update: ACV Cranberry or both: UTI/stones for Callie.

[mrspunkysmom]

Callie needs your prayers, too. I think she is just stressed out. And Spunky giving her a rough time the other day didn't help. That was a real cat fight.

I think she is also lonely, and once I catch her she will sit with me and let me love on her, purring away. I'm going to adopt her out in the next few weeks hopefully. She needs a peaceful home where she can get more attention.

I have to keep her in a room so Spunky won't harass her. He's just playing, but he doesn't want to understand that not everyone plays like he does.

She pooped on me tonight. Her litter box wasn't clean enough, so that's the next priority. I do think this is stress related.

At least I know she's not impacted.

[Karen]

Awww, prayers on the way. At least normal poop is a good sign!

[mrspunkysmom]

Awww, prayers on the way. At least normal poop is a good sign!

Mom to humans or babies, normal poop is good.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Lots of prayers and positive thoughts are being sent her way.

[phesina]

Prayers and good wishes are being sent for Callie and you.

:love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

[Freedom]

Aw poor girl.

My Mandy has live din one bedroom for several years, now. During the day, the door is open and a baby gate is up (to keep the dogs out). If she even SEES Tommy on the other side of the gate, she starts howling and I race over with the water squirt bottle. He hasn't ventured in there in a long time. At night I have to close the door to keep him out. When this started though, I'd have to close the door when I left the house.
During the day, the other cats do go in there, to use the 2 litter boxes, to look out the window, etc.

Since Riley arrived here a bit over a year ago, Cuddles has elected to stay in the room with Mandy.

I hope you can sort things out to help her calm down some.

[Felicia's Mom]

Sending you lots of prayers and positive thoughts.:love:

[Pinot's Mom]

Prayers and {{{hugs}}} for things to get better.

[mrspunkysmom]

Thank you for the thoughts and prayers. I think they are working because I noticed something new tonight. She has blood in her urine. I'm fairly sure of it. She peed on the bed so it was quite noticeable. I researched UTI on the Internet and discovered most UTIs are inflammatory and not infectious. hmmm

I have some unopened Clindamyacin for Sams stomatitis. I realize that it may not work, but I have to try it. If anyone has any home remedies for inflammation, I would love to hear them.

And preventative measures? If there are any foods that might cause crystals, I would love to know so I could monitor her diet.

I so want her to get her sweet personality back. She hissed at me tonight. She never hisses.

Thanks

[Jessika]

Clindamycin is a poor choice for treating UTIs. Please consider taking her to the vet to get proper medication for it. It is true that they very commonly are inflammatory vs infectious... in which case antibiotics won't do much good as she would need to be put on a proper antiinflammatory medication to treat it and a proper antibiotic (if needed).

There are diets out there to prevent crystal and stone formation, but you would need to get it from your vet as it is a prescription diet. The main thing you want to look for is one that has a proper pH to avoid the formation of those specific crystals/stones. And different crystals/stones form in different pHs, so you'd need to know which kind you were dealing with to know what diets you'd need to look at.

Forgot to add... one thing that can help prevent (but isn't 100%) is offering wet food to help increase her water intake in attempt to dilute urine and make her urinate more often so urine isn't sitting in her bladder for as long to hopefully help prevent crystals/stones from forming.

[mrspunkysmom]

Clindamycin is a poor choice for treating UTIs. Please consider taking her to the vet to get proper medication for it. It is true that they very commonly are inflammatory vs infectious... in which case antibiotics won't do much good as she would need to be put on a proper antiinflammatory medication to treat it and a proper antibiotic (if needed).

There are diets out there to prevent crystal and stone formation, but you would need to get it from your vet as it is a prescription diet. The main thing you want to look for is one that has a proper pH to avoid the formation of those specific crystals/stones. And different crystals/stones form in different pHs, so you'd need to know which kind you were dealing with to know what diets you'd need to look at.

Forgot to add... one thing that can help prevent (but isn't 100%) is offering wet food to help increase her water intake in attempt to dilute urine and make her urinate more often so urine isn't sitting in her bladder for as long to hopefully help prevent crystals/stones from forming.

