Urinary Issues in 7 y/o Male Cat

Hello! 

I came upon this forum when looking for some answers on kitty health, and boy, did I find some good ones. I figured I'd finally sign up and post my latest question here, as I'm very concerned about the health of my 7-year-old male ragdoll, Walter.

This Monday, I took him to an emergency vet in fear that he had a urinary blockage. He was scooting and straining in his box while producing little to no urine. He had bloodwork, x-rays, and a urinalysis done. His bloodwork and x-rays came back normal, and his urinalysis showed no crystals or bacteria present. His urine pH was good, too: 6.5. However, there was blood present in his urine. He is currently taking an antibiotic (clavamox), phenoxybenzamine to control urethra spasms, and an anti-inflammatory (onsior). The vet is unsure of the cause, and suggested that it may be FLUTD. 

None of these meds seem to be helping my Walter. He is currently VERY restless. He is grooming his genitals quite often and is urinating in small amounts on soft furniture and carpet. He is still using his litter box, and is producing a larger amount of urine in his box. He is eating, drinking, and playing (though not very much), and is not crying out in distress. He sleeps for short periods, usually two or three hours, then gets right back to the grooming and urinating inappropriately routine. 

The more I look into this, the more it sounds like my boy has FLUTD. This is very distressing to me, because, to my knowledge, there isn't much that can be done for FLUTD. I should mention that he had this issue once before, about a year ago, though nowhere near the severity that it is now. Like this current episode, the vet wasn't sure about the cause, and the issue resolved shortly after I gave him antibiotics, so I was under the impression that it was a UTI. Now, I'm not so sure...

I would love to hear any advice on managing FLUTD, or anything I could do to increase Walter's comfort levels. Lastly, do these symptoms tend to linger? He's just not showing any signs of improving, and I'm on the verge of taking him back to the vet. Both the emergency and his regular vet said it could take over a week for him to recover, but I worry that it's abnormal for him to be grooming and having accidents with such frequency after almost four days of treatment. 

I hope I am not asking too much with my first post. I am just so worried about Walter. Thank you for any and all responses! 

Sincerely,

Sara

Ritz (female) has been diagnosed with FLUTD after two UTIs in a relatively short period of time.

I would approach the issue two ways:  diet and reducing stress.

Diet.  What is Walter currently eating?  Canned food.  Canned food.  Canned food.  (Or Raw, if you are up for it).  Avoid dry like it were toxic.  I would suggest adding some water to the canned food, simply to increase his fluid intake.  In Ritz's case, she was eating a fair amount of seafood based food (very picky eater) before I transitioned her to raw food.

Stress.  In Ritz' case, she developed UTIs after some stressful (to her...) events.  I have several Feliway plug ins and when a stressful, non-routine event will be occurring, I add Rescue Remedy to her food.  Also, cats like routine; they like boring.  So try to feed her at the same time, get home the same time, play with her the same time (in other words, don't have a life  )   Knock wood, she hasn't had a reoccurrence of FLUTD/UTIs--even after I moved from a one bedroom condo to a much larger townhouse.

Most cases of FLUTD are idiopathic (cause unknown). Blood in the urine is usually a sign of bladder inflammation. The Yahoo FLUTD group (which I recommend you join) recommends corn silk for inflammation, but it takes a while to work. Also, fluid intake is very important, so an all wet, meaty diet is also very highly suggested.

FLUTD does tend to be recurring, and stress can play a role.

Welcome to TCS. No, you are not asking too much. We are here to help people with cat problems. That said, unfortunately, I don't know much about FLUTD. I can give you an on-site article to read.    www.thecatsite.com/a/feline-lower-urinary-tract-disease-flutd

It will give you an overview of the subject. Someone with personal experience will probably be posting answers to you soon.

Thank you for your reply, Ritz! I am sorry to hear that your cat has the same issue that Walter apparently has, though I'm glad to hear she hasn't had any issues for a while. Hopefully it will be the same for Walter!

His diet is an ongoing issue. He is absolutely a dry food addict. His water intake seems good--he has a fountain which he loves--but it could very well be not enough. I have tried so many different types of canned food, from Wellness to Fancy Feast, and Walter turns his nose up at all of them. I think I need to be stricter with his mealtimes; I tend to let his dry food out for grazing. Feeding a raw diet sounds interesting. I have heard stories about the wonderful effect it can have on cats, and I will definitely look more into it.

