Scout needs some healing thoughts & prayers UPDATE #12 & #23

[GILL]

Poor baby. The CREW will keep Scout in our pryers and thoughts.

[Catty1]

Endless prayers for Scout. I hope a dietary change will help...even adding a bit of cranberry powder to wet food or something.

Give her a scritchy and cuddle for me.

[Anikaca77]

Oh my goodness Scout ....poor guy.

Right now we are working on diet change for my one cat Claudia who has been peeing outside the litter box and the vet gave us some can food and some food that we have to keep her on and everyone else. I really hope it helps but so far there was pee again in the kitchen...so we'll see.

Take care Scout more prays.

[Barbara]

All my best thoughts for poor Scout.

[sirrahbed]

Well, I just went through kidney stones myself a year ago and tell you I am sure sympathetic towards Scout!! It was miserable!! *I* would probably pee on your floor myself if it made me think it could take the pain away!! Hope they can find a way to get the stones out or pass, dissolve - whatever. Maybe there is medication she can take so she won't get more of them. Please give her some scritches for me ok??

[catlover4ever]

Poor baby. I do hope everything turns out ok for Scout. Sending healing thoughts and prayers her way.

[lvpets2002]

Update Please on How is Scout doing today?? I sure hope she feels some better.. Bigg Huggss & Prayers..

[jazzcat]

Update - the vet called this morning with the test results. The bladder stones appear to be struvite which means we can try to dissolve them with diet. She will being going on a prescription food for a while. She does have infection so she'll also be taking antibiotics. The vet said she checked with the University of Tennessee's Vet Clinic to see if they could use the "shockwave" method to break up the kidney stones but they said it's too risky in cats right now but they've had great success in larger breed dogs. Looks like Scout will have to live with the kidney stones because diet doesn't help dissolve them since they are calcium based.

The blood work showed that Scout's kidney values are good as well as her thyroid but one of her liver enzymes is elevated. The vet said it's nothing to worry about now but we will need to watch it in the future.

So the plan now is to treat the infection with antibiotics, try to dissolve the bladder stones with a new prescription diet and recheck her in a month. The vet also wants to try to put off pulling her upper canine tooth until we get the infection and stones under control but she'll do it sooner if it's affecting her eating.

[Catty1]

GREAT that the crystals can be dissolved!

Are the kidney stones small enough to pass?

Just a few human things I found:

Some medications have been used to increase the passage rates of kidney stones. These include calcium channel blockers such as nifedipine and alpha blockers such as tamsulosin. These drugs may be prescribed some people who have stones that do not rapidly pass through the urinary tract.

Surgical techniques have also been developed to remove kidney stones. This may be done through a small incision in the skin (percutaneous nephrolithotomy) or through an instrument known as an ureteroscope passed through the urethra and bladder up into the ureter.

When Oscar had a bladder infection (totally different, I know), the vet ok'd me giving him 50mg of cranberry powder a day to acidify his urine. I just eyeballed the amount from a human cranberry capsule, and mixed it in plain unflavoured yogurt (which he loves).

That would be a simple and cheap way to acidify the urine. Ask your vet. If the urine needs to be more alkaline, there is stuff for that also. (What comes to mind is baking soda, but I can't see that going down well with kitties OR humans!)

Prayers the Scout feels better soon. Poor baby!

[lvpets2002]

Well sounds pretty good at this point-n-time.. I sure hope the diet works.. Just hope this baby is not in any pain.. Can you rub something on her gums for the pain of the bad tooth?? Hope the kidney stones dont move & cause pain.. Lets All Cross our Paws & Pray.. All Paws Up for Scout..

[Barbara]

Congrats on the good kidney values Hope you get the struvite under control soon.

[jazzcat]

Are the kidney stones small enough to pass?

I saw the x-ray and two are kind of large and the third was smaller. I think the vet said she thought they were all too large to pass.

I could tell my vet was surprised the bladder stones were struvite and not calcium based. She said usually if there are both kidney and bladder stones present they are all calcium. At least we caught a break with that one.

I will ask about the cranberry powder, thanks.

[kimlovescats]

Oh goodness, Lori! Poor Scout must really be in discomfort! Did the vet say anything about something for pain in the meantime? It amazes me how vets just tend to think that pets aren't suffering just because they don't scream and complain like we do! Maybe you could give her a small dose of Metacam or something? I'd ask and see.

Good luck, prayers and ((((HUGS)))) to you and Richard!

[Emeraldgreen]

I hope the new diet will help break up the struvite crystals soon. Are you giving him Hills S/D? I've had to give it to a few of my cats and the one good thing about that kibble is that they LOVE it! All my cats seem to want it and I have to make sure the ones that don't need it don't get into it.

Did the vet indicate what might be causing the kidney stones? I don't know much about them. Jimmy has a few kidney stones too.

Prayers that Scout will be feeling like her old self soon.

[jazzcat]

I hope the new diet will help break up the struvite crystals soon. Are you giving him Hills S/D? I've had to give it to a few of my cats and the one good thing about that kibble is that they LOVE it! All my cats seem to want it and I have to make sure the ones that don't need it don't get into it.

Did the vet indicate what might be causing the kidney stones? I don't know much about them. Jimmy has a few kidney stones too.

Prayers that Scout will be feeling like her old self soon.

I think it's Purina U/R but not sure. They only had an 18 pound bag and I didn't pay a lot of attention to it - it's out in the garage.

The vet never said what might be causing the kidney stones. She's had them since at least last year when they took an x-ray to find out why she was limping (a possible hairline fracture). At that time they didn't seem to be bother her but that obviously changed. She didn't have bladder stones last year either.