LORA FRANKLIN wrote in a message to MISS KITTY:
 LF> This is always the quandary.  I have about $200 in this kitty now. 
 LF> He is on this special diet that costs $10.50 for 8 cans.  I also
 LF> have to keep him away from the food of the other 10 cats.  This is
 LF> the hardest part. 
I'll bet that is a challenge!  They always want what they can't have.  My 
cats never liked the special diet, either....the plate would be full, but 
they would come after me and cry and cry for something else.  Sigh.
 LF> I may be openly displaying some ignorance here, this is my word,
 LF> not the vet's.  I have been trying to look it up and I am having no
 LF> luck. (Blush) A red flag should have gone off when my spell checker
 LF> did not know it. (I just told it to ignore it) I may be displaying
 LF> my age here, but this is what I remember my Mother calling a
 LF> bladder infection when I was a child. What he has is a *bad* 
 LF> urinary tract infection, more of a blockage (maybe  kidney
 LF> stones?). He got to the point where he wasn't putting out
 LF> anything,his bladder was hard as a rock and about the size of a
 LF> golf ball. At first the pee was bright red and then got down to
 LF> nothing. Twice. The vet kept him  about a week the last time and
 LF> kept him on an IV. Both his poor forepaws are shaven. On a solid
 LF> black kitty this is bad. He is doing a lot better, but very thin
 LF> because he hates that  expensive food.  
It sounds like Feline Urinary Syndrome, which affects male cats more than 
female.  Crystals build up in the urine and block the urinary tract.  It is 
quite serious, as when left untreated, the bladder swells and destroys 
kidneys.  It can happen in a very quick period of time--a friend of mine had 
her Siamese come down with it late on a Saturday night, could not get her cat 
to the Vet until Monday, and by that time it was too late.  When dealing with 
FUS, the quicker the action, the better.  Now, they can treat it with food, 
but no cat I have ever had liked the taste of the stuff.  Fortunately, it 
doesn't seem to take much to turn the problem around.
 LF> The first I noticed that something was wrong, he was getting in the
 LF> litter box every 3 minutes.  Then I saw the blood red urine in the
 LF> drain of my shower.  It was about that point that he got on my bed
 LF> turned himself up and showed me his penis, then sat up on the bed
 LF> and proceeded to demonstrate that he could not urinate.  Then he
 LF> got in the litter box and curled up.  Pretty plain message.  Poor
 LF> kitty.
It is a very painful condition.  :-(  I hope Poc-Poc is doing okay now.
Joan
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