Ok, so foster Fiona DOES have urinary stones :(

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Steph & Cuddles (GA)

Steph & Cuddles (GA)

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She had her vet checkup & weigh in today. It was her monthly checkup. I'm fostering her for AZ Maine Coon Rescue to help her lose weight. She came in at 18 lbs, and at today's visit, she weighed in at 15 lbs! :shock: Nice weight loss, but unfortunately, WAY too fast. :sad: She will NOT eat wet food. :sad:

They have her on a urinary wet food. Over the past 3 weeks or so, I've been trying to mix Friskies with the urinary food, and even just Friskies pate (my kitties' food) by itself. She may nibble on it, but then stops. I have some dry Purina One that I bought for a feral I feed at work.. so put some of the dry food over the wet food to see if she'd eat that. She picks the dry food off the top of the wet food. :roll: If I smush the dry food pieces into the wet food, she just won't eat it.. only eats the dry food that she can pick out easily. So I've been giving her some of the dry food to eat by itself.. I've been worried about her lack of eating, and her weight. I DON'T need to give them back a cat with hepatic lipidosis!

So tonight, I've tried grinding up some of the dry food, and sprinkle THAT over the wet food. Nibbled at it again, but that's it so far. :-| Need to hit the store & buy some parmesan cheese, and maybe some tuna to sprinkle on top or mix it with.

They did give me some of the Purina urinary dry food to try & sprinkle or mix that in with the wet food. To try & at least get some of the urinary DRY food into her, to try & get her to eat the urinary wet food. She definitely has a tortie attitude too.. I thought of maybe helping the obvious lack of moisture in her by giving some fluids. Brought that up to the vet today, but we both agreed that she would NOT like that at all. She had to be restrained & scruffed for the whole check-up today. :sad: She's really sweet as long as you don't do anything that she doesn't like. AND she got her temp taken in the EAR! And she still hissed at the tech! :o

Anyway.. just figured I'd post here since I just now found out that she really does have urinary/bladder stones, and not just crystals. They told me that the urinary formulas now help dissolve all types of stones.. so it doesn't really matter which kind of stones she has. But that it's imperative I get her eating wet food obviously.

*sigh* Cher was so easy since she likes ALL food that I set in front of her! Fiona... not so much. :YMSIGH:

Here's a pic of Fiona from this morning when I loaded her up on the way to the vet.



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Hi, Steph - long time, so read (ha, ha ha). Seriously, I'm sorry to hear that your foster has these issues. But, I can tell you that I agree - wet food would help a lot. Maybe if you just found a wet food she liked first and then tried to gradually switch over to the special food? Will she even consider raw?

I also agree that sub-Q fluids might be worth the effort - does the clothespin trick work at all to quiet her? Or can you get one of those nice little restraining bags? (Not optimal I know, but you are trying to help her physical condition.

It took me three months to get poor Trouble to learn that wet food was, in fact, good to eat. He thought it belonged in the litter box. Part of the problem for him was his sensitive stomach and I really had to figure out what he could eat that didn't make him feel bad. I apologize if you've already done all of this already - I know you have a lot of experience. I'll be thinking of you! Laura
 
Thanks Jeanne & Laura!

I do appreciate you weighing in Laura.. I did think of the clothespin trick, but she's SO fat (er.. 'fluffy') that no clothespin would fit on her scruff. :razz: I'd have to hold her scruff w/ one hand, while trying to give fluids with the other. And if I don't KEEP scruffing her while I'm doing whatever, she'll turn & try to nip.. while hissing, etc etc..! Oh, and I keep forgetting that she's front declawed too. Maybe that's why she tries to nip/bite? 2 of my kitties are declawed, and they never try to bite.. but I've always 'heard' that can happen when they don't have claws.

She IS a tortie maine coon too. I asked the vet about Maine Coons, and she said most of them ARE very feisty like that when they come into the vet (or doing something to them they don't like). I always thought Maine Coons were very relaxed & didn't really care about much.. but the vet said some are.. but the highest percentage DO make it known they don't like it! She's the vet that AZ Maine Coon Rescue uses. Fosters bring the kitty in, and the vet charges the rescue for the visit & meds, etc..

They DID give me some cypro to try though. I thought that maybe if she's hungry enough, she'll start eating whatever I put in front of her?? I'll have to start that tonight to see if it makes a difference. Almost forgot they gave that to me! Until she does start eating wet food on a regular basis though, I was seriously considering (& still am) the fluids. They asked me if she was doing anything abnormal too.. drinking too much, etc.. and I said no! If anything though, she's not drinking ENOUGH! You know if you give a cat dry food, they start drinking water? But when they eat wet food, you don't see them drinking hardly at all! Well even with dry food, she doesn't seem to drink water. :/ That's probably how she got into trouble with the stones.

