My Cat's Grandorf Nightmare: A Cautionary Tale of Feline Metabolic Issues

I'll be honest, I was hesitant to share my cat's story with you all. It's a long and winding road, but I hope it might help someone else avoid the same pitfalls.

Kat is a 12-year-old Don Sphynx, spayed, and weighing 4.4 kg. She's lived her whole life with me in my hometown, and she's been a 100% indoor cat. She's been spoiled rotten, with a blanket fort in every room and a steady supply of warm blankets.

She was fed a diet of rice and boiled chicken when I first got her from the breeder, but she's always been a picky eater. She wouldn't touch any dry food, and the wet food was out of the question. By the time she was a year and a half old, she'd given up on the chicken, so I switched her to Hill's (the Czech-made stuff, not the Russian version). She did great on it, never overeating and always leaving her bowl full.

However, after the events of 2022, the imported Hill's disappeared from the shelves, and the Russian version took its place. Kat was not impressed, and she refused to eat the new stuff. The search for a new food began, and it was a long and expensive one. I tried every brand under the sun, from Monj to Akana to Primal, but nothing seemed to work. She'd turn up her nose at the wet food, and the dry food was out of the question.

The only food she'd even consider was Royal Canin, but I was determined to avoid that "abomination" (as I thought of it at the time) at all costs. It took me months to find a food that Kat would eat, and even then, it was only because my vet recommended it as a last resort. That food was Ajo, and while it's not perfect, it's definitely better than Royal Canin.

As a spayed cat, she's always been finicky, and it's taken me a while to find a food that she'll actually eat. But Ajo seems to be the one, and she's been devouring it like it's going out of style.

I've been feeding my cat, Kosh, this food for three years, and she's made it to 12 years old with a bit of extra padding. Every time I visit my hometown, I take her to the vet, give her a check-up, and get her vaccinated. She's always been a healthy, smelly little sphynx.

But in 2024, I noticed she was meowing more than usual when she went to the litter box. I thought maybe it was just a phase, but when I took her to the vet for her regular check-up, they found some sand in her urine. It was a small amount, but it was there. Everything else looked fine, so they didn't recommend any treatment.

Kosh was still peeing normally, 2-3 times a day, so I wasn't too concerned. But then it hit me - maybe the food I've been giving her isn't the best. I've been reading a lot about different cat foods, watching videos from vets and cat owners, including this guy on YouTube who's really passionate about cat health. He's always saying that I'm killing my cat with this food and that I should switch to Grandorf.

I read a lot of positive reviews, so I decided to give it a try. I mentioned it to the vet at our next appointment, and she said it was a good food, but she wouldn't recommend it for everyone. She said it's high in protein, which isn't necessary for all cats, especially older ones.

I was like, 'Sorry, vet, I think you're just trying to protect the company that makes Royal Canin.' But I went ahead and switched Kosh to Grandorf. She loved it at first - she'd eat her entire daily ration in one sitting, but she only liked the chicken flavor. She wouldn't touch the other flavors.

I was so happy to see her eating well, but I knew I had to do more for my aging cat. So, I brought her to St. Petersburg and we made the move. It was tough on her - she was under the blanket for four days, only coming out at night to use the litter box. She wasn't drinking much water, and when she did, it was just a little bit. I was worried, but then I saw some blood in her urine, which thankfully went away after a couple of days.

At that point, Kosh had been eating Grandorf for about three months, and she was still meowing when she went to the litter box, but she was quiet at night. I thought maybe she was just doing it to get attention. But then, in January 2025, I took her to the vet for a check-up, and that's when things started to go downhill.

There are going to be a lot of photos and test results below, but I'll summarize them in words so you don't have to look at them. Her urine was full of sand, the walls of her urinary tract were inflamed, and her kidneys were a mess. The vet thought maybe the stress of the move had triggered a bacterial infection in her urinary tract.

We did some ultrasounds at different clinics, because I just couldn't believe that her health had taken such a turn for the worse in just three months. We took a sample of her urine from the litter box, which showed some disturbing results, and then we did a centrifuge and culture to see what was going on.

Her blood work showed some pretty high levels of ALT and AST. It was a nightmare.

Some people said that switching to a urinary diet wasn't worth it if your cat is already drinking well, so we continued with Grandorf, started treating with Corneb, Marfloxin, and Milodil Urine. From the first dose of antibiotic, my cat started urinating once a day, and I was freaking out, contacting the vet, who told me that this was possible and to relax.

After 15 days of Marfloxin, getting sterile urine via centesis, and an ultrasound showing a completely clean bladder with just a few strands of fibrin, we ended the antibiotic course.

We continued feeding Grandorf, and in the following days, without Marfloxin, my cat also urinated once a day, which was really stressing me out, and the vet advised us to discontinue Corneb altogether.

Over time, the interval started increasing - to a day, a day and a half. One evening, I realized that in three hours, it would be two days since my cat had urinated, and her belly was bloated, but she was still active, eating well, and going to the litter box for her business.

The vet advised us to give Corneb and, if she didn't urinate within an hour, to take her to the emergency vet for a catheter. Now I understand that Corneb is a cumulative effect medication, and expecting an immediate effect from it was pointless.

