Update On Lily!

[stacydc83]

I'll post more later but just wanted to add how guilty I feel right now. They've had two dry foods out for awhile, so tonight I took one of them, (Lilys favorite, crave) and replaced it with the prescription food. I got her to taste the prescription wet food by sticking it in her mouth and she ate some, went pee, and then went to eat her dry food, didn't want it so she ate more of the wet food. She doesn't like it, but she was hungry and her favorite isn't there. I've taken her favorite thing to do, eating, away and all she has is this crap. I wish she knew this was for her own good!!! I seriously want to cry over this i feel so bad. But, by the way my healthy little Zoe thinks the expensive urinary dry food tastes just fine!! Go figure right?!

 

[FeebysOwner]

You need to gradually change Lily's food. As in - a little bit of the new added to a lot of the old, and over time add more new and reduce the old.

 

[stacydc83]

You're right. I put crave back down, and took a handful of the urinary food and mixed it in, hopefully this will go smoother.

 

[stacydc83]

Well its been about a weekish since I've posted. Lily is definitely feeling better, no more blood in pee. Still smaller balls of pee, but not the tiny droplets we were getting.
She's getting better at eating the prescription dry food, she's more accepting of it now. The wet, egh, we gave up until today again. I swung by the vet before work, and bought 6 cans of prescription wet, tuna stew, and chicken stew. I bought some pet bone broth and mixed that with it, and stuck a little in her mouth, then she ate a tiny bit on her own. I'll try again in the morning, instead of just tossing it, i i bagged the remaining food in a little baggy and will heat it up and try again. The vet says if she won't eat the wet, then the dry is fine?? I don't think so! This is a urinary condition, she needs wet food!! She only drinks when she feels like it, from the utility sink. That is not enough water if she's just getting dry food! I asked if we could try ALL brands off prescription wet foods, and she said No, only Hills. Why not Royal Canin wet food? Maybe she'd take to that better? She says because Hills is the only proven to dissolve struvite stones. But if its the same ingredients, why not give it a shot? So yeah thats frustrating, and even more frustrating trying to get her to eat this stuff. Not too mention, the ingredients in the dry food, yikes!! Corn, corn, rice, all kinds of bad stuff, when for years i've been trying to stay away from corn and crap and now thats all she is supposed to eat.
She wants her back in about a month or so, to see if stones have dissolved any, and to try and see if they are struvite or calcium stones. If they are calcium stones, definitely have to go through with the surgery. The wet food itself is insanely expensive, $20 for just 6 cans, which are the small cans, thats insane!
She's definitely feeling better, I see my happier Lily again, she started her night "hunting" in the middle of the night again, finding random pieces of laundry in the middle of the hallway, and she meows to let us know she caught something. Poop wise, eghh, I'd rather see more, but I don't dare try giving her miralax right now, with trying so hard to get her hydrated. I'll see a few balls every couple of days, then this morning there was a wetter coiled up poo that I cleaned out, don't know what caused that, but its poo so hey! I think back to when I started this thread, and I just thought I had a lazy, overweight, somewhat constipated kitty. I wonder if its been the stones all along that has made her this lazy and constipated? Has she been hurting since I started this thread, back in Summer of 2019? That just breaks my heart. Or are the stones a more recent thing? I do have confidence, when this is resolved, she will feel better, and will want to move around more, and probably will be able to poop better. I just pray she won't have to get surgery, that they will dissolve.
She's still holding steady at almost 20 lbs, yikes. but you know, right now, I'm not concerned about her weight. I want her feeling better, and eating and drinking the way she should, and getting better.

