UH OH Persia

I got her a soft cozy mat to lay on and set it down last night. She sniffed
it and took her time getting on it; she wasn't quite used to it but I
figured she'd like it.

Just a few minutes ago she hovered over it and I thought she was trying to
defecate on it. What came out was bright red blood! (gasp) Just a few
spots, but OMG, blood!

I'm currently in "rush her to the animal hospital" mode. But while she was
fine just wandering around with me a minute ago, she saw me put on my coat
and I guess that tipped her off. Either that, or she can sense my
underlying panic. She'd under the bed. It's a king-sized bed; no way I can
get her out. So right now I'm just biding my time acting like everything is
normal so she'll come out and I can pop her into the carrier and be on my
way. Dammit.

No, she has not eaten anything she shouldn't. She hasn't been acting
strangely. She wanted her Fancy Feast this morning and got it. She's been
playing and chatting at me, acting quite normal. Not like she doesn't feel
well. But that blood has me freaked out.

Okay Persia, time to come out from under the bed so I can take you to the
hospital. Come on!!!!!!!!

Jill

Purrs for Persia on the way. Perhaps you can use a broom or something to
push her out from under the bed?

--
Victor Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

jmcquown wrote:
I got her a soft cozy mat to lay on and set it down last night. She
sniffed it and took her time getting on it; she wasn't quite used to
it but I figured she'd like it.

Just a few minutes ago she hovered over it and I thought she was
trying to defecate on it. What came out was bright red blood! (gasp)
Just a few spots, but OMG, blood!

I'm currently in "rush her to the animal hospital" mode. But while
she was fine just wandering around with me a minute ago, she saw me
put on my coat and I guess that tipped her off. Either that, or she
can sense my underlying panic. She'd under the bed. It's a king-
sized bed; no way I can get her out. So right now I'm just biding my
time acting like everything is normal so she'll come out and I can
pop her into the carrier and be on my way. Dammit.

No, she has not eaten anything she shouldn't. She hasn't been acting
strangely. She wanted her Fancy Feast this morning and got it.
She's been playing and chatting at me, acting quite normal. Not like
she doesn't feel well. But that blood has me freaked out.

Okay Persia, time to come out from under the bed so I can take you to
the hospital. Come on!!!!!!!!

Jill

Purrs that Persia will be OK.
--
Adrian
A House Is Not A Home, Without A Cat.

On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 09:08:42 -0600, "jmcquown"
wrote:

I got her a soft cozy mat to lay on and set it down last night. She sniffed
it and took her time getting on it; she wasn't quite used to it but I
figured she'd like it.

Just a few minutes ago she hovered over it and I thought she was trying to
defecate on it. What came out was bright red blood! (gasp) Just a few
spots, but OMG, blood!

I'm currently in "rush her to the animal hospital" mode. But while she was
fine just wandering around with me a minute ago, she saw me put on my coat
and I guess that tipped her off. Either that, or she can sense my
underlying panic. She'd under the bed. It's a king-sized bed; no way I can
get her out. So right now I'm just biding my time acting like everything is
normal so she'll come out and I can pop her into the carrier and be on my
way. Dammit.

No, she has not eaten anything she shouldn't. She hasn't been acting
strangely. She wanted her Fancy Feast this morning and got it. She's been
playing and chatting at me, acting quite normal. Not like she doesn't feel
well. But that blood has me freaked out.

Okay Persia, time to come out from under the bed so I can take you to the
hospital. Come on!!!!!!!!

Jill

That is so scary. The Allons furkids are sending 'get out from under
the bed' purrs to Persia and calming purrs to her meowmie.

Purrs and hugs,

Nan

jmcquown wrote:
thought she was
trying to defecate on it. What came out was bright red blood! (gasp)
Just a few spots, but OMG, blood!

She's under the bed. It's a
king-sized bed; no way I can get her out.

Okay, I managed to coax her to the end of the bed and grabbed her like her
Mom would have (snatched her up by the scruff of her neck!). Popped her
into the carrier and zipped it up. She started yowling, of course.

Just got back from the animal hospital. The vet said, "Is that the mat?
Would you mind if I sniffed it?" Uh, no, knock yourself out. He said,
"That's urine." He poked and prodded, said her bladder is about the size of
a lima bean. She has the start of a UTI. Said I caught it very early and
the blood is because she was straining. (I think it's still a commentary on
the cushion if she was trying to pee on it!)

He gave her a shot of the equivalent of Cipro (I said oh, good, she won't
get Anthrax and he laughed). He gave her a shot of cortizone and another
similar to amoxicillin. I have oral drops to give her every 12 hours
starting tonight. And I have prescription Purina UR dry food to give her.
(Sorry Persia, no more Fancy Feast.) He also recommended some of the
semi-moist pouches so I went along with that. He said start her off on the
dry food since she's used to that, then maybe once or twice a week give her
the semi-moist.

Got her home, dumped out the old food and washed the bowl. Put in some of
the dry UR and she started eating it right away. Good sign! She's going to
be fine, but she sure scared the hell out of me.

NOTE: all of my vets seem to look like celebrities. My dog Sampson's vet
looked like the actress Geena Davis. Persia's first vet looked like Rob
Lowe. The vet today looked and talked like Judge Larry Joe from Texas
Justice. What gives?! ROFL

Jill

jmcquown wrote:
semi-moist pouches so I went along with that. He said start her off on the
dry food since she's used to that, then maybe once or twice a week give her
the semi-moist.

