UTI help

willowlondon

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Good morning

My cat Dennis is about 1.5 yrs old.  Recently he has been waking us up every morning around 4-5am by hopping on the bed yowling and scratching the sheets. I thought it was just attention seeking and have been playing extra time with Da Bird every evening to tire him out, however last night my boyfriend heard him scratching and when he went to check Dennis wee-d on the newspapers by the front door.  My boyfriend put him into the litter tray and he tried to wee again but only a tiny bit.  

Dennis has never had litter issues before, he and his sister were perfect with their boxes. Since they started going outside in the daytime they rarely use the box except sometimes at night.

Anyway I am worried, do I need to take Dennis to the vet immediately or is there something I can try to help him with to clear up any problems myself? How will I know when he is improving?

We feed them a mainly dry diet but usually grain free brands HOWEVER I did recently run out so they had been eating a high quality but not "grain free" dry food :( I am ordering a new bag of grain free now.  I don't want to put them on a pure wet diet as my vet advised against this.

Any tips or advice would be most appreciated, I don't want him to be in pain :(
 

kittywhiskers

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I'm no expert in cat health but I had a similar problem with my cat a couple of years ago.
My cats eat a wet food diet but I used to leave a bowl of dry out for them whilst I was at work in case they got hungry in the day. My cat started to squat every couple of mins to try and pee and next to nothing would come out. She has never been one for drinking a lot of water. We took her to the vet and he said she had a UTI and gave her some meds and said to make sure she was drinking enough water. From then on I cut out the dry food completely and have not had any problems since. They still do get treats but I limit them to 5 each per day.
I wonder why your vet advised against feeding an all wet diet?
I would try stopping the dry food completely to get his fluid level up, or at least cutting it down a lot.
Like I said I'm no expert but this is what worked for us. I do hope it all works out for you.
 
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willowlondon

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Thanks Kitty Whiskers. I will definitely introduce at least 1 wet meal a day back in. Our vet recommended dry to maintain good oral hygeine and said he fed his cats all dry.

 I am going to see how he is this evening as other than the pee on doorstep incident his mood seemed relatively ok he is still eating and playing etc. I will assess this evening and take him to the vets if it doesn't seem to be improving.  I'm worrying at the moment as we are both out of the house all day at work :( I hope he is ok.
 

kittywhiskers

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I'm glad that Dennis is still eating and playing, that's always a good sign. If there isn't any improvement though I would definitely take a trip to the vet to get him checked over just to be on the safe side as it could be any number of things causing him to pee outside the litter box.
 

ritz

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Dry food does not clean teeth. Most cats swallow whole dry food, they don't chew.
One of the keys to good urinary tract health is hydration; by defintion, dry food is, well, de-hydrating.
Frankly, I would get a second opinion. Meanwhile, I would definitely feed your cat wet food and keep a close eye out on his litter box habits.
Ritz is prone to stress induced UTIs.
 

di and bob

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Get a water fountain for cats, there are some that are pretty inexpensive and the cats are usually so fascinated with it they drink a lot more water. It sure worked to get my cats to drink more water! Good luck with your baby, I hope it's just a passing thing.
 
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willowlondon

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Thanks all.  My cats definitely do crunch their food so I feel it does help a little bit with the teeth!  I bought a cat toothbrush but it was such a palava - I felt like it wasn't really doing anything.

Dennis was better last night, he was in and out of the litter box about 6 times in the evening and restless but eventually settled down and slept all through the night.  I took him to the vet first thing this morning and he checked Dennis' bladder.  The bladder was not swollen but he said the symptons sounded like he could have mild inflammation so he has prescribed a course of anti-inflammatories (metacan or something? in a purple box) and told us to keep an eye on him.  I am hoping it is clearing up as he is still very energetic and eating, playing etc.  

Hopefully he will be back to his normal self in a few days! I asked the vet about the food situation and he said that usually UTI was stress related or simply a one off event.  If it became a recurrent problem he would suggest we review their diet.  However, I have decided to go back to my original feeding plan which is a small bowl of kibble in the morning for them to snack on through the day and then a wet meal with added water in the evenings.  Hopefully that should do the trick!

Hi Di- we did have a cat fountain for a few months, but they weren't that fussed bizarrely.  They drink from the pond quite a lot and are happy to use a bowl as long as I keep it topped up fresh.

Thanks for all the help!! Fingers crossed Dennis is back to his usual cheeky self shortly!!!!
 
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