cjsmith | It's always something

Current Mood: worried

It's always something

I'm done with the bio test! I should be working on that chem lab report, right? And Spanish homework for class this afternoon, too, of course. There's only an hour and a half before class, and I should also get lunch.

Well, except Little Girl needs to go the vet. Again. For inappropriate urination. Again. So she's locked in the bathroom until we can figure out what's wrong and fix it. Again. Kidney trouble in a cat is a slow descent into hell.

I'm worried about her this time. The symptoms aren't the same as the usual UTI. She's... just sort of gradually leaking. I hate to say it, but I'm hoping for a UTI! That would mean there's something to be done. If there's not, I have no idea what to do. I don't want to live like that. It's nasty enough inside this house without an incontinent cat. But I love Little Girl. She's easily my favorite of the three; she's the most affectionate by far and she's sweet as can be.

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I'm sorry Little Girl is sick. Old Fat Sally used to get UTIs all the time. I don't remember her dribbling, exactly, but I do remember just tiny spots of pee being deposited here and there.

Yeah, I'm used to the tiny spots of pee, especially if they're more peach, pink, or red than yellow. This time she's not straining. She'll just sit down, get up, pace, sit down, get up, pace... and there are spots where she sat.

Vet still thinks it's likely a UTI. It's out for culture now.

It is a weird feeling to hope she's "merely" got a UTI. I understand.

Yeah, anyone who's been through it probably would. :-)

I bless you for bringing me Little Girl. She has been a joy.

I wouldn't wish an UTI on any cat but this time, I hope that's all it is. You have alot going on, that's for sure!

Exactly! I wouldn't wish it on her either, but I'm hoping it's not worse! And now I'm not sure I'll ever trust having her sleep on the bed with me again. She certainly won't be on that down comforter I usually have. It's thirty-five smackers to dry clean one of those things, and she has now leaked a decent size spot on the bedclothes twice in the space of a week. Thank goodness I'd been too lazy to put the comforter back on the bed, so this morning it was a regular old blanket!

I am sorry to hear that!

Thanks. My poor kitty! I wonder if anybody makes little elderly-kitty diapers.

Last year I learned just a LITTLE about herbs and supplements to give to a kitty with kidney disease. Ask if you want to know, I may even have notes?

Yes, I am interested! She's not actually all that far into her kidney disease at this point, and so far we're keeping it stable. It's amazing how many other random problems seem to come along for the ride. (OK, to be fair, since the incontinence isn't a UTI it's actually unrelated to the kidney disease. But still. Lots of UTIs = no fun.)

Whoops! Sorry, I kinda forgot about this and put off looking it up -- so here I am now, with file in hand. Let's see what I can find.

In no particular order:

1. I called and talked to someone at Eagle Peak Herbs.
http://www.eaglepeakherbals.com/shop/default.php?cPath=22

They sell herbal tinctures for animals, which means that they have some clue what cats/dogs/etc should/shouldn't take. A lot of it is very much like for humans, but I like having the package say dosages in smaller-sized-body-weight rather than big-human-sized-weights. (e.g. their labels might say something like "use 1 drop for animals up to 5 pounds".) Also, I think animals usually (or always?) need tinctures to be NOT in alcohol. (but that's sort of "a vague thought I'm having".)

Um, I have a bunch of notes from the phonecall, but nothing so clear that I would pass it on to you , other then that they sell formulas for various stuff, including kidneys etc.

I think the info on their website seems not so complete -- so perhaps a phonecall and/or a paper catalog would be better.

2. I noted website www.holisticat.com and onlynaturalpets.com

3. I also called and talked to The Herb Pharm (a brand sold at many health food stores) -- they were also willing to have someone talk to me about what would be appropriate for a cat -- which is not a given in these days of no customer service as the norm.

(Of course, I have dozens of books about herbs, including a few books that are about natural remedies for animals, and general health care for animals etc. So I had looked up a bunch of stuff. But given how really sick my feline friend was, and given how reeeeeally hard it was to get anything into him, I wanted outside help. For a less-sick cat, I would just start putting stuff into their food.....)

