Cystitis

I took my cat Brain to the vet this morning because I'd noticed him squatting around the house, passing just a few drops of urine. I was worried about a blockage.

The vet said there's no blockage but might be an infection and put Brain on an antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, and painkiller.

Once we got home Brain stopped squatting around the house but he's still using the litter box very frequently. There seems to be a bit more urine but not a significant amount. We've been home for several hours now and there's no change.

Was the vet wrong? How quickly should I be seeing improvement? Am I overanalysing Brain's behaviour? I've never had a cat with this problem so I don't know what to look for or expect.

Surreality said:

I took my cat Brain to the vet this morning because I'd noticed him squatting around the house, passing just a few drops of urine. I was worried about a blockage.

The vet said there's no blockage but might be an infection and put Brain on an antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, and painkiller.

Once we got home Brain stopped squatting around the house but he's still using the litter box very frequently. There seems to be a bit more urine but not a significant amount. We've been home for several hours now and there's no change.

Was the vet wrong? How quickly should I be seeing improvement? Am I overanalysing Brain's behaviour? I've never had a cat with this problem so I don't know what to look for or expect.

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Did the vet take a urine sample (can be done with a needle quite easily and without pain) because testing the sample in house will let you know if there is an infection, but the diagnosis sounds reasonable if he tested the urine.  There's an old vet saying with bladder infections, "they take 7 days to clear up on antibiotics, or a week without them."  Generally cats can improve quickly, but i would want to know if a urine sample was taken and tested.

No, he wasn't able to take a sample because apparently Brain's bladder had released in the carrier on the way there so it was empty. That fits with the vet's conclusion that there's no blockage but once we got back home he started having trouble again, so I don't know what to make of that.

Surreality said:

No, he wasn't able to take a sample because apparently Brain's bladder had released in the carrier on the way there so it was empty. That fits with the vet's conclusion that there's no blockage but once we got back home he started having trouble again, so I don't know what to make of that.

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Well on the one hand if he released the entire contents of his bladder in the carrier then he isn't blocked. On the other hand, without examining the urine for either bacteria or crystals then you can't really tell.

But if he doesn't pass urine by day 2 he is at risk of dying. If he's passing some urine then that's at least a bit better. If it was me I'd take him back to the vet with a fuller bladder and have him take a sample.

Just an update, Brain did show improvement over the next day and night and he's doing much better now. Looks to be back to his normal self

I've adjusted his diet to have more wet food and we've bought a water fountain to encourage him to drink more.

Thanks to those who gave advice and comfort.