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Hills Prescription Diet C/D - For a Cat with a UTI
Hello All:
My cat, Dash, was recently diagnosed with a UTI due to crystallization in her urine after her annual vet exam. She is 3.5 y.o. indoor cat. I'm personally a believer in more holistic approaches to treating pets and do so with my canine companions, but I'm sadly uninformed in the feline world... this kitty was a stray that chose us as her forever home. Unfortunately, my regular vet (that I trust and love) who mixes in holistic approaches only sees dogs due to cat allergies so I have to work with other vets at the clinic who I'm not as comfortable with. The vet has prescribed Clavamox twice a day and I am supplementing with yogurt to try and counteract some of the negative effects of antibiotics. My MAJOR concern, however, is that she has prescribed Hills Prescription Diet C/D as a lifetime diet. I just feel that is unnecessary and am looking for some input as to whether others have found this necessary. Dash's regular diet consisted of Orijen - 6 Fresh Fish dry food and Eagle Pack Holistic wet food (differing formulas). As for treats she gets "people food" as in cooked chicken, meat, etc. and that is pretty limited. I feel the UTI may have been caused by us going away and leaving the neighbour's daughter to watch her who ended up feeding her pretty much a whole bag of Whiskas treats... my bad, I know better, and it won't happen again! Any advice would be much appreciated in this matter. |
#2
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Hi ElleTrixie, welcome to pets.ca!
Do you know if Dash's urine was sent out for a culture & sensitivity (usually takes a couple days to get the results back)? Can you get the results of the urinalysis? See, the thing is, it's extremely rare for a cat under 10yrs of age to have a urinary tract infection. This is more likely a case of urinary tract inflammation, which means that the Clavamox is not only unnecessary, but potentially harmful. Vets have this rather annoying tendency to hand out antibiotics like candy, without doing the necessary lab work to confirm whether they're even needed. In the meantime, it's definitely a good idea to counter the effects of the antibiotics since she's already on them, but yogurt probably isn't going to cut it (not enough probiotics in it). A better idea would be to get some probiotic capsules from a health food store - something with multiple, high-potency organisms, like Natural Factors Ultimate Multi. You can mix just a pinch from the capsule in with some wet food a couple times a day. Do you know what type of crystals Dash has? They're usually either struvite or calcium oxalate. Either way, the best food for both is a species appropriate wet food diet (no kibble), and I'd suggest eliminating fish since that can aggravate bladder/urinary tract issues. Here is some good info for you on feline nutrition: www.catinfo.org
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"To close your eyes will not ease another's pain." ~ Chinese Proverb “We must not refuse to see with our eyes what they must endure with their bodies.” ~ Gretchen Wyler Last edited by Ford; December 2nd, 2009 at 08:28 PM. |
#3
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Actually, don't be too quick to blame the neighbour. In fact it was quite probably the Orijen Fish that caused the crystals over time. Feeding one bag of Whiskas treats won't do that damage that quickly.
The new vet is pushing the prescription diet because s/he gets a cut of any of the food sold. Look around their office. I bet the walls are lined with the food. Look at the food you are feeding your cat. With Orijen Fish the first ingredients are of course fish. That is not a natural staple of cats. After all, we don't see fish sitting at the side of a river waiting for the big one to go by so they can reach out and snare it. The next ingredients would quite probably be corn and or grains. When was the last time you saw a cat lying in the middle of a wheat field munching on a cob of corn and using the wheat stalk as a toothpick? Cats are carnivores. Plain and simple. They need meat. They also do not normally drink enough water. So common sense would say to feed something that is meat and water combined. Since most people don't keep a ready supply of mice available for the kitties the best way to go is with a quality canned food. Some of the best you can get are Merricks, Natural Balance, Wellness, Nature's Variety. What you are looking for are grain free, corn free meat based foods. The ultimate best diet for cats is raw. When you check out the site sugarcatmom gave you (cause I see she typed faster than me )there is a section on feeding and preparing raw food for your cat. Very interesting. One vet I went to tried telling me that cats do quite well on a diet of wheat and grains because after all, when a cat catches a mouse it eats the contents of the mouse's stomach. She obviously has never had to clean up two or three mouse guts every day that my wonderful feral leaves lying in the porch for me.
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Assumptions do nothing but make an ass out of u and me. We can stick our heads in the sand for only so long before it starts choking us. Face it folks. The pet population is bad ALL OVER THE WORLD! |
#4
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Quote:
On a side note, if you are feeding completely wet how do you ensure they maintain dental hygiene? Quote:
I appreciate all the input, I want to make sure this does not become a recurring problem in kitty and go about it the proper way. I did pick up the supplement you recommended while I have her on Clavamox, but I will re-evaluate that when I get a sit-down with the vet tomorrow. The site you provided was also very informative. |
#5
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The following is a great article explaining what happens when a cat eats dry food. It is an eye opener. http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.ph...dcleantheteeth The best thing for keeping your cats teeth clean and sparkling is either brushing their teeth regularily or giving kitty a chicken bone (raw, never cooked) to chew on.
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Assumptions do nothing but make an ass out of u and me. We can stick our heads in the sand for only so long before it starts choking us. Face it folks. The pet population is bad ALL OVER THE WORLD! |
#6
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A great selling gimmick it is, I found that article very informative and slightly disheartening as I thought I was doing the right thing.
I took Dash in for XRays today and no stones (thank goodness). I'm debating about keeping her on the Clavamox, my instincts tell me to take her off it, but I hesitate to not listen to the "expert." I did get a copy of her urinalysis and the results are as follows: pH - 8.0 Crystals present (3+) - struvite Bacteria (2+) Amorphous Urates - amorphous phosphate Other comments: clean urine very concentrated colour no sediment I'm off to google to see if I can figure out what this all means! |
#7
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The best way to ensure healthy kidney and bladder for your cat is a quality canned and/or raw diet.
I fed my cats orijen, then changed to Wellness, then onto Nature's Variety canned and homemade raw, I can't tell you the difference it made in the health of my cats between orijen and canned with raw. Kibble does not belong in any kitty diet except as a treat. Sugarcatmom and Growler are cat nutrition experts I trust them totally and even before my own vet.
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Cat maid to: Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs) Jasper RIP (2001-2018) Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014) Puddles RIP (1996-2014) Snowball RIP (1991-2005) In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb “While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Stephen R. Covey |
#8
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Quote:
You do not want to start using an acidifier without being able to check what effect it's having because you could end up with urine that's too acidic, which would be a risk factor for calcium oxalate crystals (and those are harder to deal with). Was the urine sample taken via cystocentisis (needle into the bladder)? Do they have a value for the urine specific gravity (USG)? The fact that the colour is concentrated means the urine probably is too, but I'd be interested in what the actual value is. Anyway, for sure go with wet food only at this point, and see if you can monitor Dash's urine ph to see if that 8.0 comes down on its own. Hope that helps.
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"To close your eyes will not ease another's pain." ~ Chinese Proverb “We must not refuse to see with our eyes what they must endure with their bodies.” ~ Gretchen Wyler |
#9
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She is also very picky about her litterbox and will hold it if it isn't clean, so I think we may invest in a auto-cleaning one to make sure it is always up to Dash's standards. Anybody have experience with these? I will consider an acidifier if it doesn't rectify with a completely wet food diet, but I will monitor at home (??how do you collect clean urine??). Quote:
Everyone has been wonderfully helpful, I appreciate the time you have taken to help me through this and find the answers I'm just not getting from my vet (she didn't even mention the pH out of whack..... grrr....). Thank you again for all your advice. |
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