Nosh One. Wisdom.
Are you a cat person, a dog person or both?
Now before you roll your eyes and question my cat craziness, today's blog post is about my experience with my kitty getting sick with bladder stones, sharing what I have learned and how I am becoming a better kitty parent.
I like both, but I grew up having cats. My sister and I loved cats. Those sweet little furballs are so hard to resist. Our first kitty was a boy, Guy (check out that really original name for a boy cat, well done 6 year old self). Guy was very independent, loved to party all night long and had a way with the ladies. Then came George. He was sweet, cuddly and loved to watch us eat dinner. Then I moved away, went to college and moved in with 2 other girls who thought going to the ARL was a great idea. We left with the Cat of the Day, the cutest Tortie, Grace. Grace made 5 moves with me since college and lived until she was 17. While she was perfectly content being an only kitty, a petite black stray kitty, Gyspy, started hanging out at my parents house. A year later, 5 babies were born and it was time to find homes. There was a Tortie in the bunch and Lil g (little Grace) joined my clan. Every kitty I have had in my life has been named with the letter G and was never intentional. How bizarre!
No matter what kind of pet you like and/or have, I really do believe pets enhance and lengthen your life. There are times they can be challenging, but as my friend Jason always reminds me: "you can't be mad at them for wanting to just love you."
Thank you for bearing with my meow-mania and don't forget to love on your furbaby a little more today.
Nosh Two. Weekly Conversation.
Today’s conversation is with Emily Richter, and RD2Be who decided to change her career completely, go back to school and become an RD.
This is part 2 of my Wisconsin Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics adventure, where I bring to you today, a very inspiring RD2Be. Emily was the moderator for my session at the meeting and was also the recipient of the Outstanding Dietetic Student Award at this years meeting. Emily has a fantastic story of how she was inspired to go back to school after someone she knew saw something in her she didn’t. After going back to school, she chose dietetics as her future second career. I am excited to share with you her story so far. This is a great podcast to listen to if you are thinking about making a change in your professional life.
Nosh Three. Week In Review.
A little backstory, Lil g was always raised with a buddy and was never an only kitty. When Grace passed away in 2014, Lil g struggled with the loss of her friend and turned into kind of a needy and lonely kitty. To be honest, I wasn't the best cat mom. After working all day, I wasn't really good about playing with her or giving her the attention she needed. I would honestly get annoyed with her whining and had a short fuse on occasion. And she is the sweetest kitty, she is not crazy at all, just loves to be around me.
I probably didn't give her the freshest of water, or clean out her litter box often enough and when I traveled, I would leave her alone for days...it wasn't a problem when Grace was here. I thought about getting her a new friend, but I really wanted to stay away from the 9 year old cat and adding a baby cat cycle. It is just to hard when one passes away. Over the past year, I noticed Lil g was sleeping a lot more and having vomiting episodes more frequently, but I really didn't think much of it.
Then on December 23rd, I was going to head to my Mom's home from work for Christmas. My Mom encouraged me to stop at home and check on Lil g before I headed to her house. Sure enough, she was right. Lil g was very sick and I felt awful for her. I stayed, took away her food and gave her lots of love. I left for home the next day, only returning to an even sicker kitty. I had noticed not only was she vomiting, she had urinated on a rug in my house. This was very unlike her. I started watching her behavior and noticed she did it again and there was less in the litter box and more on the rug. I also started to notice a large amount of blood in her urine. That next day, I took her to the vet. They thought she had an infection, gave her a shot of antibiotics and we were sent home with liquid pain meds I was to administer with a syringe in the inside of her cheek, twice a day for a week. That was fun. Giving kitties anything in their mouth is a treat all on its own. A few days had passed and Lil g was seeming better. She was pretty stoned with the pain meds, so she spent most of the day sleeping.
Until the weekend came. She was starting to get worse again, the blood had returned and she began urinating on the carpet again. She was not eating or drinking and she was pacing all the time. The only thing that calmed her down was this piece of burlap that she loves (sooo weird, when did burlap become soft and cozy?) The pain meds were done and off to the vet we went again with another shot of antibiotics, the oral pain meds in the syringe and the addition of an anti spasm bladder medication in pill form. My vet suggested we try this one more time to see if it helped. It didn't. A few days later, we were back at the vet, this time for an abdominal x-ray.
The x-ray showed shadowing in her bladder and my vet was unable to give me a diagnosis, because it could be anything, but most likely was a tumor or bladder stones. I got really sad because if it was a tumor, I would have to make some really tough decisions I didn't want to make on a 9 year old cat. We were then referred to Iowa Veterinary Referral Center, IVRC, to do an abdominal ultrasound which would give us a more definite diagnosis.
