Dennis and I say Hello!

lossy

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Hi all, i've just joined and wanted to say hello to everyone!

I read some good advice posted on this site about cats with cystitis or urine infections.  My cat Dennis is 8 years old now and has always had a dry food diet, but recently he began to look distressed and started peeing in strange places.  He looked very uncomfrotable, and so i booked him in to see a vet asap.

In the meantime i read some of the posts by members here, and found them full of good advice!  And that's why i joined!  Maybe one day i can return the favour!
 

Draco

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stick around and I am sure you can!

Did you switch your cat's diet to wet yet? Grain Free wet?
 

angels mommy

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Hi & Welcome to TCS!  My 9 yr. old cat, Angel has been dealing w/ variations of that sense August. (three separate times, Aug. / Oct. & again on Christmas day!) You will get a lot of good advice on this site. You may have read my threads on Angel's cystitis. The first time, it was bacteria, no crystals, but this last time, (which we are still working on) he did have some struvite crystals.

The detective work comes in at trying to figure out what is causing it, if not obvious reasons. I hope it's easy for you to figure out & solve, unlike what I've been dealing with.  I think I have an ultra sensitive kitty.

As Draco said, wet, grain free food, or a raw diet is best. Angel gets no dry at all! (hasn't for months)

He eats good quality can, (by nature, 95% protein) or gets some raw.

I even but him the (dog) Pure Bites freeze dries treats,(just freeze dried meat)  for his treats, because so many treats out there are full of yucky ingredients.

Also if you didn't know, stay away from anything w/ cranberry in it, it's toxic to cats. I didn't know this, & last time bought some treats w/ it in to try & help.  As soon as I learned that here, I threw them away!!

If you have a Natural Pet Food store in your area, they may sell some commercial raw.( That's how I was able to afford it, vs/ expensive on line ordering. ) 

Here is my latest thread, if you want to read through it. I hope it can help.
 There are others w/ experience giving me some good advice.

The yahoo FLUID group has a lot of good info too. It's worth checking out & posting there too. 

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/25702/angel-has-cystitis-again-3rd-time-in-5mo-s     I  just tried this, & another thread came up, not sure why???? If you can't get it either, just go to my profile page, & look at threads started by me.

Good luck & keep us posted.
 
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lossy

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Hi, yes he seems a bit better.  No crystals apparently, his vet thinks it cystitis.

I'm trying to switch him to wet food now, but he's being very difficult and doesn't seem too keen!  I have antibiotics i need to give him from the vet, in his food and i'm just hoping he eats it!

He's had an antibiotic shot today, and has been his normal self all day.

I'm wondering if the cause is because i recently switched his brand of dry food?  He's always eaten one type of food, and its been about a month that i changed brand.  Regardless of this i'm determined to get him to eat wet food, it's better for him after all.

Thanks for the help guys 
 
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angels mommy

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Your welcome.
 

I'm glad to hear Dennis doing better.  So, if the vet put him on antibiotics, I'm assuming it was a bacterial infection?

That wouldn't be from changing his food, although stress from a food change would cause it, but not bacteria related. 

I'm sure you know, but when changing foods, you want to introduce & integrate it slowly w/ the old. 1/3 of the new food mixed w/ his old for a few days, then eventually half & half for a while, then you should be able to transition it to all of the new. I'm not sure how long to keep at each stage, but others on here can tell you for sure.

If he is having trouble warming up to the wet food, you can always try crushing up a few pieces of his dry, & add it on as a topping to get him interested. I have done that before. A mortar & pestle work well for that.
  Also, you can try different textures. some like chunks, some like flaked,

& some like pate' only.  Every kitty is different.  I also mix in extra water in his wet food, for even more intake. I mix it to an oatmeal consistency.

make sure you are only using purified water as well.  That will help, so he doesn't get crystals from tap water. I just use a Pur filter on my faucet.
 

lunariris

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Hello! :)

I'm glad to hear Dennis is doing better.

