Not sure where to go with this...

yin&yang

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I had one of my girls, Yin, to the vet today and she's now on antibiotics for a UTI. Things seemed pretty settled tonight, but then unfortunately a neighborhood stray came by (which has happened before) and she went more nuts than usual.

Generally when the stray has appeared she has gone after her sister, Yang, and I end up separating them for 10-20 minutes. I use the vanilla trick (found on this site
) before putting them back together and it's usually fine. Tonight, I'm sure because she isn't feeling well, she was aggressive with me, hissing and swatting. I put her in the bedroom for about 30 min. since she seemed more agitated than normal. When she seemed calm (and was crying so plaintively I couldn't stand it!) I let her back out. She ran to the front window where the stray had been and proceeded to start hissing and swatting all over again when I was near. So back into the room she's gone and is once again crying every so often and breaking my heart.


My question is how long should I leave her in there before trying to let her out again. I can't keep her shut in indefinitely. I only have one litter box and sooner or later her sister will need to use it. Any and all suggestions would be appreciated.
 

devlyn

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Hi and Welcome!
First let me say, I've never had this problem. But I'd probably go into the room with her and talk calmly, see how she feels about you being around. It may be that she's only feeling agressive around the window where she saw the stray.
I'd also block off the front window with a blanket so she can't look out it right now.
Reassure her by giving her treats, petting her and playing with favorite toys in the seperate room. Slowly introduce Yang into that room under supervision.
If you are using the vanilla trick, I'd probably also take some vanilla mixed with water and spray it in the other rooms, especially near the offending window. That way it smells like "her".
Just some ideas. I hope they help.


Dev & Crew
 

hissy

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Because she is ill, I wouldn't add to her distress. Let her out and ignore her. Stray kitty left its signature (scent) and she is reacting to the intruder. She is going to be on alert, and she may also get attacked by her sister, so keep using the vanilla to calm down the situation. But yes, let her out of the room, approach her carefully and otherwise just leave her alone.
 
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yin&yang

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Many thanks for the pieces of advice. I finally opened the door about a 1/2 hour ago and she seemed calmer. I sat with her for a minute and she rubbed up against me. We were OK, while her sister was still hiding under the other bed...then had a few very tense moments when she emerged, but Yin finally settled a little and just stared. I gave them both a few of their treats, which helped immensely. Now the 'ailing' one is sitting at my feet and the other one is on the bed cleaning herself. They both stop to stare and size the other up periodically, but for the most part seem calm. I think I managed to scare off the stray for a while, so hopefully the antibiotics will kick in soon and she'll start to feel better. I did cancel a weekend trip so I can stay home to play 'nursemaid.' And thanks for the tip of spraying the vanilla around the windows - I hadn't thought of that.

BTW - neither of my cats has ever had a UTI before. If I had not seen her come out of her litter box yowling and crying I would have never known what the problem was. Are there other symptoms I should/could have caught. She's behaving normally otherwise, except for her over-the-top reaction to the stray that is.


Thanks again,
Renee
 

cloud_shade

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Do you know what kind of UTI it is? They can be caused by several different things, from crystals in the urine to bacteria. My girl kitty, Willow, was just diagnosed with interstitial/idiopathic cystitis after the antibiotics didn't work and several other tests came back negative. Her only obvious symptom was that she was peeing outside her litterbox, mostly on the newspaper laying right next to it. She has blood in her urine as well, but it isn't obvious to the naked eye. I know that seem kitties will strain and try to pee when they have infections. If they are not able to urinate at all, they could have a life-threatening blockage (it happened to my boyfriend's boy kitty).

Kitties are very good at hiding signs of illness. Willow only pees outside the box on rare occasions, so I have no idea how long she has had this bladder issue. I still feel bad about not catching it sooner, but it can be so hard to tell when our babies are sick.
 
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yin&yang

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Originally Posted by cloud_shade

Do you know what kind of UTI it is? They can be caused by several different things, from crystals in the urine to bacteria. My girl kitty, Willow, was just diagnosed with interstitial/idiopathic cystitis after the antibiotics didn't work and several other tests came back negative. Her only obvious symptom was that she was peeing outside her litterbox, mostly on the newspaper laying right next to it. She has blood in her urine as well, but it isn't obvious to the naked eye. I know that seem kitties will strain and try to pee when they have infections. If they are not able to urinate at all, they could have a life-threatening blockage (it happened to my boyfriend's boy kitty).

Kitties are very good at hiding signs of illness. Willow only pees outside the box on rare occasions, so I have no idea how long she has had this bladder issue. I still feel bad about not catching it sooner, but it can be so hard to tell when our babies are sick.
The vet did say that she had crystals but not what kind of infection it was. She seemed like she was doing well after being on the antibiotics for about 7 days but then Friday night she seemed to have pain urinating again. It's not as bad as the original episodes, but she still seems to be having a problem. They did another urinalysis yesterday but I won't get results until tomorrow. She did pee outside her litter box this morning so I went and got another box and put it in new location. She used it but still came out somewhat "perplexed" like maybe there was still some irritation.

What are they doing for Willow's problem? I've been wondering about changing diets if she is going to have a problem with crystals. I hate to do it because both she and her sister are so finicky. It's hard to find things that they like so switching would be no fun. On the other hand, I don't want her to have discomfort everytime she urinates either.

Thanks for the response,
Renee
 

cloud_shade

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What are you feeding them right now? For Willow, I'm giving her Elmiron temporarily, and a supplement that is supposed to help the lining of the bladder (it does in people, so they figure it might help in cats). I've also started giving her wet food, as she had been on dry food only before. I've always fed her Precise, so I'm now giving her some dry food during the day, and some wet food in the morning. I may add wet food at night and just leave a little bit of dry food out since I'm gone for long stretches of the day.

If you're feeding dry food only, you might talk to your vet about switching to wet food. Willow doesn't have any crystals, so she doesn't need a vet diet, but I've heard that wet food can help prevent crystal formation. Again, I would talk to your vet.
 
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