dspch911 said:
HYPO - that was my typo, it is HYPER and thanks for the info I will pass it on. He just does whatever the vet says thinking its the right thing to do... he means well. I do make sure the can food is the lowest protein I can find, but that dry food says 33%. She also throws up ALL the time, especially after eating the dry food - he says she gorges herself and its a symptom of the thyroid problem?! I have no knowledge of cats. She had 2 sisters - 1 had to be pts due to kidney failure and the other due to inability to control bladder when she started to urinate everywhere and vet could not do anything for her or figure out why.
if she is still eating a lot, her hyperT meds may need adjusting, or is it early in her treatment still? a well controlled hyperT cat doesn't need to eat more. They lose wt and are ravenously hungry before the meds kick in, so if she's been on the meds for awhile and is still very hungry, she may need her dose adjusted.
that said, many cats will "inhale" dry food too fast often without chewing it, and then regurgitate shortly afterward. This isn't true vomiting, it's just more like spitting up, where the food hasn't been digested at all and will come back up the same way it went down. It's perfectly ok for her to eat this, just leave it out. It seems gross to us, but it's normal for a cat.
until her hyperT is controlled, she should probably be given as much food as she wants to eat, in small meals so she keeps it down. Really encourage him to give her canned only, it will help her bladder so much!
So sorry to hear about her sisters, it sounds like the problems are genetic with these girls, so sad.
Really, feeding just canned food, regardless of the amount of protein is the BEST thing he can do for her.
Lower phosphorus would be good, just check those charts and you can find many foods that are lower in phosphorus.
the special diet canned formulas will say they have lower magnesium, and when they lower magnesium, the phosphorus content goes down as well, so that can be an easy way to find a lower phosphorus food.
when was her last blood work done? if you can get a copy of those, I can help you understand what they mean and which ones are the most important for a cat with urinary tract and possible kidney issues.
she's really on the young side, actually, for any serious kidney problems, those usually don't show up til a cat is older. But with poor genes, it's possible to have serious problems sooner.
It really sounds like it's more of a problem with her bladder and not her kidneys though- and there is NO reason to restrict protein in a cat who only has bladder problems, not true kidney involvement.
Encourage him to read the info in the links, and esp draw attention to the part about PAIN relief. Bladder issues are extremely painful and if she continues to have these issues, she really needs pain meds.
there's a lot to know about it, and the reasoning behind it all but once you know the basics, you can ask the vet the important questions and advocate for the best care for her, the same as we may need to do for our rats.
when you think about it, vets can't possibly know EVERYTHING there is to know about every single condition in all the different species of animals they treat
even for humans, we have specialists because the issues for each organ system are so vast, no one doctor can know all there is to know, so even your best vet will have gaps in what they know.
I don't know, it helps me, at least, to have a basic understanding of a health problem when talking to a doctor, human or animal. you often don't even know what to ask otherwise
for example, I have atrial fibrillation. after doing more research I've learned that the aspirin I"m on will NOT prevent the kind of stroke caused by afib, so I need to call my doctor and find out about a different med,
like, um, right now LOL
