Started with crystals, now I am not sure.

I have a 6 yr old neutered, indoor cat that has been extremely healthy up until 6/4/15.  He ate his breakfast then went to the litter and started crying.  I immediately knew that he had an urinary problem and called vet.  The vet had to cath him and keep him overnight, crystals were found in urine.  Brought him home 24 hrs later only to have him start to strain, pass bloody urine and cry by the next afternoon.  Took him back to vet where he again was re-cathed and kept for the weekend.  Picked him up on Monday 6/8/15 afternoon, he was put on RX food which thankfully he likes.  Once home he was still going to the litter multiple times and somewhat straining, but no bloody urine, was told that urine was checked and no more crystals were found.  Took back several more times because he appeared to still be having problems with passing small amounts of urine, running from litterbox to litterbox and crying every so often while trying to go, each time he was given a Dexamethasone/Vit C shot, still no more cystals found.  

Finally on Friday 6/19 I took him in again because he was acting frantic going to each litter and only passing a little urine....he even urinated on my counter top and several other places.  This time vet said that that bladder was small but firm....so she suspected maybe stones, xrays were taken but inconclusive.  Decided to treat for infection since cathed twice so he is now on Enrofloxacin and Prednisone along with the RX food.  My question is how long should he still be going from litter to litter  (although he urinates each time)?  He is not crying when going and is acting fine otherwise.  Am I simply a worried, tired mom (up and down all night making sure he is ok)?  Also how long would it take if there is an infection to clear up on the RX meds?  Thanks

Welcome to TCS.  Sorry you are having these issues with your little guy.  Crystals are the worst

I don't have any experience with them, but am hoping by bumping your thread up, someone who DOES will jump in here and assist you.  What I DO know is that once a cat experiences pain upon urinating in the litter box, they often are apt to urinate elsewhere simply because the associate the box with pain.  This could be why your guy is running from box to box...not sure.  The good news, though, is that he IS urinating, thankfully

As to the infection clearing up, I know my girl had a UTI once, and she felt better within 24 hours, so I know the drugs started kicking in quickly.  Don't know how long it actually took for it to go completely away though. 

How is your cat doing now.

He is doing ok I guess.  Still urinating, but going back and forth to litter pans several times.  Today he did urinate on the towel under their water fountain which he has not done since last Friday.  Acting ok, eating well, but still not quite himself if you know what I mean.  Today is the 7th day on his antibiotics, another 3 days left.  He will be on the Prednisolone for awhile yet.  Just really hoping this is not stones,  Talked to vet office yesterday and was told to just keep doing what I am doing, because the next step would be surgery.  

I hope your cat will get better. I had two male cats that were constantly plagued with urinary issues. I know how worrisome this can be for you because I had two male cats with urinary issues. They ate prescription food most of their lives. One thing that helped my guys was giving them only purified water to drink. We installed one of those water filters on the kitchen sink and only gave them that water to drink.
Sending lots of get well wishes to your little buddy. :nod:

Still wondering what is going on.  Tomorrow is the last day of his antibiotic Enrofloxacin and he is still urinating inappropriately on things such as the towel under the water fountain (which is changed immediately once he does it and floor steamed).  Still going from litter to litter until bladder is empty...is this normal for having been cathed earlier this month 2x??  Still licking himself after getting out of litter.  Eating VERY well  ( RX food), drinking low sodium chicken stock occasionally (vet suggestion) and still on Prednisolone.  Other than the urinating problems he is a normal kitty.  If anyone could please give me some input about this if you have had any experience with these problems it would be greatly appreciated.

Are you feeding canned rx food? Canned would be best as he needs the moisture. I wonder if you could put down a doggy potty pad in his litter tray instead of litter since he wants to urinate on soft things, it could be with the catheter and everything been done, that he is extra sore down in that area and the litter bothers him?

Yes he only gets the canned RX food, in fact now everyone only gets canned food, all dry was disposed of.  I can certainly try the doggie pad, although we have 12 other kitties so I am not sure how that would go over with them.   I am just really wondering how long this could last, more out of concern for him than cleaning up the messes.  Many thanks for your reply.

Is the prescription food c/d canned food to dissolve bladder stones? It took a little over two weeks for my male cat to stop the butt licking, urine straining, and peeing outside of the box while on that food. One day, it looked like a dam burst and my cat left a huge puddle of pee on the floor. Ever since then, he was back to normal. My vet probably expected it to take longer since she said to come back if I ran out of prescription food. I probably wouldn't worry too much unless there is no urine at all.

nansiludie said:

 
Are you feeding canned rx food? Canned would be best as he needs the moisture. I wonder if you could put down a doggy potty pad in his litter tray instead of litter since he wants to urinate on soft things, it could be with the catheter and everything been done, that he is extra sore down in that area and the litter bothers him?

