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Gabriel's Gems

Why is it...?

Why is it just when you get really comfortable in a spot, some human comes along and wants to sit or lay down right where you're already at? When this happens I go limp like my breed's floppy doll namesake and try my best to make it difficult enough for the human to move me that the human will choose to sit elsewhere. Unfortunately, what usually happens is first the human threatens to sit on me, then when that threat fails to move me, the human will assault my dignity by shoving me out of the way.

Hey humans, when there's a whole chair/couch/bed for you to sit/lay down on, why do you have to pick the spot where the cat is already at?

The Importance Of Catching Feline Urinary Medical Problems- Quickly

FUS is now called FLUTD (Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease). The older term, Feline urologic syndrome (FUS) was renamed to discourage the perception that the clinical signs seen represent one disease with one cause.

The most common early symptoms of urinary medical problems in cats include:
Urinating outside of the litter box
Urinating more frequently than normal
Urinating smaller amount than normal
Difficulty passing urine
Blood in the urine

Note: IF YOUR CAT IS UNABLE TO URINATE AT ALL, THIS IS A LIFE THREATENING MEDICAL EMERGENCY & YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST IMMEDIATELY RUSH YOUR CAT TO YOUR VETERINARIAN OR TO THE NEAREST VETERINARY EMERGENCY CLINIC AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.

A cat with a urinary problem usually although not always, shows signs of being uncomfortable, restless, and in pain. It's very common for a housecat with urinary problems to urinate on something in front of you to try to show you he or she has a problem. The time my mother's cat had his first FLUTD attack, she was lying down on the living room floor reading the newspaper and he came in and urinated on the newspaper right in front of her. She saw the blood in his urine, called me, and I came and took him to the vet for treatment.

When one of my brother's cats first developed FLUTD, the cat jumped up onto the kitchen counter and urinated on the countertop right in front of my brother. My brother saw the bloody urine, called me to ask what to do, I advised him to take the cat to the vet ASAP, and off to the vet they went. The cat I had years ago with urinary problems first showed me he had bloody urine and a problem by urinating on the linoleum kitchen floor in front of me. He did the same thing when he had a second FUS attack. Once a cat has had one FLUTD attack, there's a tendency for that same cat to have subsequent attacks. In my own personal observations, FLUTD attacks seem to occur most often within the time period from November through March. I've also seen a number of web articles stating FLUTD tends to appear more frequently in winter than other seasons.

Note: IF YOUR CAT IS UNABLE TO URINATE AT ALL, THIS IS A LIFE THREATENING MEDICAL EMERGENCY & YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST IMMEDIATELY RUSH YOUR CAT TO YOUR VETERINARIAN OR TO THE NEAREST VETERINARY EMERGENCY CLINIC AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.

Resources for FLUTD information
http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/Pages/Nonobstru ct_FLUTD_Web.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_lower_ urinary_tract_disease
http://www.2ndchance.info/fus.htm
ht tp://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/feline_lower_urinary_tra ct_disease.htm

If you have a cat who pees outside the litter pan, the very first thing you want to do is determine whether or not the cat has a medical issue causing the problem. The only good way to monitor your cat & determine whether he has a problem, even if you have only one cat in your house, is to confine the cat in a small space (a bathroom will work as long as there's no carpet) in a way that allows you to monitor the cat's eating, drinking, urination, and defecation.

The way I set up a crate and litter pan with the white paper towels makes it easy for me to see how much the cat is eating, drinking, defecating, and urinating and whether or not there is blood in the urine. I keep the crate in a spot where it's very easy for me to observe whats going on with the cat as I go back and forth between rooms doing other things.

When your kitty gets sick, the sooner you take him or her to the vet, get the problem diagnosed, and get the cat started on the proper treatment:
The more likely your kitty is to recover fully
The faster your kitty will recover
The less expensive your vet bills are likely to be

If you're dealing with a chronic illness requiring long-term maintenance medication etc, the sooner you get your kitty diagnosed by the vet and started on appropriate treatment/maintenance/etc, the more likely it is that your kitty will respond positively to treatment and the better your chances for maintenance treatment to succeed keeping your kitty in fairly good health over the long term.

Waiting and doing nothing about a kitty's illness, hoping he might recover on his own, or failing to take action to get the kitty proper veterinary care within a reasonable (short) time period will result in a much sicker kitty, bigger vet bills, and a more unpredictable, possibly negative, outcome.

Gabriel is much improved now. In fact there's almost no blood in his urine at all now. There is a normal amount of wetness in his litter pan. He obviously feels much better. He's drinking well and eating VERY well. He really likes the Purina One urinary diet. I was advised that as long as he continues to have an uncomplicated recovery, to simply continue keeping him on the antibiotics, urinary acidifier, and urinary diet.

