Request herbal info for bladder spasms (senior lady)

"SandeeK" wrote in message
...
Hello.
Our elderly neighbor was put in a nursing home and her children came
to her house, packed the furniture and put their Mom's 15 year old +
calico cat on the street. I have taken her in. She's a very loving lap
kitty and very prone to stress-related urinary difficulties.


Your cat probably has Feline Interstitial Cystitis (FIC) which is usually
aggravated by stress and dry food. FIC is usually caused by a defect in the
glycosaminoglycan (GAG) layer that coats the bladder wall (epithelium) that
allows urine to penetrate the lining of the bladder and induce inflammation.



The vet
always gives her 6-week courses of anti-biotic therapy and a drug
(diazepam?) that makes her so groggy she can't walk. I give her half
of the dose and it still makes her miserable and so weak.


Diazepam (Valium) has been known to cause liver failure in cats. I strongly
suggest you find another vet. You might want to try using a Feliway
Diffuser to help keep her stress level down. If she absolutely must have a
drug for stress, amitriptyline would be a much better choice than valium.
Amitriptyline also has analgesic properties which should help with her pain.
However, most cats with FIC can be successfully managed simply by feeding
only canned food and a GAG supplement such as Cosquin to help restore the
integrity of the bladder wall.



Even with
this pain and discomfort she insists on being inside the potty box.
She strains to get up for water or potty; it's stressful, she gets
worse and weaker every time she gets sick.


FIC can cause bladder/pelvic pain.



The vet says that's the
only thing to give her. He is strictly traditional and won't discuss
any alternative treatments.


The first order of business is find another vet whose is experienced in
treating interstitial cystitis in cats.




Fortunately, this last time she has been
well over a year until this week. She does not have an infection, the
blood eventually goes away and her urinary functions return to her
normal level if I can keep her well hydrated,


The key to treating (and avoiding) urinary tract disorders- and especially
FIC in cats is feeding only *canned* food. Cats fed canned food have higher
water intakes and urine volumes than cats fed dry food even though cats fed
dry food drink more water- which is lost to fecal moisture. A higher urine
volume dilutes the noxious substances in the urine that cause inflammation.
Increased urine volume also results in more frequent urination which reduces
the amount of time urine is in contact with the bladder wall. Frequent
urination also eliminates crystalline particles before they aggregate or
accrete into larger crystals that can irritate and inflame- and even cut the
bladder wall.



on her vits and meds and
her body and bladder CALM for about a week. I found Pet-Eze and give
her 1/2 a tablet which reduces her stress for a few hours and reduces
her potty box runs to every hour. The pill down the throat is
stressful for her. I get the liquid antibiotics as she does much
better with a few drops of liquids over the top of her tongue. I just
don't know what herbs will work for felines to reduce bladder spasms,
or, simply calming her overall would be beneficial.


Antibiotics won't help reduce bladder spasms and they can wreak havoc on the
gut flora. Bacterial UTIs are actually quite rare in cats because cats have
very strong host defense mechanisms in the urinary tract. However, FIC
causes a nervous sensation that mimics the sensation of a full bladder. The
nervous impulses that control the urge to urinate are constantly stimulated
so that she has the urge to urinate whether her bladder is full or empty.
If her bladder is empty she'll strain to urinate because she feels like she
has to pee. Bleeding often arises from tearing the bladder wall from
straining to urinate. When the inflammation subsides she doesn't strain to
urinate- that's why the bleeding stops.




If anyone has a short-term liquid herbal therapy protocol that has
been helpful for related matters, please let me know so I can check it
out.
I would be deeply grateful for any info that may help this little
girl, she is quite the trooper and she's having a hard time.
Thanks for your time.


FIC comes and goes on its on (self-limiting) that's why is difficult to tell
which treatments actually work. However, I can say with *absolute*
certainty from many years experience that feeding *only* canned food and a
GAG supplement will certainly reduce if not eliminate the symptoms and
increase the intervals between episodes if not eliminate the episodes
completely.

Please find a different vet as soon as possible.

Best of luck,

Phil

A very special thank you to each of you, I have learned so much and
know that Tinker will be a happier cat because of the wonderful people
in this group. I am certainly a much happier care-giver tonight
because of the goodness in the hearts of each of you who helped us.

She will not ever go back to that vet, I will use the list so kindly
provided here to find someone close to us. It angers me that he gave
her an inappropriate drug when I specifically asked him about the
dangers because of her age. I did try to research some of this, he
told me it was FUS and the only therapy was the antibiotics. they
didn't stop the bleeding, it just turned very pale pink, she probably
didn't even need the surgery. What a quack.
I will indeed order this Cosequin, probably from vedmeddirect.
I have Feliway running in the one room where she is most of the time.
We have three drinking fountains in the house, two are on their second
pump.
She eats canned Nature's recipe, the local PetSmart stopped carrying
the Old Mother Hubbard foods. I will eliminate her small dry snack
unless she stops eating, and I'll try baby food lamb with Ester C,
rice cereal and slippery elm before going back to her snack. I adapted
this for sick kitties from a book by a lady that feeds only raw foods
to dogs (and cats) and treats them all naturally.
She has access to a safe outdoor cattery we built and personal safe
havens in every room she likes.
I use regular potty boxes wtih natural clay litter spread on a few
sheets of folded newsprint and it is changed every a.m. and p.m., and
we have one more than the number of cat members of the family. The
pans are on an extra wide utility shelf at a comfortable height for
the bottom two units.
The only known stressor is her Dad went away. She sleeps on his lap
every off-duty night after dinner and before bed, and she sleeps in
the bed with him, on his side. I'm embarrassed that I didn't think of
putting an article of clothing out for her. I know that trick! I did
it immediately upon reading the hint.
The reason I'm embarrassed is that for miles around, people bring the
kitties that need help. We have a very cat (and dog)-friendly house
and we care for them and find homes (usually). She was too ill and
then simply too wonderful to give up. She has brought a lot of love,
beauty and joy into our home. My husband and I consider it our good
fortune to have her.

