Quite a long time ago I frequented these boards because our girl Inka was having some very stubborn UTI problems. For her first episode, she was on antibiotics for almost 6 weeks (Baytril for 4, something else for the last 2). Here's the original thread for context:
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=123233
She continued exhibiting symptoms well into those last two weeks, and then they mysteriously went away all of a sudden. Coincidentally, it was around that time that I stopped sprinkling a tiny bit of Whiskas on top of their dry food (they were transitioning to better food at the time, and the Whiskas kept them interested). I always kept that in the back of my mind, though my girlfriend was skeptical that that little bit of Whiskas could cause so many problems.
Fast forward a couple years, and Inka's had to fight through a couple more bouts of UTI, though not nearly as bad. A needle from the vet fixed the last one in a couple weeks. She's also never been the same around the litter box. We assumed she was associating the litter box with pain, and for that reason, we would often find little presents on the floor, and one corner of the carpet often had pee stains on it. We were trying to figure out how to retrain her...
A few weeks ago I started thinking about the Whiskas again. I started thinking maybe she had a corn allergy? Of course, her litter was corn-based as well. Why not try switching the litter? We originally used the corn-based stuff because as kittens we didn't want them eating the clay. As adult cats they knew better.
So, we switched the litter to a standard clay, and almost instantly we saw improvements. It's been a few weeks now and she has never since strayed from her litter box. She also does a much better job of covering up her mess. Before, if she used the litter box at all, she was in and out as quick as possible. Now she sticks around to clean up. Obviously we are ecstatic! It's probably too early to tell whether or not the litter was contributing to her UTIs, but all signs are pointing towards some kind of corn allergy. I just wanted to throw that out there for anyone else who might be fighting a similar problem with these stubborn infections.
Edited to add:
I just read through my original thread (linked above), and for whatever reason I never mentioned the Whiskas. Perhaps it was because they were getting such a small amount I never thought much of it. The bulk of their dry food diet was in transition from Nutrience to Felidae, so that accounted for most of the food talk. Regardless, I apologize to the all the helpful members who were trying to help without the whole story!
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=123233
She continued exhibiting symptoms well into those last two weeks, and then they mysteriously went away all of a sudden. Coincidentally, it was around that time that I stopped sprinkling a tiny bit of Whiskas on top of their dry food (they were transitioning to better food at the time, and the Whiskas kept them interested). I always kept that in the back of my mind, though my girlfriend was skeptical that that little bit of Whiskas could cause so many problems.
Fast forward a couple years, and Inka's had to fight through a couple more bouts of UTI, though not nearly as bad. A needle from the vet fixed the last one in a couple weeks. She's also never been the same around the litter box. We assumed she was associating the litter box with pain, and for that reason, we would often find little presents on the floor, and one corner of the carpet often had pee stains on it. We were trying to figure out how to retrain her...
A few weeks ago I started thinking about the Whiskas again. I started thinking maybe she had a corn allergy? Of course, her litter was corn-based as well. Why not try switching the litter? We originally used the corn-based stuff because as kittens we didn't want them eating the clay. As adult cats they knew better.
So, we switched the litter to a standard clay, and almost instantly we saw improvements. It's been a few weeks now and she has never since strayed from her litter box. She also does a much better job of covering up her mess. Before, if she used the litter box at all, she was in and out as quick as possible. Now she sticks around to clean up. Obviously we are ecstatic! It's probably too early to tell whether or not the litter was contributing to her UTIs, but all signs are pointing towards some kind of corn allergy. I just wanted to throw that out there for anyone else who might be fighting a similar problem with these stubborn infections.
Edited to add:
I just read through my original thread (linked above), and for whatever reason I never mentioned the Whiskas. Perhaps it was because they were getting such a small amount I never thought much of it. The bulk of their dry food diet was in transition from Nutrience to Felidae, so that accounted for most of the food talk. Regardless, I apologize to the all the helpful members who were trying to help without the whole story!
