coon boy. He LOVES to drink lots of water from his water fountain, and I feed him and his brother all wet food--with a tiny bit of First Mate, LID chicken, only enough to fill his Egg-cersizer toy, which I refill with a couple of handfuls every 3-4 days. He eats a mix of Weruva chicken flavors, Kasic chicken blend, Halo chicken pate (all chicken because my 15 year old boy, Moe Moe has reflux issues and seems to tolerate it best. A couple of weeks ago, Leo was sitting in his litterbox for several minutes at a time, which of course, made me rush him to the vet, where they gave us a 2 week antibiotic treatment and some painkillers. Within a day, he was pretty much back to his old self, and so I put away the remainder of the painkillers and that was it. Fast forward to Tuesday of this week (just about 2 weeks later), Leo started exhibiting the same symptoms, so back to the vet we went. My normal vet was out of town the first time, so Tuesday, we were able to see my usual vet, who sent samples to the lab. He then sent me the following email (my preferred means of correspondence).
My questions primarily are about the food he recommends:
1 I just know he's not going to be happy eating only one kind of food. We always do a rotation, and he can be picky.
2. I feel like prescription food is a last resort to be avoided at all costs, so is it REALLY necessary?
3. Will this food cause issues to my other cat? They both eat from both bowls and i free feed them, and don't want to change that, especially for the older one, who has always eaten this way.
4. is there ANYTHING else I can do?
the ONLY other thing I've changed recently was adding Solid Gold Sea Meal. Thoughts? Could this be the cause? I added the Sea Meal about 2 weeks before the FIRST episode.
Email from my vet:
Hi Rachel
I hope you are well? How is Leo doing today?
His lab results came back today. There were a few mild abnormalities:
His blood glucose was slightly high 201(normal is between 72 and 175). I am not concerned about this because there was no glucose in his urine and we often see this in bloodwork from cats as a result of stress. It is called stress hyperglycemia.
His kidney indicators were normal but on the higher end of this range. We always look at the kidney indicators in conjunction with the urine concentration. This gives us an idea of their function. Leo's urine concentration was excellent so it means that the kidneys are fine right now and doing a good job. We will always keep an eye on his kidney levels in the future and compare them to where they are now.
Leo's urine was concentrated with elevated red blood cells and white blood cells showing inflammation of the bladder. There was no bacteria in his urine so he does not have a UTI. He also had struvite crystals in his urine which may be contributing to his discomfort and inflammation of his bladder. These crystals can become a problem in the future and cause a blockage in the future if we don't manage them.
The good news is that it seems that his urinary issues are as a result of bladder inflammation and not an infection. As we thought, it looks like he has feline Idiopathic Cystitis(FIC) also called Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD). This condition can be managed by changing his diet onto a prescription food. I recommend Royal Canin Urinary SO, which is helpful to reduce FLUTD flare ups and dissolves and stops the production of struvite crystals. There is a wet and dry formulation so we can use what he prefers. I can arrange a free trial 7.7lb bag for you to try him on to see if he likes it?
Ensure that he drinks more water and try to reduce stress around the house by using Feliway diffusers if necessary. Some cats like to drink from the faucet, water fountains and even glasses. Find out what he likes and give him his preferred options. The prescription food will naturally make him drink more water and it has lower amounts of the minerals that make up struvite crystals so it is important that he only gets this food and nothing else.
Let me know if you have any questions
Some background: My rescue kitty, Leo is young--about 2-3 years old--an active, healthy, beautiful, little Maine coon boy. He LOVES to drink lots of water from his water fountain, and I feed him and his brother all wet food--with a tiny bit of First Mate, LID chicken, only enough to fill his Egg-cersizer toy, which I refill with a couple of handfuls every 3-4 days. He eats a mix of Weruva chicken flavors, Kasic chicken blend, Halo chicken pate (all chicken because my 15 year old boy, Moe Moe has reflux issues and seems to tolerate it best. A couple of weeks ago, Leo was sitting in his litterbox for several minutes at a time, which of course, made me rush him to the vet, where they gave us a 2 week antibiotic treatment and some painkillers. Within a day, he was pretty much back to his old self, and so I put away the remainder of the painkillers and that was it. Fast forward to Tuesday of this week (just about 2 weeks later), Leo started exhibiting the same symptoms, so back to the vet we went. My normal vet was out of town the first time, so Tuesday, we were able to see my usual vet, who sent samples to the lab. He then sent me the following email (my preferred means of correspondence).
My questions primarily are about the food he recommends:
1 I just know he's not going to be happy eating only one kind of food. We always do a rotation, and he can be picky.
2. I feel like prescription food is a last resort to be avoided at all costs, so is it REALLY necessary?
3. Will this food cause issues to my other cat? They both eat from both bowls and i free feed them, and don't want to change that, especially for the older one, who has always eaten this way.
4. is there ANYTHING else I can do?
the ONLY other thing I've changed recently was adding Solid Gold Sea Meal. Thoughts? Could this be the cause? I added the Sea Meal about 2 weeks before the FIRST episode.
Email from my vet:
Hi Rachel
I hope you are well? How is Leo doing today?
His lab results came back today. There were a few mild abnormalities:
His blood glucose was slightly high 201(normal is between 72 and 175). I am not concerned about this because there was no glucose in his urine and we often see this in bloodwork from cats as a result of stress. It is called stress hyperglycemia.
His kidney indicators were normal but on the higher end of this range. We always look at the kidney indicators in conjunction with the urine concentration. This gives us an idea of their function. Leo's urine concentration was excellent so it means that the kidneys are fine right now and doing a good job. We will always keep an eye on his kidney levels in the future and compare them to where they are now.
Leo's urine was concentrated with elevated red blood cells and white blood cells showing inflammation of the bladder. There was no bacteria in his urine so he does not have a UTI. He also had struvite crystals in his urine which may be contributing to his discomfort and inflammation of his bladder. These crystals can become a problem in the future and cause a blockage in the future if we don't manage them.
The good news is that it seems that his urinary issues are as a result of bladder inflammation and not an infection. As we thought, it looks like he has feline Idiopathic Cystitis(FIC) also called Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD). This condition can be managed by changing his diet onto a prescription food. I recommend Royal Canin Urinary SO, which is helpful to reduce FLUTD flare ups and dissolves and stops the production of struvite crystals. There is a wet and dry formulation so we can use what he prefers. I can arrange a free trial 7.7lb bag for you to try him on to see if he likes it?
Ensure that he drinks more water and try to reduce stress around the house by using Feliway diffusers if necessary. Some cats like to drink from the faucet, water fountains and even glasses. Find out what he likes and give him his preferred options. The prescription food will naturally make him drink more water and it has lower amounts of the minerals that make up struvite crystals so it is important that he only gets this food and nothing else.
Let me know if you have any questions