It is also our good fortune to have the internet and have such caring
and considerate people in this group. I thank each of you from the
bottom of my heart for your thoughtfulness in taking your time and
effort to be of help to Tinker and me. My deepest gratitude - Sandee

On 2005-10-10 22:23:36 -0500, SandeeK said:

A very special thank you to each of you, I have learned so much and
know that Tinker will be a happier cat because of the wonderful people
in this group. I am certainly a much happier care-giver tonight
because of the goodness in the hearts of each of you who helped us.

She will not ever go back to that vet, I will use the list so kindly
provided here to find someone close to us. It angers me that he gave
her an inappropriate drug when I specifically asked him about the
dangers because of her age. I did try to research some of this, he
told me it was FUS and the only therapy was the antibiotics. they
didn't stop the bleeding, it just turned very pale pink, she probably
didn't even need the surgery. What a quack.
I will indeed order this Cosequin, probably from vedmeddirect.
I have Feliway running in the one room where she is most of the time.
We have three drinking fountains in the house, two are on their second
pump.
She eats canned Nature's recipe, the local PetSmart stopped carrying
the Old Mother Hubbard foods. I will eliminate her small dry snack
unless she stops eating, and I'll try baby food lamb with Ester C,
rice cereal and slippery elm before going back to her snack. I adapted
this for sick kitties from a book by a lady that feeds only raw foods
to dogs (and cats) and treats them all naturally.
She has access to a safe outdoor cattery we built and personal safe
havens in every room she likes.
I use regular potty boxes wtih natural clay litter spread on a few
sheets of folded newsprint and it is changed every a.m. and p.m., and
we have one more than the number of cat members of the family. The
pans are on an extra wide utility shelf at a comfortable height for
the bottom two units.
The only known stressor is her Dad went away. She sleeps on his lap
every off-duty night after dinner and before bed, and she sleeps in
the bed with him, on his side. I'm embarrassed that I didn't think of
putting an article of clothing out for her. I know that trick! I did
it immediately upon reading the hint.
The reason I'm embarrassed is that for miles around, people bring the
kitties that need help. We have a very cat (and dog)-friendly house
and we care for them and find homes (usually). She was too ill and
then simply too wonderful to give up. She has brought a lot of love,
beauty and joy into our home. My husband and I consider it our good
fortune to have her.

It is also our good fortune to have the internet and have such caring
and considerate people in this group. I thank each of you from the
bottom of my heart for your thoughtfulness in taking your time and
effort to be of help to Tinker and me. My deepest gratitude - Sandee

Wow. I sure wish there were more people like you and your husband in the world.

SandeeK wrote:
She eats canned Nature's recipe, the local PetSmart stopped carrying
the Old Mother Hubbard foods. I will eliminate her small dry snack
unless she stops eating, and I'll try baby food lamb with Ester C,
rice cereal and slippery elm before going back to her snack. I adapted
this for sick kitties from a book by a lady that feeds only raw foods
to dogs (and cats) and treats them all naturally.

There is a store called Pet Supplies Plus that usually will carry the
better foods, if you have one in your area. I believe they have a
store locator at their website. Good idea about the slippery elm. It
can be very soothing to the mucosa. I have a recipe that someone gave
me. If you're interested, I would be happy to send it to you. Just
email me at Mickey4Paws at Anonymous dot com.

Sandee, it sounds like you're a wonderful caregiver and I'm so happy
that Tinker has found such a wonderful person

Warm regards,

Lauren
(and Mickey & Meesha)
Raise Your Paw for Raw!

See my cats: http://tinyurl.com/76tg8

Many Thanks again to each of you, Tinker is much better, her tiny
bright red spot for urine is now clear and the size of a quarter and
getting bigger every day. She is resting better and her pain and
discomfort level is so much better, thanks to you kind people.

The liquid herbal extracts that started helping her: Saw Palmetto
Berries, it is a natural way to relieve bladder spasms. She weighs six
pounds I read to give one drop per 2 lbs. I give her three drops a.m.
and p.m. along with 3 of Oregon Grape. She also has a 250 mg vit c
w/rosehips tablet once a day down her throat. ALso mix a tiny bit of
Natrol Ester-C powder in her wet food.

Best of all, her Dad's back home after 32 days and she's on the lap
nap routine. That's probably the best medicine.

Thanks again for the many kindnesses and helpful info.

Sandee the Lucky Mom