Oh no, what's wrong with Riyl?

[Jacq]

Yup. I do add some extra livers if there aren't enough in the chickens. And they get a little canned food mixed in for flavor and variety. Usually fish.

 

[admin]

Thanks Jacqui...

 

[Patti]

Riyl or Riri, or Brat Queen is my second SV. For a while now she has had issues and I've been trying to deal with them the best I can. She doesn't squat when she uses the litter box, and when she does, she starts straightening up midway through and watering the nearest surface. I got even more litterboxes, rearranged them, got different kinds of littterboxes and litter, tried the feliway plug-in diffusers, no dice. Sometimes, she wouldn't even go to the litterbox and go somewhere really random and inappropriate.

So I took her to the vet and they did a urine analysis thingy and they said that they found protein in her urine and that they want me to bring her in tomorrow for some bloodwork. They said depending on what the problem is, one of the solutions would be a low-protein diet and more omega 3's.

Now, I tried to get my sciencey friend to explain to me how a carnivore that needs a low-protein diet doesn't have a deathwish but it all went over my head. I feed Riyl and Vakai and Erra a raw food diet from Hare Today (usually coarse ground chicken or turkey), and most days I add fish oil to their food, so I don't see what I could be doing differently...

And aside from the improper urination thing, there's nothing wrong with her. She's growing fine, gaining weight, playing....

Has anyone dealt with something like this before?

Is Riyl spayed? If not it's probably time. If so then she may just be one that likes to stand up to pee. You might consider getting the large (e.g., 22gal) Sterlite or Rubbermaid storage boxes to use as litterboxes. Leave the top in to completely contain the issue. You can cut an entrance into either the side or the top of the box. You can also try Cat Attract litter, I've had 100% success with that when training 'stubborn' kittens.

As for the protein in the urine, I'm not sure how serious that is if it is an incidental finding and everything else is normal, however I would agree with your vet that it's best to get it checked out, otherwise you will just worry about it. It sounds like you are providing an excellent diet for your cats, I wouldn't change a thing unless the vet actually finds a real problem that needs to be treated with a low protein diet. Good luck and let us know how it goes tomorrow!

 

[John Popp]

Just a note, Hare Today sells a lot more than rabbit, and even whole ground rabbit should have some vitamins and supplements added. I use them for Duck, Chicken Hearts, Mice and Rabbit.

In all, any raw food source should at minimum have some additional taurine added, be it through additional hearts or taurine powder. There is way too much data on this for it to be overlooked. Additionally, even middle of the road commercially available kibble has added taurine as it's an essential amino acid that cats can't produce on their own. Heart, renal and retinal health are all directly effected by taurine levels and again it's something I wouldn't miss including as a supplement to their raw food.

 

[Medesha]

Thanks everyone, I'll take her in a few hours. Since she's getting blood work, she shouldn't have anything to eat this morning should she? I didn't give her food last night just in case.

If it helps, I got her from A1 Savannah's and she was spayed before she came home. I've also used Cat Attract- I'm still using it.

When it comes to additional supplements, I'm a bit torn. I've talked to many cat and dog owners who feed raw,, especiLly on this forum and many don't supplement and their pets are healthy. It's all better than kibble so long as its balanced, at least that's my thought, and Hare today's food is mostly dark meat, which has more taurine in it, in addition to the organs they add. Of course, if I could find better ingredients locally, I'd make my own.

On this Facebook raw food group I'm on, where I also posted about Riyl's problem for feedback, this one girl started a conversation with me about the pros and cons of early spay-neuter, which I really didn't find helpful. Before I got any pets I did reading on it and the research seems to sway drunkenly on both sides of the aisle, and I had no choice anyway if I wanted an SV, so that really annoyed me... She seemed very, don't early spay early evarrr your pet will get sixteen issues, maybe like this one, and die!!!

 

[John Popp]

Here's just one of the many links regarding taurine levels in felines.

http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/taurine-in-cats/3857

 

[Medesha]

UPDATE!

They took some blood so I should hear back them tomorrow regarding the results... This is her urine analysis thing.

 

[Medesha]

Riyl update.

I can go pick up a copy tomorrow, but the vet told me over the phone that all her bloodwork values and everything couldn't have been any more normal or balanced. He wants to wait a week and then do another urine analysis and see what turns up. I asked if there was anything that I could give her in the meantime, if there is some inflammation somewhere, but he said just to wait. So either Riri is just being a brat when it comes to the litterbox, or there is some other issue we haven't uncovered yet. I can tell you my solution if its the first option: it involves a box, duct tape and an address in Africa ^.-

 

[admin]

Glad to hear the UA is normal...so it may be behavioral...

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[admin]

I agree when it comes to taurine...plus my cats all eat some canned as well so i only supplement usually with taurine.

I only buy rabbit or quail from HT...but yes they sell much more than rabbit

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