There was nothing left to do but take her to Pride Veterinary Clinic on Lunacharsky Street for an ultrasound, where the bladder was even more clogged with sand than before Marfloxin, and the bladder was stretched. We needed catheterization with catheter fixation and a minimum three-day stay in the hospital because this prolonged urination delay is a life-threatening condition.

The doctor quoted us 53,000 rubles for catheter placement and a hospital stay in the ORIT ward, with all the blood tests and electrolyte analysis over 12 hours. I just couldn't afford it.

So we went to DoctorNebolit on Pervomaiskaya Street, which I chose based on reviews, where there were several positive comments about catheter placement.

I took my cat to the vet at night, and they gave her anesthesia, installed, and stitched in a urinary catheter, and installed a urine collector. They removed around 220ml of urine - that's a lot. They took blood for electrolytes, and everything's normal, except for a slightly elevated creatinine level of 14.7 (normal's around 12.1). The urine's looking pretty good, though - density of 1045, pH of 6.0. What's causing the acute urinary retention? Honestly, I have no idea - maybe it's just atonia.

My cat spent the next three days in the hospital, getting IVs, monitoring her diuresis, and doing another ultrasound. They switched her to Royal Canin Urinary food, and she's even eating it! I was shocked.

The clinic's not bad - they did a good job of collecting urine and prescribing treatment, but they're trying to scare you with all these potential complications - hepatitis, lipidosis, and all sorts of gut issues. They threw around a bunch of diagnoses, hypotheses, and vague suggestions, but no concrete explanation of what's going on with my cat - like, what could have caused the sudden decrease in urination, or what's going on with her gut.

I ended up spending over 30,000 rubles on all these tests, including infections, just to find out that nothing's clear. The hospital stay cost around 70,000 rubles for three days, plus I had to buy some of the meds myself because they were ridiculously expensive in the clinic.

After we were discharged, we went to see our nephrologist to try to understand what had happened. Again, I heard that many vets on Grandorf often see acute kidney disease, urinary stones, and metabolic disorders in older cats.

The vet explained that Holistic foods are originally meant for active, working dogs with high protein needs, but our average, sedentary house cat, especially older ones, gets too much protein and not enough fiber in their diet, leading to kidney disease, constipation, and other issues.

I eventually stopped feeding my cat Grandorf and switched to Urinary RK, and then gradually to RK Gastrointestinal. My cat was urinating once a day, and I started to notice issues with constipation. However, after a week, the interval between urinations increased again, and I realized that I'd have to take her back to the vet for another catheterization.

Gabapentin just knocked my cat out, with no other effects. Coronam was also ineffective. I hadn't taken her back to the vet, including for a manual catheterization, yet. The vet just told me to calm down and wait for her to urinate again, suggesting that my cat only urinates when her bladder is severely distended.

I thought that was a pretty unhelpful piece of advice, especially given the suspicion of atony (although no one could confirm it 100%). At some point, I even felt embarrassed about taking her to the vet, feeling like I was wasting their time with my cat's issues.

Throughout this ordeal, I was going crazy trying to figure out what to do next and how to help my cat. I read a ton of veterinary literature, scoured online forums, monitored my cat's fluid intake, and tracked her urination schedule.

My cat stopped eating RK, and I decided to switch her back to Ajo, which she had been doing well on. We were advised to continue gabapentin for another week and, if there was no improvement, to try prazosin. Let me cut to the chase – prazosin at 0.3mg for 10 days only helped with bowel movements and urination once a day, but then it went back to once every two days, with no significant improvement.

We were sent to a neurologist to try and figure out what was going on. I realized that this was just a waste of money, with a bunch of lengthy recommendations and a referral for an MRI, only to end up with no diagnosis and no clear next steps.

We're not just talking about urination issues here; this is a matter of urgency. You can't cure a hypotonic or atomic bladder when it's distended. Every day of this kind of urination just makes the prognosis worse.

The latest ultrasound from yesterday showed that my cat's bladder is full of fibrin clots, but her urine pH is good, and there are no signs of infection or inflammation.

We've taken more urine samples for further testing. We've also done a hydro-pulsation of the urethra and cleaned out the meatal obstruction, and – finally – my cat started urinating again!

Our new vet didn't confirm the theory of atony. However, we can't abruptly stop prazosin, but since it wasn't working, I decided to switch my cat to betanechol, and – finally – she's urinating up to three times a day!

I have no idea what the future holds, but I hope this ordeal will be over soon.

To sum it up: a cat's food should meet their nutritional needs, support their health, and not cause any issues. The concept of a 'good ingredient mix' is no longer relevant to me, as every cat is different, from their eating habits to their health. Grass in cat food is not inherently bad and can be beneficial.

Can we say that Grandorf's four-meat formula triggered metabolic issues that led to severe problems with my cat's digestive system and bladder? Absolutely, yes. Was it the sole culprit? Definitely not – stress from the move was also a factor. However, there is a significant portion of blame to be placed on the food.

I was lucky, my cat was already doing great on the current food, so I didn't have to make the switch. But after reading forums, veterinary websites, and waiting in line at the vet's office (where I met 4 people who switched to Grandorf and ended up with cystitis/UTIs), I started seeing similar reviews pop up. Before that, I only saw glowing reviews online, I guess because I was searching for something else.

Thanks for reading, I hope this helps someone. To all our furry friends, stay healthy and happy, and here's to many more years of happy, full tummies!