Friday, January 10, 2014

A little update on Jack and his bladder



Well it has been a rough couple of weeks for my poor Jack. No cat ever deserves to deal with this, but my sweet sweet boy .. well it just pains me. It hurts when he pees inappropriately not because I have to clean it, but because I know how much pain he must be in to not want to use the box..

(he is currently licking my hands as I type this.. purring away.. aching for attention.. he's not only sickeningly sweet, he's very very needy)

So we got through the round of antibiotics. It was NOT easy, I had to hide it in a LOT of tuna.. and toward the end even that he was balking at taking. I forced some of it into him which resulted in a lot of drooling, which also bothered me quite a bit. Every couple of days he'd pee on the washing machine, and I'd clean it up and continue giving him the herbs to keep his bladder soothed and the l-methionine to keep his urine acidic, and I was able to get some fluids to keep him well hydrated. He's not a fan of the fluids as they tend to throw off his balance a little. He loves being graceful. I should just give him less more often, but I want to make sure it is not a negative thing for him so he gets lots of love and kisses and treats while I give fluids

Most recently I thought we had things under control and I said as much to someone who asked, but when I got home from work my husband told me of another incident. This time he peed in the basement which isn't like him. No idea why he chose that spot. Heck I have no idea why he was peeing on the washing machine either so I guess I just have to accept what I do not know - which I am fine with.

His holistic vet is sending him a new remedy to try. She sent it out a while ago but the post office returned it to her instead of delivering it to me so I'm waiting for her to resend it.

I have a few new vets in the area I want to check out, I really should dig down and simply make appointments and take Jack around and show him off. Everyone who meets him loves him as he is willing to ask anyone for treats.

All in all he is doing well. He's eating and active and happy. He still has a way to go. We still have no idea how to 'fix' what he is dealing with so he does not need continual herbs and supplements to keep his bladder happy.

Jack would like you to know that he would very much like it if you might give him something yummy to nibble on.. or you could scritch his ears..

24 comments:

  1. Aw, poor guy! I'm sorry to say I havent been following enough to know what his specific problem. My Leo had an issue in his first year here. My vet remarked off handedly that fish causes problems, so I looked into it and decided to completely remove fish from his diet and he's not had one problem since. Now, his was mostly crystals, but he also peed inappropriately. It was not easy finding food without fish because even ones that dont use fish in the title still have something, usually herring oil, in the ingredients. I don't know if that would help Jack or not.. Just thought I'd give the info in case the issue is similar. We'll be purring and praying that he gets better!

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    1. Thanks for your suggestions Andrea.. He has been suffering since he got into some Catswell treats (made in china) a year ago.. when I went to Kansas last month he ended up blocking. He does not get fish food in general as he eats raw chicken, but giving him tuna was the only way to sneak his antibiotics in him.. and since he had surgery to unblock him, antibiotics were necessary.

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  2. scritchy scritchy....poor Jack. we hope maybe someone will come up with something to help him.

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  3. BIG hugs to Jack and we are purring for him.

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  4. Oh, this must be SO difficult for you, not being able to "fix" what's going on. He seems like such a sweetie and that makes it even harder. I sure hope things calm down.

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  5. I how difficult it is to care for a sick cat. please give snuggles and kisses to all the family for me. I hope that he gets better soon he is such a handsome mancat.

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  6. I do hope they find something for him soon, poor thing. We're all sending him purrs to hopefully aid his recovery.

    He's welcome to come for treat time at our house. Ear scritches are available in abundance!

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  7. I am sending Jack purrs... and some for you too. I know Jack's urinary issues are stressful for both of you. I wish I had some answers or suggestions, but I don't.

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  8. It can be very stressful. Bode had an extremely bad reaction to medication recently and he was peeing wherever, even in bed. When he got better and I got tired of changing the bedding. I would put him in the bathroom with his litter pan and told him he had to use it to get out. I basically retrained him so I'm wishing good luck.. Send love to Jack and love to all from Bode and mom

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  9. We are all sending purrs to sweet Jack for a proper pee purrformance.

