Babe

Hey guys, my first post

I am having a small problem with my cat Babe. She is about 2-3 years old now. Over the last month or so she has been urinating in random places. I thought at first that it was because she didn't like the kitty litter i was using (I had bought the wrong kind at the time by accident). I also thought it might have been because the two kitty litter boxes in the house hadn't been taken care off by my roommates and were a little too full. I started cleaning the box's on a regular bases and am back now to my original brand of kitty litter and the problem seemed to be ok for a few days - weeks. But over the last week the problem has been occurring again. I woke up the other morning to go to work and went to grab my work clothes and I go to put my pants on and they are soaked in urine.

I was complaining about it at work and one of the guys said that his auntie had had the same problem and that it was maybe a UI problem, which made total sense because just over a year ago I had to get Babes brother Anubis put down because of a bad UI infection that I couldn't afford to get fixed (it was pretty hard on me at the time).

I am feeding her Iams Original cat food and I giver her a fresh bowl of tap water every morning.

When I was at the vets she said that males have more of a problem with UI's because of long narrow urinary tracks and females don't usually have the same problems.

Now just reading the forums I realize that I should probably be switching to wet cat food for Babe. She is way over weight and I have been trying to schedule feed her the amount that Iams suggest, something like 1/3 cup or a little more each day which I give her all at once in the morning. What makes me mad is that the vets never told me that wet cat food was better for cats than dry food. They always just recommended other types of dry food.

I should also say that her urine is very musky smelling (I usually don't know that she has gone unless she is rooting around trying to bury it and she hangs her mouth open when she smells it) and it is quite greasy, I'm not sure if this is normal or not.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Here are a couple of pics

Male cats are prone to more complications as a result of urinary tract/bladder problems, however females are just as likely as a male to get a urinary tract infection. Generally, in females the treatment is simpler however treatment is needed regardless. It usually consists of just antibiotics and perhaps a diet change. I would suggest that you take Babe to the vet and request a urinalysis.

Yes, wet cat food is beneficial for many things...one of the biggest ones being the bladder/urinary tract. It is also helpful in reaching and/or maintaining a healthy weight. Being overweight puts a cat (females especially) at a higher risk for repeated UTI's...among other health issues.

While males are more likely to get blockages, females can and do get cystitis (bladder inflammation) which is painful--therefore they pee outside the box. Idiopathic (unknown origin) cystitis is pretty common. If your vet didn't do any tests, I'd ask for a urinalysis to check for signs of inflammation. Canned food and increased water intake will help.

Vets don't often recommend canned food because they are trained by companies like Science Diet that put a larger emphasis on dry food. Also, the information that is coming to light about the advantages of canned food is still relatively new. Some vets will insist that canned food is bad for the teeth. I personally feel that while canned food is more likely to stick to the teeth, brushing once every day (or two) is not that big a deal and solves that problem. Canned has benefits to the kidneys and bladder that just shouldn't be ignored.

If the urinalysis does show signs of inflammation, steer clear of the pain meds--the one most likely to be given, Metacam, can also damage kidneys in the long term. Instead, stick with increasing your cat's water intake and maybe consider adding glucosamine to her diet. Sometimes that can help reform the lining of the bladder which has been so irritated. Stress is also another cause, so reducing stressfuls situations may help as well.

http://www.petplace.com/cats/feline-...fic/page1.aspx