Interstitial Cystitis

My cat Aussie was recently diagnosed with interstitial cystitis and was put on a round of prednisone to help with a flare-up. She has been doing great over the last couple of weeks since we started her on it and she's been slowly weaning off of it this last week. Unfortunately, two days ago, I got up and noticed she had peed on the shower mat a few feet away from her box. I initially was hoping this was because I had added some Nature's Miracle deodorizer on top of her litter and she was just avoiding it because of that. So that morning I mixed it in really well and for the next 2-3 urinations she used the box again. Well, she peed on a towel I had put down where the mat was again this morning.

The strangest thing about all of this is that her urine visibly looks great. This is the palest I've ever seen it and didn't even know she had urinated on my ivory mat until I saw my kitten sniffing it. There is no visible trace of blood at all whereas before it was very bloody. The other strange part is that when her urine was bloody, she never urinated outside of the box.

The last time I took her to the vet (2 weeks ago), we couldn't get a urinalysis so I'm taking her back today to see if they can get one this time. She's obese and often urinates from stress on the way in so it makes it very difficult. They will also be running blood work on her to rule out anything else going on. She had stopped eating before so I think it's best to go ahead and check this as well to be sure. She does seem to be eating hesitantly again but she is definitely eating. I've also noticed she has gone from defecating daily to about every other day. She is drinking a good amount of water but I don't think there is an increase or decrease really there. If anyone has any thoughts on this please let me know. I'm once again stumped since she's just decided to not use the litterbox when her urine looks better now than it ever has.

Thanks as always everyone!

Raven had IC. We switched him to wet food mainly. After his diagnosis (he spent years with on and off UTIs before we got the diagnosis) he was put on Amitriptyline, Cosequin, and I ran Feliway diffusers. Raven was a high stress/high anxiety cat, so we did our best to minimize stress. Roaming cats would set off his IC as well (the stress of seeing cats in "his" territory).

3 months after his diagnosis, we moved to Iowa. Our vet there took him off the Amitriptyline, and he didn't have any more UTIs. Sadly we lost him to Fibrosarcoma a few years later.

We tried Rescue Remedy for his IC, but it didn't help. Later in his life the Rescue Remedy worked as a stress reliever for the other cats though.

I would be cafeful with the Pred. My Coco gets Bladder Infections from it,

Originally Posted by mews2much

I would be cafeful with the Pred. My Coco gets Bladder Infections from it,

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She is actually off the prednisone as of yesterday. I'm a bit more concerned now b/c someone in my FLUTD group posted that their cat did this after a round of treatment on prednisone and it turned out to have triggered high blood sugar (aka diabetes). I am definitely going to have the vet test her blood sugar levels as well. I have been worried about diabetes for some time now as she is obese (although we're working on that). Hopefully it's something simple but we just won't know for sure until the test results back. Last time they were all negative which is where the IC diagnosis came from, but something else has to be going on with her. I will post back after the vet tonight. Thanks everyone.

They are right the pred can cause that. My Coco once had a Glucose level of 329 and the Er was sure it was Diabetes but it was Fia. This was before she had The Depo and Pred. How many times has your Cat had this problem? My Coco has had it 2 times from the Depo Shot. She has had blood when there was no infection. She also has had other bladder infections also. How old is your Cat? Where did you find a Group for Utis? I have been looking for one to join.

Originally Posted by mews2much

They are right the pred can cause that. My Coco once had a Glucose level of 329 and the Er was sure it was Diabetes but it was Fia. This was before she had The Depo and Pred. How many times has your Cat had this problem? My Coco has had it 2 times from the Depo Shot. She has had blood when there was no infection. She also has had other bladder infections also. How old is your Cat? Where did you find a Group for Utis? I have been looking for one to join.

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Yahoo Groups has an FLUTD group that is really great.

Originally Posted by littleraven7726

Yahoo Groups has an FLUTD group that is really great.

