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13 Responses to “Synergy”

1. erizzle says:

   April 25, 2007 at 5:59 am

   my sympathies. good luck with the cat.
   e
2. carrie says:

   April 25, 2007 at 9:26 am

   you have some bad luck with water getting in your closets.
   i hope everything’s going better this morning.
3. BlazingDragon says:

   April 25, 2007 at 9:30 am

   Is this kittie male? It could be crystals in the urine (which is more likely in male cats). As long as there are not too many crystals, it’s not life-threatening (too many crystals cause urinary blockage, which is a big problem). It is, however, incredibly annoying (my wife and I have gone through it twice with one of our kitties).

   Good luck.
4. MikeEss says:

   April 25, 2007 at 9:38 am

   It has always been a source of great frustration fascinating to me that problems seldom arrive one at a time but seem to travel in packs.

   For example, I’ve been blessed with several major car problems just in the last month. As I am the family auto mechanic (as well as electrician, carpenter, AND plumber), I find myself suddenly blessed with an excess of opportunities to prove my skills…

   Sorry Marc, but good luck! I’m sure the cats will help a lot to get the job done sooner…
5. Mnemosyne says:

   April 25, 2007 at 10:02 am

   If the cat has never done this before, take her to the vet IMMEDIATELY. It can be something as simple as you having moved the litter box to a position she’s not happy with, or it can be something as dire as kidney failure.
6. greensmile says:

   April 25, 2007 at 11:27 am

   thanks for reminding me to have a plumber come check that growing trickle of rusty water running down the side of my water heater.
7. turandot says:

   April 25, 2007 at 11:29 am

   I’m seconding Mnemosine’s advice.

   Fyi, sudden peeing outside of the litterbox, if she’s just started doing this out of the blue, suggests she might have a urinary tract infection. UTIs are more common in male cats, but either gender can suffer from one. And yes, it is dire suffering, since most cats would much rather pee on litter in normal conditions, but with a UTI it really hurts the cat to pee on litter, so they will be relieving themselves either in a sink, in a tub or on hardwood floors, i.e. anywhere they’re not likely to rub against anything else.

   Granted, if she’s peeing on other things, such as rugs or bedspreads, it might suggest a behavioral problem. That said, I’d get the vet to rule out a UTI first, and asap, because the longer a UTI goes untreated, the more it can lead to kidney failure in cats, which can ultimately be fatal. Once you rule out a medical problem, it’s much easier to proceed with figuring out what the behavior problem is.
8. punkass marc says:

   April 25, 2007 at 3:32 pm

   Hey all,

   Thanks for the kind words!

   Update:

   Some comic books were lost in the closet (including the ones where they killed off Robin in the 80s), but it could’ve been worse.

   Fiona has her second bladder infection of the month, and we believe it’s because of the stress of being around Amanda’s cats. Among other things, she stays tucked away in her hiding places too long and doesn’t make enough pit stops to keep her bladder healthy. She’ll be heading back with my Mom tomorrow for a more peaceful life ruling her own house once again.
9. erizzle says:

   April 26, 2007 at 12:19 am

   best to Fiona. if the UTI’s persist, something as simple as a diet-alteration could help. helped a lot for one of my furry little dudes.
10. Frumious B says:

    April 26, 2007 at 8:51 am

    Since you’ve had her checked for bladder infections, I assume they did a crystal test, too? If she was positive for crystals, you are stuck with this for a long time, possibly forever, and no amount of pit stops will make it go away. The only way to manage it is with diet. Don’t waste your time and money with the stuff in Petco; long term use of that will just lead to another type of crystal which can only be removed by surgery. My vet prefers the Royal Canin urinary formulation which fortunately is not affected by the recall.

    By the way, have you guys tried the trick where at dinner time you put each kitty in cage with the yummiest food you can buy and move the cages a little closer to each other each day? The idea is to associate the other cat with yummy food. I think you are supposed to do this in conjunction with keeping them in separate rooms (and rotating which cat is in which room). 15-30 min per day per kitty spent on interactive play, petting, grooming, etc also goes a long way towards easing anxiety. If that sounds like a lot, hey, at least they aren’t babies.
11. erizzle says:

    April 26, 2007 at 10:48 am

    Frumious B,
    my boys hated royal caniin. we use, very successfully, sci diet c/d feline formula. you need a prescription for it, but we haven’t had any crystals or UTI’s since the switch.
12. Frumious B says:

    April 27, 2007 at 8:53 am

    erizzle,

    Actually, I was addressing the punkass cat’s bladder problems, but I guess I wasn’t clear about that. Science Diet c/d also has been known to cause the other kind of crystals in the long run which is why my vet doesn’t prescribe it anymore. Royal Canin is neutral pH rather than low pH, so it prevents both types of crystals from forming.
    You are not necessarily dooming your cat to have these crystals by feeding them c/d. I don’t know if the risk factor for low pH foods has been quantified, but it’s good to be aware of these things.
13. erizzle says:

    April 27, 2007 at 6:58 pm

    Frumious B,
    sorry for the confusion…and MANY THANKX for the info! i had no idea c/d carried that long-run possibility. lately, making meals for my animals looks better and better. rock on.