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[Road's End Farm <organic87@frontiernet.net>]

On May 28, 2009, at 9:58 AM, Kieran &/or Donna wrote:

> <x-tad-smaller>While we are talking about problems from cats, I heard a story that might help someone you know.  A client said she had repeated kidney infections all her youth, till she went off to college.  Then never again.  She mentioned this to a dr who asked did they have a catbox in the house growing up.  She said yes, and her mom made the kids empty it.  He said he'd noticed that people with lots of kidney infections always had a cat box in the house.  The woman I know with repeated kidney infections for year, you smell cat pee first thing on entering the house.  About 20 cats these days, but only about 3 cats back when she was at her worst.   Donna</x-tad-smaller>
> _______________________________________________

Did the cats in those households have untreated kidney infections?

For what it's worth, I know lots of people with cat pans in the house who do not have kidney infections. (And I have serious doubts about the "always" in the sentence above. Nobody in the world has repeated kidney infections but no cats?)

If you have repeated kidney infections with no known source, and also have cats, it might be worth checking this out -- including, having the cats checked out by a vet. However, I wouldn't automatically toss out either the cat pans or the cats without further evidence.

--Rivka (resident curmudgeon, apparently)
Finger Lakes NY; zone 5 mostly