Blog
Patient Profile: Annie's Success Story!
June 9, 2011
Meet Annie, a wonderful little mixed breed medium hair kitty. She is only 2 years old and already has given her mom fits. After a rough start as a kitten, Annie found her forever home and quickly proceeded to take over the house: demanding certain foods (dry kibble) and choosing various areas around the house for her elimination needs. When she wasn’t listening to the devil cat on her shoulder, she was the perfect angel, seeking out toys to pounce on and playfully harassing her brother, Blu. She also knew how to work the system to get the humans in the house to cater to her every whim… “Feed me on demand, and always clean up after me when I use the new blanket for a litter box.”
Needless to say, Annie’s mother quickly brought her in for a medical examination. We determined that Miss Annie had been indulging in a bit too much dry food and had gained weight rather quickly. In addition, her dry food addiction had caused an increased urine concentration, which resulted in crystal formation that irritated her bladder and contributed to her elimination problems. We recommended a slow transition to a canned food-only prescription urinary tract diet, which Annie promptly refused.
However, Annie’s mom was not to be deterred. She wanted the best for her little hellion despite Annie’s preferences. Over the next 9 months, Annie was presented with brand after brand of canned food, fed a dry prescription urinary tract diet in the meantime. Eventually, she was able to convince Annie that there were indeed some canned foods worth ingesting. As Annie became more interested in her wet food, the dry was phased out.
We are pleased to report that at her 2011 annual exam, Miss Annie has reached her ideal healthy weight, no longer has an abnormal urinalysis, and is using her litter box every time. Kudos to her mother for all the hard work she put in! Miss Annie and her brother are happy healthy kitties due to their mother’s diligence.