As for stress, well... it's tricky. The handsome little guy in my icon is Henry, an abused stray I found in a nearby neighborhood. Walter wholeheartedly does not approve of him, and I keep them mostly separated (and entirely separated ever since Walter developed this issue). I have thought about rehoming Henry, but he's a real charmer, that one, and unfortunately I don't know of anyone who can take him at the moment. I recently bought some Feliway spray, and would like to try the diffusers as well. Wish they weren't so pricey, but hey, if they work, they're worth it. 

Thanks again for the advice! Sounds like Walter could use some routine.

Yeah, I know about addicts...

For help with transitioning a cat to wet food, see this article.  Toppers help a lot.

Regarding two-cat problem, I don't know much about that.  But would you consider starting from scratch in so far as introducing them to one another?

Unfortunately I have a bit of experience with FLUTD, specifically FIC.  There is an article on FabCats that discusses FLUTD rather succinctly, the link:  http://www.fabcats.org/owners/flutd/info.html

Sometimes it does take awhile, my experience is sometimes a couple/three weeks for all irritations and thus behaviors to resolve.  Having an irritated bladder is painful to the cat, thus the restlessness and excessive grooming, trying to make it go away.  Until the spasms are resolved, there can be incontinence, despite peeing in the box.  I suggest having (at the ready) a few waterproof pads and mattress covers available to be thrown over the couch or carpet where your cat likes to sleep.  Much easier to clean those than a couch cushion. 

I am curious why, if no bacteria was present, your vet gave your cat the Clavamox? That antibiotic tends to cause inappetence and vomiting, so be prepared.  You may want to add some probiotics to help with gut bacteria.  The Onsior, though it provides some pain relief, may not be enough for your cat.  You can ask your vet about Buprenex.  The two can be taken simultaneously. 

I'd work on your cat's stress, though to be honest I haven't figured out how to solve that one.  I think it's in the nature of the cat.  My Clark seems to find it everywhere. 

My cats' diet started with dry, moved to wet, advanced to grain-free wet, and now they eat raw.  My cat looks fabulous, except for his pesky bladder.  His brother, who's eaten the same food bite for bite, has never had a bladder problem.  So, I can't say FIC is diet driven, but I'd definitely try to move away from dry food.  Eating wet food may not permanently resolve your cat's bladder problems, but it is healthier for the cat in all ways. 

One of my cat's (Socks) ate dry food for years before she joined our household.  I then tried for two years to get her to eat a variety of wet foods to no avail.  She finally decided she would lick Life's Abundance Instinctive Choice, and would actually eat it if I put bite size blobs, one by one, under her nose, on the floor, but not on a plate.  In the process of switching my other cats to raw, we started with RadCat Turkey.  Lo and behold, Socks gobbled it up.  She now eats and enjoys my homemade raw meat diet, but will still only eat two varieties of wet food and only a few bites at that, the Life's Abundance and Nature's Logic.  It was a very long haul, but she hasn't eaten dry food for six months.  So keep trying!

I hope your cat feels better soon!

See, in the 20 minutes between starting my reply and posting it - I was watching the noon news - two people posted their replies. That is why I love this site. I hope their advice will help Walter.

Thank you so much for the warm welcome and helpful, quick replies!

Walter was doing quite well last night, but this morning he had some accidents on the carpet and started to groom his genital region again. He is not grooming as much, but he still appears to be in some discomfort. 

I bought a Feliway diffuser from the vet and found a pet store nearby that sells raw food for cats, as well as a variety of high-quality canned food. Hopefully, Walter will take to one of them! I will try some of the brands you mentioned, LCat4.

Also, the vet prescribed him antibiotics as a precautionary measure, but since he is taking so many other meds at the moment, I was concerned. I spoke to one of the other doctors at the place, and she said that he can do without the antibiotics. Little confused and slightly annoyed by this conflicting information, but we'll see what happens. He just finished up the phenoxybenzamine so now he's just on the cosequin and the anti-inflammatory. 

Thanks again!