Am I supposed to trust my vet?! She doesn't seem to know what she's doing.?

Question

Took my 9 MONTH old kitty to the vet, she was "leaking" blood, going to her litter box every 5/10 mins or so.
She is indoors only, eats the food that OUR VET recommended.
She eats and drinks normally.

So my kitty started going to her litter box every 5 mins or so, but not actually peeing.
When she went to her bed I noticed she was "leaking" blood...

I called my vet and was told to go to emergency.

I met my vet there, and she examined the cat, made her pee and there was a lot of blood.

She says that because of her bad diet, she already has crystals, which is making her not filter things through, making her bleed.

My vet says its called a lower UTI.
...So, what's the matter here?! I've been giving her the food that MY VET RECOMMENDED when I first got my kitty.

Now I have two different medicines to give my cat every 8 hrs. and she will have to eat Hills CD prescription food.

I don't know if I should trust my vet. I will give my cat the medicine, but what about her diet?

The reason I don't know about the food is because I know vets want to sell as many prescriptions as possible since they make money out of it, and because ive heard Hills food is crap, from a pet community and the people at the humane society.

The reason I don't know about the food is because I know vets want to sell as many prescriptions as possible since they make money out of it, and because ive heard Hills food is crap, from a pet community and the people at the humane society.

Forgot to add something, my cat is spayed.

ARG, its Hill's m/d not c/d.

Answer 1

FLUIDS!!!

She may not have been drinking enough water.

C/D is good but I mixed mine with the purina urinary tract health after my cat went through Kidney failure from crystal and its five years later no new incidence.

BECAREFUL OF TREATS!!!!

Answer 2

Sometimes Vets can be scatter-brained. It reminds me of the time I went to go get my oil changed down the street from my apartment complex. I'd been there three months earlier for an oil change and the prices were good. So, here I was, a repeat customer and no one had touched my car since my most recent oil change with the same mechanic. The guy changing the oil brought over the nut that they remove to change the oil. It was badly stripped. He told me that the next time I get my oil changed, I need to come to their place because whoever changed my oil before had damaged the nut. So I never went back there. And no one has ever complained about that particular nut being stripped.

You've got a similar situation here. I would go ahead and introduce my kitty to a new vet. You can't have a vet that tells you one thing on a particular visit and then turns around and says, "Why are you doing this? You shouldn't be doing it. It's what is making your kitty sick." A new vet can confirm the diagnosis and make sure the treatment your kitty is getting is appropriate.

Then just don't return to the lousy vet. Your kitty deserves a vet that knows what he/she is doing. I'm sorry this happened to your kitty. It's not your fault at all. Just head over to a new vet.

Answer 3

I have 11 cats. They were all eating the same food up until about a week ago. And, yes, it is what my vet recommends for adult cats. One of my cats developed a bad UTI about a month ago. Antibiotics helped, but the UTI came back. So the vet gave us a purina brand prescription food. I have no doubt in my vet...I trust him completely. Vets can't predict how an animals system is going to react to a certain food. Most animals do fine, but a few will need special foods to fit their needs. My vet also recommended a good puppy food for my moms pup. Well, the pup ended up having digestive problems and is on a prescription food also. More proof that you just never know.

As far as the Hill's prescription food...if you would rather not use that, request another brand from your vet. My cat is on Purina UR formula. And Eukanuba makes prescription foods also. Definently keep the cat on the meds. They will clear the UTI and the food will prevent it from recurring.

Answer 4

HI
edited to add. Not that it matters much as I think all that food is garbage but your vet gave you the wrong garbage food. MD is for diabetes (not really good for that either) not uti's

The diets the vet recommends aren't the best but it may not be because of money. Most nutrtional information they get one way or another unfortunately comes from the pet food industy itself. Hills even sponsers vet scvhools grr.
The reason this is happening is most likely that you are feeding dry food and there isn't enough moisture passing through the system. canned foods without gravy would be best and higher quality canned fods like wellness or merick would be optimal for your cats if you can afford them.

Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health
Contrary to what you may have heard, dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.
Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods.
The problems with it are that they are loaded with carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process. Most of the moisture a cat needs is gotten
out of the food and 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Also, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.
You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all. Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods.Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Please read about cat nutrition.
http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics.html
http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.htm

http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm#Dry_Food_vs_Canned_Food.__Which_is_reall

Answer 5

It could be possible- urinary tract infections make a cat pee blood- and try to be but can't. They can be painful. The medicine sounds normal as well. One was Clavamox, and I forgot the other one's name. Emergency vet was good advice if she was telling you over the phone- without seeing the cat, you do not know the seriousness of it- some cats get so blocked up that they cannot pee at all, and their bladder will extend or even rupture due to the pressure built up inside.

