Needing Help with my Gizmo

Hi everyone. My Gizmo is 18 years old. She's been living a full and happy life until about two weeks ago when I noticed she had a little trace of blood in her urine. I went to a website that offers herbal remedies as an alternative for vet medicine. (I had previously purchased a couple bottles of herbs to help aid in flushing toxins out of the body and give her trace minerals in her water. I was hit and miss with the regime of flushing the toxins and pretty much subsided until I thought about it and I would squirt a couple drops of each bottle in her mouth.) While skimming the herbs for help with the kidneys, I came across some herbs, one was to flush bacteria that could cause crystals and the other was for kidney function. I called the herbal store and ordered a bottle of each and was instructed to give it directly in her mouth. Again, I was hit and miss with the regimin as Gizmo gets an attitude when you do something she doesn't like which is taking the herbs, so I would give it to her faithfully for two days twice a day and skip a day or so then give it to her again. This has gone on for about a week and a half. On Sunday morning she was her regular self, meowing for her breakfast and just being talkative and her usual, waking me up at about 3:30 a.m. Late Sunday morning I gave Gizmo a dose of the herbs and shortly after that, she became reclusive, she hadn't eaten for the rest of Sunday or as of today. She is however drinking her water, but no food. Has not had a bowel movement in two days, but has been urinating quite a bit. Sometimes when I pick her up she just urinates down my shirt or will urinate while she is sleeping in her heated bed.

Have I caused damage to her by giving her the herbs? Is she just made at me? Is there something I can do to get her to eat? She won't even eat Salmon or tuna that I have offered. She's not even purring anymore when I hold her or lay down with her.

If anyone has any tips that would help me stimulate her to eat again or any advice in general it would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to jump the gun and bring her to the vet as it causes her great stress to be in the car. She is an indoor cat, goes outside just for enjoyment while I watch her.

I have stopped the herbs as of the last dose Sunday late morning.

Again, any advice would be greatly appreciated and I am open to suggestions. [/b]

 

You should take this cat to see the vet. Both blood in the urine and loss of apetite could be signs that there is something wrong.

 

Help with my Gizmo

Eventhough there have been no traces of blood in her urine for some time now? I really want to do the right thing, but I am very concerned with stressing her with the car ride and the vet visit. The cost is not an issue I don't want to send her over the edge as she is 18 years old.

 

Call your normal vet(or local if you dont have one vet you normally go to) and see what he/she has to say. Tell them everything from the blood in the urine to her not eating or having bowel movements and so on. The herbs might be flushing her system out by making her urinate alot, but she shouldn't lose her apptite.
Good luck!!

 

only problem w/giving her for stuff is you are giving herbs and not knowing 100% what might be wrong.
I do treat my aged dog with vitamins and such but she saw a holistic vet prior to this and the stuff I give her was suggested by this vet.
Even herbs I would never give unless I knew exactly what might be going on with the pet. What if they counteract something that might be going on?
Vet....an 18 year old cat urinating down your shirt and not eating isn't right...something is going on.

 

Help for my Gizmo

Thank U to all who responded to my post. You were all right, I brought her to the Pet Emergency and she had a very bad urinary tract infection. After doing a full panel blood test on her and a urinary test, the tests proved an infection. Gizmo had become dehydrated due to theinfection as it festered and the dehydration led to no appetite. The vet said that older cats do not clean themselves as often as they do when they are younger and the bacteria from the lack of cleaning can cause this type of an infection. They administered an injection of antibiotics and gave her a shot to hydrate her body. They sent me home with liquid antibiotics and a tube of "calories" because she hasn't been eating which was due to the dehydration. Plus she said I could give her Pedialyte to help with electrolytes (it's what they give to kids when they are dehydrated).

It's been a long hard day for my Giz girl, but now she and I can rest tonight knowing that all will be well with her in a day or so. She was very happy to be home and she's now curled up on our couch sleeping. Again, I heartfelt thank you from me and Gizzy to all who responded to my crisis. You were ALL a blessing.

Also, it was good to know that the herbs did not do any damage, they just prolonged Gizmo from getting proper treatment. I guess "all natural" isn't always to way to go??? I would have to do more reading on the subject before I would subject any one of my three cats to that type of treatment again.

 

Yay for Gizmo! I hope she recovers quickly!

 

Glad she's ok!

 

Homeopathics aren't going to work if they are done " hit and miss" and if you're giving it for kidney function and crystals in the urine when the problem is a urinary tract infection . Homeopathics work but they are cause -specific, that is, the correct homeopathic for the specific cause of the problem. You can't use guesswork. And yes, pets have been cured of urinary tract infection using homeopathics. I wonder ,too, about the " bottles" you said you used? Did they contain alcohol as a preservative? Alcohol is hard on the kidneys/liver. It's better to use dried herbs in tablet, capsule or raw form.

 

I'm so glad to hear she is doing better

 

you could add a cranberry supplement to her diet once she's through with her meds. Cats respond really well to cranberry to keep the urinary tract free of bacteria. It would probably be a good thing to help her since she has a harder time keeping herself clean at her age.
Glad you took her - at 18 years of age vet care is so important. And just the fact that she is 18 says a lot about the wonderful care you've given her throughout the years.