Cat With Urination Issues

I am looking for some opinions concerning a cat I am fostering for our local HS.

Fred came from a vet's office to stay with us on Nov. 27th. He had spent several days at the office, brought in by someone to be euth'd, but the vet offered to save him and contacted the HS to take him. He, at that time, had blood coming from the urethra. He was given Clavamox and I continued to give it a week after he came here. At that time he was still doing very small, very frequent pees in the box. So they extended his antibiotic (which I thought should have been done in the first place).

On Dec. 9th, he was still on the Clavamox, when I noticed he was in position, and the pee was dribbling out, but not streaming out.

On Dec. 10th, he was still on Clavamox. At one point, he was in position, nothing came out. As I waited for a call back from the vet/HS, he returned to the litterbox (about 45 min later) and this time in a standing position, he peed, but his tail was waggling in a spraying type motion. Though his tail waggled, and the vet insists he was spraying, I tried to explain that he was in a standing position but his hind end was hunched slightly, and the urine did not spray out, it dribbled out. It was more of what I would guess to be a straining motion than a territorial marking motion.

At this time the vet prescribed a second antibiotic. The name slips my mind right now but he is on it for 2 weeks.

This is day 6 of the new antibiotic, and he is still peeing somewhat frequently.

Judging by the urine streaks on the side of the litterbox, I'd say that when I'm not around, he is still urinating from a standing position.

I have him on wet foods only. He has been on wet foods only since Nov 27th when I picked him up.

He has in the past two days developed a bit of a personality change. He has been a very sweet cat, very loving, very head-bumpy and full of purrrrs. The past two days, he has been attacking my feet, he lets out battlecry style yowls and hisses if he is touched, or if I need to move him out of my way (like to sweep, de-hair his bed, etc). He grabbed a towel that was draped over my arm as I walked by, and when I tried to detach his nails from the towel, he yelled, and bambambam swatted me repeatedly. These are not playful behaviors.

What would be your plan of action? Keep in mind this is an HS cat, and I'm not in charge of what happens, but they do take my opinions into consideration. Personally, I feel some testing (urinalysis) is in order. I don't think he is in immediate danger, but I do feel that something is not right. Something is bothering him, whether it be a cystitis type of thing or something greater, it doesn't seem like the antibiotic is doing the trick. Science Diet (S/D, C/D) was mentioned by the vet, I'm not on board with that plan of action, I don't believe the HS is at this point as well.

I would get him to the vet A.S.A.P. male cats and urinating problems are not something to be waited on. They can block and die. Please get him to a vet as soon as possible!

He has been seen by the vet three times (in 3 weeks) for this issue. Each time I am told he is not blocked, his bladder *is* emptying, though it seems to be with much effort involved.

One of our pets has UTI issues and is prone to issues so I have a little experience in this, but with Fred I'm thinking the typical treatments may not be enough?

IMO, he most definitely needs a urinalysis done. He may have crystals in his urine, which will require a Rx diet to dissolve them.

It's also possible he has stones partially blocking his urethra making it difficult to urinate.

Yep, definitely have a urinalysis done to check for UTI and the possibility of crystals or stones. Poor guy is probably miserable. No wonder he's grumpy!

Originally Posted by CrazyBird

He has been seen by the vet three times (in 3 weeks) for this issue. Each time I am told he is not blocked, his bladder *is* emptying, though it seems to be with much effort involved.

One of our pets has UTI issues and is prone to issues so I have a little experience in this, but with Fred I'm thinking the typical treatments may not be enough?

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Bless your heart for helping this kitty.

#1, kitty definitely needs a proper urinalysis -- to truly determine if there's a UTI and to determine if there's crystals.

#2 kitty ALSO needs to have a culture of the urine done; why the Vet didn't do the urinalysis and culture to begin with, no idea. It's crazy to just "assume" a cat has a UTI and slap them onto one of the many types of antibiotics. There are a couple dozen different types of bacteria that can cause a UTI and not all antibiotics work the same on all of them; in fact, some types don't work at all on certain types of bacteria.....that's why when they do a culture (place some of the urine onto a petri dish, wait 48-72 hrs to see if there's any bacterial growth), they ALSO do a 'sensitivity'....which means, they test the various types of antibiotics on the particular type(s) of bacteria growing....to see which antibiotic is going to work, which will not.

They usually don't want to do a culture once antibiotics are started because if the antibiotics the cat is one are starting to work, it might skew the results (show there's no bacteria when there maybe isn't only because the antibiotic is working).........but in this kitty's case, after day 6 of the new antibiotic he's still got issues, I'd kindly demand this be done.....ASAP......

What is the new antibiotic he's on?

Did they give him any subQ fluids to help flush things out?

For the record, my dear old cat (years ago) Mouse developed crystals and sadly, he'd block up. I didn't know much about cats back then and I was stupidly feeding him some kind of crappy Purina dry food. I'd switched from something else because I was poor (LOL) and the Purina was cheaper (had 3 cats then). His issues started almost immediately. He then started to spray; something he'd never done in the 3 years I had him (got him when he was 8 wks old). I attribute his spraying directly to him having crystals. Unfortunately he blocked up so frequently, having to be rushed into the Vet to be catheterized (tiny tube put into his penis, into bladder, to drain bladder) on an emergent basis, and having a Vet that was stupid and pessimistic and obviously not very familiar with the new surgery they were doing back then (perineal urethrostomy).....sadly he talked me into having him put down, something I regret to this day.

