One year old cat drinking and urinating excessively

[Minky]

We have a one year old cat, a foster we've pretty much adopted because nobody else will have her. She's aggressive toward everyone but me, and lives a reasonably happy life hiding under my bed or sitting in my lap.

About a week ago, I noticed that she's begun urinating excessively, and gulping down water at an extraordinary rate. We had a diabetic older cat before, and I'm prepared to deal with diabetes again, but Ember is only 1 year old!

I'm going to get her an appointment at the vet who serves the rescue, because they will see her for free, but may take a day or so to get in, but in the meantime, any suggestions on how to help her?

A bit of background: She was abused and severely emaciated when we got her. She was almost completely bald from tearing her own fur out. We could count every single rib. She also had the worst respiratory infection I've ever seen, severe infection in both eyes, fleas and ear mites. She spent her first several weeks with us refusing to eat anything except these extremely expensive "cat desserts," which look like canned white meat chicken in its own juice.

The rescue suggested Friskies to get her off the "cat desserts" and she's been eating Friskies since then. As I fed her the Friskies, she gained weight, grew her hair back, and looks normal now. The peeing started immediately after I switched from the Friskies the rescue gave me, which has apparently been discontinued, to a different flavour that looked similar.

Could this be about the diet? If so, what to do? Go back to the cat desserts and see if the gulping and urination stops? The rest of our sweethearts eat Purina One, but she refuses to touch that.

Any suggestions would be great.

[greenmagick]

First, Friskies is not a quality diet. Diabetes and many other diseases pop up in cats at very high rates do to diet. Aslo, cats naturally dont really drink much...they get it from food which is why I usually serve a high quality grain free wet food...though I really wish mine would switch to raw.

it could be just from changing diets I guess (they put salt in dry food to force them to drink, maybe this new variety has a lot) but it could be a UTI or worse.

Good Luck!

[Ola_]

I agree with greenmagick on all counts. Friskies is definitely not a quality food. I'd get the kitty onto as much raw or good canned/wet food as you can. Having the moisture in the food is very good for preventing kidney/urinary issues as it is easier for them to process.

What brand are the cat desserts you mentioned?

BTW, thanks for taking care of her! That's wonderful of you.

[lonegirl]

Ok....increased drinking and urine (pu/pd) can be caused by several things......a diet high in sodium.....UTI....diabetes....kidney disease....generally the first think a vet will do is a urinalysis as it will check for the non-food related issues

[Minky]

Well, her vet appointment is Friday. In the meantime, I'm going to have to find something else to feed her. She won't touch what the others eat, which is Purina One. As for taking care of her, we just bonded at the rescue, and nobody else wanted her because of her aggression and fear issues. We've done foster care for many years, I've just never had a cat be this picky about food, especially one that was literally starving to death in a ditch.

Personally, I hate Friskies. I don't think it's an appropriate diet, but she was dangerously underweight when I got her, like to the point where you could count every rib through her poor, hairless skin , and the rescue gave me this enormous bag of Friskies. I only bought another bag because of her past eating issues.

Any suggestions as to what to buy. The cat "desserts" are actually called "appetizers," and they're Purina Fancy Feast brand. You can look at it here. The only one she would eat was the plain chicken one.

If that's a better diet, I could go back to that, it's just that she wasn't gaining any weight at all on it, she's still quite underweight, and they're $2.00ish a pop. But everyone's right, the Friskies are a quick fix to her appetite problem and I need to find another food.

I'm open to suggestions for food to try.

[Minky]

Oh, dear, I've just gotten some new information.

DD just informed me that she's been giving Ember ICE CREAM and youghurt, because she eats it in a funny way and it's fun to watch. (She picks it up with her paw, then licks it off.) She doesn't remember when she started doing this, but I'm guessing it has something to do with our current issues. She didn't do it today, because she knew I was concerned about Ember's health, and I actually noticed that Ember wasn't gulping water at all today.

I don't want to be angry with DD, as she meant no harm, but I'm kind of fuming right now, and very sad. She knows she's not to give the cats human food. It is funny to watch her eat, but.... wet food works just as well!

[greenmagick]

Honestly there is nothing good food wise at a grocery store, and very little at the big box pet stores.

For a cat it really should be grain free and canned/wet.

some brands are EVO, Wellness Core, Instinct, Natural Balance, and Taste of the Wild....there are more but those popped in my head first.

*taste of the wild does have ethoxquin in it (many other cat and dog foods have this as well)....some people feel it is all cooked off and others dont feel safe feeding it....I go back and forth. It is aside from that though a very good food at a good price.*

[Dar]

I give my cat ice cream. She is so skinny, and the vet said to give her anything she'll eat... she does get high quality wet food, too, but I noticed that she was always up for licking out my ice cream bowl, so...

Actually, though, she won't eat ice cream if I just give give it to her... I have to get myself a bowl of ice cream, eat most, and then pretend to lose interest. Then she'll come along and lick up the rest.

It's not that I want to eat ice cream... I have to. For the sake of my cat....

/thread hijack. I'm glad Ember is drinking less today.

[Minky]

Well, we'll still be keeping the vet's appointment. She hasn't quite kicked her eye infection yet, either, and the drops I have for her eyes aren't helping. I'll probably have the joy of shoving another course of antibiotics down her throat!

