Poor Dorah has a sadder bladder!

UPDATE: Oops, we had a mix-up. Buster didn't eat all his meds in his food Monday. Dorah didn't get her meds yesterday. She finished up Buster's meds. I gave her today's meds, and she didn't eat her canned food, which has more meds. This sick cat stuff isn't for chumps.


Poor Dorah seems to have a UTI. I finally thought I'd figured it out. Poor girl. The vet wanted a urine sample. <SIGH>

That takes me back to another story, excuse me while I digress.

Bandy

JB and Bandy at our old place in Bala

My mother had passed over, we were looking after Dad'a dog, Bandy. Dad was exhibiting dementia symptoms from his brain tumour and we placed him in long-term care. Bandy was leaking something. She seldom went outside and peed. The vet in Muskoka said, "Just collect a urine sample, and we can test her for an infection."

It was a hilarious story. Hubby, walking her with a margarine container in hand, waiting for her to pee! The theory was to quickly bend over, and collect it. She didn't. He spent a long time at it. He is such a patient man, and so good to animals of all shapes and sizes.
JB finally took her up to the vet in Bracebridge and suggested they keep her overnight. The vet assistant took her for a walk and it worked. Cute young things, you know!

It turned out that Bandy had a hormone deficiency. She was leaking urine all the time. All it took to make her continent was a pill once a week or something. We found a good owner for Bandy, Dad's former home care PSW, and all was well.

Back to Dorah

Buster grooms his sister, Dorah

First she was on a diet

The poor girl. In the old days Buster groomed his sisters. Now he wants playfights. Dorah runs, he runs. It's not uncommon, if you look up cat aggression. Cats can have diabetes, from crappy cat food. Our have always been on the vet's good food, since Sady was allergic to certain foods, she had the hypoallergenic food. Some cats get crystals in their urine, especially males, on the crappy food, too.

We've been watching her, and watching her. We've switched her food from Dental Care to Weight Control. It's not an allergy. She's twitchy, her hind quarters are sensitive to touch.  I was working out and clicked on a show where a dog had been overgrooming, had a bacterial and yeast infection. Then I googled cat + yeast infection + skin. Examining her nether quarters, I noticed swelling of the urethral opening.


Dorah from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We've been working on this issue for weeks. The vet technician suggest we collect some urine to determine if it is a UTI. Sure. In a house with 4 cats!

What you do is put in this special litter that doesn't absorb the liquid (Nosorb). The vet gave us a small quantity. I have an old metal dishpan that Mom used for a litter box in the cottage in 1962. Popped that in the bedroom.
She was hiding in our bedroom, under the bed, and I took in food and water, too.

A few hours later, all I had to do was take this syringe and suck up the pee. No problem. Put it into the sample bottle (yep, just like ours) and we had our sample.
Daisy wanted to know what was up, and sat guard in the hall.

I had dinner in the oven, hubby screamed out with the container and took it to the vet.

The next morning, our vet, Dr. Sara, called. The sample had only a little bacteria, but a lot of blood. This happens a lot to cats. They get upset (Buster Bully has been fixin' for a playfight), and it comes out in the bladder.

We have drops, administered by the plunger, for an anti-inflammatory for Dorah, and new cat food. The cat food is a special Rx calming food. I share this, just in case someone else could be helped. Buster has his chicken-flavoured pills (in the blister pack). We put that into his food.

C.D Multicare Urinary Tract
Healthy food 

These cats aren't simple to manage! The blood test was $50, the food is $35 for a case of 24. The total bill Friday, $135. As I told my first accountant husband, 'It's only money!'

Dorah is three years old now