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You mentioned you were STEAM CLEANING under the towel at the fountain.   Are you using an enzymatic cleaner in the steam cleaner?  If not, the steam cleaner still won't completely get rid of the smell (to a cat), and can draw him right back to that spot.   So, I would suggest cleaning with an enzymatic cleaner, THEN put a puppy pad on it, so if he goes back there, at least it won't soak thru to the carpet again.

You need to clean every spot he's used with an enzymatic cleaner (which may be the entire house, if it's all carpeted), then put puppy pads out wherever he's going until this is over.  But maybe, just maybe, if you put a pad in just one litter box, he and he alone will use THAT box.  12 cats, huh?  Are any of them new to the group?  I wonder if stress could have started this issue? 

kellie90 said:

 
Still wondering what is going on.  Tomorrow is the last day of his antibiotic Enrofloxacin and he is still urinating inappropriately on things such as the towel under the water fountain (which is changed immediately once he does it and floor steamed).  Still going from litter to litter until bladder is empty...is this normal for having been cathed earlier this month 2x??  Still licking himself after getting out of litter.  Eating VERY well  ( RX food), drinking low sodium chicken stock occasionally (vet suggestion) and still on Prednisolone.  Other than the urinating problems he is a normal kitty.  If anyone could please give me some input about this if you have had any experience with these problems it would be greatly appreciated.

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When my Jeta had crystals it was obvious by the second day on the RX food that she was more comfortable and, I don't remember for sure, but after maybe 3 or 4 days she was fine. She was never catheterized and I don't know what affect that could have on recovery time.

If I were you I'd be thinking about getting a second opinion at this point.

mschauer said:

 
When my Jeta had crystals it was obvious by the second day on the RX food that she was more comfortable and, I don't remember for sure, but after maybe 3 or 4 days she was fine. She was never catheterized and I don't know what affect that could have on recovery time.

If I were you I'd be thinking about getting a second opinion at this point.

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I think he had a catheter put in because he blocked completely. My understanding of the c/d food is to keep the crystal formation in the urine lower and also to acidify the urine, Crystals aren't actually an abnormal finding in cat urine, its when there is not enough fluid to flush the bladder and then the crystals build up and block up the uretha, much worse in males than females.

My cat Blue-blocked almost two years ago, he had the cath-procedure, came home and was on pain meds and antibiotics for a few weeks, at least 4. The first week he made a few inappropriate eliminations on newspaper as he was associating the litter box with pain, and yes there was blood, but eventually he started going only in the litter box, just multiple times a day, small amounts of urine. I was worried sick.

The multiple trips to the litter box lasted about 5-6 weeks and the blood went away. However the vet put him on Royal Canine SO immediately when he blocked, no other food, treats, chicken broth was given ONLY water and RC. I really think this has something to do with getting rid of the crystals, you can't give him anything else. The RC SO is supposed to dissolve the crystals and stones from what I understand.

Eventually he came around and started going to the litter box like normal, although it has been two years and he gets nothing but water and RC SO. It sucks I wish I could give him some chicken or something from time to time, but I don't -I never want him to go through that experience again.

We are fortunate enough to have all laminate flooring so there is no carpet, thank goodness.  No new kitties in the home, nothing stressful going just my husband and I in the home along with the animals.  In fact the past couple of days (although I am cautiously optimistic) have been going much better for our little one.  He is urinating a bit more each time and licking himself a little less.  I am hoping we are over the worst of it.  I will be keeping him on the RX food  (S/O and C/D) until the vet tells me otherwise. This has been a tough few weeks for everyone here.  Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions, it has truly helped alot in getting through this.

Sounds like he is on the road to recovery-it does get better a little each day!

Well seems like things are starting a backward slide again.  He is starting to go from litter to litter more and licking himself alot more,  the urinating in inappropriate places is getting a bit worse.   Wondering if he has another infection or an infection that never really cleared up from the Enrofloxacin which he has not been off of for about 5 days.  If he had stones would he have good days and bad days?  I am just at a total loss.  He is only eating the C/D and S/O rx food and since he is not a big water drinker I am diluting 1/4 cup water in a 1/3 jar of baby food Gerber meat (chicken or turkey) 2-3 times a day which he likes. Any suggestions since it will probably be Monday until I can get him to our vet (unless of course it is an emergency then I would call  the vet immediately). 

Never having experience with stones, I'm at a loss here.  Doesn't sound good, though, since he DID seem to be improving, and now seems to be backsliding. 