She drinks plenty of water, so that isn't a problem. Her dry food is Professional Hairball formula. I also feed wet food, either canned salmon or mackerel. I am hoping that didn't cause it. I am thinking that she got stressed, and that caused the problems. yet she was distressed earlier in the year. I thought it was emotional, so this could be a reoccurrence of a problem. She's been on this diet for a while. I've tried canned cat food, and she throws most of it up.

I've read that salmon might be beneficial for those with kidney problems and I have been feeding it until lately. It is expensive. hmmmm.

I have some sulfa drug too, and I gave her a small part just a few minutes ago. I put it in some tuna for her. She is still energetic and able to evade me, so that is a good sign, but the clindamycin is not working. She is still peeing some blood. I think it may have worked, but I didn't give enough. I also fed chicken tonight.

Since she is still avoiding me and with energy I am wondering if this is just stones or crystals.

I may take her to the county vet on Saturday. I get paid Monday and will have some money to spend on her.

Anti-inflammatory sounds good. I will tell you that I won't feed any diet from a vet's office. That food has corn in it, and cats do not need corn.

I'll keep y'all updated on her condition.

Thanks for responding.

[Jessika]

Do with the diet as you may.

If you're suspicious of kidney disease, these kitties need to be put on a low protein diet, as high protein diets make the kidneys work harder and can exasperate the condition. And she may drink a lot and you offer her canned food but any kitty with suspected kidney or UTI issues can never have enough water intake!!!

Of course, I recommend against self-medicating her unless you're a DVM and can make a proper diagnosis as if you aren't using the proper medication you could potentially doing more harm than good...

I do hope you're able to take her this weekend!

[mrspunkysmom]

Do with the diet as you may.

If you're suspicious of kidney disease, these kitties need to be put on a low protein diet, as high protein diets make the kidneys work harder and can exasperate the condition. And she may drink a lot and you offer her canned food but any kitty with suspected kidney or UTI issues can never have enough water intake!!!

Of course, I recommend against self-medicating her unless you're a DVM and can make a proper diagnosis as if you aren't using the proper medication you could potentially doing more harm than good...

I do hope you're able to take her this weekend!

Cats are pretty much screwed with kidney disease since they need protein and not carbs. I have to stick with a good diet. Hopefully this will clear without dietary change.

[mrspunkysmom]

After hemming and hawing with myself, I cancelled the tutoring appointment and took Callie to a vet. They just treat the condition instead of insisting on a lot of tests and vaccines.

Her urinalysis showed that she had lots of blood and white cells. So she got a Convenia shot, Clavamox drops, and some tramadol for pain. If she doesn't drastically improve I am to take her back.

I like these people. It's way down town, but worth it.

And Callie loved all over me. Can't get her to do that normally. She even made biscuits and rubbed her head all over my face.

It was $106, but the check won't go to the bank until Monday and I get paid then. Whew.

Need more wellwishes and purrayers.

Now I have to clean under the bed. Yuck!

[Catty1]

Prayers for Callie. Loving all over you with happy paws sounds like a kitty who is feeling waay better! :D:love:

[phesina]

Lots more wellwishes and purrayers for dear Callie! :love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

[Jessika]

SO GLAD you brought her in and now she's on proper meds that will make her feel better!!!!!

Convenia is pretty expensive, but it is soooooo worth it for some of these kitties.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm glad to hear that she was seen by a vet and is now hopefully on the road to recovery. I bet she'll feel so much better soon.:) I think I read some where that if you feed your cat a lot of fish that this can cause urinary problems. I used to feed my cats some of the canned foods with fish in them but now I'm sticking to chicken and turkey based foods. I hope that she gets well soon.

[mrspunkysmom]

I'm glad to hear that she was seen by a vet and is now hopefully on the road to recovery. I bet she'll feel so much better soon.:) I think I read some where that if you feed your cat a lot of fish that this can cause urinary problems. I used to feed my cats some of the canned foods with fish in them but now I'm sticking to chicken and turkey based foods. I hope that she gets well soon.

Yes, I am wondering about that. I'll let you know how it goes.

She is also very lonely and needing of love. But you have to trap her to pick her up. Once you are holding her she becomes very docile and wants to just curl up on you and sleep and purr, etc.

