Update on Myrna's Urinary Condition

Myrna on top of the china cabinet where she doesn't belong

So, two weeks ago, Myrna was urinating out of the box and I took her to the vet.  Tests showed crystals and a Ph level of 8. Normal is 6-6.5. Any higher and crystals or an infection could occur as it did in her case.  I was so happy that she actually had something wrong this time, something tangible about which we could devise a plan of action instead of it being another case of -there's nothing wrong and it's behavorial when she goes out of the box.

So, we spent the last two weeks giving extra water by mouth, only wet Royal Canin SO, and only about 1% of dry food/treats (as we are still doing treat training to train her to not go in the house out of the box.)

For whatever reason, her AST level two weeks ago-a liver indicator-was higher than normal at 67.

We had the blood and urine retested this week and there is great news.  Her Ph level is 6 and there are no crystals in the blood. Her AST level is 20-a good normal level.

We're not sure what the exact cause was but we do know that lasix, a diuretic that she takes for HCM, drains the body of fluids.  It could be that she is very sensitive to having too much dry food (for no other reason than it doesn't promote an intake of moisture in the body.) But even when fed more Fancy Feast than dry food, her crystal/Ph level rose.  Obviously, she's a sensitive girl so we will keep her on SO and make sure not to give her too many dry treats/food.

She's back to using the box on a regular basis but we still must monitor her. When she cries or paces as if needing a box or looking for one, we take her to the boxes and encourage her, coax her, have petting/play time until she goes. We take her every 4 hours and at meal times to the boxes. We treat her after she has gone.

As with any issue with a cat, we need to keep working patiently with them, using every trick up our sleeve.