Hahaha about eating ice cream for kitty's sake. Sounds like we had the same idea--give the emaciated cat what it will eat, so it doesn't starve to death. I just hope it hasn't caused Ember any lifelong problems.

I've always fed my cats dry food, either Science Diet or Purina One, and supplemented with a treat of wet food a couple times a week. DH really doesn't like the smell of it, so I have to buy the individual cans, and that really adds up if I was going to feed them wet food daily. It's mostly about DH, though--he approves of my cat rescuing as long as he doesn't have to smell it, so for every one of my cats, it's always been a choice between dry food and death row at Animal Control.

Is the Science Diet dry food a better choice?

[Minky]

some brands are EVO, Wellness Core, Instinct, Natural Balance, and Taste of the Wild....there are more but those popped in my head first.

Where would I find those? Are they in any conventional pet stores?

[greenmagick]

Unfortunately no, science diet is not a good choice either.

wellness is at petco i believe...natural balance may be as well. the rest are usually at smaller pet store or often feed stores carry taste of the wild for dogs, they may either carry or be able to order the feline version.

look at the ingredients...you want meat and lots of it...not by products, not grain, etc.

if you cant do total wet, aim for at least 50%

[elisent]

I saw this in new posts and at first I thought it said "one year old drinking cat urine excessively"

[Ola_]

I agree with no Science Diet. It's more expensive but IMO it's not actually any better ingredient-wise.

Does either the ice cream or yogurt contain any artificial sweeteners? I know sometimes they sneak them in there.

[Dar]

My cat only gets Breyers vanilla, with sugar and real cream. I feed her Innova regularly, but I found a bunch of Pet Promise in cans at Big Lots and have been giving her that. It was marked .50 a can and there's a 20% coupon for Big Lots floating around (google it), which made it .40 a can. which is super cheap for this quality wet food. Of course, it's cheap because the company went out of business .

[lonegirl]

Originally Posted by Minky

.

I've always fed my cats dry food, either Science Diet or Purina One, and supplemented with a treat of wet food a couple times a week. DH really doesn't like the smell of it, so I have to buy the individual cans, and that really adds up if I was going to feed them wet food daily. It's mostly about DH, though--he approves of my cat rescuing as long as he doesn't have to smell it, so for every one of my cats, it's always been a choice between dry food and death row at Animal Control.

Is the Science Diet dry food a better choice?

Both are good foods. Science Diet the better...I know everyone keeps telling you it isn't a good food....but truly Hills is a good company with good food.
I am not a rep....but I am a tech who has seen many many diets....in a few weeks I will be attending a conference and will be learning all about the pros and cons of raw diet and various diets out there.

[Dar]

Originally Posted by lonegirl

Both are good foods. Science Diet the better...I know everyone keeps telling you it isn't a good food....but truly Hills is a good company with good food.
I am not a rep....but I am a tech who has seen many many diets....in a few weeks I will be attending a conference and will be learning all about the pros and cons of raw diet and various diets out there.

I guess it depends on how you define good.

Here are the first 8 ingredients of the Innova dry cat food: turkey, chicken meal, chicken, potatoes, egg, barley, chicken fat, rice.

Here are the first 8 from the a Science Diet dry food: Chicken By-Product Meal, Brewers Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Powdered Cellulose (10.5% source of fiber), Chicken Liver Flavor, Soybean Oil, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid),

And Purina One: Chicken, brewers rice, corn gluten meal, poultry by-product meal, wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), whole grain corn, fish meal,

[greenmagick]

Originally Posted by lonegirl

Both are good foods. Science Diet the better...I know everyone keeps telling you it isn't a good food....but truly Hills is a good company with good food.
I am not a rep....but I am a tech who has seen many many diets....in a few weeks I will be attending a conference and will be learning all about the pros and cons of raw diet and various diets out there.

Dont mean this to be snarky at all.....who is sponsoring this conference?

It is really quite simple....cats are true carnivores....they eat meat (and bones and organs)...not rice, not corn, not gluten...meat.

Read the ingredients listed above...logcically how are those better for your pet. Purina and Hills both are full of cheap fillers and byproducts. You could not pay me to feed those to my animals....well maybe to my rats and chickens.

[Ola_]

Originally Posted by lonegirl

Both are good foods. Science Diet the better...I know everyone keeps telling you it isn't a good food....but truly Hills is a good company with good food.

No offense but do you by chance sell Hills foods where you work?

[lonegirl]

Originally Posted by Ola_

No offense but do you by chance sell Hills foods where you work?

Hills, Medi-Cal, Wellness, Iams/Eukanuba, Royal Canin. It is a veterinary Hospital in Ontario....I don't know one that doesn't

[lonegirl]

Originally Posted by greenmagick

Dont mean this to be snarky at all.....who is sponsoring this conference?

It is really quite simple....cats are true carnivores....they eat meat (and bones and organs)...not rice, not corn, not gluten...meat.

Read the ingredients listed above...logcically how are those better for your pet. Purina and Hills both are full of cheap fillers and byproducts. You could not pay me to feed those to my animals....well maybe to my rats and chickens.

That's ok.....it is a veterinary conference and there will be many sponsors. I am going to the nutrition talks so I can learn more about the raw diet. Not a single hospital I have worked at over the past 13+ years has recommended it so I want to learn more. There are a lot of good diets....I didn't say Hills was the best but she asked about it over Purina. I do like Hills...I like that my male cat doesn't block on it....