The main reason Gabe is doing so well so quickly is that I caught the problem early and Gabe started receiving proper treatment for it early. As soon as I saw him pee on the floor day before yesterday, I sponged up the urine with a white paper towel, saw it was blood tinged, confined him to a crate set up in a way that allowed me to easily see how much he was urinating, what his urine looked like, monitor his eating/drinking, feed him the urinary diet food, and easily give him his antibiotics and urinary acidifier; and gave him an antibiotic and urinary acidifier. Had Gabe been unable to urinate or had he been acting obviously ill, I would have rushed him to the vet on Sunday without waiting til Monday.

However since Gabe was able to urinate, was obviously feeling fairly well, he was drinking adequate water and I had already started him on key components to successful treatment-the right antibiotic, a urinary acidifier, and a urinary diet; I waited until yesterday-Monday when vets offices are open, to have him vetted.

Today Gabriel acts like he feels fine. By tomorrow his urine probably will appear normal without any blood in it. However, I will continue to keep him on his course of antibiotics as long as the vet recommended. It's a huge mistake to ever discontinue antibiotics any sooner than the vet tells you.

Although an animal visibly improves before the time the course of antibiotics
is due to be finished, some bacteria still remain in the animal's system. IF ONE MAKES THE MISTAKE OF DISCONTINUING ANTIBIOTICS TOO EARLY, THAT LEAVES THOSE FEW STRONGEST, MOST RESISTANT BACTERIA ALIVE to thrive and multiply. THIS IS HOW ANTIBIOTIC/DRUG-RESISTANT STRAINS OF BACTERIA ARE CREATED.

ALWAYS CONTINUE GIVING THE FULL COURSE OF ANTIBIOTICS IN THE DOSAGE AMOUNTS FOR THE FULL LENGTH OF TIME EXACTLY AS PRESCRIBED BY THE VET. NEVER GIVE A SMALLER DOSE THAN THE VET TELLS YOU TO GIVE & NEVER DISCONTINUE ANTIBIOTICS EARLIER ON YOUR OWN!!!!

First Things First: Handling Inappropriate Urination

Last night, I caught Gabriel walking away from a fresh puddle of urine on the carpet. This was the very first time I ever saw Gabriel ever relieve himself outside of the litter pan. So often, when a cat who normally has been clean suddenly starts urinating in places other than the litter pan, he or she is trying to tell you there's a problem. Often that problem is an attack of FUS or other urinary problem. One should never assume a cat's inappropriate urination is a bad behavior problem until after medical problems have been ruled out. One certainly should never get mad at the cat, get rid of it, pitch it outside, or do anything else negative to the cat.

This is the first way I handle the situation when a cat starts urinating inappropriately. Gabe's puddle was fairly normal in size so I knew there's no immediate emergency. (If a male cat is straining & NOT getting any urine out, this is a life-threatening medical emergency & the cat must see a vet immediately. Male cats have a narrow urethra which can become plugged so the cat is unable to urinate. If the obstruction isn't relieved ASAP, the cat will die a miserable painful death. Female cats get FUS & other urinary problems too but because they have a much wider urethra they almost never become plugged.)

I lined the floor of an extra large dog crate with white paper towels, lined the bottom of a litter pan with white paper towels, put a small amount of litter into the pan on top of the paper towels, put a bowl of fresh water & food in the crate, & put Gabe in the crate for observation. The ONLY way to really see what a cat is eating & drinking, how much its urinating & whether or not its urine is normal or abnormal, is to confine the cat.

Lining the crate floor with white paper towels & putting white paper towels in the bottom of Gabe's litter pan with only a small amount of litter enables me to make sure Gabe is urinating, putting out a reasonably normal amount of urine & also enables me to see the color of his urine more easily.

This morning when I checked Gabe, I found he had eaten all his food & left me a "gift" of urine in his empty food bowl. I took a white paper towel, wiped out his food bowl with it, & saw his urine is slightly blood-tinged-confirming that he does have a urinary problem.

I then gave Gabe a bowl of a special dry urinary diet I have to feed Milo (an elderly shaded silver Persian who also has been having intermittent FUS problems this winter), an antibiotic & an urinary acidifier. Until this winter, the last time I had a cat with FUS was in the very early 80s. Then early this winter, Milo the old shaded silver Persian urinated blood in front of me to show me he had FUS. His problems were resolved with medical treatment although they tried to recur two more times until I put him on the Purina One urinary diet. After having him on a couple of other urinary diets I now feed him Purina One Special Care Urinary Tract Health Formula. Milo so far hasn't had another FUS attack since he's been on the Purina One urinary diet.

Having a fairly good-sized multiple cat household, I keep common medical items such as a broad spectrum antibiotic on hand at all times. Ever since Milo had his first FUS attack earlier this winter, I also keep a urinary acidifier on hand &Hopefully Gabe's urinary problem will clear up & he won't have any more problems either.

Cats tend to be picky about drinking water, they like their water fresh. Frequently changing the drinking water helps encourage a cat to drink more water. As long as Gabe is well hydrated, drinking normally & urinating a reasonable amount, I'll wait til tomorrow before vetting him. In the meantime I'm keeping him under careful observation.