Need Advice Quickly - Zeus Has A Urinary Blockage, please send prayers Options

[Zita'sMom]

My thread is at Goodbye Rosie Goodbye Family, but I really need all your prayers.

My last 5 year old cat Zeus cat threw up late last night and wasn't purring so I knew he wasn't feeling well. He didn't eat this morning so I phoned the vet. He was acting totally normal until late last night.

He has a urinary blockage and is undergoing surgery. He is 5 years old. I've had a lot of losses, and I really need him to pull through this. The vet said that he may have kidney damage. He appeared really healthy until this.

Unfortunately it's a long weekend and they need me to decide whether to bring him home, to leave him at a different vet's office, one I've never been to, or take him to another city for 24 hour hospitalization. The local vet's office does not have 24 hour surveillance, and I'm tempted to bring him home. But on the other hand, I'm not sure about what complications there could be - does anyone have advice on this?

Need some advice quickly...

thanks

Jan.

[Nemo's Mommy]

Hey Jan,

Hope Zeus is doing well! I would just be very wary of presciption diets. I am assuming you are referring to Hills? Personally, I wouldn't feed my cat anything made by Hill's or Science Diet. They are one of the worst foods out there, content wise. They usuallly have a lot of corn, by-products, and high carbs. I think they also use those toxic preservatives BHA and BHT. I would look at the label. Here's a brief article that talks about Hills (who makes prescription and science diet) http://www.ourdogsonline.com/content/sciencedietscam.html

I am a little worried they are feeding you a low-protein diet, which is totally unappealing to cats. It causes more problems then it helps. And the whole low protein thing was studied on dogs, not cats. It's more important for you cat to get good quality high protein canned or raw diet. If you are worried about kidney problems, your vet can prescribe a phosphate binder to go in the food, and I believe there are even some home recipes to make a phosphate binder.

Plus, when you feed your cat a diet that is supposed to attack one type of crystal, it often causes the other type.

From
http://www.fabcats.org/owners/flutd/info.html

[i]Altering the diet is the easiest way to modify the urine. Previously, much interest has been placed on changing the acidity, magnesium, and calcium content of the urine. However, it is now believed that the single most important factor is the rate of water turnover. The aim is therefore to increase water turnover and dilute any noxious components within the urine. Rather than altering the content of a dry diet, it makes much more sense to simply feed a wet one!

There is an excellent book called "Your cat- Simple new secrets to a longer, stronger life by Elizabeth M. Hodgkins, DVM. It one of the best books I have read about cat care, and the most up to date health information and treatments for cats.

Just some info I thought you might find useful.

Keep us updated on dear Zeus.
~NM

[Zita'sMom]

Hey Jan,

Hope Zeus is doing well! I would just be very wary of presciption diets. I am assuming you are referring to Hills? Personally, I wouldn't feed my cat anything made by Hill's or Science Diet. They are one of the worst foods out there, content wise. They usuallly have a lot of corn, by-products, and high carbs. I think they also use those toxic preservatives BHA and BHT. I would look at the label.

Hi Nemo's Mom

I haven't checked on all your links yet, but he's not on Hill's. It's Medi Cal Dissolution Formula, both canned and in a package. The first ingredients are meats but I will check the label more closely.

I wish Zeus was the only issue I had right now so I could look into everything more closely.

The vet insists this is the right diet for him right now, but I have no doubt there is something better than canned or packaged. I need to still work closely with my vet since Zeus is still in the danger zone.

On the up side of things, he is purring and happy and looks like his total normal self right now. And no worries about meat content because he got outside the other day and caught something. I don't know what but it was fleshy because he puked it up later. Charming. But he is peeing normally right now and acting like his happy self, so hopefully he is okay and doesn't have long term damage. Crossing my fingers!

I'm still interested in holistic solutions but I wish I had help from a local vet for this too. At this very point in time I'm just not able to do a lot of reading and research, but I will check into all that you post here.

take care and thanks so much everyone for the info.

Jan.