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turning a male cat into a female



 
 
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  #14  
Old August 21st 03, 02:30 PM
LeeAnne
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Posts: n/a
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Have you tried changing the cat's diet? Look around on the internet for
info on this crystal problem and you may get some ideas of things you can
add/delete from the cat's diet to help break these things up and stop them
from reoccurring.

Good luck
LeeAnne

"No One But Me" wrote in message
...
Blankthis morning i took my cat, Joey (3 yrs old), to the vet for urinary
crystals. this is the second time in 2 months. in order to get a catheter

in
to drain his bladder which was completely full, they had to sedate him ...
and even then it took 1 hour just to get the catheter in!

when i talked to the vet this afternoon, she said Joey was a good

candidate
for an operation which will relieve him of the crystals but which will

turn
him into a girl. said he would never again have this problem if he had

that
operation. i told her that i wanted to give him that operation and she

said
she would make arrangements for it when Joey gets better & is no longer
inflamed.

has anyone ever heard of this?

barbara




  #15  
Old August 21st 03, 02:30 PM
LeeAnne
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Have you tried changing the cat's diet? Look around on the internet for
info on this crystal problem and you may get some ideas of things you can
add/delete from the cat's diet to help break these things up and stop them
from reoccurring.

Good luck
LeeAnne

"No One But Me" wrote in message
...
Blankthis morning i took my cat, Joey (3 yrs old), to the vet for urinary
crystals. this is the second time in 2 months. in order to get a catheter

in
to drain his bladder which was completely full, they had to sedate him ...
and even then it took 1 hour just to get the catheter in!

when i talked to the vet this afternoon, she said Joey was a good

candidate
for an operation which will relieve him of the crystals but which will

turn
him into a girl. said he would never again have this problem if he had

that
operation. i told her that i wanted to give him that operation and she

said
she would make arrangements for it when Joey gets better & is no longer
inflamed.

has anyone ever heard of this?

barbara




  #16  
Old August 23rd 03, 12:54 AM
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"LeeAnne" wrote in message ...


"No One But Me" wrote in message
...
Blankthis morning i took my cat, Joey (3 yrs old), to the vet for urinary
crystals. this is the second time in 2 months. in order to get a catheter

in
to drain his bladder which was completely full, they had to sedate him ...
and even then it took 1 hour just to get the catheter in!

when i talked to the vet this afternoon, she said Joey was a good

candidate
for an operation which will relieve him of the crystals but which will

turn
him into a girl. said he would never again have this problem if he had

that
operation. i told her that i wanted to give him that operation and she

said
she would make arrangements for it when Joey gets better & is no longer
inflamed.

has anyone ever heard of this?

barbara


Have you tried changing the cat's diet? Look around on the internet for
info on this crystal problem and you may get some ideas of things you can
add/delete from the cat's diet to help break these things up and stop them
from reoccurring.

Good luck
LeeAnne


Agreed...
Many moons ago, I had a tomcat that had a problem with crystals...
I know that Aryun already told me that watching the ash content in the
food was false, but that is what the first vet we took Pharoh to told
us to do... and it worked. He had one more incident of crystal
blockage a few years later when we slipped up on the diet thing, but
when we started watching it again, he never, ever got another crystal
blockage.

That vet told us to make sure that any canned food had an ash content
of less than 3%, and we used a dry food that was made for cats with
FUS. That was back when we were still feeding Hills CD.

Now that I'm overhauling my nutrition program again, time will tell...
:-)

Pharoh passed away in my arms about 8 years ago at age 15.
He never had to have any kind of surgery to control this problem!

Please, please try diet changes before doing this.
  #17  
Old August 23rd 03, 12:54 AM
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"LeeAnne" wrote in message ...


"No One But Me" wrote in message
...
Blankthis morning i took my cat, Joey (3 yrs old), to the vet for urinary
crystals. this is the second time in 2 months. in order to get a catheter

in
to drain his bladder which was completely full, they had to sedate him ...
and even then it took 1 hour just to get the catheter in!

when i talked to the vet this afternoon, she said Joey was a good

candidate
for an operation which will relieve him of the crystals but which will

turn
him into a girl. said he would never again have this problem if he had

that
operation. i told her that i wanted to give him that operation and she

said
she would make arrangements for it when Joey gets better & is no longer
inflamed.

has anyone ever heard of this?

barbara


Have you tried changing the cat's diet? Look around on the internet for
info on this crystal problem and you may get some ideas of things you can
add/delete from the cat's diet to help break these things up and stop them
from reoccurring.

Good luck
LeeAnne


Agreed...
Many moons ago, I had a tomcat that had a problem with crystals...
I know that Aryun already told me that watching the ash content in the
food was false, but that is what the first vet we took Pharoh to told
us to do... and it worked. He had one more incident of crystal
blockage a few years later when we slipped up on the diet thing, but
when we started watching it again, he never, ever got another crystal
blockage.

That vet told us to make sure that any canned food had an ash content
of less than 3%, and we used a dry food that was made for cats with
FUS. That was back when we were still feeding Hills CD.

Now that I'm overhauling my nutrition program again, time will tell...
:-)

Pharoh passed away in my arms about 8 years ago at age 15.
He never had to have any kind of surgery to control this problem!

Please, please try diet changes before doing this.
  #18  
Old August 23rd 03, 02:07 AM
Arjun Ray
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

In ,
) wrote:
| "LeeAnne" wrote in message ...

| Have you tried changing the cat's diet? Look around on the internet for
| info on this crystal problem

She already thinks she knows better.



| I know that Aryun already told me that watching the ash content in the
| food was false,

That isn't what I said. I said that "low ash" and "urinary health" are
marketing slogans, aimed at keeping *humans* in the cocoons of their own
convenience.

