Kitten with Cystitis, feeling defeated. :(

Hello all, I mostly need to vent today so that's what I'm going to do. 

Today I woke up, take my son to school, come home and feed my kitties their wet food, and scoop the litter box. This is my morning routine.

Kitten didn't seem interested in her wet food, seemed very odd for her. Went to scoop the litter box and notice some small red looking pee spots in the box. While in the middle of scooping she hops in and tries to pee, what comes out is red. Pretty much freaking out at this point. Finish scooping the box in a panic, while watching her try to pee several more times. Vet doesn't open until 9:00, it was at the time, 8:45. Call my mom to pass time and freak out a little, as soon as it hits 9am I call the vet. Explain to the receptionist that my kitten may have a UTI and needs to be seen. She tries to schedule me for NEXT TUESDAY. I tell her my kitten is peeing blood and having troubles peeing, can she please be seen earlier than that?! She begrudgingly tells me they are usually booked but will see if she can fit me into a walk in. Was able to squeeze me in for tomorrow. I said thanks and hung up and started to cry because i wanted her seen today. After crying for a while I phoned my mom again and she told me of an animal hospital around here that she knew of, I phoned them and they were able to squeeze me into 11:30 between surgeries. That made me feel a little better and was happy I could get her seen today, so she wouldn't be in pain all day and potentially start urinating on everything. Went to the appointment and he said given her young age it was probably cystitis, felt her bladder and confirmed it was empty so that was a relief. Gave her a "fast acting shot" of something and gave me some clavamox. She felt better from the shot and has only tried to pee once since getting home and it was about normal sized.

But even though she seems like shes going to start feeling better I feel so terrible and did cry a few more times. She's so young, what if this problem persists her whole life? what if it is my fault? What if its because I can't afford to feed wet for every meal and only two out of three. I've spent so much time worrying about my male getting these troubles and somehow my female kitten ends up with it at the young age of 5 months old. She wasn't blocked and I don't believe she has any crystals, but I've spent so much time worrying about bladder infections and was feeling pretty confident in her hydration since she generally pees at least 5 times a day, that when I saw her having issues I panicked and couldn't believe it. I'm just so worried she'll be plagued with these issues forever since she's gotten it so young, while I also believe it could be a one time occurrence.  I just can't stop feeling like I caused it because I feed a dry meal a day to help with calories and such since she is a kitten and needs a bunch. Considering I often don't have food to feed myself I can't really up what I spend a month on kitty food and its making me feel terribly. I didn't really choose to have 2 cats but my step dad found them at his work and my sister took 2 but couldn't take all 3 so I ultimately ended up with one of the kittens, the other option was shelter or send her back to his work, where she would get fed dry friskies or meow mix and not get any vet treatment. I felt that maybe she'd be better off with me with better quality foods and vet treatment when needed because I keep a good stash of back up money just for these issues.

I'm just feeling so guilty that i can not provide the best wet food for all meals and keep feeling like I should have just kept to having one cat. I can't stop thinking she's going to have continuous issues that I may not be able to afford. I knew I could add food onto my bills, vet visits for shots and spaying and occasional visits for when kitties get sick, just wasn't expecting to have so many issues with her I guess.   I just now got her to having solid poops and was feeling good just to be greeted with cystitis. Mostly this was just a rant and it may or may not help me feel better, but I guess I do want to know if its more likely these is a one time occurrence or if it's more likely to happen a lot now that she's had an episode so early in her life. 

Thanks for any answers and for the ability to rant~

 

If she had a UTI, which it sounds like she did, she isn't doomed to a life of cystitis. A UTI is a bacterial infection, and once the antibiotics cure the infection, it may never happen again. There's no way to know where she picked up the bacteria; if she pees five times a day, she's getting plenty of water and isn't likely to get crystals, either. The shot the vet gave her was probably a pain killer. Believe me, a sometime sufferer of UTIs, she is in a lot of pain. 

Take a deep breath and relax a little.You got her to the vet before she suffered too long. Now just get the Clavamox into her on a daily schedule, and everything should be fine in a few days.

DreamerRose said:

If she had a UTI, which it sounds like she did, she isn't doomed to a life of cystitis. A UTI is a bacterial infection, and once the antibiotics cure the infection, it may never happen again. There's no way to know where she picked up the bacteria; if she pees five times a day, she's getting plenty of water and isn't likely to get crystals, either. The shot the vet gave her was probably a pain killer. Believe me, a sometime sufferer of UTIs, she is in a lot of pain. 

Take a deep breath and relax a little.You got her to the vet before she suffered too long. Now just get the Clavamox into her on a daily schedule, and everything should be fine in a few days.

Click to expand...

Thank you so much for your reply.
I felt so terrible for her because I do also get bladder infections quite often especially in times of great stress and it can hurt a lot. I wanted to get her to the doc even though I never take myself. (Cranberries usually solve mine and a lot of ibuprofen). I'm happy that she is playing a lot after resting and hasnt been staying in the litter box like she was this morning. I was so upset the vet receptionist even thought it would be okay to wait a whole week though. I usually have a good experience with them but didnt recognize the receptionists voice and maybe she didnt know how bad a UTI can be if not treated? Either way I'm very happy I found a nice vet to see her and make her feel better.

I already scoop the box 2-3 times a day but I wonder if theres anything else I can do to make sure no bacteria gets in there again?

