I have two cats; calico females age 8, sisters from the same litter. Strictly dry food diet, one litter box - automated scooping with crystals.
Three weeks ago I noticed odd behavior from my kitty, Snickers. She was going into the litter box more frequently with little to no urine. She didn’t seem to be in any pain or discomfort and her attitude was the same. After doing some online research and speaking with a breeder friend of mine, I started homeopathic treatment. Bought new organic high-quality dry and canned food, meat and rice based, instead of meat-meal and corn based. I also bought cranberry capsules from the health food store and made parsley infused water (boiled 1 qt water with 1 bunch parsley, strained and cooled).
I started integrating the new dry food over the next week and immediately started feeding her canned food twice daily making it into a soup with lots of extra water and the cranberry capsules. I also force feed her the parsley infused water with a dropper 2-3 times a day. I did this for ten days and started to notice an improvement. Urinating more and less frequently.
After the ten days of treatment, I stopped feeding her canned food and put her back on dry food only, but the new dry food. Five days after the end of treatment, her symptoms returned. So I started her back on canned food with cranberry capsules and took her to the vet on Monday to have a urinalysis completed to make sure there’s no infection or blockage. They put her on IV fluids and kept her for the day. When she came home that night, she started urinating blood and has ever since.
The test results came back yesterday… no infection or bacteria, no crystals or blockage, but lots of blood. The doctor says it’s FLUTD Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease and it should resolve itself within 7-10 days. It’s typically caused by stress and can be treated with pain reliever until the bleeding stops. If it does not resolve itself, their next suggestion would be an x-ray to determine in there’s any stones in her bladder/kidney, which they say is not too common. They say keep the litter box clean, her environment comfortable, and monitor her urine.
I read online that changing the diet can be beneficial as well. Most places say no dry food at all, only wet food twice a day. Encourage water intake. Reduce stress. And try antioxidant vitamins and herbs.
I’m very concerned for her health and safety and I hate that she can’t tell me how she feels. The doctor didn’t seem to think it’s a big deal and really only recommended a pain reliever. But she doesn’t act like she’s in pain, so will it help anything?
We’re leaving for vacation this Saturday for 7 days. My neighbor and mom will be there to check on her, but I feel horrible leaving not knowing if she’s okay and if I’m doing everything I can to help her. PLEASE any suggestions or advice would be so greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.
Technorati Tags: bacteria, bunch parsley, canned food, cranberry capsules, crystals, dropper, dry food, flutd, food diet, google, health food store, iv fluids, litter box, meat meal, odd behavior, qt, script type, test results, text javascript, urinalysis