Tonight is the full moon (the “Strawberry moon”)…
Give your monthly preventatives!
Note: If you have another way to remember to give your preventatives, that’s okay too! Do what works for you. I thought it might be fun for us to all give it together.
My son Carter graduated from high school Friday night! My parents came, traveling from North Carolina. They had car/routing trouble and missed Carter’s graduation but were able to attend my graduation from the One Spirit Seminary’s Spiritual Companioning program in NYC on Saturday. We spent the night in the city and saw Dead Outlaw on Broadway. It was my graduation gift to Carter who loves theatre. Next weekend we travel to UMAINE for his freshman college orientation!
What’s new at the animal hospital? We did a peri urethrostomy. It is an advanced surgery that widens the urinary opening on a male cat so that it is wide enough to pass small urinary stones. The kitty will have to eat a special diet to prevent these stones for the rest of his life.
The stone we removed was 2 to 3 mm wide and was preventing the male cat from being able to pass urine. This is a common and life threatening emergency in male cats. Any weird litter box activity like more frequent attempts to use the cat box should mean a trip to the veterinarian especially for male cats who have a more narrow urethra! Sometimes we can get these guys on a special diet before they block. Sometimes a urinary catheter can be used to move the stone back into the bladder and sometimes stones can be dissolved there with a special diet. For a stone that is stuck in the urethra itself, we make a wider opening so the stone can pass. In this case, we found the stone, removed it, made a new and wider opening for pee, and the cat is recovering well.
There are SO MANY diets out there. It’s crazy. I can’t keep up with them all.
Which ones don’t cause stones?
I like Hill’s Science Diet, Royal Canin, Purina, and Eukanuba Diets because I feel these companies are aware of bladder stones and are more likely formulating their diets to prevent them.
Some animals are going to make stones no matter what they eat. They end up on special diets such as Purina UR and sometimes even then the stones recur. We also encourage these patients to drink more water so the urine is more dilute and less likely to form stones.
If you have an overweight dog, check out the Eukanuba Fit Body kibble. It has less than 300 kcal/C. Compare that to the calories per cup in what you are feeding now.
Here are two of my patients, Nero and Nori, curled into the yin and yang symbol:
Books I have read since the last full moon and can recommend are:
- Radium Girls by Kate Moore
- The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
Happy reading!
Happy Almost Summer!
Happy full moon gazing!
Remember your monthly heart-worm and/or flea and tick prevention!