DIatomaceous Earth and cats

Question
Hello Jana,

I read the question from Christy and your answer about DE and cats. I have been using DE for bug control in my apartment. My cat was jumping on the counter and getting it on his feet. He is 16 years old and recently  got very sick. He stopped eating and seemed very lethargic. I took him to an emergency vet and they hospitalized him. He was severely dehydrated and had a kidney and bladder infection.

They did an abdominal ultrasound to see if he had cancer. They saw some shadows in his bladder and wanted to do further tests to determine if he actually had cancer. His regular vet took over after he was released. She reminded me that he had had a kidney/bladder infection last year and he got over it with antibiotics.

It dawned on me to do some research on the effects of too much DE getting into a cats body. He tracked it all around on a regular basis. This sludge that you say can be produced in the bladder by this... what can be done to get rid of it???

He is still on antibiotics. His kidney test came back normal this week, he was almost in kidney failure at the height of the crisis. Do you think that all of this could be caused by too much DE??? I have read all these reports that it is good to feed it to animals. I have never done this but he must have licked it off his feet. Thank you very much for your help with this.

Answer
Hi Venita,

It is in all likelihood that your sweet boy got sick because he is 16 and has had this previously. DE, as long as it's food grade, is pretty safe stuff. It is actually fed to cats, dogs, pigs, chickens and cattle!

The sludge I was speaking of in the bladder is a combination of bacteria, dead white blood cells and other bits crystals (which are minerals from the blood,etc) that form in the bladder during an infection. This sludge grows until it cannot be dislodged via the urethra in male cats as it is smaller in the male's penis than in female cats.
Thus it tends to plug up with this toothpaste-like sludge. This results in cats that become plugged or blocked- which is a life threatening medical emergency.

Your kitty is getting kidney/bladder infections due to age more likely. Kidney failure is one of the number one diseases geriatric cats get. I lost a 19 yr old and a 16 yr old cat to it.

They say that a good 30% of all cats will get it as they age.

So it's very doubtful that the DE he might have ingested would cause this problem. Make sure you are using FOOD GRADE DE and not pool grade. That is important as well.

But again, the chances of this having anything to do with his illness is pretty slim. Antibiotics, and a change of food to Hills K/D could keep him going for quite a while longer.

Here is a website that extolls the virtues of DE:
http://howtousediatomaceousearth.com/uses/ants/cats/

and another one:
http://www.diatomaceousearth.com/natural-flea-control-for-cats/

Remember to be wary of All websites. Do not take medical advice from non medical websites.

I hope your kitty recovers quickly.