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  10. Aw, poor Jack. We purr that he can get some relief from his pee problems.

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  11. Purrs from my crowd--I'm sure Jack feels terrible for not using the box; my Grayce had such a mournful expression when she had bladder stones and couldn't wait.

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  12. Purring to get you feeling better!

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  13. It's so hard when the issue keep resurfacing. Have you had an ultrasound done on him? Could it be bladder stones? Lots of ear scritches coming your way, Jack!

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  14. Oh gosh... it is so disconcerting when one of our kitties is not feeling well. Purrs to Jack and I hope he will get better soon... Purrs from the Zee and Zoey Gang!

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  15. I'm so sorry Jack and you have to go through this. Even if it resolves now and then it's never really over because you're waiting for it to start up again.

    It's always the sweet ones! My Namir was, after years, diagnosed with idiopathic cystitis, but several veterinarians felt the culprit was a herpes virus that had lodged in his bladder and would swell his bladder exit shut when it flared up, as they do. This was never definitively diagnosed though x-rays and manual exams could see the progress of irregular swelling. Because he also had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and an increasing heart murmur we discussed a surgical biopsy but all felt it was too risky because it would not resolve the cystitis. Poor Namir had years of bloody urine and waiting in the box. I gave him vitamin C and cranberry gelcaps each day and noticed improvement, then finally found lysine available in a powder (ten years ago it was nowhere near as available as it is now). He also had courses of different antibiotics and lots of urinalyses and blood tests, and I would give him a small dose of fluids to help flush him out if possible.

    He eventually had an incident of congestive heart failure but survived and lived four more years on several medications, one of which was a diuretic which forced him to flush his bladder regularly, and though he still had bloody urine and both hesitation and urgency, he never blocked again.

    I hope that helps!

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  16. We is all sending our purrs to Jack. We hopes is all better furry soon.
    Sasha, Sami, & Saku

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  17. Purrs to your sweet Jack...It really hurts when our babies have to go through hard time :-(

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  18. We send Jack lots of purrs and scratches... We know that the situation is stressful for both of you, we have not other suggestions, so we add some extra purrs for you too. Purrs

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  19. Awww Jack!! You are a super cutie handsome boy - look at that magnificent furry ruff! Awwww! We are sending you many purr and hugs, sweet Jack. You are doing ever so well and we have everything crossed you'll get better! Take care
    x

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  20. Awww poor Baby boy and you,I sure hope you find a solution soon,xx Rachel

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  21. We're so glad he's doing better, in slow baby steps. And we hope that what your holistic vet sends does the trick for him! I found Bernadette's comments interesting - would any of that help as well? I also have been trying to do less with fish, especially after reading Lisa Pierson's opinion on that - and Dr. mercola's as well (the vet, not the human doc).

    We've officially stopped trying to get Maxie off dry for the moment while we try to get Allie's weight down. It's impossible to do both! Maxie has told me though that he will continue to drink lots if that makes me happy. I told him it does!

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    1. a lot of Bernadette's suggestions we already do. He doesn't get cranberry as I'm not a fan of the long term use of that in cats, but he does get mannose the key component of cranberry that is useful in bladder issues. He also has been getting vitamin c since being diagnosed with FeLV (he is no longer positive and I credit the Vit C with helping him with that)

      I found the herpes idea kind of interesting, but I kind of ruled that out since went years with out issue and only recently started having problems again after the introduction of the Catswell treats. Could this be the issue? Sure. I totally except the fact that I could be wrong.. I'm also starting to wonder if the HPP (high pressure pasteurization) that Bravo is now using to help combat salmonella (which personally I detest that they are doing) isn't changing the food enough that it isn't keeping him in balance..

      My cats generally do not eat any fish. Unfortunately it was the ONLY thing that would mask the horrible taste of the Orbax. I will NEVER give that to my cats again.. not in liquid form anyway.. They occasionally get a little tuna water if my husband eats tuna, but that is very rare. I personally can not stand the smell of seafood in any form and I tend to stay very far away from it.

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  22. Oh Jack, we are sending you our continued purrs and prayers and hope that all will be able to completely resolve itself.

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