male cat uriniating

My 2 year old male cat was peeing in odd places. Then there was a speck of blood in his pee. I brought him to the vet they gave him a shot of Cefovecin . Then a  Modified live virus Rabies as I was against it as cat never goes out. He was fine yesterday but today he's very lethargic and got sick. He did pee but also still tries      to be in other places. They did not feel he had stones when they examined him. I guess my question is how long does it take for meds to work and possible clear up the urinary tract infection. I guess he gets the urge to pee when there is none.

batrice said:

 
My 2 year old male cat was peeing in odd places. Then there was a speck of blood in his pee. I brought him to the vet they gave him a shot of Cefovecin . Then a  Modified live virus Rabies as I was against it as cat never goes out. He was fine yesterday but today he's very lethargic and got sick. He did pee but also still tries      to be in other places. They did not feel he had stones when they examined him. I guess my question is how long does it take for meds to work and possible clear up the urinary tract infection. I guess he gets the urge to pee when there is none.

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Hi there.

Did your vet do a urinalysis, or just an examination?

Your kitty may not have stones, but he may have crystals that can become stones over time. The blood in the urine is an indicator that crystals are present and irritating the liner of the bladder. The Cefovecin should take care of any infection, but won't do anything for crystals. Did your vet discuss diet to address the presence of crystals and to prevent future infections? In order to dissolve the crystals, your kitty needs to be on a high protein wet canned meat diet to acidify the urine and provide moisture to help flush out the bladder.  When the urine is sufficiently acidic, the crystals have a better chance of dissolving.

When you say that he got sick, do you mean that he vomited? This could be from the vaccination, the Cefovecin shot (which has been known to cause reactions in some cats), or from the urinary infection. I would strongly suggest that you follow up with your vet if your kitty still appears lethargic and unwell.

EDIT: Antibiotics are usually prescribed anywhere from two weeks to 30 days. In order to determine if the infection has cleared, a urinalysis should be done/repeated.

I agree with oneandahalfcats.  A follow up with your vet is needed, and a discussion of crystal in the urine.

Can you buy wet canned food at petco or what foods are best. The vet could not get a urine sample so I need to bring one in Just wandering what I can get

Absolutely you can purchase canned cat food at Petco. There is a lot of variety out there and some foods will be better than others so you will need to do a little label reading. Look for a wet canned with meat as the first ingredient, and does NOT contain a lot of carbs high in the ingredients list such as potatoes, peas, carrots. Pet food companies include these items in lieu of grains as fillers that would be there in other brands. Cats do not process nor do they need a lot of carbs (or grains) in the diet. Too many carbs can actually alter the urine PH and make it alkaline when what you want it to be is acidic.

Some good choices for wet canned that are high in protein and moderate to low in carb are :

Wellness CORE

Nature's Variety

Hound & Gatos

Weruva

Adding a bit of warm water to the wet food to increase your kitty's moisture level will help to flush out the bladder.

Best of luck and let us know how things go! ...

batrice said:

 
Can you buy wet canned food at petco or what foods are best. The vet could not get a urine sample so I need to bring one in Just wandering what I can get

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Yes, Petco sells a wide variety of canned wet food. As far as brands, I would get as high of a quality of food as they sell. Blue Buffalo, Wellness, and Nature's Variety are three brands that most Petco's have that are very high protein. Just make sure you are buying the grain free formulas, as grains are very bad for cats with urinary issues. As far as flavor, get something that he will like (usually a similar formula to his dry food). Wet food also comes in different consistencies (from a smooth pate to very chunky) so you may need to buy a few different kinds to see which one he likes. Keep the receipt and you should be able to return any cans that you don't use. 