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Yep! That's the one I'm on. They are AWESOME!

mews2much - I'll pm you the link. My cat has had three rounds of "UTI's" in the last 5 months. The first urinalysis showed no bacteria or crystals, just an elevated white cell count so they treated her with antibiotics. The second appeared after 1.5 monts off of treatment and they put her on a stronger antibiotic. Another 1.5 months after treatment I saw a new vet and he said he had better results with prednisone and felt it was most likely not bacteria related anyways. So that's where we are now.

She was diagnosed with FLUTD about five years ago after a spinal cord injury and found to have numerous crystals in her urine. She was put on Hill's S/D which just made her obese and why I now fear diabetes. I switched her to Orijen about 1.5 months ago and she seems to be doing well on that.

I just got home and found that she had pooped outside of the box and vomited. She was doing this when she first started eating good again but only a couple of times. I'm going to also ask the doc about constipation/megacolon to see what may be going on there. Here stools are normal size so I doubt it's an issue but she shouldn't be vomiting after defecating. I don't know what else would lead to that. Just more things to check out at the vets!

Thanks You I got the link. Cocos first Uti was when she was 9.5 years old. She had alot of problems then and almost died. They thought it was diabetes then and her glucose was 329 then. She also had severe anemia then and would fall over when she tried to walk. Her bun and creatine was high. They even said to have her pts or take her to our vet. It turned out it was fia. She is now 16 and started having the bladder problems in Aug 2006. The first time she had struvite stones and was put on S/D to shrink them which worked and Antibiotics for two months to help her. She is on C/D and Royal Canin Urinary now. Coco does that sometimes and she will scream in the pan. They gave me lax aire for the constipation. Now that she has been on Royal Canin she hasnt been Constipated as much. I think the C/D is causing it. I hope your cat feels better. Coco went to teh Er in May because she was squating and kept trying to pee when she did not have to go. I could not have her cry all night until our Vet opened. That was caused by the Depo Shot and so was her last problem in Nov. They saw Crystals this last time at the Er.

Originally Posted by mews2much

Thanks You I got the link. Cocos first Uti was when she was 9.5 years old. She had alot of problems then and almost died. They thought it was diabetes then and her glucose was 329 then. She also had severe anemia then and would fall over when she tried to walk. Her bun and creatine was high. They even said to have her pts or take her to our vet. It turned out it was fia. She is now 16 and started having the bladder problems in Aug 2006. The first time she had struvite stones and was put on S/D to shrink them which worked and Antibiotics for two months to help her. She is on C/D and Royal Canin Urinary now. Coco does that sometimes and she will scream in the pan. They gave me lax aire for the constipation. Now that she has been on Royal Canin she hasnt been Constipated as much. I think the C/D is causing it. I hope your cat feels better. Coco went to teh Er in May because she was squating and kept trying to pee when she did not have to go. I could not have her cry all night until our Vet opened. That was caused by the Depo Shot and so was her last problem in Nov. They saw Crystals this last time at the Er.

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I'm sorry to hear about your baby too. I will post back when I get home from the vets and let everyone know what they say.

I joined the Group and will post there later tonight. I hope your cat is better.

Well, my trip to the vet was pretty uneventful. I was SO upset because 10 minutes before we left my cat emptied her bladder, on the mat of course. I was so depressed because I knew they wouldn't be able to get a urine sample. Anyway, I wasn't very happy with the vet's assessment. He was the other vet that works there and not the one I originally met with about her problems.

He basically said that if she's completely emptying her bladder outside of the box, then it's a behavioral issue, not physical. He said if there were urinary problems she would be urinating small spots here and there. Well, I didn't buy it and insisted that we do a blood test to make sure nothing else was going on there. Unfortunately I don't get the results back until Monday. In the meantime, I moved a small litter box to the spot she was urinating in and she urinated in her regular box this morning. The vet also gave me a low dose of prednisone to keep her on it every other day. I'm not giving it to her because I don't agree with long-term steroid use and her urine looked fine. Instead, I'm trying a natural supplement for her to help with her chronic cystitis.

I'm still very concerned about diabetes with her. She does seem to be drinking more than normal, which is causing her to urinate more too. This is the other reason I'm avoiding the prednisone at all costs right now. I will report back if anything changes and when I get the blood work back.