Our poor cat has a lower urinary tract problem

bellasdad

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We are very frustrated and looking for guidance.

Our 4 year old female tabby, Bella, is/was in great health until this recent occurrence. She is a very fit and active cat, only weighing 9lbs.

About 3 weeks ago we noticed that she was dribbling pee all around the edges of every room in the house. She also started having a vomiting spat so we took her to the vet on an emergency after hours visit as we were concerned. Our vet didn't offer today any tests, just felt the cat, and told us she had a UTI and sent us out the door with a 14 day prescription of antibiotics and a $200 bill. We kept the cat in the bathroom while we gave her all of her meds. At the end of her meds she wasn't any better.

We felt like we got ripped off by our vet so we then took her somewhere different. They did a urinalisys and told us she had crystals in her pee and that we needed to give her more antibiotics and put her on a special prescription urinary diet. We also gave her about 5ml of water with a syringe twice a day. She got a lot better by the end of this week and we let her out of the bathroom. She did good and was peeing mostly normal and much less frequently in her box and was not going on the carpet.

We continued to give her the prescription food but she also had access to her dry food which she started eating again too. We stopped giving her water with the syringe as well since we thought she was on the mend and almost completely healed.

Today out of nowhere (2 days later) she started peeing all over the house again very frequently and vomiting again. This time we could see blood in one of her pee spots.

Do you think the combination of her eating her dry food plus us not giving her the water caused a relapse? We are going to try a strict diet and the water feedings again to see if it helps.

We don't know what else to do... We have now sunk $400 into this problem and we don't have any rectification yet. We can't afford to take her back in. Does anyone else have any ideas what this could be and things we can try yo help make her better???

Thanks in advance!!!
 
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bellasdad

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I forgot to mention she is an indoor only cat. We have no other cats and two small dogs.
 

denice

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I think it's eating the dry food.  Is her prescription food wet food?  Wet food is much better because of the extra water.  The prescription food has an additive that corrects the ph of the urine.
 

cccdlx

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Welcome to TCS Bellasdad.  Urinary tract problems are a theme many here are familiar with.  Wet food is the preferable plan for many,,,,,,,,I will have to agree. The bottom line is WATER intake.

Urinary problems are not as common in female cats.  Could there be an element of stress in her environment?

The go to website for feline nutrition is http://catinfo.org/
 
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bellasdad

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Thanks for the replies and welcomes!

We put her back in the bathroom last night. We gave her the prescription food only and were able to hand feed her about 15ml of water with a syringe.

When we got up to check on her this morning she had peed all over the bathroom which is new. In the weeks she was locked up prior she would always use her box. Do you think that this is out of spite for putting her back in there or related to her medical issue? There was much more pee in the spots she went than the typical dribble she has.

We are cleaning everything up now and hoping we see an improvement soon.

Thanks again everyone!
 

denice

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It's related to the medical issue.  Cats don't do things out of spite.  They don't have the emotions or the cognitive ability to do that, that's a 'lovely' thing that humans can do but not cats.
 

flintmccullough

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It is extremly important, that you understand, kitties are not vindictive, and don't sit up nights, thinking about payback, like humans do. She is acting like that, because she is sick.

That she is peeing, is a huge plus, it means she is not blocked, that is way way worse. If a kitty is blocked, and unable to pee, you have 12 hrs to get them to a vet, or its too late.

I have a crystal kitty. I know exactly, why she is acting that way, and exactly what, you have to do.

She has a bladder infection. They are extremly painful. It feels like you have to go real real bad, all the time, even tho you don't, hence, the multiple pees.  And it burns, when you do pee, real bad.

The bladder walls are inflammed, because the urine is too concentrated, and thats why, you see the blood, and thats why she pees multiple times. Kitties think, the box, caused the pain, thats why they avoid the box. 

She needs to be on antibiotics, the urinealyasis would have shown, what bacteria was present in her urine, and she should be placed on the appropiate antibiotics class.  

It is imperative, you now feed her wet, mixed with water, so its like a soup, you have, to keep her flushed out, the issue came back, because you feed dry, and she was not getting enough water. You can no longer feed her dry.  

Forget the urinary special diets, they do not help, I already been this route, and all it does, is make the vet money.

What do you feed?

She needs to be fed a grain free feed, as grains are one of the many causes of urinary issues.

What has changed in your household? Stress is another big cause. And kitties can feel your stress. 

Ask your wife, if she ever had a bladder/urinary infection, or if she has not, ask her to ask her friends, its very very painful.

Be very glad, to help you and your wife, with what you need to do, to correct this, and keep it from happening again. Its been 6 yrs, and he has not had an issue.

