Bladder issues... Again

It has been quite a few months since my behemoth, Baby Cat, successfully recovered from an operation to remove crystals from her bladder.. I've changed her diet completely--she is now exclusively fed the Indoor Cat Wellness Core food (dry w/the daily bowl of wet mixed with pumpkin monthly), she has access to 3 different water bowls (changed daily) and two different litter boxes... Yet I've found her licking, peeing frequently and in small amounts.. And I've found a few droplets of lightly pink colored urine on my carpet..

Now, a lot has happened in the last few months.. And she's obviously been stressed.. I've gotten rid of a couple people from my house and one cat, and now I've got a friend living with me. She's definitely been more skittish than usual, and her appetite is hit or miss sometimes.. Should I just be prepared for another surgery or has she just stressed herself into a UTI?

Bump

It's hard to say but most cats with crystals that I've seen usually are put on a wet/dry or wet only diet and usually a prescription diet like C/D.

My cat had crystals and eventually had surgery twice. After the 2nd one, I was told we could take him off the prescription diet. He has just become ill again and we told again to put him on Hills s/d and c/d diet forever. So we have both s/d dry and wet food and we'll change to c/d when the vet says that it is safe to.

She was being fed the royal canin urinary formula.. But it caused her to be constipated almost constantly even with feeding her pumpkin in her food, she would still strain and have blood in her stool from pushing so hard.

Hi kiwischan !

I'm going to suggest that this is a case of déjà vu..........

First, does this quote sound familiar:

 ever since i was younger, my parents and i had always just gotten some random kind of purina or iams.... and the cat i grew up with ended up living until 19--on nothing but cheap-o dry food his entire life.....

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Now, after your very first post on the forum (back in February), here is the very first answer you received:

 Canned food is better as it has more moisture in it which is better for urinary tract health as well as constipation.

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That person also gave you a link to a website about urinary tract health.....the very first sentence on that page reads as follows:

 Many cats suffer each day because of the water-depleted diets (read: any dry kibble) that humans insist on feeding to them.

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Just a few words later, the writer (a very reputable feline Veterinarian) says this:

If I could have the reader of my website leave with one word firmly imprinted in their mind it would be "water".  If your cat is on a properly hydrated diet of 100% canned food - and no dry food - you stand a very good chance of never needing to read this webpage.

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Immediately after that, she says

Note that I said "water" - not "crystals" or "urine pH" - or any of the expensive, low-quality, "prescription diets" often recommended by veterinarians.  

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Three weeks after your first post, you posted again to ask about diets, and here's the very first answer you received:

Dry food is the about the last thing you want to feed a UTI kitty. And dry food is bad for even healthy kitties. Dry food dehydrates kitties and is probably what led to the UTI in the first place. Vets tend to know very little about nutrition and what they are taught comes from pet food companies who want to convince people that the products they have are just fine for kitties.

These websites talk about cat nutrition:

http://www.catinfo.org

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Now, five months later and.........Baby Cat is till eating dry foods.

One of the most over-used sayings - perhaps because all of us are resistant to change - goes like this:

 ...doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results

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The bottom line clearly is that, if you want Baby Cat free of further urinary problems, you must make the permanent change to a wet diet. Period.

I suspect that the most likely explanation of his latest episode:

I've found her licking, peeing frequently and in small amounts.. And I've found a few droplets of lightly pink colored urine on my carpet.. 

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is this:

Cystitis

Cystitis, also known as Interstitial Cystitis, refers to inflammation of the bladder wall leading to painful, frequent voiding of small amounts of urine.

Cats with cystitis will often have many small urine balls in the litter box.

If the cystitis is severe enough, there will be blood in the urine but this blood is not readily apparent once the urine is voided into the litter.

Cystitis can be a very painful condition! 

Important:  These cats need pain medication such as buprenorphine (Buprenex).

What causes cystitis?

What we do know is that cystitis often appears to be linked to stress and the highly concentrated urine that results from being fed a water-depleted (dry food) diet may also be a significant factor in some cats. 

