UTI -- Any Suggestions?

4 weeks ago Nipper (female) was straining to urinate. Went to vet who diagnosed uti and prescribed amoxidrops 15 ml for one week. Also, Royal Canin Urinary SO 30 dry food. Seemed to do the job.

Then shortly after stopping the medication the symptoms reappeared. Back to the vet. Another round of amoxidrops and the same results…seemed fine until I stopped the medication.

Back to the vet. Radiograph for stones…nothing. Prescribed two weeks worth of Zequin 25 mg. Again seemed fine. Now, 24 hours after discontinuing the medication she is exhibiting the same symptoms and vomited this morning. Well, I am back to the vet.

Anybody have any ideas? Thanks!

I have no advice, but want to send {({({({({(Get Well Vibes)})})})})} for poor Nipper and to you.
I hope it all gets sorted out sooner rather than later.

I would suggest noni juice. I have given it to my cat who had severe bowel problems. Peter was on and off meds and nothing really seemed to "cure" him. I gave doses of 1 tablespoon at a time, 4 times the first day, the second day 3 times and 2-3 times after that. Slowly, he began to regain his strength and started to eat again. He has made a full recovery. I highly recommend noni juice. I get it at kauaigoods.com.

Originally Posted by peterthefatcat

I would suggest noni juice. I have given it to my cat who had severe bowel problems. Peter was on and off meds and nothing really seemed to "cure" him. I gave doses of 1 tablespoon at a time, 4 times the first day, the second day 3 times and 2-3 times after that. Slowly, he began to regain his strength and started to eat again. He has made a full recovery. I highly recommend noni juice. I get it at kauaigoods.com.

Click to expand...

Although this seems to have worked for Peter (as above), please do not give your animal any human remedies unless you have talked to and been advised to by your vet. Many times it may be safe but sometimes can cause severe illness and death in cats and dogs. For that matter, one should never give their animal ANY medication without first consulting a vet.

Noni is a fruit, Morinda citrifolia is the scientific name.
It has been associated with hepatitis (causing it), aside from that, I would not give it to an animal until I have a vet's ok on it and I have found whether or not Morinda citrifolia is toxic to animals.

Nipper update:

The vet offered 3 possibiliies:
Continued medication, an ultrasound or exploratory surgery.
Since the medication has provided at least temporary relief, we decided on a 7 day run of prednisone (5 mg) and an additional 14 days of Zeniquin (25 mg).

Just wondering, is Nipper a nervous or anxious kitty?

Not quite sure how to answer that question as I am a relatively new 1st time cat owner. Compared to my other cat, the answer would be yes.

She is the type that likes to be close but not touched. Spends about 75 per cent of her life on top of the computer monitor, in the chair beside me, or sleeping in my bedroom…not on the bed. Likes to be close but just out of arm’s reach.

The only time she seems to want contact is about 4:00 AM!

When Nipper was seen by the vet when each bout started, did she have a temperature at all? Or was it just the straining and/or symptoms?

It does sound like she might be a little on the anxious side

The reason I ask is because my Molly (you can see her in my siggy) has recently been diagnosed with Feline Idiopathic Cystitis (FIC). Initially she was treated for a UTI as she had a raised temperature and was peeing out of the litter box.

I don't know if you have had this suggested, but Feliway plug-ins might help Nipper to feel calmer and take the edge off things. There is the possibility that it will aid in her healing (in addition to the meds, of course)

I'm not sure about the medications you are being prescribed for her. Is she being given anything like Cystaid?

I do hope that you find a way to help Nipper to feel better!

I give my cat an acidifier called carpon. It soes a good job, but I am not sure if a daily dose twice a day is too much, as too much acid can cause another type of crystals to form. I am currently trying to correspond with the doctor that developed it, and he has written back, but my question was not really answered.

The vet has taken her temperature 3 times…normal.

I find it hard to believe stress is a factor. She is about 2 ½ years old and I have had her for 2 years. Her environment has not changed and other than the straining and lack of urine she seems very normal.

She is just over 24 hours into the new round of medicine and has already shown improvement. If and when I see the vet again, I will ask about the possibility of Cystaid.

If interested, go here for a picture of Nipper and her buddy Tucker [aka Nip and Tuck].

http://home.mchsi.com/~trhomerun/nipandtuck.jpg

Thank you all for your suggestions.

I heard back form the carpon developer and he said two tabs of carpon daily is not to much. It acidifies the urine and dissolves the crystals. Cystaid is not available in the US and the UK does not ship it here, but the main ingredient is
125 mg N-Acetyl D-Glucosamine (99% purity) and I am currently looking for a human equivalent to give my cat.

Originally Posted by Sar

The reason I ask is because my Molly (you can see her in my siggy) has recently been diagnosed with Feline Idiopathic Cystitis (FIC). Initially she was treated for a UTI as she had a raised temperature and was peeing out of the litter box.

Click to expand...

Molly is a cystitis kitty, too? So is Polly. Polly says welcome to the club.

Zoey can join your club too lol.

