Long Awaited Chloe Update

Well, after medicines and surgery and bladder stones and more medicine and tests (on the bladder stone and on Chloe) and research, we finally have some conclusion to Chloe's recent medical drama. A least, I hope this will be the conclusion.

No kitties were washed during the making of this photo

First off, Chloe's bladder stone ended up being an ammonium urate stone. Apparently this is very uncommon in cats (less than 6% of stones). Dogs, specifically Dalmatians, tend to get them, so maybe Chloe is hiding some Dalmatian ancestry. Anyway, this type of stone can mean liver problems so we had to have a bile acid test on Chloe to rule that out. The test came back fine so no liver problems for our little Squeaker.

Typically (in dogs), to help prevent a reoccurrence of the bladder stone, the animals have to be put on a low protein diet (since the stones arise from the liver processing protein differently, leading to a build up of uric acid which, call me crazy, makes me think my cat is now prone to gout, just like Dan). Of course, low protein goes totally counter to what the kitties are eating now since we intentionally pick the grain-free high protein stuff (Wellness Core for a while and now Blue Wilderness because it has little vitamin kibbles in it).

So now Chloe (and just Chloe) will have to switch to a low protein diet. In fact, she's going to have to get some Rx food from the vet that has easier to digest protein. (It's also supposed to be good for cats with food allergies so it might help her with her obsessive hair nibbling behavior that is mostly stress-related but I think does do better when she's on more allergy-friendly foods. I know that food allergies can present in wacky ways; corn (and I think gluten) allergies can cause depression, panic attacks and the like. I was a much happier camper after finally getting my diet corn-free so maybe this new diet will make Chloe a much fuzzier one.)

Neither Dan nor I are especially thrilled about feeding one of the kitties food that has fillers and ten-syllable words in the ingredient list, but the granola pet food market doesn't have anything for cats that can't have high protein so we really don't have an alternative. Well, I suppose I could cook her some food from scratch if I really wanted to, but I think the other kitties might try to beat her up to get to her bowl during feeding time so probably not the best plan. And please, I love my cats but I'm not ready to cook them meals every day.

Anyway, I imagine I'll pick up the food Monday or Tuesday or so. Then hopefully Chloe will be able to maintain a healthy bladder.