 

[stacydc83]

Hello! It's been awhile again since I've updated. Lily's doing pretty good! I've noticed she's not peeing as frequently as she used to, before all this UTI/stones started, but when she does pee, they are finally good sized in the litter box, not little droplets, or smaller balls, so I'm going to take that as a good sign. I've modified what she eats, she no longer gets the tuna and chicken every night, I'm trying to cut out so much fish. I'll give it to her probably twice a week now. Its not great quality, but I can get her to lick the juices out of stuff like friskies gravy lovers, purina chicken & veggies, so in my mind thats better because she's getting hydration from it. And she's taken to the Hills prescription diet urinary dry food. She seems to actually prefer it, because I have crave out too, for Zoe, and every time I watch her go to the bowl, she goes to the correct one.
That beautiful fountain I bought last month still sits untouched, silly stubborn girls. Most cats, take to it, not mine! Oh, and Zoe is just as stubborn, she is SO hard to get to eat any wet food, she always goes for the dry. Some nights she'll do decent, I'm still letting her have the tuna and chicken, only because thats the only thing she will sometimes eat, but she takes a few licks, and shes done. I'd like to get her off so much fish like I did Lily, but I swear she's pickier than Lily. I just don't want Zoe to face the same issues as Lily has later down the road. But Zoe is sooo much more active than Lily, and the vet said that her laziness could of been a contributing factor to the stones. I don't even know how to try to get her more active at this point, I've been so focused on her bladder, and pooping issues, her weight and exercise has kind of been put on the back burner, but she is getting fat .
I think back to her first UTI last summer, and feel kinda bad how I tried to treat it myself, with cranberry supplements, and now I know that that was the worst thing for it, since cranberry is high in vitamin C, and vitamin C is horrible for stones. She still gets GNC hairball treats, which contains a little bit of cranberry, but not a lot, and that seems to help her with hair balls. I just ordered her some more glucosamine, Cosequin. Sometimes she'll eat the treat, sometimes not. But they discontinued the GNC brand of glucosamine.
Still haven't been back to the vet, I think she wanted a good 6 weeks/two months to see if she'd take the food and see if it helps dissolve anything. If she gets another UTI we'll go back sooner, and make big decisions on the surgery, but maybe, just maybe she's getting better.

 

[MissClouseau]

Hi! I saw a street cat who looks like Lily today and thought of you. How are things over there?

 

[stacydc83]

Hello! Long time! We are doing good! Lily is definitely feeling better, she has her good days and bad days still. For a little while, she got much more playful for a few weeks, now, she's a little more playful than her old self. She's no longer badly constipated, she goes almost every other day, and she is much cleaner, doesn't have the poopy butt and pee stained back end. So the food she was given definitely does help. She is supposed to be on it exclusively, but she won't eat the prescription wet food, so she still gets her old stand by wet food at night, I just try and stretch it out with different non fish flavors for her, and only give her tuna maybe three times a week, and she will lick the gravy out of friskies gravy lovers, purina chicken and vegetables, etc. She never took to the fancy water fountain I got her, so she gets her "showers" still, we try to get her in there at least twice a day. Zoe however, finally gave the fountain a try and likes it. Thank you for checking in on us!! She is still little Ms. Cranky when she wants to be, and still lazy but I can definitely tell shes not hurting like she was. I'm hoping the stones stay at bay, and we don't have to get that surgery. Still watching closely for any signs of a bad UTI though.

 

[MissClouseau]

Hello! Long time! We are doing good! Lily is definitely feeling better, she has her good days and bad days still. For a little while, she got much more playful for a few weeks, now, she's a little more playful than her old self. She's no longer badly constipated, she goes almost every other day, and she is much cleaner, doesn't have the poopy butt and pee stained back end. So the food she was given definitely does help. She is supposed to be on it exclusively, but she won't eat the prescription wet food, so she still gets her old stand by wet food at night, I just try and stretch it out with different non fish flavors for her, and only give her tuna maybe three times a week, and she will lick the gravy out of friskies gravy lovers, purina chicken and vegetables, etc. She never took to the fancy water fountain I got her, so she gets her "showers" still, we try to get her in there at least twice a day. Zoe however, finally gave the fountain a try and likes it. Thank you for checking in on us!! She is still little Ms. Cranky when she wants to be, and still lazy but I can definitely tell shes not hurting like she was. I'm hoping the stones stay at bay, and we don't have to get that surgery. Still watching closely for any signs of a bad UTI though.

Yay for good poop schedule! So good to hear all three of you are doing well