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- Jan 8, 2015
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We were adopted by an older stray cat in September who was extremely dehydrated and malnourished. I'm becoming more concerned our old man may have some sort of kidney problems. He drinks ALL the time but when you do the pinch the skin on the back of his neck test it is slow to go down. He pees everywhere (including myself 
) and there is a lot of pee. The pee is also sticky, it can be hard to clean up. He eats fine (loves both wet and dry food) and has been gaining weight (but he was extremely underweight when he adopted us). No indications of pain or discomfort when he is handled. Likes to play and cuddle, he does not seem depressed. He does get a bit stressed with our two other cats, but holds his own in asserting himself.
We initially thought it just recovering from being a stray, then we thought it was stress with our two other cats so we created a litter box in a room that the other cats don't use, but he feels comfortable using. This did not solve the problem so we took him to vet three days ago who said he had an UTI and did not have any glucose in his urine (He peed on the vet's floor). She thought it was likely the UTI and recommended resolving that problem first. He has some symptoms consistent with kidney problems, but not others. The cats are not BBFs, but the negative interactions are relatively rare (everyone has a calming collar and we have two feline defusers, this seemed to help improve interactions) However, my non-veterinary gut is telling me there is something bigger than a UTI or stress. Would it hurt our cat to switch him over to a kidney diet. Obviously if the symptoms don't resolve after his course of antibiotics we'll bring him back, but I'm just wondering if we should do something now. I may also be an overly anxious person.
) and there is a lot of pee. The pee is also sticky, it can be hard to clean up. He eats fine (loves both wet and dry food) and has been gaining weight (but he was extremely underweight when he adopted us). No indications of pain or discomfort when he is handled. Likes to play and cuddle, he does not seem depressed. He does get a bit stressed with our two other cats, but holds his own in asserting himself.We initially thought it just recovering from being a stray, then we thought it was stress with our two other cats so we created a litter box in a room that the other cats don't use, but he feels comfortable using. This did not solve the problem so we took him to vet three days ago who said he had an UTI and did not have any glucose in his urine (He peed on the vet's floor). She thought it was likely the UTI and recommended resolving that problem first. He has some symptoms consistent with kidney problems, but not others. The cats are not BBFs, but the negative interactions are relatively rare (everyone has a calming collar and we have two feline defusers, this seemed to help improve interactions) However, my non-veterinary gut is telling me there is something bigger than a UTI or stress. Would it hurt our cat to switch him over to a kidney diet. Obviously if the symptoms don't resolve after his course of antibiotics we'll bring him back, but I'm just wondering if we should do something now. I may also be an overly anxious person.