I still wonder if something is going on stress wise since you have so many other cats.  13 in total is a LOT!   Do they all live inside?  Even if there is a rivalry between some of the other cats, it could effect THIS little cutie....you know, I don't think we even know his name!  Have you tried any calming, de-stressing techniques on him, like extra playtime, using Feliway, even playing classical music (especially harp music) is supposed to help.  Maybe this article will be beneficial in the stress department:  http://www.thecatsite.com/a/six-surefire-strategies-to-reduce-stress-in-cats.   No mentioned in this article regarding stress, but that's the use of things like Rescue Remedy for Pets, that type of thing.  Possibly because I think they are more "short term"?  I DO know they work though, for short term stress.  AT least on my cats.

Additionally, I wonder if it's possible that adding baby food to his water could be causing it?    Honestly, I don't see how there could be anything in it that might be harmful, but that one ingredient "chicken broth" is awfully ambiguous .  Just WHAT is in it?  Too much sodium perhaps?  I really don't have any idea.  That's a catch22  because he needs plenty of water, but how can you flavor it without possibly hurting him? 

If he were my cat I would immediately put him on a wet food diet only, classic pates without corn, wheat, soy, or gluten with added filtered water and start him on Tinkle Tonic daily and Feline Renal Support from Standard Process. But NO dry food with grains.

I can honestly say that there appears to be very little stress in our household even though we have 13 cats inside.  I am at home pretty much 24/7 and run a very tight ship as far as a feeding schedule and playtime with them. My husband and I have devoted our entire lives to these babies.  I have tried the Feliway plugin several years ago when we had some issues with our very old seniors, but I have not had a reason to try it again...may consider it.  I do usually play music during the day, however it is not classical....may try that as well.  Thank you for those ideas and I will let you know if they help him at all.

 Everyone is on canned wet food now, however this particular kitty like I said is on only canned RX food....no dry food will ever come through our doors again.  I only tried the chicken broth a couple of times and really didn't like all the sodium in it even though it was low sodium and the vet recommended it.  I am only using the baby food because it is the only way I found to get water into him...I have the drink fountain (which is cleaned every other day) and use only filtered water in along with several other bowls of plain water around the house.  Thinking maybe I could try the Catsip milk to see if he will drink that.   I keep the litter beyond clean, scooping 10+ times a day right now so that is now the issue.  I did throw down an old towel and he is urinating on that sometimes.  I plan on taking him back to the vet on Monday unless I find that he starts to cry and can not urinate...then I will call the vet immediately.  At this point I just feel so bad for him and at a total loss as far as what to do, what is right and maybe harmful.  In between times of this litter to litter frenzy he is playing, eating really well and grooming....just at a loss.  Thank you everyone for suggestions, everything helps.

I dealt with this in 2012 w/ Angel. He never blocked, but did have cystitis. (sturvite crystals in the bladder). The first time (Aug 2012) was a UTI, so was put on antibiotics, & I also threw out any dry food, because he got both at the time. He has been on wet only ever sense. The next 2xs was in Sept. & Dec.  Sept. I think was stress related, as my schedule changed, but only a little, yet it's just the two of us, so it affected him. 

Dec. was on Christmas day, he made only a quarter size pee in the box & it was pink, so off to the emergency vet we went!  Nothing really stressful going on, even though it was a holiday, so not sure why. He was put on Rx food  (Purina UR SO. The vet knew how I felt about the bad ingredients, so that one had the less of the 3 in the urinary formulas they carried) & I also add water from the PUR filter to it to this day, to stay on the safe side. Both times in Sept. & Dec. I had to give him sub -q fluids every other day to help keep him flushed out.   

You mentioned he had X-rays, but did they do an ultrasound? That's very important for this, & will show any crystals & bladder inflammation. It also showed that his bladder wall was a little thicker, & irritated, so the vet put him on Dasaqin for the inflammation. I later found that Cosequin is the very same thing, and at a fraction of the cost than at the vets if ordered from amazon. I would suggest it to help with any inflammation. 

Since Angel is 10 or 11 yrs old, I have just kept him on it. At first you give it daily, but after all better, it's every other day for maintenance. 

I also keep a comfort Zone diffuser plugged in. I don't want Angel to ever go through that again.  (& I never want to have to stick a needle in him again!)  

I'd say with all the kitties you have, it would also be a good idea, just to keep everyone relaxed. 

I kept Angel on his Rx food for a little over a year. I then wanted to find a healthier version that would also meet the urinary care needs. At a local natural pet food store, I was told about Dave's Restricted diet, the magnesium formula. I o.k.'d it w/ his vet, & he has been on it successfully for I think close to a year or more now. My vet just had him come in for an ultrasound & urinalysis after being on it a month to check, & all was well.   I do know that you can find it on chewy.com if you are interested once he has been good for a while on the Rx food. (It was also 10.00 less a case than the Rx & healthier!)

I wish you all the luck with your sweet boy, & will send up a prayer for him.

Keep us posted,

Kelly