11/05/19 Willow - Thoughts, Please - UPDATE!

otj video

Hi everyone, hope you're all doing well!

Willow has her appointment this morning/afternoon with the medical internal specialist in Ottawa for an ultrasound, to see if we can find out why she has blood in her urine, and is peeing over her LB so frequently. She is very happy and comfortable otherwise, glad to be otj I think! Please keep her in your thoughts, hoping for a good outcome.

I will update when I am home later this evening.

Thank you all so much, with love, Nikki

 

Good luck today and I hope you get some answers. It's great that Willow is still acting great despite the bloody urine

 

Sending prayers.

 

Sending prayers

 

All my prayers and positive vines for little Willow!
Waiting for updates !

 

Sending tons of vines for Willow! Hope they figure it out and extra hope it's nothing serious.

 

Sending lots of vines!

 

Fingers and paws crossed!

 

Good luck beautiful Willow!

 

Prayers for good news from vetty visit!

 

Thank you all so very much, guys! Good news...no signs of any problem!!! No cancer, polyps, major kidney issue, nothing! One kidney is slightly smaller, but we knew that from previous rads. More good news... redid her PCV and it's still 32, which is the same as her last blood test, before the obvious hematuria...so it's not so bad as to be causing anemia! A couple of major worries off my mind. I don't have her report yet, just the verbal.

So, she thinks it's in all probability FIC (feline idiopathic cystitis, bladder inflammation without infection). Wants us to stop her pulse dosing antibiotics and redo a urine c/s to make sure it's not an infection. However, I don't think we'll do that. We just did two culture&sensitivities exactly a month apart, both negative growth. We'll monitor closely, same as always. And I'll look more into antiinflammatories, but she's on gaba for pain and I give bupe whenever she scores 4 or more. And we'll keep an eye on her RBCs especially.

She was so unbelievably stressed, guys. BG 10.4 after the ultrasound, that was with a sedative. Her face...her heart was pounding. That's pretty much the highest it's been since diagnosis. I won't do that to her again unless I have no choice. Ugh.

Thank you all again for your prayers and thoughts, you are so amazing.

Love you all! With love, Nikki and Willow the most brave & amazing kitty evah!

 

I think I remember seeing something about using glucosamine/chondroiten for cystitis. If I'm remembering correctly, it's supposed to calm down the bladder wall.

I'd be careful with NSAIDs if you're using them for anti-inflammatories. They are very hard on kitty kidneys and if there's any bleeding, they can exacerbate the problem. @Marje and Gracie may have better info than I do on this subject.

 

Great news! I hope you can find something that helps with the inflammation. Sending prayers.

 

My FIC kitty did well with Cartrophen injections. Here is a paper on it. I also put in Feliway diffusers to help with stress, which could set off episodes. Sending vines for Willow.

 

Sheba also had FIC and also did well with cartrophen injections. I used a feliway collar instead of infuser.
Stress played a big part in her flare ups of FIC. She hated strangers in the house and visitors staying would always cause an episode.

 

I would try D-mannose for the FIC. I believe several here had good results with it even though bacteria isn’t the culprit.

 

Yes, I use D-Mannose - unfortunately for frequent UTI's - it's very effective but you really need to take it daily. Perhaps Willow would benefit from a routine dose - it's an herbal supplement and is known to be very helpful for bladder health.

I'm glad she had a good report...and I hope the D-Mannose helps. I order mine from Amazon.

 

I am glad you weighed in as I couldn’t remember all those using it.

 

Nikki, that all sounds like really positive news, no cancer or worsening CKD, I’m really happy for you and Willow!!!

Poor baby being so stressed, I feel for you both, most cats are just not into “car rides” and the whole vet experience, it scares them.
I hope with all the good advice above, you can help manage the FIC.
Sending tons of healing vines to Willow!

 

Hi everyone, thanks so much for your thoughts and wishes!

Willow has been on D-Mannose consistently in the past with no results (for months, daily) but I think we'll put her on again because, well, it doesn't hurt.

She gets cartrophen injections every 10 days, has had for months. Again, don't know if it helps, but I plan to continue.

