Cat with cystitis

eamon

Hello

Cat 2 (female circa 18yo) has developed cystitus. Two Saturdays ago I took her to the vet as she was very unwell and unhappy. Anyway she was examined and her wee tested positive for blood. The vet gave her a steriod injection and that has worked well I think. However late last night she struggled to wee and was in some distress. Managed to get her calmed down and settled enough for both of us to go to bed.

This morning I took her back to the vets and we discussed some treatment plans. Given her age I'm not going to put her through the stress of a battery of invasive tests and the vet agrees with me (though being honest cost is also a factor given her age). Upto now Cat 2 has thrived on a dry food only diet but this coupled with ready access to fresh clean water doesn't neccessarily mean that she will drink enough. So a bit of research and the vets input means that she is now on a new diet. Wet and dry food.

This is were I'm struggling slightly. I go to work 5 days a week and need to fimd a method of making the new diet effective. My first thought is a wet pouch in the morning and a small amount of dry food in the evening. But as you can guess I can't be in two places at once. So swapping over may be a better option at least I can monitor the evening feed. To complicate matters when I had Cats 1 &2, Cat 2 wouldn't eat meat but would lick the gravy/jelly and leave the meat. Weird I hear you think a vegetarian cat! Now that Cat 1 is deceased and there is no longer any competition today Cat 2 eats all of a pouch meat included. But what if this was just a glitch and she was really just hungry and there was no dry food?

I need help, any other cat owners that have managed a cat with cystitis could really do with experience.

Eamon

meritaten

Can I suggest you put down wet food in the morning before going to work, and then feed a pouch or can of food when you get in? then a small amount of dry food for cat2 to eat during the night? or could you arrange with someone (neighbour, friend) to come in at lunchtime and put down a small amount of dry? just for a short while so you can guage if a change to a wet diet is feasible?
I think you can get 'feeding systems' which work on a timer, releasing amounts of dry food at a set time. but of course these cost.

Kathy535

I add water to my cats dry food. They prefer to be able to lap it up (rather than eating soggy, presoaked mush). It's worked in terms of increasing their water intake. If they start showing signs of cystitis again I put them on a wet food diet for about a week.

I did read on an American forum of one woman giving her cat sub-cutaneous injections of water. Not sure I'd fancy that.

Bella73

Our little cat had cystitis and we have found giving her a pouch in the mornings before work, she has whiskas as that is the brand she doesn't throw up! Lol. She really likes the gravy ones and the braised meat ones which have lots of gravy.

Then she has another pouch when we get home for tea. There is a little dried food available (she likes Arden grange) and of course fresh water available all the time.

Since we switched to the gravy/braised instead of jelly/solid meat she has been fine with no other cystitis problems.

She only has the small pouches 85g not the 100 g ones.

meritaten

Sheba mini pouches are preferred by my cat for his lunch. he eats the lot! he likes Applaws tinned 'chicken with pumpkin' for supper- and he will eat all of that. but he likes variety - so I have to try different 'brands' all the time. some of which he rejects this month but will happily eat next month!

paddypaws101

The cat does not need dry food at all....and as you quite rightly state, if there is none around she is more likely to eat all the wet food not just the jelly.
I would add a dash of warm water to her wet meals as well to add extra fluid. It is not advisable to wet dry kibble as the high bacteria load could be an issue especially for a fragile older cat.
I would also start making up batches of chicken (sometimes called bone) broth, by simmering chicken carcasses for an hour or so. Carefully remove all the bone but leave the meat in. This will set into a jelly and can be kept in a tupperware box in the fridge for several days, or frozen into smaller portions to be defrosted when needed.
this broth is highly nutritious and actually contains compounds which may soothe and strengthen the bladder wall as well as adding the required fluid to the diet.

paddypaws101

One more thought.....does the cat have access to an indoor litter tray? At her age she may not feel so confident or happy to want to toilet outside, so provision of a tray may help the situation. It would also allow you to monitor her toilet habits more closely which is always useful.

donnac2558

Many years ago my Cleo had cystitis she had to go on long term antibiotics like a month's supply. Also I was told instead of plain water to give her barley water, that was boil pearl barley up and distill the water and when cool put it in the water bowl.

eamon

Update.

Yesterdays pouch contents vanished I assume eaten. I did put down some dry food and that vanished as well. This mornings pouch had vanished by the time I got home and she is now on the 2nd pouch. As usual the jelly vanished first and she is now eating the chunky bits. This could take a while as she has never cleared a bowl in one sitting all her life without chucking up shortly after. Cat 2 isn't an active cat, never has been and prefers to spend her time sleeping. She rarely goes outside. Right now she seems alright and has got that tennis ball shaped head.

Thank you all for your kind words and suggestions.

meritaten

paddypaws101 wrote: »

The cat does not need dry food at all....and as you quite rightly state, if there is none around she is more likely to eat all the wet food not just the jelly.
I would add a dash of warm water to her wet meals as well to add extra fluid. It is not advisable to wet dry kibble as the high bacteria load could be an issue especially for a fragile older cat.
I would also start making up batches of chicken (sometimes called bone) broth, by simmering chicken carcasses for an hour or so. Carefully remove all the bone but leave the meat in. This will set into a jelly and can be kept in a tupperware box in the fridge for several days, or frozen into smaller portions to be defrosted when needed.
this broth is highly nutritious and actually contains compounds which may soothe and strengthen the bladder wall as well as adding the required fluid to the diet.

lol - I do this for my mum - who is the first to admit to having an appalling diet! but she will have a mug of 'broth' which at least gives her some quality nutrition! I never thought of giving some to the cat! must try it and see if Barnes likes it.
Eamon - have you tried 'mashing' the jelly and meat together and slackening down with a little water or 'broth'?

oochiepoochie

My kitty suffered her first bout of cystitis at the start of this year. Within about a month of her steroid and antibiotic treatment, we were back at the vets again with another bout.
We switched to a wholly wet food diet for a couple of months, adding a capsule of n-acetyl d glucosamine (trying not to advertise brand name!) to her food twice a day for a fortnight then one a day for a month and now just one every third day as a maintenance dose. The medication isn't terribly expensive and can be bought online without a vet prescription. Puss hasn't had any problems since we started this regime but obviously i cant say if that's due to the medication or the fact that she's getting more moisture in her diet. Something the vet did say though was to avoid fish cat foods as they change the ph balance of cat urine, enabling bacteria to thrive and thus making a cat who is prone to cystitis more susceptible to a bout. I haven't looked into that but do now avoid fishy stuff.
Hope things are working out for your kitty, bless her.