Cat with UTI

Hi, I'm new here & sorry to have a question right out of the gate. My cat was exhibiting symptoms such as frequenting the litter box & crying in pain so I took her to my vet. The vet said it is likely a UTI & gave me a week's worth of Clavamox. She got better during the course of the first week. About 24 hrs. after her last dose, she was showing the same symptoms. I called my vet & they said sometimes it takes more than one round of antibiotic. So I went to the vet & got another week's worth of antibiotic. I went straight home on Thursday & gave her a dose. Last night she was not doing well, about 1:45am going to litter box continuously in & out & crying. I ended up getting up & gave her a dose of her antibiotic. She seemed to be doing better today, but tonight I noticed a couple of pinkish spots just outside the litter box. I've done enough research to know this is probably blood in the urine. I had not seen any blood previously, so I don't know if this has just developed or it has always been there. She had a tiny bowel movement a short while ago, but there has not been any large amount of urine in the box, only small clumps.

I am almost positive this UTI was caused by stress. Our dog died last month & we got a new puppy the same day I took Shelby to the vet for her UTI. We are also having some construction done on the outside of our house. I bought two Feliway diffusers to try to lessen the stress & she has been more social but not her old self since plugging them in yesterday.

My question, should I take her to an emergency vet? There is no crying so far tonight. She is eating & drinking water. I'm just reading so many stories & I'm afraid because of the blood. Am I expecting the antibiotic to work too soon? If someone could advise I would apprieciate it.

I should also add I haven't had much sleep in the last week, so this might not be totally coherent. I am super worried as I had to put my last cat to sleep due to kidney failure. I was crying this morning along with her. I just wish there was something I could do to make her immediately feel better.

Some stats:

Shelby is a 4yr old Ragdoll
She has always been fed dry food, but I have stopped the dry & started some canned.

Hi Chris and Welcome to TCS!

It sounds like Shelby is having a time of it, but from what you say, (eating and drinking OK with no crying), she can probably wait till Monday when you can reach your own vet.

It does sound like crystals and your vet will no doubt want her on special food to help dissolve them. It's good you are switching her to a wet food. That can aid in the prevention of crystals in the future. Does she drink plenty of fluids? If not, or if you are not sure you could invest in a fountain to hopefully encourage her to drink more.

The vet will need to asses her to determine what the problem really is and if it is crystals, what kind.

I have a male with struvite crystals at the moment and I am trying like crazy to eliminate that problem with him, which has included putting 13 cats on an all wet diet. I think if I can find two nickels to rub together after the first of the year I am going to try introducing some raw also.

Our little furballs can sure keep us on our toes.

I use an acidifier Carpon (dr. Belfield). I know vets always prescribe antibiotics, but that doesn't deal with the crystals. There are so many posts on this site that read exactly the same as yours. I don't know why the vets don't recommend acidifiers and how to use it properly.
Unless you see a substantial size clump, or urine come out, I would not wait to take him to the vet. If it is a female, I might wait because they don't block as easily.
good luck

Welcome to the site I would definitely call the vet and report what you've observed.

Ditto what the others have said! Did your vet do a urinalysis? If not, then make sure that one is done. Also, try to reduce the stress level in your house. Get some Comfort Zone w/ feliway plug ins or spray and start using that. UTIs can be stress induced and linger if you don't take care of the stress level. Lastly, get a second litter box and place it in a totally separate location that's safe, private, and out of the way of foot (& dog) traffic. Many kitties who have UTIs will associate pain with their normal litter box, and thus use the floor or some other area (rug, pile of clothes, etc) to avoid the pain. (Weird thinking, but hey, it makes some sense!)

Keep us posted on how your Shelby is doing!

Stephanie