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- Dec 27, 2019
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Ok. So I've been dealing with some issues with my 1.8 year old female kitty Echo for a few months now. It all started back in December, on Christmas day, when I came home to her having scratched her ear partially bald.
This is the thread from the day after that all started if anyone wants background to this. I haven't had any issues with her prior and now think the ear situation was a situational anomaly, possible reaction to me driving my friends car that is disgustingly drenched in Fabreeze, or having accidentally put dryer sheets in the bedding laundry the 24 hours leading up to her scratching her ear like she did. She does scratch from time to time (normal I think?), but has not scratched to the point of ripping out fur since that day.
So here's the thing now. It took my cat about 15 days to "get back to normal" in terms of behavior after this. She was low energy/sleeping in her carrier for a solid week, barely wanted play time. I did have a follow up with the regular vet where we did blood work and urinalysis. Her bloodwork came back all good. I had noticed she went from peeing 4x a day to 5x a day two days leading up to the appointment, so urinalisys and then culture was done. She was on Antibiotics (orbax) for two weeks for Ecoli UTI. So it's end of Jan, I had to go away for a week for work, boyfriend who my cat is comfortable with watched her most of that time, my mother the rest. Came home and she was doing well -eating fine and going 4x a day plus poop 1x daily. Playful and seemed content.
End of last week: I noticed increased peeing frequency again and found a pretty small clump within just a couple hours of having gone already. So we end up doing another urinalysis and culture (which I was supposed to have done anyway to make sure antibiotics worked) and the results are in today. No bacterial growth, but there was presence of some crystals and her PH was a bit too high at a 7. Last time was at 6.5. Vet office said I could get methagel to give her to increase acidity and/or to add raw to her diet. So that would be struvite crystals, right?
Her diet: 1 can per day of high quality grain free split into 3 meals -and I add 2-3 tbs of water to the food until it's meat-sauce consistency (Holistic Select chicken, Hound and Gatos brand, and Rawz pate when I can swing it). She also gets some salmon oil added to the food per vet's recommendation. The day her urine was collected, I was on day 2 of giving her d mannose (1/8th tsp Now Brands pure d Mannose x 3 meals a day). I also have been feeding her 3x per day (morning, afternoon and late at night) where as back when the uti started, I was doing 1 can per day split into just breakfast/dinner meals. For the d mannose I'm just doing 1/8 tsp morning and night meal now. I do occasionally give her freeze dried treats (Whole Life chicken or salmon) lately, but small amount or at most a couple pieces broken up and hid around the apartment for fun.
So I guess I'm wondering if anyone with more experience has ideas why her PH would be high like that? I thought I was doing/feeding the right things...is 2 meals better than split into 3 meals and is there "too much" water that I'm adding maybe? Tips for how to test PH at home so I can check in on that myself? She has been back to normal urinations, no noticeable straining or complaining or tiny clumps. But I'd like to check it her PH etc at home if possible. I don't want to swing the PH too far in the other direction either -so not sure if I should get methagel or just make her mid-day snack pre-made raw.. or maybe it's an issue with one of the brands I'm feeding her?
This is the thread from the day after that all started if anyone wants background to this. I haven't had any issues with her prior and now think the ear situation was a situational anomaly, possible reaction to me driving my friends car that is disgustingly drenched in Fabreeze, or having accidentally put dryer sheets in the bedding laundry the 24 hours leading up to her scratching her ear like she did. She does scratch from time to time (normal I think?), but has not scratched to the point of ripping out fur since that day.
So here's the thing now. It took my cat about 15 days to "get back to normal" in terms of behavior after this. She was low energy/sleeping in her carrier for a solid week, barely wanted play time. I did have a follow up with the regular vet where we did blood work and urinalysis. Her bloodwork came back all good. I had noticed she went from peeing 4x a day to 5x a day two days leading up to the appointment, so urinalisys and then culture was done. She was on Antibiotics (orbax) for two weeks for Ecoli UTI. So it's end of Jan, I had to go away for a week for work, boyfriend who my cat is comfortable with watched her most of that time, my mother the rest. Came home and she was doing well -eating fine and going 4x a day plus poop 1x daily. Playful and seemed content.
End of last week: I noticed increased peeing frequency again and found a pretty small clump within just a couple hours of having gone already. So we end up doing another urinalysis and culture (which I was supposed to have done anyway to make sure antibiotics worked) and the results are in today. No bacterial growth, but there was presence of some crystals and her PH was a bit too high at a 7. Last time was at 6.5. Vet office said I could get methagel to give her to increase acidity and/or to add raw to her diet. So that would be struvite crystals, right?
Her diet: 1 can per day of high quality grain free split into 3 meals -and I add 2-3 tbs of water to the food until it's meat-sauce consistency (Holistic Select chicken, Hound and Gatos brand, and Rawz pate when I can swing it). She also gets some salmon oil added to the food per vet's recommendation. The day her urine was collected, I was on day 2 of giving her d mannose (1/8th tsp Now Brands pure d Mannose x 3 meals a day). I also have been feeding her 3x per day (morning, afternoon and late at night) where as back when the uti started, I was doing 1 can per day split into just breakfast/dinner meals. For the d mannose I'm just doing 1/8 tsp morning and night meal now. I do occasionally give her freeze dried treats (Whole Life chicken or salmon) lately, but small amount or at most a couple pieces broken up and hid around the apartment for fun.
So I guess I'm wondering if anyone with more experience has ideas why her PH would be high like that? I thought I was doing/feeding the right things...is 2 meals better than split into 3 meals and is there "too much" water that I'm adding maybe? Tips for how to test PH at home so I can check in on that myself? She has been back to normal urinations, no noticeable straining or complaining or tiny clumps. But I'd like to check it her PH etc at home if possible. I don't want to swing the PH too far in the other direction either -so not sure if I should get methagel or just make her mid-day snack pre-made raw.. or maybe it's an issue with one of the brands I'm feeding her?