Cow Has FLUTD

I freaked out this morning.

There were droplets of blood-stained urine in the places where Cow always sprays. Believe it or not, this is one time that I am “glad” Cow sprays, or else I wouldn’t have noticed that he has blood-stained urine.

Then, Cow showed me that he was straining to urinate. I observed closely and could only see droplets of urine coming out.

He was quite nonchalant about it. But this is Cow and his pain threshold is very high. Super “tahan lasak” is what Cow is.

But I know this is a medical emergency. FLUTD can be fatal, if the bladder is blocked and it requires immediate medical attention.

So we wasted no time.

As soon as the vet opened, we were there. Cow and I.

The vet let Cow settled down before examining him. Initially Cow’s pupils were still dilated, so the vet didn’t want to disturb him. Instead, we discussed our options.

The vet filled me in on the research done by a leading world authority on urinary infections in cats and dogs, Dr Jody Lulich. He is an expert in urology and nephrology.

An extract: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/175/11/268.extract

In a nutshell, while previously, vets would prescribe an antibiotic or opt for surgery (Cow and Bunny both had it before, Cow’s previous case of FLUTD was in 2011, which was 5 years ago, they were given an antibiotic), now, the recommended treatment is a change in diet.

Cow’s FLUTD five years ago: https://myanimalcare.org/2011/07/05/poor-cow-he-has-flutd/

As for the diet, we had two choices: Hills’ CD or Royal Canin’s Urinary SO.

But first, we had to find out if Cow’s bladder was blocked. That was my main concern too. The vet palpated his lower abdomen and found that there was no indication of anything being blocked. In fact, he could feel Cow’s bladder and it was the size of a marble. Cow also demonstrated no tension or pain when he was being palpated, which was a good sign.

But then again, I did alert the vet that Cow has an exceptionally high threshold for pain. Still, the vet says from his behaviour at the clinic (yes, as cool as Cow), he didn’t seem to be in any pain.

The vet then taught me how to palpate to check if there is any blockage.

Me??

Anyway, for Cow’s sake, I had to try, so I did. And yes, everywhere felt soft and Cow didn’t mind it a at all. Cow, are you just behaving because you are at the clinic?

Cow ALWAYS behaves at the clinic. He’s just a total gangster at home. Outside, oh my goodness, he’s a total pussy-cat.

The researcher, Dr Lulich, recommends an X-ray as the first step, to identify if there are any stones and if it’s Stuvites or Oxalates. If it is Stuvites, the recommended diet would be able to dissolve the stones, but if it is oxalates, surgery may be necessary as oxalates cannot be dissolved.

But our vet didn’t think an X-ray is necessary at this point in time. Let’s try the change in diet first. But palpitation is very important and we had already done that – there is no blockage at this point.

If there had been a blockage, Cow would have tensed up, a hard lump the size of a tennis ball (a large bladder) would have been felt or Cow would have vocalised it (cried out in pain). None of this happened today. Cow was as cool as a cucumber.

If the infection was due to a bacteria, we had two choices – prescribe an antibiotic or just change the diet.

If it was due to crystals – also just change the diet.

If it was due to urolith (stones) – also change the diet.

If it was idiopathic (idiopathic cystitis), which it most likely is, also change the diet. “Idiopathic” means the actual cause is unknown but most likely due to stress.

Aha! Stress – YES!

Cow is so highly strung and also looking at beating up someone. Just two days ago, I prevented him from beating up Tiger. Almost every day, he beats someone up. But that’s how Cow lives his life. He is always looking for a fight with someone.

So, his own stress has probably caused this condition. Sigh…poor Cow.

He needs to go for an anger management course. But do they have such things for cats. Cow is not so much bothered about the PatioCats as he is with Bunny, Tiger and his “own clan”, so to speak. Bunny, Tiger and Tabs are always his victims while Indy tries his best to avert a fight by scolding Cow. Cleo helps too avert fights as well; she whacks the perpetrator.

The vet did say that often, stress is caused by the change in diplomatic relations within the cat environment. Yes, spot-on for our case. Bunny’s Place is often a political arena.

In any case, I did think an antibiotic would help put things right (previously, Bunny was pee-ing blood and an antibiotic cured him within one day), but since the vet didn’t think it was necessary at this point and we do not want to misuse antibiotics, I decided to heed the vet’s advice and try the change in diet first.

Giving a steroid or an enzyme like papase (Denzo) is also an option, but if pilling Cow stresses him, then we can do without that for now.

We are quite conditioned to thinking that medication is always needed, so not having any medication seems “new”. Yet, I’m game to try the change in diet. We must stop relying too much on medication and only give when it is really necessary.

Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food. So, okay.

The vet also said that sometimes no matter how well we look after our cats, male cats are prone to FLUTD. That’s one of the diseases that we sometimes cannot avoid.

I bought both – the kibble and the wetfood. Let’s see which he likes.

So we came home and I gave Cow some of the kibble. What do you know, he didn’t like the kibble! Oh dear…but guess who wanted to eat the kibble? Everyone else! They smelled it (now, Royal Canin is famous for its high palatability) and everyone else wanted it…except Cow. Sigh…but finally I managed to coax him into eating some of it.

I’m glad I didn’t buy Hill’s CD because I’m told RC’s is more palatable. Imagine if I had bought a whole packet of CD… Now, I’m not sure if Cow would want to eat the wet version of the Urinary SO.  A friend shared that her cat hated it! Oh dear…

We shall see later…

Meanwhile, Cow is still straining to urinate, but I see droplets of urine coming out, and the vet says this means he is not blocked.

I will continue to palpate his lower abdomen, twice a day.

I hope Cow gets well soon.

When you are looking after 13 cats, all it takes is for one to get sick and your whole world turns upside down. And nothing else matters at all, you just want that one cat to get well….soon.

And I don’t mind Cow spraying anymore. Just don’t be sick, please.

Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2016/05/31/cow-has-flutd/

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