Blood in urine

Hi all~ My male cat Bart sprays sometimes on this one wall, I noticed it was darker than usual. Then I caught him on the 10th of January, and there was blood in it. I took him to the vet, and she put him on an antibiotic. He still has blood today, after 6 days, of course sometimes I think he swallows the pill, but I find it laying somewhere, then give it to him again. I'm just thinking after 6 days (the antibiotic is for 10) he should be better???? Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks!

Yes he should be getting better, but if he is spitting out the pill most of the time, then the antibiotic won't be helping. I suggest you call your vet and let him know what is going on. Perhaps he can give you a liquid medicine which might be easier for you.
Have you switched your cats diet yet? A food that helps to acidify urine will help to fight the infection.

No I haven't switched foods, what should I look for? I don't hear him crying or anything when he goes, the vet said to watch him because of crystals. So the blood should be gone by now if he's getting all the medicine? Does crushing the pill into wet food work?

Thanks so much!

Hi,

The kind of diet you switch your cat to would depend on what kind of crystals are present - struvite or oxalate. Did your vet confirm there are crystals?

I would not crush the pills...first, they don't taste good so your cat is likely to just reject the food it's been mixed into, and second, crushing them changes how quickly they are absorbed not something you want to do.

I think calling your vet and asking for a liquid med instead as Dr. Doolittle is a good suggestion, or you can try using a pill gun.

The vet didn't take a urine sample, just examined him and gave the antibiotic.
Don't know how many pills he actually digested, it gets him so stressed and he's such a calm kitty usually, plus I get bit, not on purpose though. He seems fine otherwise, haven't seen any peepee today to see if there's any blood yet, but as of yesterday there was. He has 2 more pills to take.

Originally Posted by TheConaninator

The vet didn't take a urine sample, just examined him and gave the antibiotic.

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I would take him back for a urinalysis AND a urine culture. (Perhaps to a different vet) You need to make sure it is an infection and also what type of infection, and that he doesnt have crystals. I cant believe a vet would give antibiotics without taking a sample

Another trick to getting the pills down is to use a dropper full of water *after* you think the kitty swallowed the pill. That usually helps the pill get all the way down so they can't spit it out later. Be careful to check their lips and cheeks to be sure the pill isn't hiding in there (small pills can often slip off the the side of the mouth).

Good advice to follow the pills with a few milliliters of water. Any pills, but some can cause burning of the esophagus if they aren't washed down. I agree that the vet should have done a urine analysis before dispensing an antibiotic, but now you will need to wait until a week or so after the end of the course of antibiotics for a valuable culture. Not all vets do cultures routinely due to clients not wanting the expense and the difficulty getting an uncontaminated specimen. But at the very minimum a urinalysis needs to be done to check for the presence of crystals. If the problem recurs or doesn't clear up then an analysis of the crystals needs to be done, a culture needs to be done and an xray of the bladder to rule out stones. Actually, most episodes of lower urinary tract disease clear up with or without treatment, so some vets wait to see if it doesn't or if it recurs before going on to more expensive treatment. My personal thoughts are to put all cats, and definitely all cats with even one episode of urinary tract problems, on all canned food, to keep the urine more dilute and less likely to form crystals and stones. Also a canned diet is higher in meat and that leads to a naturally more acidic urine which will prevent struvite crystals, but not so acidic that calcium oxalate crystals are likely to form.