Cat’s rule in Malaysia

Did you know that cats are super popular in Malaysia? Dr. Susan Little and I were invited to speak in Kuala Lumpur about cats for a whopping 5 hours! As authors of the purrpodcast, https://www.facebook.com/PurrPodcast/, we were so honored to speak for an enthusiastic sold out audience. We discussed lots of fun topics including urinary stones, GI foreign bodies, and typical cases. Did you know that the treatment for urinary stones is quite simple in cats? Three easy steps:

1. Cat with urinary signs, take a radiograph! If there are stones they are in most cases visible and the type of stone can be differentiated on an x-ray but not on an ultrasound (or even on a urinalysis).
2. Check the MM Urolith app (in your app store) for a calculation of the most likely stone
3. Put the cat on a stone dissolving diet (I love Hill’s Prescription Diet c/d Multicare)

Wait 2-3 weeks, if the stone is smaller (most likely struvite), just keep on going. If it is the same size, check compliance with the owner (and cat), and it that is all ok, find an alternative to remove it (it is most likely a calcium-oxalate stone).

Thank you, Gaya and our awesome Malaysian audience!