As for the food- as long as you get any type of high quality food used for urinary tract infections, you should be fine- it takes a while for them to clear up, and anything off of the non-u.t.i. food can get it to start up again.

Some cats have problems with uti's all their life, others get it every once and a while, others still never get it.

I am not familiar with the science diets brands- if it is one made for uti's, then it is fine- she was just suggesting one sold at her place.

Answer 6

Sometimes you have to go against your vet's advice. This vet sounds like a quack (sorry). I'd get a second opinion. I have a friend who's cat started out with similar symptoms. It was a urinary tract infection. He had to spend two weeks in the hospital and they weren't sure if he was going to make it or not. He did finally pull through.

I have a cat with renal failure and another that had crystals. They eat Merrick wet food and Innova Evo dry. If I want to give them a treat, I give them Wellness wet, but they don't prefer it compared to Merrick. Dry food isn't the best and I'm trying to transition my kitties to mostly wet food. Read the links submitted by Ken and RuneAmok. They have great advice.

Good luck to you. I hope your kitty is better real soon.

Answer 7

1. Find a new vet.
2. Toss the crappy, overpriced "prescription" food the moron sold you.
3. Get your cat eating a healthy diet of good quality canned food.

Vets - many but not all - are sadly misinformed and uninformed about correct nutrition for cats. Hard to believe but it is true - as you've now seen for yourself.

I am going to be going to a new vet for that very same reason. While the one I had been going to is probably fine for most things, they don't know diddly about good food. I'm going to one who I KNOW has a clue!

From my blog:
This is not my area of expertise, but this has been my experience: As a kitten, Poppy developed both a weight problem and a UTI. My vet told me to start feeding her special food which he happily sold me *gulp*. Poppy refused to eat it. Back then I was less aware of how to get cats to eat new foods, so I just said the hell with it and bought Purina's urinary health food, mixed with weight management. She ate that from then until she was 2 years old. She never had another UTI, so that tells me that the overpriced CRAP the vets sell you are typically unnecessary. The grocery store crap is just as good.

For various reasons, I soon thereafter began researching cat nutrition. I learned about the benefits of wet food, and found that in many cases, that's all that's required to prevent future UTI's. Even the crappy brands like Friskies would be better than dry food!

I don't claim to be a vet, vet tech, vet student or anything like that. But I know how to research and examine results. I've read a bit on this topic which is how I've reached the conclusions I have.

At the very least, were I to have another cat with urinary problems, I'd sooner try them on a GOOD QUALITY canned food before shelling out the dough for a "prescription" dry food (or even their canned varieties). That's because I believe that good nutrition and species appropriate food is much more likely to keep a cat healthy than something designed to change their chemical composition.

Answer 8

If you do not trust your vet, ten it is a good idea to find another. A lot of people get second opinions when it comes to their pets. There is nothing wrong with taking your cat to another vet. I have 3 different vets that I go to.

As for the food, most vets do get a kickback for the food they sell. Your best bet it to research different foods for your cat. Their are many high quality foods that you can feed, but first I would seek a second opinion.

Answer 9

You can get a second opinion. Anyway, it sounds like a urinary tract infection and this can be combined with crystals. The infection has nothing to do with the food, the crystals could have to do with the food, if the food doesn't regulate the urine PH correctly. However, the urine PH can be raised and form crystals because of an infection and not the diet. Anyway, you must give her the medication and special food. And make sure after she gets well to give her food that regulates urine PH. Preferably wet food, and exrtra water in it.

Answer 10

I can certainly understand your concern. Do you have friends with pets? Ask around who is the best vet in town. If you get two, three going to same vet and are happy it is a good chance they are good. I had this with my first dog asked around out of not knowing I was taking him to worst vet. I am now at best one and trust him 100%. It is just like you and a doctor, you must trust your doc and your vet. I personally would get another opinion. Change of food for lots of blood doesn't sound quite right. BUT I AM NOT A VET. Don't let her keep bleeding she will get anemic and open to all sorts of illness. Hope this helps. Take care of your precious kitty.

Answer 11

Just go to another Vet for a second opinion. Most Vets are not in it for the money they love the animals.