Author Topic: Cystitis  (Read 1780 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Lola

  • Global Moderator
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 11790
  • Country: us
  • Spay or Neuter
Cystitis
« on: July 05, 2011, 12:20:02 AM »
Snip...
Quote
Cystitis, also known as Interstitial Cystitis, refers to inflammation of the bladder wall leading to painful, frequent voiding of small amounts of urine. 

Cystitis can be a very painful condition!  The patient will often start to associate the litter box with his/her pain.  This can lead to litter box aversion which causes the patient to urinate elsewhere.

What we do know is that cystitis often appears to be linked to stress and the highly concentrated urine that results from being fed a water-depleted (dry food) diet may also be a significant factor in some cats.  The concentration of urine is reflected by the urine specific gravity (USG) number found on the urinalysis report. The higher the number, the more concentrated the urine.

Therefore, we see far more cases of cystitis in dry food-fed cats than in cats eating canned food.

We also know that 99% of cystitis cases in otherwise-healthy patients are *not* due to a bladder infection - contrary to popular belief.  The erroneous belief that cystitis is always secondary to an infection leads to the rampant abuse of antibiotics.

To repeat:  We know that stress plays an important role in the cause of cystitis.  Can you think of anything more stressful than pain?

See the vicious cycle?  Stress can cause cystitis.  Cystitis is painful.  Pain is very stressful.

The read the above in full:
http://catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth

(Just say NO to dry kibble!)





Everything you NEED to know about caring for your feline. www.catinfo.org

Offline Middle Child

  • Charter Member
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 9556
  • Country: us
  • Just say No to declawing
Re: Cystitis
« Reply #1 on: July 05, 2011, 07:30:35 AM »
I had a male cat with cystitis in 1985.  I was only 24 at the time but I knew what was wrong when he jumped up on the table and peed in front of me because I had a cat care book that I read all the time.  I took him right to the vet (had to take a taxi, I didn't drive in those days) and he was found to have no infection, just inflammation.  The vet diagnosed cystitis and told me to feed canned food only, and no fish.

So even back then there were vets who knew this.  That was when I started feeding a canned food diet to my cats, (no fish) the two I had then and every cat who came after.  Until my FLUTD kitty, that is.  She was eating a canned diet when her crystals started. The c/d is the only food that keeps the crystals at bay, and she won't eat the canned c/d.

Incidentally, that day I took Baby to the vet in the taxi, I had to walk home because I had no money left for a cab.  Lugging a 13 pound cat in a carrier 7 miles was a labor of love, LOL.