Cats with urinary tract issues tend to do best on a raw diet (see the Raw food forum for tons more information). If that's not possible than an all wet food diet is best. If you really can't get away from dry at least try limiting it and adding in wet food as much as you can. Also, consider switching the dry food to one that is grain free. All the brands I mentioned have a dry food variety as well so if he ends up liking one than maybe try the dry companion. Once again, just make sure you are buying the grain free formula! For example, Blue Buffalo has several lines: "Life Protection," "Freedom," "Basics," and Wilderness." The life protection line is NOT grain free while Freedom and Wilderness are (the Wilderness line is also designed to be similar to raw feeding and may be worth researching). The Basics line has some grain free formulas and some that aren't. It can be confusing so it's worth doing a little research online before you go. If nothing else it should explicitly say on the bag that it is grain free.

If you do decide to do more research on this subject prior to purchasing I highly recommend going over to the nutrition forum. I would look through some of the articles and other threads posted over there and maybe even start a sister thread to this one if you want more detailed help (if you do I would include the link to this thread so people can understand the full situation). There are a lot of TCS users over there who are extremely knowledgeable on the subject and can answer any other questions you may have strictly related to diet. Otherwise, continue to discuss his health issues here and let us know how the follow up vet appointment goes. 

 Vibes that he starts to improve! 

oneandahalfcats said:

 
Absolutely you can purchase canned cat food at Petco. 

 There is a lot of variety out there and some foods will be better than others so you will need to do a little label reading. Look for a wet canned with meat as the first ingredient, and does NOT contain a lot of carbs high in the ingredients list such as potatoes, peas, carrots. Pet food companies include these items in lieu of grains as fillers that would be there in other brands. Cats do not process nor do they need a lot of carbs in the diet. Too many carbs can actually alter the urine PH and make it alkaline when what you want it to be is acidic.

Some good choices for wet canned that are high in protein and moderate to low in carb are :

Wellness CORE

Nature's Variety

Hound & Gatos

Weruva

Adding a bit of warm water to the wet food to increase your kitty's moisture level will help to flush out the bladder.

Best of luck and let us know how things go! ...

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EDIT: We were typing at the same time so I didn't see this response before I posted. But, I have to say, it is fantastic!  A very good summary of what all to look for on the labels in addition to them just being grain free. It's the carbs that are the problem so watch for them in other forms! 

The vet can obtain a urine sample if there is urine in his bladder by inserting a needle/syringe through the abdomen into his bladder.   I've seen it done many times and it doesn't seem to hurt them at all, or possibly just the tiniest bit.

Stephen

well his PH was 7   and struvite 1+.. What aggravated me they would only sell me  a case of the prescription cat food. I have been down the road before and just wanted to try a can first but they would not give a can. They said I could return the case. But still it costs. I had a cat with the same problem and put her on Good healthy foods and it worked. I still think the vet should give us a choice???

batrice said:

 
well his PH was 7   and struvite 1+.. What aggravated me they would only sell me  a case of the prescription cat food. I have been down the road before and just wanted to try a can first but they would not give a can. They said I could return the case. But still it costs. I had a cat with the same problem and put her on Good healthy foods and it worked. I still think the vet should give us a choice???

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How is your kitty doing now batrice?

Did you mean to say that Protein was 1+, rather than Struvite 1+ ?

You should be able to get single cans rather than a whole case. But realistically, if your cat has crystals, he will need to be on some kind of acidifying diet for 2-3 weeks at least in order to dissolve the crystals. For this reason, the clinic may have the policy of selling by the case so clients have what they need, rather than offering single cans?

I can certainly understand your preference to not use prescription food, I feel the same way. What you might want to discuss with your vet is Vitamin C as an acidifier. Vit C has been used for years by holistic vets for the purposes of acidifying the diet. There are other benefits to using Vit C and any excess gets flushed out in the urine. But ultimately, its best to use a high protein, low carb diet with plenty of water for managing crystals. If there are too many carbs such as sweet potatoes, peas, carrots in food, this can cause urine to become alkaline.

Well one way around your Vet's insistence about buying a case is to buy the case, then chat with the salesperson nicely for 5 minutes, and then say you want to return the other 23 cans right now. :-).  Not super nice, but its playing by their not very nice rules.

But in the long run, these foods can be very helpful if there are crystals in the urine, and the food is much cheaper than surgery and other measures needed for blockages.