Cat help (local vet is closed due to doctors being sick)

[catladyky]

I am glad to hear that the vet seems to have covered it all and that you have a plan. I hope the urinary care food is canned and not dry - the canned food will contain much more moisture, which is always a plus for cats.

Just so you know for future reference, my cat who has kidney disease never has protein in her urine, unless she has bacteria or an infection in her bladder, so I am not sure that the absence of protein in the urine is a sure-fire way to rule it out. The real indicators of a probable onset of kidney disease are high creatinine & BUN levels in the Chemistry blood panel - but even then, the test needs to be run a few times to ensure it is not just a one-off testing result. There are things that can affect both numbers, such as dehydration and stress, for example.

Wow, thank you for that information. When I get to my next vet check up I'm going to request more through testing for kidney disease.

 

[Alldara]

Thank you for telling your story. I'm so sorry your cat passed like that. I'll carry your story with me for as long as I'm a kittyparent.

Thank you so so much everyone. It turns out that the vet said that the constipation was caused by the pain med (Onsior), and that the vomiting was due to the soft (non-urinary specialty) food that I had to give him when he was in pain (because he wasn't eating anything else). The struvite crystals almost blocked him up, so I'm thankful I got him to the vet in time.

Two days at my preferred usual vet, fluids, an exam, laxative, and kitty food, and most importantly, finally a diagnosis. All for $100. My blondie is acting so much better and now at least I know what was causing this was his urinary issues.

I specifically asked if this could be underlying kidney disease related and they said that the uranalysis would have indicated that with high proteins, which he did not show. They said that what COULD indicate that is excessive bathroom use/drinking, so I should keep an eye out for that. But as of now, he does not have kidney disease and the struvite crystal treatment food WILL fix what's wrong.

Thank you all so much for sticking with me through this excruciatingly stressful time, I appreciate all of your knowledge and feedback so much.

Glad to hear your normal vet figured it out for you!

Do you have a cat fountain? It can help with urinary issues too.

In the future, if he won't eat his urinary food, subbing in some of the kidney food might help as it has the lower phosphate he needs from a urinary diet. (Rather than the recovery food). I got a spare BabyBullet blender from my local Buy Nothing group and use that to blend cat food when they're sick.

The above is for you or anyone else reading for similar issues. If the over-the-counter urinary food is not an option for whatever reason.

I honestly really recommend that everyone with older cats have a spare small blender for emergencies. Doesn't need to be expensive but blending the food can save you a lot of $ when your cat gets too sick to eat and makes it simple to syringe feed if needed.