cat has cystitis but wont eat wet food

[jenniferozzy]

Hi all,

My 5 year old female cat has been diagnosed with cystitis shes on antibiotics and a chewable tablet called kesium

Shes been off wet food about 2 weeks now ive tried everybrand going ! She will only eat dreamies and dry biscuits

Do you think this is because she is poorly? Anyone else have a cat with cystitis do this?

[Crewella]

I'd not heard of Kesium, but I looked it up and it's a chewable form of broad spectrum antibiotic. I've had cats with cystitis who've lost their appetite, but not gone off wet food specifically. Assuming she ate wet food with no problem up until now, it's a bit of a concern as cats with cystitis need more liquid in their diet, not less. It would help to encourage her to drink more - I add water to wet food for my cystitis-prone cats (which is obviously no help to you), but I also give them cat milk to up their liquid intake. Personally, I'd also ring my vet for a chat to see if they have any advice about the loss of appetite.

I hope she's feeling better soon.

[Kay]

I'm so sorry about your boy - I lost a 5 month old kitten to FIP some years ago, and it's a horrible horrible disease

my Tiffany is on a maintenance dose of one Cystease every day to keep her cystitis at bay,and she much prefers dry food, but will eat cat tuna, and I can get away with adding quite a lot of water to it

she never seems to use the cat fountain in the house, but will drink from a bowl out on the patio, which contains a mix of rainwater and Brita filtered water - you might find that your girl would drink more water if it wasn't from the tap, which can taste of chemicals

[Lallum]

My cat (Midnight) had very bad cystitis earlier this year. He doesn't seem to drink much although he eats 2 packs of Hills Prescription cd and 16g of Hills prescription cd dry food each day. I have a small syringe which I use to shoot 2 lots of water into his mouth each day. He is used to it and I do it with the dry food so he knows what's coming. I also put water on his wet food too. My advice would be get as much water into them as possible. Midnight had to have his penis removed as the situation got really bad. He has had one minor relapse since which is better than I hoped. I really thought he was going to be pts. I was distraught. He is now a happy boy who likes sitting in the garden. When he was really ill all I wanted was to see him sitting under his favourite bush in the garden. He did that a couple of weeks ago and I just filled up. He looked so well!

Sorry I got emotional but I hope this helps.

[MarkB]

Do you have a cat fountain Jennifer? - they really do encourage most cats to drink more.

I have tried a few different ones over the years, but find the Catmate the easiest to clean and maintain.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pet-Mate-06039- ... e+fountain" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jenniferozzy]

Hi all ...thanks for your replies

She is drinking and ive done the skin thing to see if shes dehydrated but she dosent seem it to my..

She had some diarreah this morning now im not sure if thats to do with the antibiotics or the fact i left her lots of treats out last night

We are at the vets this afternoon to see if we can get anything to increase her appetite as she used to love wet food.

I may try a water fountain...cant do any harm

Im glad your boy is better

[Crewella]

The reason for upping the water intake of cats with cystitis is to help flush through the bladder and stop the build up of any irritants. My boy Daz had cystitis problems a couple of years back, and I still feed him a tablespoon of water in wet food every meal to keep him cystitis free.

Good luck at the vets.