A Natural Remedy for UTI

You can hardly see his shaved belly here...

Yes san. As you can see I am drinking from this cat-it...

But here it seems to be the STAR

I am giving him UTI globules from Pet Alive. This is a natural remedy that I got last year from A*** but forgot about with his kidney problems etc. So I am giving it to him again in his water twice a day. The testimonials at the site are quite encouraging and truth be told I am rather desperate not to have him under any kind of surgery if I can help it. I do not know yet how this would help but as it is homeopathy and natural and could be taken with his prescriptions, I thought I should give it a go. I should take my own advice of doing everything the vet says and once having done it, I should do some more. It was very painful to see him having to use the catheter and I am sure it was more painful for him.

On a good note, he was very active today, tyring to beat up Megat (from whom he usually runs) and even Bujang and I saw him lying on his back right smack in the mddle of the living room. he has not done this for a very long time and so maybe there would be good news for my little Totoro too.

I have put it in the bowl of drinking water from which all the boys drink so they have an equal chance of getting a healthy bladder. I think I will try to put some of it in his food and see if he would eat it. Toro has always been very suspicious of anything strange in his food but we will see.

Before and After

Toro is a smart kitty.

When he had the catheter, I would still allow him up on the bed. I was pleasantly surprised to chance upon him being quite fastidious. He would rest like this in the afternoons with his bottom on his own pillow-blanket with the plastic lining and the rest of him on my bed. Of course the whole bedsheet would be cleaned daily but I appreciated his efforts.

Yesh. I am a good boy and appreciate the fact that san allowed me to walk about in her room.

Toro after his groomer appointment.

I had taken him to the groomer last Saturday, 2 days after the vet took out his catheter, last Thursday night. I had checked his catheter every morning and decided to bring him to the vet on Friday instead so we could do the sub q as well as take out his catheter but when I came home, I saw that one of the stitches had come undone. I called the practice and they told me they would see him asap.

Dr H took out his stitches and chatted with him softly. Toro was not interested in all the chat and wanted his stitches out 'NOW' please. As soon as his catheter was out (OUCH!), he peed copiously on the vet's table and so we had a nice urine sample for testing of PH levels as well as crystals. No luck on the crystals but acidic on the urine, which was good and so I was told that the new diet was working for him rather nicely although we do not know if it would be successful to help him with his still-unidentified uroliths :(

I am glad to report that he urinates nicely now and there are big enough puddles every time he does it. He is now his own lovable and affectionate self, asking to be brushed at all hours of the day and running after shadows :)

Caged!

Toro being quite comfortable at night in bed.

I had deliberated whether to just allow him to sleep the night in the cage or in bed. Then I thought if I made the changes in his sleeping arrangement, more than 1 cat would be unhappy. Ms Akira would raise a storm as the two-tier cage belongs to her at night. She is used to this and I do not want to stress her out. Megat would be quite happy but Bujang may make his night uncomfortable as Bujang likes everything just so, nothing should change too drastically for him. Toro himself may be stressed as he is used to sleeping in the room on his own blanket, but mostly on mine. So I finally made the choice of status quo. It just means I would have to make the quick changes early in the morning so Toro can be in this cage without Ms Akira knowing it. At night, I would just have to make sure the cage is cleaned thoroughly and put Ms Akira's blanket and toys in it so she would be none the wiser :)

Of course he would leak urine but yesterday no blood on his blanket-pillowcase, which leaves me just to wash the blanket itself this morning. I had placed a plastic sheet inside the blanket-pillowcase so we do not have to clean bedsheets repeatedly but I will see how this goes.

I am glad to report that yesterday he actually peed a small puddle inside his litter. YAY!! But no poo that I saw. However since there was poo in the litter I would just have to assume that some of it would be his (fingers crossed). I have also given him 10 ml of water in a syringe each time eats but he also drinks from the drinking fountains. Yesterday, when I was giving him the sub q, he peed quite spontaneously in his carrier, a sizable amount of urine. I am also giving him 5 ml of sieved pumpkin everyday to help him with the fiber that would enable him to poo. Since he likes pumpkin I would try to give him more today.

This is what the cage look like. Megat has the lowest cage and Ms Akira has the two-tier one as she likes to jump up and down it. Toro also uses both tiers during the course of the day.

Toro making it quite clear that he doesn't like girlie things...

Toro spends most time resting and napping here. These two days, I had lined this part of the cage with newspaper and liner which is changed everytime he wets it so he is not uncomfortable. Yesterday I opened the door and placed a small chair next to its door. He walked out and then made a tour of the house after which he actually made the decision to get into the cage to rest and relax. So I do not think he is overly stressed in this temporary half-way home at all.

I had taken off his collar only when he eats under my supervision and it goes on him immediately right after his food so he has no time to be licking his catheter. He is quite good at accepting the collar these days and he has bumped into things less. He is still dripping urine but I am glad he has made some progress in trying to pee in his big litter. The small triangular liiter box is still very clean as I think it is difficult to pee in it. But as long as there is pee on the liner, I know some things are working well enough.

I am considering the urinary canal operation quite seriously as I think it would definitely solve the blocked problem. I also saw his kidney stones in the xray that Dr L had taken. The stones must have been very big for them to show so very clearly in xray. So if the stones should dislodge themselves, I hope he would be able to pass them out. But of course this is further in his future if he should get blocked the 3rd time. We are still not out of this challenge so that is a problem to be decided on in the future.

Toro spends ost of his time in the cage but I let him out in the faternoons and evenings where he would be able to walk about quite freely but he makes the choice of either staying put next to the window or even going back ino the cage. So I think he does not feel confined in it.