Another year, another UTI *vent*

emrldsky

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I have a bit of experience with UTIs, so I'm not so much looking for advice as I am just letting go of the frustration.

Scotty is exhibiting signs of a third UTI. His first one was when he was about a year old (fall of 2005), second one was right before Christmas of 2007 (the Sat. before Christmas) and now he's showing signs of another one. I've already contacted my vet's office and am waiting to hear back.

He's not blocked, yet, but he's in and out of the box. I blame myself for this one, because he was on the Royal Canin Urinary food, and I switched it without consulting the vet. The food was difficult to get a hold of because I had to call ahead a few days in advance in order to make sure I got a big bag (we have two cats, you see). Also, the vet's office is about 30 minutes from our house, but I take the boys there because they are great, but it's difficult to get there when they're open when both DH and I work 8-5.

I've been feeding regular Purina One for about 8 months and he's been fine on it, until last night. We watched him really close this morning, and I'm certain it's another UTI. I love him so much, and there's no talk of putting him down and I know we can get through this.

I just wish it wasn't such a battle. But I'll grab my sword, fight through it with him, and move past it and make better decisions.

Thanks for reading.
 

kittieshasme

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for you. Hang in there. Will he eat canned food? Maybe switching him to a good canned food with no fish will help. Couldn't hurt.

Also, ask your vet if he should be on antibiotics for two weeks or longer to really knock out the infection. I don't know what you've done so far, so I'm just throwing out suggestions.

for you and Scotty.
 

mews2much

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I know how you are feeling.
My Coco has had uti's on and off for over 2 years and now has Crf.
You need to make sure it does not go to the kidneys.
 

sharky

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this is not a fun journey ...

I also ask will eat he ANY wet food .??? Would he eat some human food??
 
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emrldsky

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He will eat wet food, but his brother won't. He will actually eat Oscar's portion, plus his own, plus his own of dry food...but his weight is another concern. He's up to 17lbs (I think if he lost 2-3lbs, he'd be much better off...the vet thinks he should lose 5).

Anyway, he's at the vet's office now..they're holding him until they can get a sample of his urine (they'll probably draw it straight from the bladder) and go from there.

I guess I'd rather have him fat than deal with UTIs. I'm just kicking myself because he was doing SO good! Gah! I'll update when I hear back from the vet's office.
 
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emrldsky

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Originally Posted by Violet

Have you ever tried using Carpon with a regular, non-prescription diet?

http://www.belfield.com/carpon.php
I've never heard it of it before. I'll take a look and maybe sit down with our vet to discuss.

Originally Posted by KittiesHasMe

for you. Hang in there. Will he eat canned food? Maybe switching him to a good canned food with no fish will help. Couldn't hurt.

Also, ask your vet if he should be on antibiotics for two weeks or longer to really knock out the infection. I don't know what you've done so far, so I'm just throwing out suggestions.

for you and Scotty.
Thank you. The vet said that he will be on antibiotics, no matter what.
I asked if they could give something other than clavamox, since he did so poorly last time (he vomited EVERY dose up, whether it was with food or not).

Originally Posted by mews2much

I know how you are feeling.
My Coco has had uti's on and off for over 2 years and now has Crf.
You need to make sure it does not go to the kidneys.
The vet is confident we caught it early. So early, no crystals are present in the urine.

Overall, the vet said his bladder IS inflammed, there is blood in his urine, as well as a presence of white blood cells. They believe there is bacteria, but the culture will confirm. He will be on antibiotics as well. Like I mentioned above, the vet said there were no crystals present, which means we caught it EARLY (thank goodness!!!).

I'm feel really good. The vet kept saying, "Urine is my thing."
I can't wait to sit down and talk about preventative measures with her. I'm really starting to wonder if it's diet or if it's something else. The food he's been on before each UTI has been different, so I really don't know.
But I'm certain the vet can tell me more.

Our job this weekend: make sure Scotty can still urinate. The emergency clinic is less than a 5 minute drive from our home, so if he can't urinate, he'll be taken there immediately.

Thank goodness we live in a town where there's a great vet school.
 

ms.blackie

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I feel for you.
I have been in your shoes.
What worked for me is making sure my cat
eats at least one small can of watered down cat food.
I feed Nutro Max dry in small amounts, limiting dry food!
Also, litter box is another thing. Are you using a closed
box, if so dont. Changed litter? Maybe you cat is avoiding
the box and not going often enough. Just some things
to think about. You can use the Dr. Esley special cat litter
attract and I think they do have some kind of other litter
for this issue now to encourage them more trips to the cat box.
Anyways, nothing to mess with find something that works
and stick with it in the long run best for you and your kitty.
 

goldenkitty45

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Charlie had a UTI 2 yrs ago - none since. He's on Royal Canin for Urinary too. I'd love to switch him to something that I can get at the pet store (Petco) that would work as well. Its a pain to have to get it thru the vet. Wish the Petco/Petsmart would stock it with the normal RC.

