Straining to Urinate

[MirandaW]

Hello,

My kitty Finn ( 3 years old, MN) who previously did some frequent urination in the litter box in November, is straining to urinate this am and also did not eat this am, he's raw fed. He is passing urine himself and I did palpate his bladder ( I used to be a tech) and it's not hard and he passed much more urine when I palpated him. He is peeing while lying down on the floor thourgh which is definetly off. I'm aware of the risk of a blockage in male cats and will definetly monitor him. I also did some tapping on myself for the stress of the situation. Is there anything I can do to support him?

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

Keep monitoring closely. Add extra water to food, limit or eliminate carbs. Tapping is great; surrogate tap on him for pain, discomfort, inflammation. Flower essences can be very helpful. Definitely work with a holistic vet to get to the bottom of the underlying imbalance causing this. Keep him active with interactive play, which will also relax him. Stress is #1 contributor to urinary issues in cats, so work on figuring out where the stress is coming from and manage it. Urinary Tract Disorders in Cats | Little Big Cat - Dr. Jean Hofve

 

[MirandaW]

Hi Jean,

Thank you for getting back to me. We did end up going into the ER vet today as my vet was closed. He was lying on his side and frequently straining to pee. He did have struvite crystals as well as white and red blood cells in his urine but did not block thankfully. I did some surrogate tapping after I tapped myself, as well as some accupressure points and I really feel like it helped both of us stay calm.

They want me to switch him to urinary food, of course. I did mention I feed raw with lots of moisture and she mentioned maybe it's too high in phosphorus. Its my understanding that vet diets make the urine more acidic and that dissolves the crystals. Is there another way to dissolve the crystals other than prescription diet?

I will definelty look for sources of stress in his life. He has access to the outdoors, we live on a beautiful farm so I hadn't thought of stress factors. I will add water to every meal and will start him on flower essenses as well.

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

While there is phosphorus in struvite crystals, it doesn't *cause* them. High phosphorus can be an issue in chronic kidney disease, but not struvite. A high protein (raw) diet is naturally acidic. Veterinary diets are artificially acidified to a somewhat greater degree to rapidly dissolve the crystals. A canned version for a short period of time (couple of weeks) may be helpful to prevent blockage, but that's not a good long-term strategy.

A raw diet is ordinarily a good preventative by itself, so figuring out what else is going on is important. Perhaps there are other cats (or critters) in the 'hood that he is having a conflict with? So many possibilities! Finding a good holistic vet, possibly talking with an animal communicator, implementing more of the Happiness Protocols, can all be very helpful.

I'm curious about the rest of the results from the urinalysis--pH, specific gravity, etc... did they give you those? If they only did a urine dipstick, that isn't a great diagnostic. In cats, for example, white blood cells will always show high on a dipstick, so actually seeing them under the microscope (along with the crystals) would be an important piece of the puzzle.

 

[Dr. Christina]

Definitely stick with raw diet, not commercial veterinary diet.
While working with your holistic vet (homeopathic or TCVM), you may get some tinkle tonic (animal's apawacary/animal essentials) which is a great herbal combo for bladder issues.

Using these symptoms to find energetic treatments to resolve them will build health and may prevent future problems (read more in the first lesson of the 101 class.

So good you have both the technical skills AND know EFT for the emotional side.
Kudos,
Keep us posted.

 

[MirandaW]

Hi Jean and Christina,

Thank you for that. I would not keep him on a veterinary diet long term for sure. As for stress I generally think of him as a pretty chill guy, the only conflict I can see is that our dog will sometimes chase him if he is outside. I will monitor and add in some play, he does get access to the outdoors a bit and so gets to climb, catch mice and do all the natural cat things.

Regarding his UA these are his results, definitley very concentrated but not very many struvites or white blood cells.

Collection Method Free catch
Color Straw
Appearance Slightly Hazy
USG >1.050
PH 7.0
Leukocytes Trace
Blood Trace
Protein +++
Glucose Negative
Ketones Negative
Bilirubin Negative
Nitrite Negative
Urobilinogen Normal
SquamousEpithelial 1 / Field
NonSquamousEpithelial <1 / Field
WBC 1 / Field
RBC 10 / Field
Casts None Seen
Crystal Struvite Few
Bacteria None Seen

Interestly since being at the vet he has not strained at all and seems super comfortable, so I'm glad for that.

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

Thanks for posting the results! They do not justify an acidified veterinary diet, but adding extra water to the food to dilute the urine a bit would be helpful.

Cats are such interesting critters; sometimes it seems like a vet visit impresses them that there are many worse things in the world that can happen, and they are so glad to be out of there that they relax! I have a vet friend who once remarked that abdominal exploratory surgery, even if you don't find anything, "lets the bad juju out"--it seemed to work for one of my cats! He was fine ever after!

 

[MirandaW]

HI Jean,

Oh that's interesting, I also did not think there were many crystals. That's such an interesting observation on cats, that a vet visit can be enough to reset them, interestingly he was exhibting calm body language at the vet, sleeping in the chair, did not seem stressed, I was tapping and breathing with him while waiting but the vet said even though he looked relaxed he had a high heart rate. Anyways hopefully this is his reset!

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

I think all the tapping you've done with him is also making a big difference, but sometimes a big mental adjustment like that can help!

The other thing I can see to tap on is urine pH, which was a little high, which is why crystals were forming. A high-meat, high-moisture diet should be enough to prevent that but something else does seem to be going on.