Cat having trouble peeing

I noticed my 19 lb female, Seffie, was having trouble urinating, so I took her to the vet. she said she didn't think she'd be able to get a sample of urine if Seffie was having a hard time, so she was going to treat her for a UTI with an antibiotic shot, a fluid shot and a two week course of Clavamox. She said if I didn't see an improvement in 48-72 hours, to bring her back in.

The vet felt Seffie's bladder and said it felt normal and thick, not hard, which she said was good.

Seffie is still going to the box way more than she is actually urinating, but she does urinate in small puddles.

The vet didn't say anything about her food or water, other than just to say that I made sure to give her her pills with food and leave plenty of drinking options out for her.

Should I be doing anything else? Seffie seems pretty normal except for the box issues...

A cat with a urinary tract infection often feels as though she has to pee all the time, the pain and irritation cause that. That's why she keeps going to the box, even though she has very little urine in her bladder. She feels like she has to go, all the time. This, along with the pain, can also cause anxiety. My vet always prescribes pain meds for a cat with a UTI.

Feed your cat a canned diet, to make sure she gets plenty of moisture every day. Even mix a little water in the canned food, to help keep her bladder flushed out.

Is your Seffie obese? Overweight cats are more prone to UTIs than cats at a healthy weight. They are also prone to other diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. However weight loss should be done very slowly.

I hope your girl Seffie is feeling better soon, but if you see no improvement in a couple of days, bring her back to the vet, there may be something else going on.

Thanks, Otto. Seffie is overweight, but not obese. I've upped the quality of their wet food recently (Whiskas Purrfectly Chicken and Fish along with a can of Blue Buffalo every now and then) and also stopped letting them free feed on the dry food during the day. I've started getting them the hairball control Nature's Recipe dry food at Petsmart that's mostly chicken and brown rice, no corn. The only time they get that now is right before I go to bed and after they've eaten their wet food. 

I'm working on getting their weight down and it's taken me a few months to wean them off the free feeding dry food situation. Seffie and her buddy Po both just got over upper respiratory infections. Seffie got over it just fine, but Po suffered pretty bad and had to go on antibiotics. Now Seffie has the UTI. 

She's still having the urination issues, but she's playful and eating and drinking normally. 

This morning, she had some of that stinky brown liquid on her anal area after trying to urinate again. I know it's not blood because she's sometimes leaked the liquid after being freaked out by something and it's very distinct. She's such a strange sweetheart. 

My dad suggested I gradually switch to Purina One's Urinary Health dry food...does that sound like a good idea?

That stinky brown liquid sounds like fluid from her anal glands.  Sounds like they are rather full, which can be caused by soft stools.  Would ask the vet to check them next time you see them.  They might also account for her keeping going to (apparently) urinate - I'm imagining they are uncomfortable. 

Can she clean her anal area properly herself? 

I'm pretty sure she can, because I've seen her do it, but she doesn't do it much. I think that area disgusts her. 

At 19 pounds it might be quite hard for her to reach.  Most cats do a lot of cleaning in that area.

I agree it's anal gland fluid. Yes the smell is terrible. Nature gave cats these glands for territorial marking purposes. Next time you bring her in, ask the vet to expel them. However, quite by accident, I have discovered a little trick that may work for you.

Hold the cat in your lap on her back. Many cats hate being held this way, but the process will only takes a few seconds. Gently pull her tail out of the way so you can see her bottom. Place a hand under her just at the tail root and kind of...jiggle her. This may cause the anal glands to spontaneously express. I have had great success with this, with my two cats who have trouble with their anal glands. Make sure you have a damp paper towel handy to wipe up.

I'm glad you've been working on improving their diet, the more canned in place of dry they eat, the better!

I'd like to suggest that you not feed anything with fish in it. Fish is known to cause urinary tract problems, as there are a lot of bones, making the food too high in certain minerals. Fish also is a high allergen, and may contain heavy metals such as mercury.

I do not think Purina ONE urinary health dry food is a good idea. First of all, Purina is not a good brand, and the food is full of fillers and junk cats do not need and should not have. Secondly, cats should be on a WET diet.

Ohhh...I posted something in cat nutrition as well and they're saying to get off the fish foods, too. That's unfortunate, because she LOVES them. I'll have to work slowly so she doesn't stress out too much. 

Any suggestions on what type of food? I'll also have to gradually wean her off the dry altogether, too. I mean we JUST got to no dry during the day like last week. (I think that stressed her a little because she just got over a surprise respiratory infection, too)

It looks like I'll be taking Seffie back to the vet this evening. The vet said if I didn't see an improvement in 48-72 hours, to come back in, and she's still frequenting the litterbox way more than usual. Also, her clumps in the litterbox are all grape-sized or smaller, give or take a golf ball-sized one here and there. No big puddles like normal. 

How long do these usually take to clear up? I don't think the Clavamox is doing anything.

She should be better by now, if there is a bacterial infection. The amounts are small because she is constantly squatting to squeeze out any pee in there. It is the inflammation/discomfort that is causing her to do this. She feels all the time like she has to go. That's why pain meds are so helpful for these conditions.

Put up the litter box so she can't go (or shut her up in her carrier) after giving her a watery meal, an hour or so before her appointment, so there will be something in her bladder for the vet to get a sample. She needs to have a urine culture done, to find out what is going on. I would advise an x-ray too.

Sounds like she may have some crystals or stones in there. Crystals will show up in the culture, stones will not, that is why an x-ray may be needed.

