lizard@nbires.UUCP (LisaLynn Turboff) (11/17/83)
Saturday morning, I awoke to find my 2 1/2 year old cat, Mojo, sleeping in a pool of urine (on my bed). Knowing how clean cats are, I was quite amazed. I tried to move him to see if he really was lying in urine, and he screamed like he does when I tease him for too long. A couple of hours later, the vet opened and I took him in. Sure enough, just as I had feared, the doctor told me that Mojo has cystitis (similar or the same as kidney stones). Mojo would get into the crouched urinating position for several minutes and nothing would come out. Then the doctor tried to pick him up and he lost it. My cat was lucky. He was not completely clogged up and didn't need surgery. I was a fool. For two years, I fed my cat only canned food with chicken or meat by-products as the primary ingredient. I also fixed liver with grains for him. And then we bought a house. A box of dry food came with it (as did sponges, some lumber and firewood). So, we lazily, started feeding him dry food, too. Two months later, his first health problem. Now, I'll either be spending a fortune on his food or his vet bills. (The vet showed us a cat whose owners would not change his diet. The male cat had just had his penis turned into a vagina. Ugh!) Male cats are more apt to get to cystitis due to their anatomy. For any of you that have male neutered cats, let me suggest the following preventions. NEVER feed them commercial dry food. Dry food is extremely high in ash and cats may not drink enough after eating the dry food causing stones to block the urethra. The optimal fast food for cats is Science Diet. I have only seen the canned food so far, but it contains no fish whatsoever. We bought 25 cans (wholesale) for $19 and a friend bought 25 pounds of dry food (retail) for $25. If you feel like your cat is immuned to cystitis, but you are a bit guilty, the next best thing to do is to check the canned cat food labels. Never buy food that has fish as the first ingredient. It's a sad sight to see my huge, loving cat unable to control his bladder or to urinate when he needs to. He's been on and off the catheter since Saturday. The doctor said he'll probably be able to come home today (Thursday). He said that Tuesday morning, too. To anyone who has had experience with cat cystitis, my vet said that we would have to give Mojo medication for the rest of his life to treat prevent a recurrence. That's hard for me to believe. (Anyone know about this for sure?)
walsh@ihuxi.UUCP (11/18/83)
One of my two male neutered cats had a bout with cystitis five years ago. I had fed them dry food alternated with canned food and moist packaged food. I gave him the medication for a few months and then stopped. I now only feed them moist packaged food (i.e., Moist Meals or Tender Vittles). My vet says this is fine (they don't like canned food). The cat has had no problems since then, and the other cat never had any. I caught it early, as I was in the vicinity of the litter box when he was trying to urinate and I heard him cry. I called the vet immediately and they told me to bring him RIGHT in. When I arrived, the vet ran out and grabbed him and catheterized him immediately. I was told that if it had been two or three more days, he would have died. I don't think it's necessary to use the medication forever, as I stopped it after a few months with no ill effects. I notice that particular cat drinks a lot more water now, which is good. The vet said to salt their food to gget them to drink more water, but I never found that necessary (I don't know how good salt would be for them, anyway). B. Walsh
ariels@orca.UUCP (Ariel Shattan) (11/18/83)
Cystitis is not a male cat disease, it is a desease that bothers all cats. Males have more of a problem because their urethras are very narrow and have a tendency to clog up. There has been a correlation between "fixing" a male cat and cystitis, but not a very large one. My (ex-)male got it so bad that they did have to reroute his plumbing. He's just fine now. I've even heard of active toms having the surgery. At least my cat didn't know what he was missing. I don't medicate him for the cystitis now, I only did that for a couple of months. Once they've had the surgery, they can no longer plug up (which I'm sure makes them VERY happy). This doesn't mean that the cystitis won't flare up again, if this happens to my Absinth, he'll have to start on the acidifier and the anti-biotic again. I'm pretty sure that the long-term medication your vet is suggesting is an acidifier. My vet said that some cats will drink tomato juice. If your cat will, give it to him. It'll keep his urine high in acid (which helps keep the granules from forming). Also, salt his food for a while, he'll drink more then. You will never again be able to feed him dry food, as this will probably precipitate an attack of the disease. The only problem I've had with the surgery (besides the bills and the cat wandering around the house in a funny plastic collar to kep him from tearing his stiches) is that the hair didn't grow back for almost a year, and also, the poor kitty kept licking himself raw looking for what they took off. He had to take hormone pills to keep the itching down, but at least the hair is finally back, so I'm going to take him off the pills when I run out of this batch. You can avoid the hassle of the catheter and enourmous vet bills by keeping an eye on your cat. If he yowls when he pees, or goes to the litter box often without producing any urine, or begins to pee in non-litter box spots (especially female cats, and especially if the urine is bloody (which is sometimes the only way you can tell with a female)), then take him to the vet. If they treat it early, you may be able to keep your male cat from plugging up. I waited too long and even though I brought him in before he plugged up, I still had an emergency (6:00 in the morning, the poor cat lying on the rug with his back legs twitching, having to run up to the emergency clinic (mucho $$$) because the vet wasn't open yet, the catheter, the surgery, the bills, the worry, the wondering whether to just put him out of his misery, It sure wasn't fun). However, if your vet ever tells you that your cat needs his plumbing rerouted, go ahead and do it if you can afford it. He'll be just fine in a couple of months and just as obnoxious as ever. It cost me $80.00 in emergency room fees, and $150.00 in surgery and boarding fees, including follow-up visits and medication. Shop around for a lo-cost vet for the surgery. I saved $80.00 this way. I did go back to my regular vet after the crisis, but if I'd have had to pay his price ($200.00), I might not have been able to afford the surgery. So, there's another horror story. The moral is: don't feed him dry food, and watch him when he goes to the litter box. Ariel Shattan decvax!tektronix!tekecs!ariels
bmcjmp@burdvax.UUCP (Barb Puder) (11/21/83)
I also had a cat, Koshka, that had cystitis, bad enough that he needed surgery if he was going to survive. We had him put to sleep rather than face a lifetime of repeated surgery, not to mention the possibility of coming back from a weekend trip to find a dead cat. I didn't want to take the chance of him dying in such a painful way. What the vet told me was that this problem was common in cats that had been neutered EARLY. Diet plays a factor, but I can't blame it on feeding him dry food. Koshka was neutered at 6 months. I have another male cat that was neutered at somewhere between 9 and 12 months. I fed both of them the same dry food, yet only Koshka developed problems. Mirlos, the other one, is still around, just as insane as ever. I think a more sensible piece of advice is to wait to have your cat neutered. If yours has already been neutered at an early age, try to prevent the occurance of bladder blockage through diet. Check with your own vetinarian as to what you can do to keep your cat healthy.
balfanz@ihuxv.UUCP (P. A. Balfanz) (11/21/83)
My parent's cat, Sooty, contracted cystitis about 5 years ago. The vet put him on a medication and said that if the medication didn't work that he would have to have surgery. Sooty has been doing fine on the medication. The vet also said to give Sooty raw liver periodically and to give him commercial cat foods with 2% or less ash content.