That's another possibility for him, if this turns out to be caused by crystals (that could form into stones and cause a blockage)........it's very effective:

http://www.lbah.com/feline/flutd.htm#sx

Are you able to see a different Vet at all or must you stick with this one? Too bad you couldn't see a Vet that has a feline-only practice.....they're usually way more sharp when it comes to complex cases than a Vet who doesn't specialize in cats.

O my goodness, please get him to a decent vet. I am sorry to be so harsh, but he needs a urine work up. I am just coming off the same thing with my cat. He may have crystals. Can be deadly.

IMO I would insist they get urine work done, or pay out of my own pocket for it. This kitty needs you. No wonder he is in a fowl mood!

Thank you all for confirming what I was thinking should be done. I tend to be a bit of a worrier at times, so I like to get confirmation from other 'crazy cat people' before jumping to conclusions. With the lack of concern from the HS I debated whether or not I was just overreacting on this. With our cat that has similar issues, I know his treatment is handled much differently than the HS has with this cat. I don't think this is a case of the HS not caring, I just think that since they don't live with the cat, and don't actually see the day to day litterbox habits, (though I tell them), it doesn't seem like something that warrants immediate vetcare to them. The vet is of the mindset that 'well he's not blocked, if you can pill him, you can take him home' and gives a new antibiotic. This is the professional opinion they lean on, so my foster home opinion is probably second to the doc's.

I'm going to get ahold of them today and see where we stand with his treatment.

The antibiotic he is currently on is called Zenequin. I'd never heard of it before they prescribed it to him on the 10th.

They did not do any subQ fluids when I returned with him on the 10th. Prior to that, when he was there on Nov 25-27 (before I picked him up) I'm not sure if they had done any then or not. I have him on all wet food (no dry) and he is eating very well, so hopefully that is enough to get things flushed for him.....

This vet has a very basic practice. They are good about saving their patients money by not running a bunch of unnecessary tests to run up the bill. If the symptoms point to one thing, they will try to knock it out with treatment, and if that fails, then they dig deeper with more testing. This is *usually* great for us. Unfortunately sometimes they stick with their 'money saving' ideas, and cost more in the long run with repeated office calls and new meds. This is the point where a different, more to the point vet would be beneficial, but again, this is really not my call to make. I can offer up the suggestion, and I doubt they would reject it, but ultimately, it's their decision.

This morning he did get into the litterbox and peed from a hunched, standing position again. I assumed he was still doing this based on the streaking on the litterbox side, but I hadn't actually *seen* him do it in a couple days.

My boy was recently diagnosed with struvite crystals - I'm in agreement that at the very least you need a urinalysis done, and perhaps a ultrasound as quickly as possible - sounds to me as though he's in pain.

Also, in my experience with Dante, prescription food (Hill's CD in our case) is not to be dismissed without discussion with the vet - Dante was on Baytril for a week, then the Hills and, thank goodness, his last sampling was perfect. Sure, the ingredients don't appear all that great to the layman, but the proof, I think, is in the pudding - and prescription foods have their place IMO.

Totally agree Darlili. You have to go with what works.

Originally Posted by darlili

My boy was recently diagnosed with struvite crystals - I'm in agreement that at the very least you need a urinalysis done, and perhaps a ultrasound as quickly as possible - sounds to me as though he's in pain.

Also, in my experience with Dante, prescription food (Hill's CD in our case) is not to be dismissed without discussion with the vet - Dante was on Baytril for a week, then the Hills and, thank goodness, his last sampling was perfect. Sure, the ingredients don't appear all that great to the layman, but the proof, I think, is in the pudding - and prescription foods have their place IMO.

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I know prescription foods may be necessary some of the time. I'm just not quick to jump to put a cat on a specially formulated food for a condition they have no test results to prove he has.

I'm waiting on a response from the HS, to figure out what we're doing next. They are a wonderful group of overworked, underappreciated people, but sometimes I feel like I have to cross the line from concerned to nuisance to get some results.

I would get a pH urine test done. They are cheap, and let you know if the pH is too high or low, which indicates the possibility of crystals. And I would deffinatly put him on the c/d food. I almost lost my cat to crystals, I got him to the vet just in time, he was blocked completly & his bladder was on the verge of busting. He had to have a major surgery & has to be on c/d for the rest of his life. Every time I try changing fron c/d he gets crystals again.

Please do something, he has to be in pain...

A good vet will not prescribe a course of prescription food without test results and a thorough physical exam. I had asked the ER vet about prescription food, and that's exactly what he told me - as well as seeing my regular vet for follow-up exam. Who tested first, prescribed second.

Has this poor boy gotten his tests yet? Is there anyway you can just go to a regular vet and get a urinalysis done? Let's see - Dante's last check up, with urinalysis and fecal, was $80 - and I'm in what's considered a high cost area. With the holidays coming up, time to avoid seeing an ER vet is running out, I think - and the poor guy has to be in pain. IMO, time to just pick up and go to a outside vet. To me, sounds like the HS is letting you both down big time.

Unfortunately, urinary issues cannot be a wait and see deal. Time is not on the side of the cat.

If it were me, I would go over the head of the HS and get this done pronto. If they cannot make a decision on a serious matter like this, then I take action into my own hands.

Hope he will get the help he desperately needs.