Strange even for a cat. I need to find something to calm her down. I am thinking about some other types of meds for her.

[mrspunkysmom]

She loves being held, but I have to catch her first. It's become a routine.

On to more serious stuff. She is still peeing blood and not peeing much. She won't eat the fish now, so maybe she feels the connection. She also won't drink. I gave her some more chicken this morning and mixed her Clavamox in it along with the tramadol and ACV. I've just read where ACV is wrong for some stones and I might have to try cranberry capsules or organic cranberry juice.

She gets a grain free diet, so I'm not sure where the problem lies. It must be the fish.

BTW, the new doc was totally for feeding wet food to kitties to keep them hydrated. She has 9 of her own. Wow!

I've thought about asking a friend who rescues for help with obtaining subq equipment to help hydrate her. Right now I'm adding water to the chicken juice to encourage her to drink. I don't have the money to determine what stones these are. I know from my own experience that you can't always determine the nature of the stone because they are so small that detecting them is hard.

Any thought or suggestions are welcome.

[Catty1]

Maybe leave the ACV out for a little while. It might be affecting the taste of her food. I know you are avoiding fish, but maybe some canned salmon for med time might be an idea? Or canned chicken?

Also, mix some wet food with a bit of warm water to get more moisture into her.

Does anyone here know if the Clavamox and Tramadol need to be given separately?

[mrspunkysmom]

Maybe leave the ACV out for a little while. It might be affecting the taste of her food. I know you are avoiding fish, but maybe some canned salmon for med time might be an idea? Or canned chicken?

Also, mix some wet food with a bit of warm water to get more moisture into her.

Does anyone here know if the Clavamox and Tramadol need to be given separately?

The vet didn't give me any instructions on that. I know that initially the meds seemed to be working because she ate and then peed quite a bit on Friday afternoon. If I have to I can syringe feed her chicken broth for moisture.

Going out shortly to get some organic cranberry juice and organic AVC, etc. And both are also useful for me and my kidney issues.

[Jessika]

Clavamox and tramadol can be given together.

[mrspunkysmom]

Well, Callie still won't eat at all and is barely drinking. She is letting me hold her, and she would rather me do that than eat or drink. I think she has some weird notions about not eating or drinking when unwell. Silly cat.

So I syringe fed her chicken broth this afternoon, 1 ml at a time. I started mixing her antibiotics in there and then the contents of a cranberry capsule. Around the 5th or 6th dose, spaced out over a half-hour, she decided she had had enough.

My left arm got a few scratches and I had to take her back to the room. I haven't gone back to check on her yet, but I will soon. I'll let you know how she is.

[Jessika]

You probably know this so forgive me if you do, but being a witness to this personally on more than one occasion... a cat NEEDS to eat or they can get a life-threatening condition called hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver). It can develop in as little as 24 hours without eating.

If need be, there are appetite stimulants you can try from your vet, or you can "force feed" her, but a cat that isn't eating is not good.

It sounds like you're already off to a good start though with syringe feeding.

GOOD LUCK!

[mrspunkysmom]

You probably know this so forgive me if you do, but being a witness to this personally on more than one occasion... a cat NEEDS to eat or they can get a life-threatening condition called hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver). It can develop in as little as 24 hours without eating.

If need be, there are appetite stimulants you can try from your vet, or you can "force feed" her, but a cat that isn't eating is not good.

It sounds like you're already off to a good start though with syringe feeding.

GOOD LUCK!

I've heard this, but there are a lot of skinny cats out there that don't get sick, so I never know what to believe.

I left her food tonight, so we will see. I am hoping that a bit of broth in her tummy might make her feel hungry enough to eat.

I think more liquids might help too.

So how can you give subq at home? I have hypos, so I need to know what and how much fluids to use.

Thanks

[Jessika]

A skinny cat may still eat. It isn't about how big or little they are, it's about not eating over a certain period of time. And by not eating I don't mean taking a bite here or there, I mean not eating anything, period.

If you're force feeding, that is considered "eating".

You can give SQ fluids at home, but your vet needs to be the one to prescribe them and tell you the correct amount to give to your cat.