Tuxedo's Having Surgery Monday

[ldg]

Originally Posted by xocats

Tuxie...did you only have reverse when you were wearing a collar?

Now you all wrapped up like a Christmas present?

I am glad that you boy is doing so well.

He's doing fine. HE just doesn't think so!

 

[tangerine]

oh my... i have an orange cat that won't stop blocking up either. he's been through 3 surgeries in july... 1 month hospitalation... home and fine until last week... and now it began again,, blocked again... more catheters... more peeing everywhere/mostly on me... i found a lump under his hood today... and he's only 2 1/2... not sure how much more he/or i can take...
i haven't really tried a lot of the scientific foods as he also had fatty liver disease at the same time and ate through a tube in the neck, the doc wanted me to fatten him up with anything. So now he's finally gained the 10 lbs he lost (he's 14 lbs)... i have to wonder about foods.
I bought purina one urinary tract, but what kind of wet food is good... also why distilled water???

 

[ldg]

Hi Tangerine:

I'm so sorry to hear about your kitty having fatty liver disease at the same time! Poor guy. Tuxie lost 50% of his body weight when he was suffering so terribly from anemia, but thankfully he didn't have problems with crystals when he started getting better and we needed to fatten him up.

At this point, we don't know what Tuxedo's crystals are. But Lazlo was having blockage problems too - and if he becomes blocked again in the near future, the vet wants to enlarge his urethra rather than continue the cycle of catheterization.

I don't know what kind of wet food is good for struvite crystals (if that's the type of crystals your kitty has). If they're Struvite (which, to my understanding, about 99% of cats with crystals have the struvite type), they can be controlled through acidifying the urine. Urinary tract health formulas will help. There are cranberry supplements that can be purchased. These will help. I'm sure there's a Science Diet product, but I don't know what it is. Other than that, I'd discuss the parameters of what amounts of what should be in the wet food with the vet, and look for that. You can also try searching this forum - I think there's been a fair amount of discussion about it.

Our problem is that Lazlo has calcium oxylate crystals, not struvite crystals. Calcium oxylate crystals cannot be dissolved away with an acidifier. They can be somewhat controlled by diet. Some people choose to feed their cats an all meat diet. We've decided to go with the prescription Science Diet X/D. It seems to be working. The "urinary tract health" products by Purina or Royal Canin or whoever are targeted at acidifying the urine - which, again, helps with Struvite, not calcium oxylate.

And although the main cause of calcium oxylate crystal formation is the oxylates (from grass, vegetables, and seafood, which is high in magnesium, a component of the calcium oxylate crystals), not from calcium, the vet agreed that we should take the precaution of using distilled water if we wanted to take that step. Our water is well water, and it is VERY hard water. So rather than take any chances, we stopped using the well water. That's why we're using distilled water. But if your kitty has struvite crystals, then switching to distilled water would make little to no difference.

Laurie

 

[kittenkiya]

I know what would make Tuxie feel better. Tell him that he is all wrapped up because he's the best present in the world and he's home.

 

[rosiemac]

Awwwwwwwwwww

bless his little heart. Look at him in that dressing

 

[AbbysMom]

I'm glad to hear Tuxie is doing so well.

He looks adorable in his dressing!

 

[booktigger]

Aww, bless him. Fingers crossed.

 

[ldg]

Tuxie's doing great! He had his stitches out last week, and he's back to his usual crazy self. Unfortunately, no more treats though.

Like Lazlo, he has to stick to his prescription X/D diet.

 

[rapunzel47]

That's great news!!

 

[xocats]

Way to go Tuxie.

 

[rosiemac]

Originally Posted by LDG

Tuxie's doing great! He had his stitches out last week, and he's back to his usual crazy self. Unfortunately, no more treats though.

Like Lazlo, he has to stick to his prescription X/D diet

Yay that's great Laurie

No more treats is a small sacrifice, and if only your little man knew that it's for his own good

 

[jcat]

That's great news, Laurie! It's a shame he'll have to forego treats, though.

 

[pami]

What a great udpate, Laurie!