Cat has suffered a few urinary blockages in the last few months. Vets don’t know exactly what causes some cats to be prone to urinary issues, but for those with sensitive plumbing, apparently anything from a change in the weather to (in our case) stress induced by a day’s frantic cleaning can lead to blockages, and blockages, untreated, can lead rapidly to death. No peeing = no toxin excretion, you know?
From now on I’ll have to board my kitty at his vet whenever I leave town. I got lucky the first two times he got sick - I saw him straining. I can’t count on a cat sitter, in for 30 minutes a day, to figure out his toilet habits. (Fortunately, this option is actually more affordable than hiring a sitter over the holidays, and cat gets round-the-clock monitoring.) To prepare for his upcoming visit, I detoured to the herbal remedies aisle at Petsmart, in search of something to keep him mellow on the way to the vet later this week.
I came across this Calm Down! stuff. “Ooh, homeopathic!” I thought. “And relatively affordable! This is great!I’ll slip it into his water, easy peasy. Psychofelis will be kept naturally calm.” As I was about to slip it into my basket, however, I caught sight of the fine print on the back of the label. The stuff is 13% alcohol.
Thirteen. Percent. Alcohol. You’re basically giving your cat sake bombs. OF COURSE he’s gonna pass out. Shit, for that money, I can get us a bottle of OE, give him a thimble-full, knock the rest back myself, and have a rib tip dinner to boot.
Inactive ingredient my rotund posterior.
*grumbles*
Yeah, my cat just finished her meds for one. A former coworker’s cat was also diagnosed with it. I switched mine to wet food only.
Alas, my cat has always been on wet food. Hell, back when I had a FT gig, he ate people-grade fancypants wet food. Sometimes I guiltily wonder if the problem is that I switched him to Friskies wet when I was laid off. But the vet swears that when studies were done, feeding cats all crap food, the same percentage of cats developed the issues, so they couldn’t say it was food-quality related.
I think with my cat it’s stress. The first time he got sick, I had brought in a kitten to see how he’d handle it, and I did some major cleaning. Boom, sick. And this last time, I COMPLETELY tore up my place with cleaning - laundry, vacuuming, mopping, rearranging, clutter culling, the whole 9 yards - and again, boom. Sick.
At least I have an emotional and financial incentive to keep my place tidy, now! Glad your kitty is doing better
Ugh, Sid…sorry to hear about Gris blockage issues. Went there with Freeway and it was heartbreaking to watch. Unfortunately, I don’t have any good advice other than what the vet(s) told me, which is probably the same thing they told you–wet food, low PH/magnesium food, fresh water in the bowl every day, multiple litter boxes and potentially fish oil if he’ll allow it on his food. Something about the omegas helps supposedly.
Happy New Year! (which I also spent at home, sick–I think I slept through the entire first day of the new year)
M, I think 2009 just wanted to kick us in the ass on the way out. I heard a lot of folks were sick last week. Hope you’re feeling better.
I thought about poor Freeway the first time Gris couldn’t go.
Bless his little fuzzy heart. We got all the familiar advice from the vet, so we’re just playing it safe with food and litter. Hope the other kitties are doing well, too.
Happy New Year!
I think 2009 just wanted to kick our asses all the way around! Here’s to a more prosperous, cheery, sexy-time, fun, less stressful 2010!