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- Feb 22, 2019
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Has anyone had a cat with stress-induced cystitis AND cohabitated fine with a dog?? I am a desperate animal lover needing help, advice, or maybe someone to point me in the right direction with our situation:
We have 2 cats. Our younger cat, Salem, is 5YO and has had mild urinary tract issues since we adopted her at age 1. After a few tests we switched to a wet food diet, supplemented with Cosequin to help with the lining of her bladder, filter-only water, etc. That did the trick almost instrantly and she was just fine for almost a year. Problem solved. THEN...
We adopted our first family puppy (yay! so exciting!). Long story short, we did everything the internet experts tell you to do to prepare for introducing a dog to a kitty household. (Separate rooms at first, high perch spots, etc). Well about 1 month later our cat started having urinary issues again and (long story short) she was diagnosed with stress-induced cystitis by 3 different vets *due to the stress of the puppy in the home* and was put on prescription Science Diet CD Stress food PLUS prescribed anti-anxiety medication to help her. The food eliminates 90% of her symptoms (thank goodness!) but I was unable to give her the medication. So we had no choice but to give our 9mo old puppy back to the rescue. We were so heartbroken. The problem seemed to be when the puppy was unoccupied, that he would want someone to play with and he would go sniff her and she would flip out.
Fast forward 1 week later (today) and our cat is doing fine on just the food. And even a bit lazy bc the food has tryptophan in it. But now I am faced with a choice of either (A) possibly never having a dog in the house as long as we have sour cat Salem, or (B) rehome our cat in order to continue our lives. Neither of those feels right.
Has anyone else had a cat with stress cystitis AND had a dog in the home? I am wondering if a super mellowed out dog would work with our cat, or if a blind/deaf dog would be good (if the dog doesn’t really know where she is most of the time), or maybe a super tiny dog, or adopting 2 dogs at the same time so the dogs occupy each other and aren’t interested in the cat?
I am feeling stuck and don’t know where to turn... help??
We have 2 cats. Our younger cat, Salem, is 5YO and has had mild urinary tract issues since we adopted her at age 1. After a few tests we switched to a wet food diet, supplemented with Cosequin to help with the lining of her bladder, filter-only water, etc. That did the trick almost instrantly and she was just fine for almost a year. Problem solved. THEN...
We adopted our first family puppy (yay! so exciting!). Long story short, we did everything the internet experts tell you to do to prepare for introducing a dog to a kitty household. (Separate rooms at first, high perch spots, etc). Well about 1 month later our cat started having urinary issues again and (long story short) she was diagnosed with stress-induced cystitis by 3 different vets *due to the stress of the puppy in the home* and was put on prescription Science Diet CD Stress food PLUS prescribed anti-anxiety medication to help her. The food eliminates 90% of her symptoms (thank goodness!) but I was unable to give her the medication. So we had no choice but to give our 9mo old puppy back to the rescue. We were so heartbroken. The problem seemed to be when the puppy was unoccupied, that he would want someone to play with and he would go sniff her and she would flip out.
Fast forward 1 week later (today) and our cat is doing fine on just the food. And even a bit lazy bc the food has tryptophan in it. But now I am faced with a choice of either (A) possibly never having a dog in the house as long as we have sour cat Salem, or (B) rehome our cat in order to continue our lives. Neither of those feels right.
Has anyone else had a cat with stress cystitis AND had a dog in the home? I am wondering if a super mellowed out dog would work with our cat, or if a blind/deaf dog would be good (if the dog doesn’t really know where she is most of the time), or maybe a super tiny dog, or adopting 2 dogs at the same time so the dogs occupy each other and aren’t interested in the cat?
I am feeling stuck and don’t know where to turn... help??