Stress and cystitis management

[helpimitchy]

Poor Lily Cat is stressed to the max and has developed recurrent cystitis

The cause of her stress is one of my other cats. The other cat is two years old, very confident and boisterous. We got her as a kitten, but she's pretty much taken over Lily is super bad with her nerves and a real jittery kitty. We have a very quiet house with hardly any visitors, tv or noise, but it's the other cat she's struggling with.

Lily is having treatment for her cystitis, but we need to minimise stress. We're currently trying to keep them separated in the house and have extra cat litter trays. It's not an easy task.

Lily has three days supply of Metacam and a cysto something supplement to take each day. She's only allowed wet food and must have water around the place. She has her own litter tray tucked into a quiet corner.

I've put the lavender essential oil aromatherapy diffuser on.

Anything else I should be doing?

We may have to think about rehoming the other cat if we can't manage to keep them separate. We only have a small house.

Mixing some extra water into the wet food makes a big difference to the amount of water I get into all my cats..they quite often lick up all the 'gavy' and leave the meat bits for later ( boke)... It has made a massive difference to one of mine who was having repeated bouts...he hasn't had any for about two months now...

I, eventually, had to send The Lodger on to pastures new. Seniorboy wasn't having him around and that was that.

I think lavender is supposed to be toxic to cats and they find the smell unpleasant?

Does the other cat go out?

We (toddler & I) adopted a 9 year old, earlier this year.

She was very stressed.

We had cystease every day & a diffuser especially for cats (both from Amazon.

I also changed her biscuits to Purina One - Urinary Care, which she has alongside pouches.

She was as good as new after a few weeks.

We put her food in a quiet place in the hall, & let her eat alone. Toddler dishes it up & takes it out there for her.

Litter tray kept in another room away from food.

Water kept away from food.

Try Zylkene, It's a milk protein you sprinkle over their food. It's well tolerated going by my cat.

I'd dose both cats though.

Yes, the other cat goes out around the neighbourhood, Lily and my old male just stay in the garden.

Lily refused to take her metacam liquid and cystease capsules, so I had to put it in her food. To my amazement, she's eaten the lot! I hope it's okay to open and sprinkle the cystease capsule. She's purely on wet food now.

I searched on the net and it said lavender in the diffuser is okay for cats, along with chamomile, but I'll do more searching as I don't want to upset her. I know Valerian is okay, so I could get some of that. I will research though as I don't want to cause any harm.

It's proving a task keeping them separated, but Lily has all her stuff in the lounge, so doesn't technically need to be around the house. I'll let her into the garden when bossy cat is asleep.

It's good to hear that it is controllable though.

A feliway friends diffuser will help a lot more than lavender as it releases appeasing pheromones specifically targeting her anxiety.

I tried the Friends one, but had to go back to the Classic as Lily seemed more agitated and stressed when I had the Friends one plugged in.

My cat loves this one

Pet remedy

When I used to work in practice (I'm a Veterinary Nurse) our Vets would often prescribe Valerian but I would check with the vet before you try to give it yourself! It smells awful but seems to work. Feliway is fab for stressy cats. You sound like you are doing fine to me with regard to giving her quiet space away from the other cat. I wouldn't think they would have a problem with you putting the cystease in the food. As long as she eats it, it will be less stressful for her than trying to pill pop. Certain medications are specially coated to protect the ingredients but I think this one is ok. Obs make sure the other cat can't access the food! We used to suggest one more litter tray than the number of cats in the household, even if they tend to go outside. When they have cystitis and are stressed they can soil in the house if they don't have ample opportunity for toileting. If she likes attention, then TLC is important too. Hope she is ok x

Thanks, she's had a good day today and had another dose of metacam in her food tonight.

Bossy cat is at not being allowed in the lounge. Lily is relieved to have her own space though.