Stray Cats Diagnosis; Inflammation of Bladder

Two days ago a stray cat that is a regular and my cat shelter showed signs of not being able to urinate. I observed this when I thought he was going to urinate outside of the litter box. I discovered there was no urine but instead a drop of blood. Warning flag and of course this meant that cat would be rushed to the veterinarians where they took him immediately to the exam room to check him for blockage.

Stray cat in the garden

The stray cat was kept at the animal hospital for two nights and during that time they did an exam, and tested his urine, blood and did a combo test for Feline Leukemia and AIDS. The test came back and showed that the cat had inflammation of the bladder and this is why he has the need to strain to urinate.

The stray cat was diagnosed with Feline idiopathic cystitis or commonly known as sterile cystitis. This condition is inflammation of the bladder. The veterinarian checks the cat’s urine to determine if the urine is sterile or if it has tiny crystals or sand like particles in the urine. - See more at: http://storyofsambysusangolis.blogspot.com/2012/01/cat-health-feline-idiopathi-cystitis.html#sthash.7UPvqPNI.dpuf

The veterinarian that treated the cat said this 16 year old cat was under stress and needed to eat special diet to calm him. She recommended royal canin veterinarian diet calm cat food. Know that this food benefits cats as it will prevent urinary tract infections, hairballs and if you have multiple cat homes it keeps all the cats in harmony.

My one friend said she fed this calming food to her 7 month old kittens and the kittens stopped climbing her drapes. While the pet food sounds good, it is expensive $52. for 8.8 pounds is the asking price at my veterinarians.

I did an online search for the Royal canin veterinarian diet calm cat food and found that Chewy.com Regular price was $49.38 and then if you signed up for auto ship you got another discount. If I signed up for auto ship today the food would cost me $46.91 and then I would have to spend $3.00 more to get free shipping. The Chewy website offers the best prices on cat food and products.

We cannot afford to feed this stray cat the special diet. However we plan on buying one bag of the food. We will feed the cat so he starts to feel better and then I can rehome him. I really do not like changing a mature cats lifestyle but think finding him a forever home would be best; a home where they can afford to buy this cat the food that he needs.  

I feel bad since I have watched over this cat for the last two years, well since he was abandoned but such is the life of a cat that is left behind when their people move.  Read the first post about this stray cat to learn about his symptoms and when we realized something was wrong.