Welcome to the site, alot of very knowledgeable kitties on here. 
 

stephenq

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Bellasdad,

You can and will get a lot of opinions here (and have!), and sometimes one person's advice will contradict another's.  So I would suggest that you take our advice in moderation, be careful not to listen only to the advice you might wish to hear, and most of all listen to a vet you respect.  It's important that you have a good relationship with a vet who can help you through this process.  Some vets may allow you to pay a discount, or pay over time, but regardless your cat is more or less back into a medical crisis to at least some extent, and you need professional help.

Many vets, including mine as an example, will happily talk to you over the phone for free for an issue that they have already looked at and charged you for at no additional cost.   It's possible you're vet will happily re-prescribe meds, and suggest a course of action and all you will have to pay for is the medication, so i would urge you to call your vet for a phone consultation.   You might also be able to fill the prescription at a local human pharmacy at lower cost, your vet could discuss this with you.

I work with a lot of vets and they all seem to agree on three things for a cat in this situation:

1- Wet food is important, dry food should be avoided, and if the cat will only eat dry, then prescription dry is much preferred.

2- Water is very important.  (consider a cat water fountain to help encourage hydration).

3- Prescription food is helpful.

Once you get her bladder healthy again and back into balance then following a strict eating and hydration regimen for the rest of her life will help prevent relapses.

Let us know how things progress.

Stephen
 

cprcheetah

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She needs more water.  The easiest and best way to do this is to feed her an all canned food diet and add additional water to it.  I have done this with my kitty and she hasn't had any issues for 4 years.  I don't feed a prescription diet as all they do is add salt to the food to make your cat drink more water.  This website has a lot of good information. http://catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth  
 
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bellasdad

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Thank you all so much for your help and suggestions. We are truly grateful for your replies.

We ended up taking Bella back to the vet today for some more tests just to rule out that it wasn't something more serious. We had them do a full blood panel and x-rays. Everything can back clean. Her bladder is very inflamed so they gave her an anti inflammatory shot as well as catheterized her and cleaned outhe bladder.

They gave us more antibiotics to keep her on for another 15 days. We are going to stop giving her any kind of dry food completely and stick to wet food. The plan is to give her the prescription food for another week and then switch to a good brand off the shelf wet food. How is the Purina One? That's what we typically give her.

The doc also gave her a saline injection in her back to make her pee and unfortunately she didn't make it back home before she had to pee so she got pee all over her. I feel terrible for this poor kitty.

Hopefully she makes solid progress this week as we keep forcing water in to her to flush her bladder out. It will be nice to let her have her house back again!
 

cccdlx

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Poor wet little girl.  I was told by the vet after my last urinary blockage that many cats won't want to drink much when the water is real cold.  I started keeping is just slightly tepid.  Much better. Also got a couple of water fountains for them.  Now thier trips to the box sound like someone turned a faucet on.  Even from the next room.  Music to my ears.

Make the changes to her diet slowly.  Super threads on this site about doing that.   Probiotics are a good idea after a round af the anti. 
 
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bellasdad

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I am thinking one of those kitty fountains is in our near future. I have heard from multiple people now that their furkids love them.
 

cccdlx

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I've seen one that has a UV in it.  Greart steam of LED lit water too.  I started a thread earlier asking if anyone uses this and no one has replied yet.  It's called NatureSPA UV Pet Fountain.  It is on my shopping list next month.
 

fleabags mom

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My kitty had a UTI and it takes quite a while to flush out - please don't expect an overnight solution. I agree with the others, please throw away the dried food forever and keep her on wet. Add more water to the wet food, make some home made chicken broth (boil some chicken in water) and give her a healthy portion if she will eat/drink it. Water is the key here.  It took pretty much a month of doing this for my cat to start him on the road to recovery.  I also increased his food  - figured out a little extra weight would be less painful for the cat and easier to get rid of later.  I will never feed him dry again and I most deffo will keep up with his broth as he's not much of a water drinker.  Good luck to you and your little kitty!
 
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bellasdad

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Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions. Bella has been out of the bathroom for a few days now after showing signs of improvement and has been doing well so far.

She is still getting her meds, Rx wet food, and water syringes at each meal for the time being.

What's the healthiest and most nutritional wet food on the market that can be bought at a Petsmart or Petco? I want to get her on something good so this never happens again.
 

denice

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If she is on the Hills diet I would keep her on it for a while, at least until she is finished with her meds and you're sure she is completely over this.  It has an amino acid in it that is correcting her urine pH.  When you try another food you want a wet that is as close to possible to just meat and the necessary supplements.  Foods like EVO, Hounds and Gatos, Nature' Variety Instinct, and Call of the Wild.  There are others as well and I am sure others will post some others.  You want to stay away from fish.  Fish can cause or aggravate urinary tract problems.
 
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bellasdad

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Good to know about the fish. Lucky for us Bella hates seafood!
 
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