Garfunkel in and out of litter box

Ugh. We've had UTI issues before but I've never caught it this early. He's in and out every few minutes and is passing small amounts each time. I just fed a watered down meal to help promote more urine, is that the right or wrong thing to do?When do we need to take him to the e vet? There is no blood from what I can see.

Sorry for the brief post, this site does not work well on my phone so I can't see what I type beyond the first few lines.

He needs to go to the vet immediately.

stephanietx said:

He needs to go to the vet immediately.

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I agree [emoji]9757[/emoji]️

Came to the vet. No urine as always. No signs of infection or stones or crystals. As always. I'm certainly happy to take him each time as it's better safe than sorry but it's incredibly frustrating that he gets all the symptoms of UTI while never having an infection. She wants to put him on Hills CD but he has no crystals so how will that help? My poor baby and his bladder.

Did they try to express his bladder or withdraw any urine using a needle?  That would be my question because this is obviously not normal behavior.

As stephanietx above says, did they manage to get any urine to test? My cat had the same behaviour and we freaked out since  this was after his major urinary issues. We immediately took him to the vet - they said his bladder felt empty, but we ended up bringing in some urine (not sure of the order...maybe I collected some beforehand actually) for them to test. Basically he was in pain and felt irritation down there, so he kept feeling the need to go to the box and pee when his bladder was actually almost empty. Bacteria did then show up in the urine sample that I brought in separately.

Yes, they did try but he was empty, I guess because he was passing urine each time. She told me to take him back for a urinalysis after the antibiotic is done. He's still at it today, although somewhat less frequently. So far he is still passing urine each time - a tiny amount, but still passing. There's no blood. Should I just monitor the boxes to make sure he's still passing urine, and if not then take him back? Or how do I know when to take him back? I have never caught it so early, so I'm not sure what the next steps are.

parsleysage said:

 
Yes, they did try but he was empty, I guess because he was passing urine each time. She told me to take him back for a urinalysis after the antibiotic is done. He's still at it today, although somewhat less frequently. So far he is still passing urine each time - a tiny amount, but still passing. There's no blood. Should I just monitor the boxes to make sure he's still passing urine, and if not then take him back? Or how do I know when to take him back? I have never caught it so early, so I'm not sure what the next steps are.

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I would try to gauge how much he is passing and how frequently (at one point with Rigel we actually kept a journal of this for a couple of months. Daily recording the time and amount (Drops, S, M, L, XL)). Do you use clumping litter? Might make it easier to gauge what a "normal" clump is for him vs a "small" or "tiny" clump (or just drops). If you are worried at all about him possibly getting blocked personally I'd take him back, but I am super paranoid now. Has the vet shown you how to feel his bladder? That might give you an idea of whether to worry, too, since you should be able to feel when it is full if you get the hang of finding the position (there are guides online too, but of course it would be better if a professional showed you). Unfortunately this did not work very well for me with mine, since his bladder became very distended and large during the month-long attempts to treat his blockage and even the vets had trouble feeling it properly (they likened it to a plastic bag sloshing around in his abdomen, which made it very difficult to find by feel). 

Thank you @lazer  He is passing tiny amounts, just drops really, so they don't clump but the area turns dark. I am cleaning the litterbox every few hours so I can keep track of which ones are fresh. I'm watching him like a hawk and immediately after he finishes I go and make sure there's a dark spot underneath where his butt was. It's been over 45 minutes since he's used the bathroom, so he might be feeling a bit better. I got the 2nd dose of antibiotics in him this morning, maybe that's making a difference. He's currently cuddled on my lap, the poor baby.

I know what you mean about paranoid... I could barely sleep last night!