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So, those "pink stains"........are much more than "pink stains".

She WILL need to see a Vet.....because......(at the very least) SHE'S HURTING. She needs pain meds and an urinanalysis to check for possible infection..........if you read the entire "article" on Cystitis (all of a few paragraphs), you'll see that you should NOT give any antibiotics until after the urinanalysis results are in.......but, please read it before you go to the Vet, so that you understand how that Vet visit should go. Here you are: Cystitis  - Feline Urinary Tract Health - Lisa Pierson DVM

You'll need a competent cat Vet.....if the former clinic/Vet is not cat-only, I'd suggest finding one.

One point about pain meds.....if you're offered a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)  [you'll need to ask what kind of drug they want to prescribe]  I'd recommend that you politely refuse and request the drug mentioned in that article, "buprenorphine". (Cats and NSAIDs are not a healthy mix - more on that available if you need it.)

I just don't want her to go through the surgery again.. But I know of cystitis.. It's a lot more manageable.. But painful for her

kiwischan said:

I just don't want her to go through the surgery again.. But I know of cystitis.. It's a lot more manageable.. But painful for her

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Hi kiwischan .. Rather than feeding the Urinary SO dry food, you have the option of the wet canned variety. This is especially important if your cat is not drinking much water on the Urinary SO dry. As urinary tract infections can be a very complicated thing to deal with, you need all the ammunition you can get. This means water, water, water, which will ensure that the bladder is getting flushed, and high protein in order to provide sufficient amounts of methionine to acidify the urine. If your cat is not drinking water from water bowls, then she needs to be getting this from her food. The other consideration, is that the Urinary SO dry food, contains grains which can alter ph levels. The wet canned contains a bit of corn flour, but is high in moisture. I would discuss this option with your vet.

I would agree with the suggestion made by White Shadow, that your kitty needs a urinalysis with culture, to know what kind of bacteria you are dealing with, before antibiotics are administered. In addition, once on antibiotics, it would be good to give your cat a probiotic to replenish the good bacteria killed off while on the antibiotics.

Good-ish news! I've returned from the vet w/baby cat...
She has a healthy ph of 6.5, no crystals present in urinalysis, but she does have inflammation due to a bacterial infection
I had all her shots updated & I walked out with antibiotics & some of the royal canin urinary SO wet food cans. Initially, the vet said that because i had taken her off the prescription diet that crystals were probably back, but after the analysis, that doesn't seen to be the case thankfully.. And I will be back to see them in 2 weeks for a checkup.
I'll finish off the small bag of Wellness Core dry kibbles by mixing small amounts into her wet food and water.. As she will be fed only wet food now

Excellent to hear that you were able to have her seen so quickly.

There is one, and, maybe two lessons to be drawn from that Vet visit, however.......both concerning vaccinations. On top of that there is the potential to ask whether/not you will want to have that Vet treat Baby Cat again. Remember my suggestion of finding a competent cat-Vet ?

One of the most basic rules around vaccination is that no sick animal should receive them until it has recovered from the illness.

The second possible lesson has to do with the frequency of vaccinations - that includes re-vaccinations/"boosters". This concept of 'being up-to-date" with 'shots' has been a mainstay of the veterinary industry - and has been demonstrated scientifically to be almost entirely unnecessary...and, with certain vaccine products, detrimental to health and even to be causing injection site cancers (which are almost impossible to cure).

If Baby Cat is a strictly 'indoors cat' and had ever received the basic set of 'cat shots', there is a very good chance that the vaccines she received today were completely unnecessary. There's also the chance that one/more of those vaccines contained an ingredient linked to the tumors I mentioned above. On top of that, the timing of these shots is wrong. IF any re-vaccinating were found to be necessary, it could and should have been scheduled for her followup recheck visit.