I'm no expert, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there is pretty much no way that your feeding her one dry meal out of three caused her to get an infection. She's only five months old, any effects of dry feeding are going to be seen long-term, and anyway I'm not convinced by the anti-dry food rhetoric. You should read the article on cat nutrition written by a specialist, she basically says that you should feed your cat the best food that it is willing to eat, and it sounds like that's what you've been doing. So don't blame yourself, please. 

A Scientific Take on Cat Nutrition

Girls don't normally get blocked---the opening is too large . But infections and cystitis are very painful so it's good you got it taken care of quickly.

I know that female puppies are somewhat prone to UTIs because they squat too low and get their lady bits dirty. Maybe your girl is squatting too low as well. Keep the litter extra clean, maybe wipe her with baby wipes once or twice a day.

I don't think this is necessarily a sign that she'll always be prone to urinary issues.

Thanks for all your sweet replies, I really appreciate it.

I'm glad your little girl is feeling better. UTI's just happen sometimes. I had a female kitty who got about 4 of them in her 14 years with us. Each time just required some antibiotics and for the next week I would add a little water to her wet food. I never stopped her dry. I'm not anti dry either. I have 2 cats, both with their own health issues (not something we planned for either financially and one of them has persistent problems). We seem to have bad luck because our last 2 kitties were also plagued with expensive health issues and as a result we lost them both at a young age My current 2 however get a mix of dry and wet, dry is out all day, 3 half cans of wet a day.

Don't worry too much about the cost of the food you feed. I do a mix of Royal Canin ($$) and Applaws dry (supermarket but 50% meat content and grain free) and the same with the wet. I have happily fed fancy feast in the past but my girl with a sensitive stomach doesn't do well on it. Same with Dine. I just try to choose some kind of grain free if I go supermarket food

I used to have a little cry every time my kitten had diarrhea or soft poo, which happened every week or so for the first 6 weeks we had him. It's normal to get emotional about our fur babies. It just means we love them

Tobilei said:

I'm glad your little girl is feeling better. UTI's just happen sometimes. I had a female kitty who got about 4 of them in her 14 years with us. Each time just required some antibiotics and for the next week I would add a little water to her wet food. I never stopped her dry. I'm not anti dry either. I have 2 cats, both with their own health issues (not something we planned for either financially and one of them has persistent problems). We seem to have bad luck because our last 2 kitties were also plagued with expensive health issues and as a result we lost them both at a young age My current 2 however get a mix of dry and wet, dry is out all day, 3 half cans of wet a day.


Don't worry too much about the cost of the food you feed. I do a mix of Royal Canin ($$) and Applaws dry (supermarket but 50% meat content and grain free) and the same with the wet. I have happily fed fancy feast in the past but my girl with a sensitive stomach doesn't do well on it. Same with Dine. I just try to choose some kind of grain free if I go supermarket food

Click to expand...

Hopefully hers is just a random occurance. I've been giving her Clavamox twice daily along with probiotics to try and control the soft poo that comes along with antibiotics. For her wet food its either friskies pate, 4health grain free pate, and nutro max cat pate (different flavors between those brands) and dry is Natures Variety Raw boost chicken flavor. I also do mix in water with their wet food every time to make it soupy and have a fountain for them that they love.

profdanglais said:

I used to have a little cry every time my kitten had diarrhea or soft poo, which happened every week or so for the first 6 weeks we had him. It's normal to get emotional about our fur babies. It just means we love them

Click to expand...

After years of seeing my female cat suffer with severe cystitis, I discovered it was cat milk (not normal milk) that was causing her to pass blood. My other female cat also reacted in the same way to cat milk. I spent over a thousand pounds with vets and was always told it was because of stress. I feel stupid and guilty for not considering it was the cat milk but you trust the big companies produce food/drinks that are safe. I would suggest getting your cat on quality food and a lot of fresh meat (which can be cheaper than cat food anyway). Read the ingredients and keep it as natural as possible.

tiffanyd said:

After years of seeing my female cat suffer with severe cystitis, I discovered it was cat milk (not normal milk) that was causing her to pass blood. My other female cat also reacted in the same way to cat milk. I spent over a thousand pounds with vets and was always told it was because of stress. I feel stupid and guilty for not considering it was the cat milk but you trust the big companies produce food/drinks that are safe. I would suggest getting your cat on quality food and a lot of fresh meat (which can be cheaper than cat food anyway). Read the ingredients and keep it as natural as possible.

Click to expand...

Do you mean the treat milk?

And feeding a well-balanced raw diet is great, but just want to point out that it's not complete. It's essential that you add a supplement so nutritional values are met for items like taurine.

Thank you for your advice to add a supplement.

Yes the milk is treat milk, not normal cow's milk. 

It is supposedly specially formulated for cats to contain less lactose. I'm hoping mentioning this may help someone else discover the reason for their cat's cystitis.

tiffanyd said:

Thank you for your advice to add a supplement.

Yes the milk is treat milk, not normal cow's milk. 

It is supposedly specially formulated for cats to contain less lactose. I'm hoping mentioning this may help someone else discover the reason for their cat's cystitis.

Click to expand...

Treat milk is just that, a treat. Some cats may not respond well to it. Thank you for sharing. You are correct that cats cannot tolerate lactose. Goat milk may be tolerated, though.