The *facts* are that struvite is a magnesium compound, and magnesium is
part of the "ash" (i.e. mineral) content of food. However, simply
reducing magnesium intake is not a cure-all, because minerals need to be
in proportion anyway for their proper absorption.

But there's more to it, much more.

First, struvite crystals form in relatively alkaline conditions only.
Normally, cat urine is quite acidic - this is a natural consequence of a
carnivorous regimen, meat being far more acidic in the byproducts of its
digestion and metabolism than vegetation. So, you also have to look at
why your cat's urine isn't acidic enough.

Second, simply acidifying food with supplements is not a general answer,
and in fact a potentially very dangerous thing to do. This is because
excessive acidity is *also* bad for cats. Here, the danger is (calcium)
oxalate crystals. They're worse than struvites, because they can't be
dissolved.

Third, cats concentrate their urine. Solutes buildup in the bladder is
how crystal precipitation (like leaching or sedimentation) can start in
the first place. Unfortunately, cats have a very weak instinctive drive
to drink water. If they didn't, they could drink enough and flush their
bladders more regularly, clearing solutes *before* they have a chance to
accumulate.

So, overall, you have to look at the rate at which the body tries to rid
itself of mineral solutes through the kidneys, and the rate at which the
disposal occurs as a result of adequate water intake.

Feeding dry food with lots of minerals is obviously the absolute worst.
Feeding canned food (which assures adequate hydration in healthy cats)
is unambiguously always better than feeding dry food.

So, as long as the "ash" content isn't dangerously unhealthy, you have
nothing to worry about as long as the cat ****es it out fast enough.
Barring other medical conditions, this *is* a sufficient answer.

  #19  
Old August 23rd 03, 02:07 AM
Arjun Ray
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

In ,
) wrote:
| "LeeAnne" wrote in message ...

| Have you tried changing the cat's diet? Look around on the internet for
| info on this crystal problem

She already thinks she knows better.



| I know that Aryun already told me that watching the ash content in the
| food was false,

That isn't what I said. I said that "low ash" and "urinary health" are
marketing slogans, aimed at keeping *humans* in the cocoons of their own
convenience.

The *facts* are that struvite is a magnesium compound, and magnesium is
part of the "ash" (i.e. mineral) content of food. However, simply
reducing magnesium intake is not a cure-all, because minerals need to be
in proportion anyway for their proper absorption.

But there's more to it, much more.

First, struvite crystals form in relatively alkaline conditions only.
Normally, cat urine is quite acidic - this is a natural consequence of a
carnivorous regimen, meat being far more acidic in the byproducts of its
digestion and metabolism than vegetation. So, you also have to look at
why your cat's urine isn't acidic enough.

Second, simply acidifying food with supplements is not a general answer,
and in fact a potentially very dangerous thing to do. This is because
excessive acidity is *also* bad for cats. Here, the danger is (calcium)
oxalate crystals. They're worse than struvites, because they can't be
dissolved.

Third, cats concentrate their urine. Solutes buildup in the bladder is
how crystal precipitation (like leaching or sedimentation) can start in
the first place. Unfortunately, cats have a very weak instinctive drive
to drink water. If they didn't, they could drink enough and flush their
bladders more regularly, clearing solutes *before* they have a chance to
accumulate.

So, overall, you have to look at the rate at which the body tries to rid
itself of mineral solutes through the kidneys, and the rate at which the
disposal occurs as a result of adequate water intake.

Feeding dry food with lots of minerals is obviously the absolute worst.
Feeding canned food (which assures adequate hydration in healthy cats)
is unambiguously always better than feeding dry food.

So, as long as the "ash" content isn't dangerously unhealthy, you have
nothing to worry about as long as the cat ****es it out fast enough.
Barring other medical conditions, this *is* a sufficient answer.

  #20  
Old August 23rd 03, 03:14 AM
Arjun Ray
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

In , Katra
wrote:
| Arjun Ray wrote:

| So, as long as the "ash" content isn't dangerously unhealthy, you have
| nothing to worry about as long as the cat ****es it out fast enough.
| Barring other medical conditions, this *is* a sufficient answer.

| So basically, she should quit feeding him dry food altogether and just
| switch him to a good quality canned diet only?

Right - the good quality will mean less ash and less (alkalizing) plant
material, and the wetness will assure that the cat pees enough to get
rid of waste products in a timely manner.

Basically, crystals arise due to bad pH balance, relatively excessive
mineral waste, and relatively inadequate hydration. See, e.g.

http://www.maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm

especially the section titled "Water Requirements". Here's a passage:

: Diet moisture content is related to the observation that cats fed
: dry food drink more than six times more water than cats fed canned
: food but that much of this water contributes to fecal moisture so
: that urine volume is lower and urine specific gravity higher in cats
: fed dry food. The urine concentration of all solutes, including
: potentially calculogenic crystalloids, depends on urine volume.
: Cats increase voluntary water intake when fed dry food but not in
: sufficient amounts to fully compensate for the lower moisture content
: of the food. In a recent study, cats consuming a diet containing 10%
: moisture with free access to drinking water had an average daily
: urine volume of 63 milliliters (ml). This volume increased to 112
: ml/day when fed a canned diet with a moisture content of 75%. Urine
: specific gravity was also higher in cats that were fed the low-
: moisture food. Decreased urine volume may be an important risk
: factor for the development of urolithiasis in cats. Diets that cause
: a decrease in total fluid turnover can result in decreased urine
: volume and increased urine concentration, both of which may
: contribute to urinary tract disease in cats. Several studies have
: shown that dry cat foods contribute to decreased fluid intake and
: urine volume.

 




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