Our one cat Topaz is going on 11 years old, and she's had urinary problems the last 2 years. She first had bladder stones which were treated, and then some months later started getting urinary tract infections/ crystals. She was on a dry diet as well, and now we give her more canned food, as well as a vet diet. Friskies also makes 'urinary diet' food in the cans, but my vet said the best one is C/D canned food. But that only comes in salmon and chicken flavor, and she doesn't like the salmon one at all. :/  So I give her the C/D chicken one every other day, and on the other days I take UR vet diet dry and mix it into regular 9Lives or Friskies urinary health wet food. (The vet said C/D is the only brand that seems to actually dissolve the crystals, but said to be careful in multi-cat households because it is bad for cats with kidney problems, so make sure no one gets into her food if they have kidney problems.) C/D food also tends to make them gain some weight so any cat with a weight problem should avoid it in excess, but healthy cats can have it. She had to go on the diet because she kept getting re-ocurring ones, and she refused to take the pills for it, she spit them out even after I thought I got her to swollow it, wouldn't eat the food, wet or dry, if I crushed it up in it, and would eat around it when I placed it in a pill pocket. She's a smart one lol, the vets gave her an injection instead and suggested C/D to help dissolve them and keep any potential crystals under control.

She's been great with it. She went from having to go to the vet 6 times 1 year for urinary infections, to not having any urinary problems that she's had to be brought in for (fingers crossed) for going on a little over a year now.

I haven't tried a raw diet, not sure how to go about transitioning all 9 of them, but it sounds interesting.

And thanks for the heads-up. I thought about buying cranberry for urinary support for her, but didn't realize that it's toxic. Why do they sell them for cats if they're toxic??!! That's like at the store the other day, they had 'mint' flavored toothpaste for cats. Cats aren't supposed to have mint!! I don't think all people who make pet products have pets themselves or do their research lol. It's kind of scary.
 

angels mommy

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Hello! :)

I'm glad to hear Dennis is doing better.

Our one cat Topaz is going on 11 years old, and she's had urinary problems the last 2 years. She first had bladder stones which were treated, and then some months later started getting urinary tract infections/ crystals. She was on a dry diet as well, and now we give her more canned food, as well as a vet diet. Friskies also makes 'urinary diet' food in the cans, but my vet said the best one is C/D canned food. But that only comes in salmon and chicken flavor, and she doesn't like the salmon one at all. :/  So I give her the C/D chicken one every other day, and on the other days I take UR vet diet dry and mix it into regular 9Lives or Friskies urinary health wet food. (The vet said C/D is the only brand that seems to actually dissolve the crystals, but said to be careful in multi-cat households because it is bad for cats with kidney problems, so make sure no one gets into her food if they have kidney problems.) C/D food also tends to make them gain some weight so any cat with a weight problem should avoid it in excess, but healthy cats can have it. She had to go on the diet because she kept getting re-ocurring ones, and she refused to take the pills for it, she spit them out even after I thought I got her to swollow it, wouldn't eat the food, wet or dry, if I crushed it up in it, and would eat around it when I placed it in a pill pocket. She's a smart one lol, the vets gave her an injection instead and suggested C/D to help dissolve them and keep any potential crystals under control.

She's been great with it. She went from having to go to the vet 6 times 1 year for urinary infections, to not having any urinary problems that she's had to be brought in for (fingers crossed) for going on a little over a year now.

I haven't tried a raw diet, not sure how to go about transitioning all 9 of them, but it sounds interesting.

And thanks for the heads-up. I thought about buying cranberry for urinary support for her, but didn't realize that it's toxic. Why do they sell them for cats if they're toxic??!! That's like at the store the other day, they had 'mint' flavored toothpaste for cats. Cats aren't supposed to have mint!! I don't think all people who make pet products have pets themselves or do their research lol. It's kind of scary.
Very Scary!  Yea, you would think that they would do the research! It makes me mad!!
  Like, HELLOOOOO!!  Sad to think that anyone who doesn't know better, or isn't on a great site like this to learn better, could have a very sick kitty, or worse & never know why!!  It's irresponsible!
 
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