Isn't wet food much better for cats? I'm surprised the vet would
encourage a dry-food diet. Also, semi-moist food has a lot of
preservatives, which I try to avoid.

--
Victor Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 17:23:37 GMT, Victor Martinez
wrote:

jmcquown wrote:
semi-moist pouches so I went along with that. He said start her off on the
dry food since she's used to that, then maybe once or twice a week give her
the semi-moist.

Isn't wet food much better for cats? I'm surprised the vet would
encourage a dry-food diet. Also, semi-moist food has a lot of
preservatives, which I try to avoid.

Tribble (RB) had "blocked cat syndrome" twice when he was 3 years old.
At the time he was eating canned food, and the vet had me switch him
to dry.

I don't remember the details after all this time, but wet vs dry
moisture content didn't matter. The concern was that the content of
(ash? taurine? I don't remember) in canned food was just too high,
contributing to the development of crystals and other urinary problems
in that young cat.

After switching to dry, Tribble lived another 14 years without a bit
of urinary problems.


Jeanne Hedge, as directed by Natasha

http://www.jhedge.com

On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 11:17:27 -0600, "jmcquown"
wrote:


Okay, I managed to coax her to the end of the bed and grabbed her like her
Mom would have (snatched her up by the scruff of her neck!). Popped her
into the carrier and zipped it up. She started yowling, of course.

Just got back from the animal hospital. The vet said, "Is that the mat?
Would you mind if I sniffed it?" Uh, no, knock yourself out. He said,
"That's urine." He poked and prodded, said her bladder is about the size of
a lima bean. She has the start of a UTI. Said I caught it very early and
the blood is because she was straining. (I think it's still a commentary on
the cushion if she was trying to pee on it!)

He gave her a shot of the equivalent of Cipro (I said oh, good, she won't
get Anthrax and he laughed). He gave her a shot of cortizone and another
similar to amoxicillin. I have oral drops to give her every 12 hours
starting tonight. And I have prescription Purina UR dry food to give her.
(Sorry Persia, no more Fancy Feast.) He also recommended some of the
semi-moist pouches so I went along with that. He said start her off on the
dry food since she's used to that, then maybe once or twice a week give her
the semi-moist.

Got her home, dumped out the old food and washed the bowl. Put in some of
the dry UR and she started eating it right away. Good sign! She's going to
be fine, but she sure scared the hell out of me.

NOTE: all of my vets seem to look like celebrities. My dog Sampson's vet
looked like the actress Geena Davis. Persia's first vet looked like Rob
Lowe. The vet today looked and talked like Judge Larry Joe from Texas
Justice. What gives?! ROFL

Jill

I know how scary it is anytime you see blood where it's not supposed
to be, especially from one of our babies. Be glad that she tried to
use the new cushion instead of the litter box. If she had used the
litter box you wouldn't have caught it as soon.

Take it from one who knows a UTI can be painful. As the saying goes,
'been there, done that'.

The furkids are still sending purrs for Persia.

Nan

Victor Martinez wrote:
jmcquown wrote:
semi-moist pouches so I went along with that. He said start her off
on the dry food since she's used to that, then maybe once or twice a
week give her the semi-moist.

Isn't wet food much better for cats? I'm surprised the vet would
encourage a dry-food diet. Also, semi-moist food has a lot of
preservatives, which I try to avoid.

I've never been encouraged to give Persia wet food. Her first vet
recommended TD formula (tartar dental), which she loved but which was also
very fattening. From what I understand, wet food encourages tartar
build-up.

When I was adopted by Persia she was an 11 lb. cat and got up to 16 lbs. So
I put her on Purina One Weight Management a year ago and she's now 13 lbs.
She's a very large (long) cat, so this is about right for her. She looks
fat because she has a very big ruff of furr on her underbelly

As for dry food, the vet indicated the higher the magnesium level ("ash") in
the dry food, the worse it is for cats. Magnesium can cause a crystal
buildup in the kidneys and bladder, which causes urinary infections. The
stuff he prescribed has a very low magnesium content. He says there are
commercial foods out there with similar composition, but for now he has her
on the Rx kind.

Ditto the semi-moist. Reading the ingredients on the box of pouches for the
semi-moist, it appears to have few preservatives. But since I'm only to
give that to her once or twice a week (I'm thinking once a week, in place of
her Fancy Feast, of which she will now be deprived) will be fine. Do
whatever your vet recommends for your cats.

I'm just relieved she's okay. She really scared me for a while there!

Jill

Jeanne Hedge wrote:
On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 17:23:37 GMT, Victor Martinez
wrote:

jmcquown wrote:
semi-moist pouches so I went along with that. He said start her
off on the dry food since she's used to that, then maybe once or
twice a week give her the semi-moist.

Isn't wet food much better for cats? I'm surprised the vet would
encourage a dry-food diet. Also, semi-moist food has a lot of
preservatives, which I try to avoid.

Tribble (RB) had "blocked cat syndrome" twice when he was 3 years old.
At the time he was eating canned food, and the vet had me switch him
to dry.

I don't remember the details after all this time, but wet vs dry
moisture content didn't matter. The concern was that the content of
(ash? taurine? I don't remember) in canned food was just too high,
contributing to the development of crystals and other urinary problems
(snip)
Jeanne Hedge, as directed by Natasha

That's exactly what the vet told me, Jeanne. ASH from magnesium in the
food. Wet or dry, didn't matter, excessive magnesium would cause a crystal
build-up in kidneys and the bladder.

Jill