I definately would not put my cat through exploratory surgery for this. An ultrasound, maybe. Do you keep bringing her back for urine tests? Does she still have crystals in her urine? If so, that could be causing her straining, as the crystals can be irritating, NOT an infection. With all the meds you've given her I cant imagine her still having any type of infection. Ask your vet if she still actually has an infection or if its crystals. If its crystals there are perscription diets that can help her. Zoey has been fine for a year and a half since she was first put on Scienct Diet S/D to rid the crystals and then C/D for maintenance. I also give her a tablespoon of urinary acidifer (from dr fosters and smiths) once a day.

Awwww Nipper and Tucker are gorgeous! Is that your studio, by the way? Looks really great!

Sometime stressers can come from the most unusual places - cats react a lot differently than we do to things. I do think that Feliway would be worth a try to see if it does have any effect.

I agree that as she has no temperature, there isn't any display of infection so antibiotics aren't really going to do anything.

Is Nipper on Anti Inflams to take down any inflamation of her bladder?

Originally Posted by PurrPaws

Molly is a cystitis kitty, too? So is Polly. Polly says welcome to the club.

Click to expand...

Originally Posted by Sicycat

Zoey can join your club too lol.

Click to expand...

Molly says that she's very happy to join your club and have people who know what she's going through!

Thanks again for the concern and advice. You have me questioning my vet.

I am going to try a different vet today and see what they have to say.

Good luck with the new vet! Sending lots of Health and Healing }}}VIBES{{{ to Nipper

Let us know how it goes!

Hi, I'm new to this site. I have 4 kitties - Snickers, Reeses, Oreo, and KitKat. KitKat and Reeses have had FIC for a long long long time!! I have spent thousands, yes thousands, on vet visits and medications for their crystals and x-rays, etc. Ah, but they are worth it!! Anyway, my vet said that stress can most definitely cause them to form the crystals, which in turn make it painful form them to urinate, etc. I, like you, couldn't think of anything that my cats would be stressed about. Until I noticed a couple stray cats hanging around the house. Now my cats are indoor only cats so it must be really frustrating for them to see outside cats and not be able to defend their territory. Thus, the spraying, and stress and crystals. We started KitKat on...PROZAC! It worked very well for him. I have sinced moved and there are no stray cats and, knock on wood, I have virtually no problems anymore. KitKat gets his daily Prozac and all is well. Reeses's problem resolved with medication adn diet change - Science Diet w/d I believe. But now he isn't on it any more and he is still fine, so I attribute his problem to the stray cats at the old house.
Also, there is wonderful product on the internet called Doo Doo Voo Doo which works wonders! It completely removes all traces of the urine odor if you cat is peeing outside the box. it doesn't remove stains, just teh odor. I never had any luck with Natures Miracle and all those other store products.
Good luck with your kitty.

Sorry if you mentioned this already, but is Nipper on an Rx food permanently? It seems that cats that are prone to UTI's really need to be on a special diet for the rest of their lives.

~Julia

Despite our best efforts, some cats are pre-disposed to bouts of UTIs. Did your vet mention why your cat was straining? Was it just a case of bacterial infection or is your kitty plugged with struvite crystals? Putting kitty on RC Urinary SO is fine, and that's the maintenance diet that we're going to put my cat Pico on once he's done his 4-6 weeks of Hill's S/D. He was diagnosed with FLUTD, although this encompasses many disorders such as UTI's, idiopathic cystitis etc. ....they all manifest with similar symptoms (i.e., straining to urinate, blood in the urine, spraying for some cats).

If you're unsure of your kitty's diagnosis and the appropriateness of the course of treatment thus far, it's probably advisable to get a second opinion, especially if the treatment has been repetitive as you have suggested. In the meantime, try to feed more canned food. This is inconvenient and pretty expensive but well worth it as it contains substantially more moisture and protein and significantly less magnesium, ash and phosphorus (all dietary factors have been shown to contribute to crystalluria). After having researched a lot of information (published / non-published) online, I have been feeding my boys 1/2 canned and 1/2 dry twice a day, and adding enough warm water to make a gravy or soup. If you're not able to give canned at this point, at least add some water to the dish each meal and get a water fountain. You can even get them at Walmart for about $30 (1/2 price that of big chain stores like Petsmart).

Unfortunately, with FLUTD, the only way to manage it is to give the RX diet (or another high quality food with very low magnesium and ash), increase kitty's water intake a lot (adding it to dry, getting a fountain etc), and to decrease his/her stress levels. There is a lot of supporting literature to support RX diets but this should be done with caution, as they can predispose kitties to calcium oxalate crystalliuria (much more difficult to manage if they get them). I have been on the fence with this topic, but have decided to go with the RC Urinary SO dry in moderation, while adding A LOT of wet food and water mixed in. The Urinary SO contains sodium chloride (salt) to increase the thirst urge in your cat, so you may notice that he/she is drinking and urinating a lot more. Increasing his/her water uptake even more is definitely beneficial. I've been told that putting your non-FLUTD cat on the SO is fine, but I'm very hesistant to do that (re: calcium oxalate crystals), so we will be feeding him Fromm's or one of the products through Natura (haven't decided yet). Regardless, it'll be a low magnesium/ash/phosphorus diet.

Most of this advice is derived from my own research (as a biologist with a MSc), but again, I'm not a DVM so consult with them first.