 Purred: Sun Apr 10, '11 7:06am PST |
 | |  | | IMO, the fact that his difficulty breathing happened when you changed litter is probably just a coincidence, if he hasn't had a problem with other litter. If it's not better, or gets worse by tonight I'd get him into the vet's office Monday. There's a tiny, tiny possibility he's allergic to the herbal component of Dr Elsey's, but it is an all natural litter and so it would be really odd for that to be the case.
Miss Edith, (sorry--I am picking on you AGAIN, but I am a science nerd and I'm picky about how evidence is presented!) that case report (not the same thing as a case study!)says you did not mention that that there was a followup to that case repot (which only involves one cat). It mentions that the cat chronically ATE litter, and that the litter was Tidy Cat, which contains additives. It takes quite a lot of clay to poison a person or animal. So a grain or two a day isn't cause for concern. You may know this, but you may be too young; in the past, even when I was a kid, it was common for poor people to eat various types of clay. It was due to a craving for certain minerals they were not getting. In extreme cases, eating too much could poison them. I suspect that might be what happened to the kitty in the case report, but I'm getting off track. Here's the response to the case study that was published. ALWAYS keep in mind when you read these things, if they are merely a report of a one-time incident, that is not the same as in depth scientific research!
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These letters were published in the Journal of Veterinary and Human Toxicology, Vol. 39, No. 3, June 1997.
Dear Editor,
This letter is written in response to a case report published in your journal: "Suspected Bentonite Toxicosis in a Cat from Ingestion of Clay Cat Litter" (October 1996). It was sent to me by Sorptive Minerals Institute, a trade association based in Washington, DC which represents the marketers and manufacturers of clay-based litters.
In my opinion, there was no evidence presented which supports the authors' conclusions that the ingestion of bentonite was causative of the cat’s problems and there was extensive evidence that it was not. Below are specific inconsistencies in the report that call the author's conclusions into question.
—99% bentonite litter is not TIDY CAT~ Lowe's Incorporated South Bend, IN. The case report is mistitled at best.
—"By that afternoon the cat was eating solid food and urinating normally. The following day the cat was active, alert and eating." The cited case reports of hypokalemia and anemia associated with clay ingestion in humans (see references 1-3) took 3 days to resolve, and required iv supplementation with potassium.
—K = 3.1 m Eq/L (normal 4.0-6.0). This is compatible with mild hypokalemia. The authors do not report any clinical cardiac abnormalities referable to potassium deficiency: no tachycardia, no irregular pulse. The human cases cited had much lower serum K levels when they were presented with clinical signs (1.5-1.9 m Eq/L).
—4% reticulocyte count. The implication is that the anemia is regenerative. However, this value was not corrected for the degree of anemia. When corrected, the reticulocyte count becomesEdited by author Sun Apr 10, '11 7:23am PST
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