To be totally honest, I believe this is not FIC. Willow is not, nor has ever been, an easily stressed cat. She is very laid back. We have basically no visitors, and she is kept to a very regular, quiet routine in a quiet building. Other than the blood and urinating over her LB, she shows *no* sign of FIC or discomfort....vaginal licking, belly licking, looking at belly, shifting, small urine, frequent urinating, drops of urine....none of these. None.

However, the vet came in talking about FIC before even looking at Willow. I mentioned her kidney disease, and how *twice* she has had episodes that may have been her passing something (I suspect a hemolith), but she saw no real issues with anything on ultrasound and because of her peeing outside her LB she keeps coming back to FIC (I think because there really shouldn't be discomfort with benign bleeding from the upper urinary tract). She's on gaba daily for pain, I've given her bupe for upwards of a week to see if there's any change and she *still* pees over the LB, I don't believe it's pain-related, but I wish I knew why she did it.

I'm so glad I had the ultrasound done, at least I'm confident there's nothing major at play. Benign bleeding I can handle, U over her LB I can handle

Thanks again, with love, Nikki.

 

I just dealt with FIC with my little girl and she is super laid back and calm. I am not sure what brought it on but we suspect a horrific windstorm where two large tree limbs came down right outside the catio where she was. We did do a c&s which was negative but we were certain it would be because she is young, her urine specific gravity is on the high end of normal, and the pH is on the low end of normal (meaning acidic) and all those things together typically prevent bacterial infection. I am hoping this is a one time event. We did not do antibiotics since we assumed it was FIC; as suspected, it ran it’s course in 8/9 days. I did give alot of supportive therapies, though, such as a very low dose of buprenex (literally one drop every two hours), D-Mannose, a Standard Process supplement (cataplex ACP) which is excellent for inflammation-type bladder issues, Green Hope Farms Flow Free flower essence (a big help), and I upped her Omega 3 because Omega 3 has anti-inflammatory properties. I use Moxxor green lipped mussel because of issues with mercury in wild caught fish and other issues with farm raised fish.

How do they know the bleeding is coming from her upper urinary tract? Liv’s symptoms were frequent urination with a tiny bit of blood but she mostly would produce at least 1/2-1 tbsp urine. She rarely had just drops of urine. I also say never say never because not all cats exhibit the same symptoms with FIC. However, none of the support issues listed by anyone would hurt Willow. Of course, if you’ve tried them (like D-Mannose) and it doesn’t help, no need to keep on but if there are some you haven’t tried, it might be worth it.

I will tell you that FIC that we couldn’t resolve for three years was what I think put Gracie into FD. The chronic infection + eventually having to give her steroids (which I would never, ever do again). Just about the time that all happened, we found our current vet and through Nutrition Response Testing, she found that Gracie’s chronic FIC was caused by high levels of aluminum, likely due to her mother’s over vaccination (Gracie’s issues started as a wee kitten). As soon as she was detoxed, she never had another episode. Unfortunately, our regular vet was out of the office when Liv started having issues so we couldn’t do NRT but she has an appt tomorrow so we can see if there is anything causing it. I mention this only because sometimes it’s not just stress that causes FIC.

 

Good news for Willow! Nothing serious that's the most important! When I hear how stressed she was... poor little girl!
It seems many here are dealing with FIC, so you have plenty of good advices!
Enjoy life with your sweet Willow! I'm sending her tons of healthy vines!

 

Hi @Marje and Gracie , thanks so very much for your post!

They don't know where the bleeding is coming from; they assume it's FIC because the u/s seemed normal, and FIC is "diagnosed" once other things are ruled out (basically) according to the specialist. Her only symptoms are blood in the urine, and peeing over the LB.

I am very interested in the NRT as I've never heard of it; I will google it, but if you could send any links you have found helpful I would appreciate it! If it is indeed FIC, she's had it on/off (mostly on) for almost a year now....and I don't know how to deal with it other than painkillers, and I have to research antiinflammatories.
Could you tell me more about cataplex ACP, the flower essence, and moxxor (amounts, frequency, etc). This vet only wants another c/s to rule out infection (she's just had 2, a month apart...one was a week after stopping full antibiotic treatment, the second was during low-dose treatment) then to discuss treatment for FIC.

Thanks yet again, I would *love* to get this under control as (of course) I don't want her uncomfortable....and would rather avoid any more prescription meds.

With love, Nikki

 

@nslade001
Happy birthday Nikki