Possible UTI

[Dianne]

I've been struggling with Schnitzel's diarrhea for more than 2 weeks. He seems better at times, and then next BM will be diarrhea. Can we double up the Kaopectate dose to 4 tsp?

Question: Could a UTI cause diarrhea? I don't think he has one as his urine is normal smelling and and appearing, but wondered if they could be linked.

Dianne

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

Dianne, Gabriels had the squirts for 2 days now. Yesterday, he got a loaf of bread, a bag of candy corn, today a cake mix.
He shops in the cupboard while I am at work.
I use PetPectillin which is ultra mild and ultra effective WHICH I AM TOTALLY OUT OF. The dosing really works, and quickly.
You can get at most pet stores. My closest is an hour or more away, so Gabriel's on a short fast until this clears through his system all over my carpet. The stink, the stains! My heart goes out to you!

[Dianne]

Karen,

I got the PetPectillin about a week ago, but he didn't like the flavor and wouldn't lap it up. The cherry Kaopectate goes in...and works for a little while...and then we start over again.

Any ideas for flavoring the PetPectillin?

The smell, the stains, the trail of BM is wearing me down.

P.S. When the time changed two weeks ago, he decided to stop sleeping until 5 AM. This morning we stretched it until 4:30 AM. We're both tired and smelly.

Dianne

[CarolC]

Can we double up the Kaopectate dose to 4 tsp?

Question: Could a UTI cause diarrhea? I don't think he has one as his urine is normal smelling and and appearing, but wondered if they could be linked.

Hmm, I don't think I've ever heard of a UTI causing diarrhea, but I've heard of a UTI being caused by diarrhea when germs in the loose feces enter the urethra, as when the pet is diapered.

The dosing on "Kaolin/Pectin" in the Veterinary Drug Handbook, Fourth Edition, is:

"Dogs:
For diarrhea:
a) 1 - 2 ml/kg PO q4-6h (Davis 1985a)
b) 1 - 2 ml/kg PO qid (Johnson 1984)
c) 1 - 2 ml/kg PO q2-6h (Kirk 1986)
For enterotoxins secondary to garbage ingestion:
a) 2 - 5 ml/kg PO q1-6h (Coppock and Mostrom 1986)
b)10 - 15 grams of kaolin/kg PO qid (Grauer and Hjelle 1988a)"

(transcribed and proofread, not scanned, may contain errors)

Sorry, you may need a conversion chart for tsps.

*****************************

For diarrhea, I absolutely love Resolve spray foam carpet cleaner in the red can (Wal-Mart or the grocery store here). That and a nice roll of paper towels and you can really handle it.

What happens if you put him in the laundry room or mudroom or something? Isn't there someplace to contain the problem so you don't go nuts? I think you said it was pancreatitis, but couldn't it be a bug--maybe antibiotics to knock it out? The vet has given us Flagyl for diarrhea and it really works. Hope you get a break from this SOON!!!

[Dianne]

Karen and CarolC,

I was successful in getting him to lap up the PetPectillin with chicken broth on it. Home brewed broth, of course. He didn't like the flavor without the broth.

This is the second day of relief. The house is cleaner, too.

Thanks.

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

Congrats Dianne!!!!
I came home tonight with the cupboards open, a 15 pack box of micro p-corn shredded as well as onion flavor soup mix.
Still cannot find my 2nd season of Third Rock (that I JUST GOT!)
So doin laundry tonight, gettin ready for tomorrow's stinkies!

[Dianne]

Karen,

Would the slider kiddy locks or even rubber bands stretched between the kitchen cabinet knobs work to keep pets out of the cabinets?

Ohh...the onion soup would be high in salt.

So sorry to hear what is coming tomorrow.

Dianne

[critters]

I need to get a slider myself; the monsters are in the cabinet about every other day...

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

Well, that aint the half of it... 2 dogs locked themselves in the QUEENS ROOM! In between picking up pieces of my living room, I was picking a BR lock!

[critters]

Your world is too much like mine!!

[Barbara Boehmer]

I can relate. This all sounds familiar. I have child safety locks on most of my cabinets and ponytail bands wrapped around adjoining cabinet knobs. One set of shutters has a magnetic latch, a hook and eye latch, and a ponytail band around the knobs. That is all to keep the cats from getting into things they shouldn't. It works pretty well.

I haven't yet critter-proofed my garage. The first time I heard things being knocked over in my garage, I thought I had a burglar. It turned out to be three possums. They knock things over and bite through plastic bottles, spilling the contents. They also like to poop right in front of the door. Outside, they seem to prefer to poop on my stepping stones, instead of in the bushes. They can easily tear screens off of the vents in the garage wall. I can't cover them with anything solid because my gas water heater and gas clothes dryer are in the garage.

I spent a good part of the other day helping the kids next door catch three of their chickens that got into my yard. One of them went for a swim in another neighbor's swimming pool. The kids caught one, I caught one, and the neighbor fished the third out of the pool. They got them all caged up again. I don't know how they got loose again, but two of them are back in my yard today. Two of the kids came over and tried to catch them for a while, then gave up and went home. We are hoping they will go back home this evening. I don't have kids and am not used to having children trampling my iceplant and going through my hedges.

I have one bedroom door that locks from the hallway, not from inside the bedroom. A long time ago I managed to accidentally lock myself in. I was able to climb out the window to the backyard, but didn't have my keys with me. Fortunately, I keep a combination lock on the garage door and a box with a combination that has a key to the door from the garage to the kitchen, so I was able to let myself back in.

Just recently I managed to lock myself out of the bathroom. The door was not locked and the knob would turn, but it wasn't retracting the latch. I think some spring inside the assembly must have broken or something. I tried the old credit card trick, but couldn't get that to work. It was time for my cat's medicines and they were in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, so I needed to do something quick. There was one little screw visible, but I could not get it to turn, even after drenching it in WD-40. I ended up ruining the door by chipping a hole around the doorknob and prying and pushing the pieces of the knobs and latch out one at a time with a combination of screwdrivers, hammer, and pliers. I eventually got in and the cats got their medicines, but now I need to replace the door and the lock. They needing replacing anyhow, so it's not that big of a deal, just another thing to add to my list of things to do that I don't have time to get to for a while. I did manage to keep from doing any damage to the door jamb though.

It seems like it's just one thing after another that goes wrong and I get further and further behind on my list of things to do. I took my 21-year-old cat to the vet last Friday to do another blood panel. Just as I got home, the phone rang, and it was the vet saying that I needed to come back, because they put too much of something in the blood they drew and it clotted or coagulated or some such thing, so it couldn't be used, so they needed to draw some more blood. But the vet techs just went to lunch, so I had to come back in the afternoon. It totally messed up my schedule and I really hated dragging my 21-year-old cat with hyperthyroidism, kidney failure, and anemia back to the vet, putting her through it again, and taking more blood that she really doesn't have to spare.

At least all five of the elderly cats with their hyperthyroidism and kidney failure and anemia and upper respiratory infections and ear polyps and incontinence and various other minor recurring problems are still doing well enough to enjoy a good quality of life. Everybody still eats, drinks, poops, pees, purrs, and gets around well enough and I am still doing well enough with my own problems to care for them.