If you want to hear all that from a competent cat-Vet, the same one I referenced earlier has written this: Vaccines for Cats: We Need to Stop Over-Vaccinating - Lisa Pierson DVM

kiwischan said:

Good-ish news! I've returned from the vet w/baby cat...
She has a healthy ph of 6.5, no crystals present in urinalysis, but she does have inflammation due to a bacterial infection

I had all her shots updated & I walked out with antibiotics & some of the royal canin urinary SO wet food cans. Initially, the vet said that because i had taken her off the prescription diet that crystals were probably back, but after the analysis, that doesn't seen to be the case thankfully.. And I will be back to see them in 2 weeks for a checkup.
I'll finish off the small bag of Wellness Core dry kibbles by mixing small amounts into her wet food and water.. As she will be fed only wet food now

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Very good news re. no crystals! The antiobiotics should take care of the infection in due course, but do be sure to give all that has been prescribed.

I am glad you went for the RC wet food. This will be better for her, in the long run. There are a couple of threads here on Bladder infections, one of which @LDG mentions D-Mannose, which is a naturally occurring glyconutrient in cranberries. This is a powder supplement which is used to deal with urinary bacterial infections. This non-digestible 'sugar' works by binding to bacteria which then gets flushed out in the urine. As your kitty appears to be prone to cystitis, this might definitely be something worth having in your arsenal to prevent future episodes. You can read more about D-Mannose here : http://www.vetinfo.com/d-mannose-for-cats.html

Please keep us updated.

White Shadow said:

Excellent to hear that you were able to have her seen so quickly.

There is one, and, maybe two lessons to be drawn from that Vet visit, however.......both concerning vaccinations. On top of that there is the potential to ask whether/not you will want to have that Vet treat Baby Cat again. Remember my suggestion of finding a competent cat-Vet ?

One of the most basic rules around vaccination is that no sick animal should receive them until it has recovered from the illness.

The second possible lesson has to do with the frequency of vaccinations - that includes re-vaccinations/"boosters". This concept of 'being up-to-date" with 'shots' has been a mainstay of the veterinary industry - and has been demonstrated scientifically to be almost entirely unnecessary...and, with certain vaccine products, detrimental to health and even to be causing injection site cancers (which are almost impossible to cure).

If Baby Cat is a strictly 'indoors cat' and had ever received the basic set of 'cat shots', there is a very good chance that the vaccines she received today were completely unnecessary. There's also the chance that one/more of those vaccines contained an ingredient linked to the tumors I mentioned above. On top of that, the timing of these shots is wrong. IF any re-vaccinating were found to be necessary, it could and should have been scheduled for her followup

If you want to hear all that from a competent cat-Vet, the same one I referenced earlier has written this: Vaccines for Cats: We Need to Stop Over-Vaccinating - Lisa Pierson DVM

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I was actually really firm when I went into my vet this time.. And asked for a vet that specialized in cats AND his techs needed to have more experience than stepping straight out of the classroom.. And I was pretty happy with him.
I would absolutely not leave that office without them telling me if they suspected stones again.. And he definitely checked with his hands and after no crystals were present in urinalysis, I was happy.

And on the topic of vaccinations.. I really do need to be more savvy I just go in so worried and hoping to leave with an immediate cure that I overlook everything that could be BS..
She's an indoor cat, so all of this could have just waited until later or never.

Her appetite has been pretty lousy.. But I got her to eat about 1/8 cup of the royal canin SO wet food.. Which made me happy! She also peed as soon as we got back.. Still pinkish, but it was a large amount so no worries of a blockage.

Quick update! It's pill #3 today of baby cat's antibiotics, and she's finally starting to act like herself again! Her appetite is returning, she's playing fetch with my roommate & I, and best of all, I haven't fished any pinkish litter clumps out of the scoop box (I use world's best clumping in one box & non-clumping pine formulas)! I'm sure she's still got some discomfort--it's only been a couple days on her pills, but she's looking so much better.

She and her uncle-cat Adam west are being picky with the royal canin urinary SO wet food, so I've been mixing in some wellness core wet food with it twice daily. Water dishes are planted all over the house, and she's got a new, stainless steel fountain.

She's still got 11 more days of pills left, but I'm so glad she's starting to feel better.