So basically, if I want to try other wet foods that AREN'T prescription, I'll have to buy them on my own. All the rescue can provide, is food that the vet will give me. They're charged by the vet. So if I want to try other wet foods, I'm on my own to go buy them from Petsmart, etc.. :YMSIGH: I know it's not all THAT expensive.. but still. I took her on with one of the conditions that I didn't have to spend anything out of pocket. So now I also have to go to the store to buy tuna, parmesan cheese, and anything else I may think that will help to sprinkle on top of the wet food.

Anyway.. I really appreciate the tips & just using this as a sounding board! I've never dealt with a cat with stones.. much less one that wouldn't touch wet food! :roll: I feel SOOO out of my element with Fiona, and not sure what to try! I'm TRYING my hardest to 'work my magic' - but seriously.. my 'magic' with Cher was to just switch her to wet Friskies. :roll: If kitty won't eat wet food, I HAVE no magic! :shock:

Thanks for responding guys! & if anyone thinks of anything else, please share!
 
I never heard of any way to dissolve oxalate stones. You can dissolve struvite stones by acidifying the urine. However, it you do it too much you risk the formation of oxalate stones.
 
Larry and Kitties said:
I never heard of any way to dissolve oxalate stones. You can dissolve struvite stones by acidifying the urine. However, it you do it too much you risk the formation of oxalate stones.
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This vet office told me that the new urinary foods they have out dissolve BOTH kinds of stones..? Or maybe it only dissolves one type of stone.. but they said that they don't need to know which KIND of stones they have anymore, because the same food takes care of both types. They gave me more of the Royal Canin urinary food, but also Purina's urinary food too, since she was more interested in Purina Friskies. Thought maybe she likes Purina foods more than the others..
 
Hi Steph

Stones need to be removed by surgery, basically. Struvite stones can usually be dissolved with a specific diet, but generally the treatment for actual bladder stones is surgery. The SO, c/d multi diets are made to inhibit crystal formation, balance pH, etc.

When is the last time she ate a good meal? I assume you've checked out Dr. Lisa's page on switching cats to canned food, recently? She has a lot of suggestions there.

Here's the thing: she doesn't like canned SO. I would contact the rescue ppl tomorrow and tell them this. She doesn't like it, doesn't want to eat it, won't eat it, and can't be made to consume it except by feeding tube. I didn't like oatmeal when I was young and wouldn't have eaten it if it had pieces of pancake in it, or gummy bears, etc. So they need to work out a food exchange here. She needs to have a wet food that she likes, and in the meantime she needs to keep consuming some dry food because she will get sick if she doesn't. Yes she needs to consume water, yes she needs to be off dry food, but the reality now is that she is not being tube- or force-fed and will only eat dry food on her own. You can work on the switch but need to maintain some food intake in the meantime, esp. in a fatty that has lost three pounds in the past few weeks.

Have you tried any gravy foods, like the FF grilled? If you can find what she likes, you can ask for something specific from the rescue people....
 
Thanks Jess! I just realized I DO have some Friskies in gravy that I haven't returned to Petsmart yet.. so will dig that out tonight to see if she'll eat it.

I'll be stopping by the store (hopefully) tomorrow after work, so will be picking up some stuff to help. When I get worried that she's not eating enough, then I do give her a little bit of dry food to munch on next to the wet food (or just sprinkle more dry food over the wet so she can eat more of that). I know she's not really supposed to lose anymore weight.. so at this point, I'm just trying to keep her weight stable, then work on slowly getting her over to wet food. I just don't understand, because she WAS eating the Royal Canin urinary wet food at the vet's office! She was eating it pretty well here too, for a couple of weeks before she just realized she didn't like it anymore! I think she's maybe just a diva that isn't going to accept the same food given to her for any length of time! :roll: They told me that's how they got her to eat that food though.. mixing the dry food with the wet food.
 
The CD is Purina right? I did get her to munch on a Whiskas filet minon flavor tray last night. Didn't finish it, but ate more than she usually does! I may just need to go back to the basics & mix some dry food in all the wet food to take the transition a little slower.. and at least she'll get a little bulk in there w/ the dry food.
 
This vet office told me that the new urinary foods they have out dissolve BOTH kinds of stones..?
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Hi Steph,

I have not read this thread but I assume that others have told you that this is not true.
 
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