Conference misery::feline

    My understanding is that Tufts is quite good.  I've never been a fan of
    Angell ever since they let me take my parakeet home and the bird
    promptly died from pneumonia.
    

    I had a wonderful experience with Tufts.  They are a little expensive
    but worth it all.  Also, the people there are very nice.
    

    Also, did the vet put the cat on Hills S/D (stone diet)? This will help
    desolve the stones.
    
    Deb

    p.s.  Please let us know how your kitty is doing.  One thing I remember
    about infections involving the urinary tract at least, is that doing a
    culture to identify the exact organism causing the infection will
    allow the vet to pick a specific antibiotic targeted right at the
    infection.  My Little Bit had 2 or 3 occurences of urinary problems
    due to crystals in the urine (which I will -guess- are forerunners of
    kidney stones forming.)  His vet put him on Stone Diet along with
    a preventitive antibiotic.  Stone Diet is not a nutritionally complete
    long term cat food, but it is okay for short term use and is designed
    to dissolve mineral formations, as I understand it.
                                              

    I've had great experience with Tufts too.   I also use to work
    with this man who's kitty had to have surgegy to remove the
    stones.   The kitty did recuperate nicely, but since I lost
    contact with this man, I'm not sure if the problem ever came back.
    
    Keep us posted..and good luck.
    
    Sandy

    Karen brings up a good point. My Kostas had a reoccurent problem for
    several months, and did n't seem to respond to anything. Finally the vet
    did a urine culture and sent the urine out to a lab for a urinalysis
    (rather than just the in house dip stick) and found that Kostas had a
    kidney infection. With that info, he changed the antibiotic and Kostas
    started responding within hours!
    
    However, he has had classic FUS and blockage several times, so he gets
    a can of S/D every couple of weeks, and cranbarry pills twice a week as
    a preventative measure.
    
    Deb

    
    Having passed a few kidney stones myself (trust me, this is not
    something you'd care to experience), I have to report that my doctor
    told me that there's no medical basis for the belief that cranberry
    juice will prevent or dissolve kidney stones, and in fact is more
    likely to cause them.  Apple juice is also apparently strongly
    implicated statistically in the formation of stones.
    
    len.
    

    I believe they've shown that cranberry juice helps with urinary
    tract infections because it changes the ph of the urine so it's
    an "inhospitable" growth medium for the infection.  That's different,
    I assume from having an effect on kidney stones.
    

    Len,
    
    the cat had a kidney infection, not kidney stones. But he did
    have recurrent FUS (bladder problems, crystals and "sand" with several
    blockages). You are right, if he had kidney stones, we woudn't put him
    on the cranberry pills!
    
    Deb

    
    Sorry, I was looking at the thread title...
    
    len.
     

Hello,

   Thank you for your fast responses to my request for help.  It is greatly
   appreciated.   

   We had our visit with the vet yesterday.  He did some blood work and found 
   that her white count was very low.  They think this may indicate she is 
   fighting a virus (rather than an infection) in addition to the stone.  The 
   good news is that her kidney fluids are good shape and the kidney seems to
   be operating well.  Also, she is still quite lively and energetic.  They 
   moved her to a new medicine (Cefadroxil).  I brought in a urine sample this 
   morning and they are analyzing it now.  (This may affect a new medication 
   change).   I also asked about the possibility of putting her on S/D.  They 
   are not sure yet what type of stone it is so they want to hold off for the 
   moment on changing her food.  It is a good possibility for the future, tho.

   It looks like the next steps will be analysis of the results and needling
   of the stone to determine what type it is.  My understanding is that this
   will help them prescribe treatment now as well as define a diet for her
   later to help her avoid forming future stones.  My doctor is contacting both
   Angel and Tufts to see who works kidney stone cases most often and the 
   procedures they offer.  I've been told that Angel has come out with a new 
   process for aspiring them (sp? - needling) and that Tufts has been doing 
   good work with ultra-sound to break them up.   I'm concerned tho with what 
   I am hearing about Angel.

   Sandy - any idea which hospital your co-worker used for the surgery?  I am
   hoping it will not amount to that; but it may be an option if diet and   
   untra-sound don't reduce it.

   If there's anything else anyone can add, please do.  I will keep you all
   updated as this progresses.  It will be a couple weeks before they want me
   take her in for another x-ray to access the status of the stone.  I'm
   hoping she might just pass it but it sounds like that's not real likely.

   Thank you all again.  It's very reassuring to know there are people out
   there who want to help others and who care so dearly for their pets.

   Jill

    Jill..
    
    I believe it was Abbott Animal Hospital in Worcester.
    
    

    
    For the sake of the cat, I sure hope their kidney stones don't hurt like
    human ones...
    
    len.
    

    My cousin had them. First time I ever heard a priest swear.
    
    Deb