anyone have a tip on what the best available brand of food to give him when he gets home to prevent this from happening again? i have seen a lot of choices online and realize that increasing his liquid intake is critical.
also, has anyone else gone through this hospitalization process and what did it cost you? i got an estimate over a thousand dollars and am concerned with the price. it looks like it will be a two day stay with 24 hours of catheterization included. i couldn't take him to just the vet because they were all closed yesterday because of our fire situation. would it have cost less there?
thanks for the kind reply. i had read about the science diet ingredients and was concerned with all the pork byproducts. i'm hoping that there is something much better.
i have been a vegetarian myself for 30 years, into herbs and natural diet approaches to cures and want my cat to eat as healthy as possible. up til now his diet has been mostly fish based.
I feel the same way, however Science Diet does have a good product for their prescriptions.
My cat eats Royal Canin and Wellness canned, after going through several brands and finding she was vomiting. The Royal Canin Special for sensitive stomachs (dry) is a winner!!
Maybe Waltham makes some brands for struvite crystals.
I do hope your kitty is better soon, and hoping the fires are out soon. Hope you are in no real danger too.
My dog has had struvite stones and was on the Hill's Prescription food. When she developed them a second time, I switched her to IVD, just on general principles. Here is a website comparing the different prescription foods (your Vet will have to order it for you). And it is important to have him monitor the cat's urine to avoid a reoccurrence.
the ER vets that i have dealt with always would refer the patient back to the regular vet (its a mtter of ethics), which i think I would have done if you can...i suspecrt this can be releived by catherization and IV or SQ fluids and then go onto diet or chemical pH change later...aske if your vet will not call to have the cat taken by your to your reg. vet....something does not fit the pattern at least my pattern...i always catherized them immediatly if they were blocked cause if you wait too long the uremia can set in...check with your vet.
my vet is not in the office again today because of the fires. i have an updated billing amount from the hospital for the two day stay of about $1600 now! it's completely outrageous in my opinion, but what can you do?
i just talked to the Iams and Eukanuba folks on the phone. they were very helpful and they have a product called Low Ph/s that has no pork byproducts and looks far superior to the science diet formulation. requires a perscription also.
I'm so sorry to hear about your kitty. Poor baby...
My cat Smokey had calcium oxalate stones (more difficult to treat) and had to have p/u surgery in January 2003. He was blocked and catherization was unsuccessful. I feed him Wathams S/O Control pHormula diet (both canned and dried) The dry food definitely has a higher sodium content. The canned food is similiar to other products. This food prevents the formation of both struvite and calcium oxalate crystals. I used Science diet initially but had to separate my cats during feeding time so I switched to Walthams.
Hopefully your vet will be back in the office soon. Please discuss food options with him or her. A prescription food is definitely best at this point to minimize the risk of further occurences of UTI (this is not a guarantee though). Also monitor carefully for signs of a UTI. Please also keep lots of fresh water out. You can also add water to the food to make sure he/she is getting enough.
Is your kitty home with you yet? Please give hugs/kisses from us..
no he is not home yet. poor little guy. two nights in the hospital!
please say a little prayer for him - here's his photo.
his name is milo (rhymes with kilo).