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4. Dr Ariza is a vet who does housecalls (and I thought she was a bit on the pricey side, even for the fees rather than the travel etc). Anyway, she did recommend (and leave me with) some supplements -- I think 2 kinds? -- that she hoped would help. I recall that at least one of them was some kinda thing that is distributed only through vets?? (I also noted that she charges $400 for euthanasia done at home -- which I think is VERY expensive -- I've had this done before, just once -- I don't remember the price, but this sounded way high to me.)
Oh! I just found the receipt/bill from Dr Ariza -- with lots more info. Um, except I'm not sure if I can read it all....
"Feline Renal Sup"(illegible -- presumably "supplement". Huh, that is the only one I'm seeing here -- but I really think there were 2 things like this.
Weruva canned diet (cat food she recommended -- very wet among other things).
Recommended pepcid (which is a human OTC thing) -- maybe for the low appetite -- sorry I don't recall whether this was directly for kidney disease -- I think it is more for low appetite (due to kidney disease, but one step removed.)
A couple other Rx drugs and subq fluids -- and b vitamin in the subq fluids.. Also got valium, but I don't recall all the details of this.

Dr Ariza 408-569-9070. I think she works only via housecalls ?I think?

Okay, I think I'm about to OD on sad here. The info on his microchip is in this file too :( [of little use since he died in June 2008]

I guess that's it. Except I'm skipping all the info on intuitive info given to me (by people using intuitive means) -- which is mostly homeopathic remedies. I'm not sure how much this is "general kidney" stuff vs. particular to this specific kitty and his condition. I'm pretty clear you don't want "intuitive" type resources, so I've filtered for that.

best to you and Little Girl!

whoops! One more thing: whether out of "your own" interest or because you are a vet student and vet tech -- I'd be happy to loan you a few books about things like homeopathy for cats/dogs, home remedies for cats/dogs.

There's also a vet acupunture doc who makes housecalls in our area. I think she also does some other stuff besides acupuncture -- This was not appropriate for my/our situation last year, but I think this may be the same vet that I had come to the house and treat a cat several years ago (I'm not positive).
I do recommend looking at the website, um, I guess because I generally like to have more options (and thus recommend a wide look at things, since it a value of mine)
http://www.thewesterndragon.com/

I seem to feel compelled to offer some levity here -- too much thinking about sickness and not eating and needles and other icky things -- so here's something fun (their book is on the bookshelf next to the cat homeopathy etc) (the book is WAY FUN)
http://www.thecatshouse.com/
Uh oh -- looks like the website is not "all there" and is being worked on :(
Well, the home page does give some idea....artists with catramps!

Wow!! Thanks for this huge amount of info!

Eagle Peak Herbs sounds like a good place for me to start.

Not sure how much I can slip into her food; she's not pleased by her kidney-specific diet, so she's forever trying to avoid that and eat anything else she can find or steal in the house (like my other cat's diabetes diet). But I'm no bad hand at medicating her directly if I have to, as long as the supplements are meant to be taken that way.

I'm on the fence about intuitive resources. I've had two of them be very wrong about me, so far, and zero helpful -- but then, that's just as good a score as Western medicine has. It's not like I've made up my mind that they're not useful. I think if I go that route for Little Girl, though, I'll get somebody's reading on her specifically.

I also know a vet acupuncture doc who comes to SVC sometimes to do treatments. That's cool -- it's almost certainly not the same one. Nifty to see that there are multiple vet acupuncturists in the area.

yer welcome!

Not sure how much I can slip into her food; she's not pleased by her kidney-specific diet, so she's forever trying to avoid that Oh, I soooo understand. I always hesitate with fussy eaters.... when things are already fragile one cannot be throwing other tastes in without consideration.

I'm on the fence about intuitive resources. I've had two of them be very wrong about me, so far, and zero helpful -- but then, that's just as good a score as Western medicine has. It's not like I've made up my mind that they're not useful.
Wild applause here! I'm forever trying (usually in vain, it seems) to get people to see that the standards they are applying to some things are not applied equally to all. In other words, they are marginalizing many things as part of their approach (while, of course, saying that this is objective and/or "merely scientific" etc). So, hearty agreement on all that. Western Medicine has a DISMAL record on a lot of things. I'm mostly in favor of considering all options -- and this doesn't just apply to body care, but to pretty-much-everything in life. (One of my top criticisms of allopathic medicine is an institutionalized prejudice that it "knows all there is to know" -- thus the belief that conditions that it has no cure for are "incurable", and so on. It knows it has a dismal record, but closes off any other option of anything-outside-itself.) Especially hearty applause for being able to see that BOTH have similarly poor record in your case. (Somehow the usual is to say "well, x-controversial-remedy didn't work for me" withOUT considering whether the conventional remedies did. I tend to be willing to TRY a lot of stuff (even if it doesn't work) as long as it is not too expensive or uncomfortable.....

I have someone in mind to recommend for intuitive consultation about medical issues for LG -- however she hasn't answered an email and voicemail I've left her recently (about something else) so I'm unclear at the moment if she is away or something. I'll get back to you about this.

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It's always something

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kidney disease

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