The sweet little furball had to have her tummy shaved and did such a good job, she is really a good patient. To much of my relief, it was not cancer and she was diagnosed with bladder stones. She had a bunch of small ones in her bladder. There are different kinds of bladder stones and the 2 most common are struvite and calcium oxalate. At the time of her ultrasound, they were unable to retrieve any stones because she didn't have a full bladder, so the type was not identified and the vet recommended putting her on a dissolution diet and see how it went with a follow-up of 4-6 weeks. If it was struvite, the diet would help dissolve them, anything else would require surgical removal.
After reading a variety of forums on bladder stones, I got a lot of information and just wanted to do what was best for her. I followed Dr. Adams instructions and started her on specialty food, Royal Canin Urinary SO. She was the best and gave me samples of the entire line to see what she would eat. All Lil g was eating was bone broth, chicken baby food and boiled chicken breast after being taken off her dry food. Her dry food was nothing fancy, Purina for Sensitive Systems but it seemed to be the culprit to her problems. Here are the things I have learned through this process:
- Cats need water/moisture of liquid to help their urinary systems stay happy
- Bladder stones are caused by diet and feeding wet food and giving them plenty of water is 2 key things.
- Bladder stones can develop within weeks or over a period of time.
- They do not drink enough water during they day
- In nature, cats eat rodents which are around 70% water, dry food is only 8-10% water, where wet food is 80% water.
- If you get a kitty, start them off on wet food and steer away from dry food or use it as a substitute
- Get a kitty fountain. I got this one from HoneyGuaridan on Amazon. Lil g was always drawn to the shower water and she did not drink enough water throughout the day. Dr. Adams recommended putting water containers on each floor of the house and also a kitty fountain. At first I was thought no way, but Lil g loves it, drinks a ton of water and really likes a few ice cubes in it too. It has different settings that detect when she is close so it turns on and encourages her to drink.
- For a dissolution diet, she strictly only eats the Royal Canin food, nothing else. No treats, no people food, nada.
- Be patient with the transition to a different food or going from dry to wet. After 3 months, I couldn't get her to convert to wet exclusively (the struggle was real) but we do a mix and it seems to work. She is now on a schedule of wet/dry food mix in the morning and evening and then has a small amount of dry food available during the day.
- Use filtered water. I filter her water in a Brita and now she now prefers the taste as well as her water chilled. It encourages her to drink more.
- I wash all of her dishes, kitty fountain and litter box every week with an unscented natural dish soap.
- To help calm Lil g when she wasn't feeling good, I found a product called Comfort Zone with Feliway to help calm her. This stuff is great. It comes in a spray and a diffuser plug in. I sprayed her blanket and placed the diffuser in the room she was drawn to mess in and it helped stop her from doing it. Much more chill kitty during the transition of feeling better. It is also great to spray in their carrier to relax them on trips to the vet.
- Daily pet and play is also very important just like us, she needs that physical activity. She loves her mouse laser and chases it like a champ in the morning and night.
Upon her 6 week check-up, she had no visible bladder stones and thank goodness no surgery is needed so far. Her hair is starting to grow back and she is healthier and happier. We will go back in July to see if things are still going great for another ultrasound. If you ever get in a situation where your kitty gets bladder stones or you are worried about your cat developing stones, I hope this information is helpful. I would have felt awful if I didn't do all I could to help her live her best kitty life she could possibly have.
Nosh Four. Workout Playlist of the Week.
Every kitty cat needs a playlist created in their honor, so here is to Lil g being healthy and able to get back into her physical fitness on Apple Music and Spotify.
Nosh Five. What I Love Right Now.
In the process of being the best kitty mom, my own Mom bought me the cutest house slippers. I thought they were the sweetest because of the name, BOBS. Bob is my Dad's name and he had the biggest heart for kitties. BOBS for Skechers partners with Best Friends Animal Society to help save the lives of dogs and cats in shelters across the country. Best Friends Animal Society is the only national animal welfare organization focused exclusively on ending the killing of dogs and cats in America's shelters. When someone purchased Bobs, Skechers will make a donation to support Best Friends many lifesaving initiatives that reduce the number of companion animals entering shelters and increasing adoption. To learn more about this cute shoes (they come in dog print too) go to BOBS from Skechers.
The other thing I love right now are these "Dietitian Approved" (and my favorite veggies) Petlinks Happy Harvest catnip toys. Lil g loves the radish, just like her mama.
Well I am off to mix up the crazy concoction known as dinner for Lil g. I am very lucky to have another day with my gangster kitty.
~AE
*All views and opinions on products, food and businesses in this blog post are my own and are not sponsored in any way. I just love to share great things!
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