Very thirsty

Good day everyone. New member and first posting. My Chloe is 12.5 yrs old and just had first health problem that I know of. Had a UTI. Was straining to urinate and went right outside of litterbox. Went to vet and they did bloodwork and saw that she had some kidney problems but not sure if it is due to UTI or something more. Gave me amoxicillan and we are all done with that and Chloe is doing much better. But I am noticing she is very thirsty and is drinking lots of water and her urine in the litter box is very hard to scoop up (use scoopable litter). Seems very pasty not clumping very easily. Does that make sense? Any suggestions? Vet wants me get a sample of urine (nonabsorb litter) and take it in. Does this sound right or do we also need to do an xray? I know UTI are pretty common and kidney problems as well with older cats. Also saw on the internet something about diabetes. What am I in for? Thank you.

Marla

Welcome to TCS.

Have they made a follow up appointment to clarify the kidney trouble? They did not specifically say that it could be diabets, or perhaps the antibiotic is making her want to drink more water?

Thank you Kittenkiya.

They just told me to bring either a sample of her urine or could bring her in. She 'hates' going to the vet and she is not the nicest kitty...they had to sedate her to get blood for her bloodwork. I prefer not to take her in but if we need to then I will do what is necessary. She was drinking quite a bit of of water too before the amoxicillan but I thought it was just that she was hot from the weather here in Texas.

She may have early kidney failure. Drinking a lot of water is one sign. Your vet should take the next steps for treatment if that's what it is. Her bloodwork should show BUN and Creatinine levels, if they are high she should be treated.

To get a urine sample I empty out all the litter, and put a small amount of dry beans in it so when they pee it will not get absorbed. Saki will pee in the box even with no litter lol.. makes it easy.

I appreciate your input. It feels so good to be more knowledgeable and not feel like an idiot with the vet. I will ask the vet about the levels you mentioned in her blood. The vet told me earlier her levels were out of the norm but that was because she had a UTI. Do I need to have blood work done again or will a urine sample be enough? If kidney problem, can a cat be treated? Thank you again! Marla

Please ask the vet for a SENIOR panel... and make sure it includes kindey liver pancreas fuction and thyriod with a t4 panel
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Kindeys can be treated .... My Kandie has CRF and she was diagnoised nearly 4 years ago ...

Diabetes can also be treated , no personal experience but many on here do

Great info and I appreciate your help. I will ask the vet for the Senior panel. I know they did a thyroid check and it was good. I am glad these are health problems are treatable.

Thank you and by the way, love your pic on here.

Hi, you are on a good forum for support..there are members here who have or have had cats with diabetes, and a number of us with chronic renal failure (crf) kitties. I had one who lived almost 4 years post diagnosis, and currently have two - one about 2 years post diagnosis, one coming up diagnosed less than a year (Frankie).

Best info site on the web for becoming very informed on crf is www.felinecrf.org it is a very deep site, you can really drill down through a lot of layers of information.

I would think the u/a will help but you'll still want followup labs to recheck those kidney values - I'd ask your vet when they feel that should be done - i.e. within a month or two?