I also feed selected canned foods:

Max Cat (chicken, lamb)
Iams (beef)
Natural Balance (venison, duck)
Wellness (chicken)
Avoderm (chicken)

I don't feed fish like tuna or salmon and none of the cheaper canned foods.

Perhaps you can make arrangements when the bag is 1/2 full to be sure you get up to the vet's and get another bag before it runs out.
 
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emrldsky

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Well, so far no one has mentioned his diet (I did tell them I switched foods without speaking with them...honesty is always best and lying can be detrimental when diet could be a cause), but they did call to check up on him today.
He's really doing OK, just making frequent trips during the morning, but other than that he's fine. DH had a play session with the boys last night and Scotty was himself.

We're just waiting to hear back about the culture. I really hope they don't have to put him on Clavomox, because he WILL lose weight, just from throwing everything up.
But I shouldn't assume.


I was just scared and frustrated on Friday, because it dawned on me that Scotty has a chronic problem, and that this might be something that happens once or twice a year. I was just hoping we were done with it in 2007. :/
 

kittieshasme

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Well, it sounds like he's doing somewhat better. When Furrari had a UTI he was put on Baytril. Maybe, Scotty would do better on that? I guess you will just have to see what his vet says.

for Scotty.
 

jennyr

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I too have had a recurrent UTI problem with Wellington, and last summer it was a nightmare with four of my cats with bladder problems. Now they are all on Sanabelle Urinary dry, which I buy online in 20 kg sacks, and Hilife high protein wet. But we still had problems for awhile and what really changed things was their water. I live in a very hard water area and the cats were getting far too much calcium. Now I give them a low calcium bottled water and there have been no more problems. The bottled water is cheaper than the vet bills!
 
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emrldsky

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Originally Posted by jennyranson

I too have had a recurrent UTI problem with Wellington, and last summer it was a nightmare with four of my cats with bladder problems. Now they are all on Sanabelle Urinary dry, which I buy online in 20 kg sacks, and Hilife high protein wet. But we still had problems for awhile and what really changed things was their water. I live in a very hard water area and the cats were getting far too much calcium. Now I give them a low calcium bottled water and there have been no more problems. The bottled water is cheaper than the vet bills!
Seriously? We have hard water too! Now I'm wondering...

Thanks! This gives me another topic to talk about with the vet!!
 

darlili

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I think I read in Cat Fancy a year or so ago that distilled water seems to be a good thing, especially for the boys - but it was only anecdotal from owners, and I don't believe there have been any clinical studies. Still, I've got mine on distilled water - if nothing else, it seems to work nicely in their Drinkwell.
 
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emrldsky

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So the culture FINALLY came back and there was NO bacteria present.
Officially diagnosed as Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD)...in other words, they don't know what caused his symptoms, but they were real.

No crystals, no bacteria, but he was in and out of the box, a LOT, with little clumps of urine.

He's fine now, but I'm gonna switch him to distilled water and DH and I will trade off litterbox duties. Either it's the water, or it's from him holding it because DH wasn't cleaning the box often enough. We'll work on it.
 

carolina

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DO you have a water fountain? It would help him a LOT in drinking more water... Good luck with him - at least he is not going to be under antibiotics!
 
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emrldsky

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Originally Posted by carolinalima

DO you have a water fountain? It would help him a LOT in drinking more water... Good luck with him - at least he is not going to be under antibiotics!
Yeah, I've had one for him since his first UTI.
I think our hard water might not be helping things though, and it won't hurt to switch him to distilled water anyway.

I think between the water and cleaning the litterbox more often, DH and I can prevent this from occurring again...at least until the booger get stressed out over something.
 

anjhest

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emrl, I feel your pain! I have a kitty with the same problem. In fact, when I took him to the vet on Jan 21, 2009 for yet another UTI, the vet pointed out that he was in for a UTI on Jan 21, 2008! To the day!

What's frustrating for me is just seeing Taxi so miserable and uncomfortable. He's not himself when he has a UTI and I just feel so bad for him. And pilling him is a PIA.
 
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emrldsky

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Originally Posted by anjhest

emrl, I feel your pain! I have a kitty with the same problem. In fact, when I took him to the vet on Jan 21, 2009 for yet another UTI, the vet pointed out that he was in for a UTI on Jan 21, 2008! To the day!

What's frustrating for me is just seeing Taxi so miserable and uncomfortable. He's not himself when he has a UTI and I just feel so bad for him. And pilling him is a PIA.
I hear ya! Scotty missed the year mark by a couple of months, which is good cuz he was in Dec. 21, 2007.

I think the part that's hardest for me is seeing Scotty acting unlike himself. Sure he's kind of a jerk at times, but he's still my baby (Oscar is too, but I got Scotty first).

And he used to be difficult to pill, until I figured out HOW to pill properly. Now he only spits out one of 10 pills; but that one gets put right back in and swallowed.
 
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