Seffie

My poor big, fuzzy thing! She's still so playful and normal other than the urination issue. I hope they can figure it out and help her. I think I'm more distressed than she is. 

Ok...so the second vet at the emergency clinic said she seemed good and that the antibiotics needed time to work. She gave her some pain meds to help and said to keep up with the antibiotics, so I am. Seffie is still very playful and happy, but I just rubbed/ palpated her tummy and it seemed a little firm. I don't think she's been to the litterbox in awhile, like normal (when she is not under suspiscion of a uti), so could that be it, or should I be more worried?

This vet also did a urinalysis and found only some red and white blood cells, no crystals or other signs of something worse, she said. She said the problem might just take a bit more time to get rid of, so the two week course of antibiotics that she's on should do fine...it's probably just a bad infection and/or inflammation.

I am a bit concerned about her firm tummy. She doesn't mind me touching and rubbing it. In fact, she rolls over and purrs. Am I overreacting? I just can't think if that is normal or not. She is 19pounds, just for knowledge's sake...

Edit/update: Called the clinic and the uber-nice staffer told me all about cats and utis. She said if she seemed normal and not in pain or anything (it's been > 8 hrs since her last pain pill) then it's probably that Seffie is just holding it or just guarding her stomach against my constant prodding. She said to keep an eye on her and if she voids urine by noonish, not to worry. If she doesn't, then I can bring her in and they would palpate her. She said that for a female cat to be blocked that bad, it would have to be a considerable sized stone(s) and that female cats usually don't get that blocked. Of course, she said, that is not to say it can't happen, so just watch her. She was glad I called and understood my worry.

I started plying some good string time with Seffie and my other cat, Po, right after I hung up, and Seffie is going all out, play-wise. :-)
I even caught her off- guard for a quck tummy feel, and she felt normal, not firm. Guess she was guarding her tummy from her pushy mom. LOL

...just putting the info out there for others in a similar situation; when worried, make sure to at least call the vet's office because they WANT to help you and your furbabies!

This happened to my cat recently.  Desi suddenly started peeing almost constantly in very small amounts. 

The vet (that comes to my house) was treated her for a urinary infection, then when the urine sample came back it showed that there was no infection, but there was blood in the urine.  So the vet treated her for idiopathic cystitis with ampitriptyline.  After a week and a half that had done nothing, so the vet suggested an x-ray.    The x-ray showed stones in her bladder and one stone located in her urethra.  The stone in her urethra was what was causing the frequent peeing.  Desi has since had surgery to remove the stones.  Between the time of the x-ray and the actual surgery which was only a week apart, more stones had lodged in her urethra and would have caused a life threatening problem.

My point here is get an x-ray done!  Some vets think that they are saving you money by not suggesting x-rays, but only the x-ray could show exactly what poor Desi's problem was and surgery to clear the stones was the only option.  The kind of stones that she had wouldn't show up in her urine only on an x-ray.

D

First off, Clavamox may NOT be the right antibiotic for this UTI.   Different types of antibiotics work for different types of bacteria.....which is why your Vet should have initially obtained a sterile urine sample by way of "cystocentesis" - which is very common and done every day, Vet just cleans off belly area with alcohol and inserts a fine needle into bladder and withdraws urine, then sends it off to be "cultured".  To have it cultured, it identifies specifically which of the many types of bacteria out there, are causing the cat's UTI.....and then they actually test various kinds of antibiotics on the urine sample to see which ones will actually stop the growth of that particular type of bacteria.   It's a shame when Vets just play guessing games and assume that one antibiotic will work for all.   I would seriously be requesting a 'urine culture' be done.   I have had cats for over 25 years, many with urinary issues (blockages, UTIs you name it) and if the correct antibiotic is used for the UTI, truly, their symptoms should be much improved in 24 hours.  I would not feel comfortable just being told "it can take a few days to work."

Just ask for a urine culture to be done as you want to ensure they know what specific type of bacteria is causing the UTI so that you can be assured that the correct type of antibiotic is being used.

Here is a really good article that explains more about Cystocentesis (takes Vet a couple of minutes to do, no need to sedate cat at all,  cats tolerate it very well)  and Urine Culture:

http://healthypets.mercola.com/site...sing-bacterial-urinary-infection-in-cats.aspx

It seems clear to me that the Clavamox is just not working - because it's not the correct antibiotic in this case.
 

How is Seffie now?


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bkydrose said:

This happened to my cat recently.  Desi suddenly started peeing almost constantly in very small amounts. 

The vet (that comes to my house) was treated her for a urinary infection, then when the urine sample came back it showed that there was no infection, but there was blood in the urine.  So the vet treated her for idiopathic cystitis with ampitriptyline.  After a week and a half that had done nothing, so the vet suggested an x-ray.    The x-ray showed stones in her bladder and one stone located in her urethra.  The stone in her urethra was what was causing the frequent peeing.  Desi has since had surgery to remove the stones.  Between the time of the x-ray and the actual surgery which was only a week apart, more stones had lodged in her urethra and would have caused a life threatening problem.

My point here is get an x-ray done!  Some vets think that they are saving you money by not suggesting x-rays, but only the x-ray could show exactly what poor Desi's problem was and surgery to clear the stones was the only option.  The kind of stones that she had wouldn't show up in her urine only on an x-ray.

D

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You've made a very good point, and if the OP's Seffie is not better by now, I hope she has had an x-ray. Also hope your Desi is fully recovered.