UTI Kitty

Hey everybody. I'm new on this site but have posted on others seeking help for this problem. My cat (a girl... Bitsy) is prone to UTI's, crystals, and constipation. She's only 3 years old but has been on constant medication since she was about one, if I remember correctly. It started with constipation for which she was given lactulose. I give it to her every day, mixed with her food. Then she started getting crystals which caused UTIs. Now she takes Methigel every day... also mixed with her food. Then when she gets a UTI she gets a pill that she takes for 10 days. But I forget the name of it. My problem is that she seems to have developed an immunity to the pill. It doesn't do anything anymore. And obviously the other stuff isn't preventing her from getting UTIs (she hasn't been constipated for awhile now so that much is working).

Her food is dry: Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul, and wet (with meds mixed in): Nutro Natural's Choice or Max Cat (also a Nutro product). People had been telling me over and over again to switch her to Purina's UTI formula so I just started the switch over today.

She's had many many tests done but nothing is ever concluded. They don't know what's causing the problems. The vet suggested that it may be stress induced and I read a whole pamphlet on it, but I don't really think she fits the symptoms. The most stress causing thing in her life is the taking of her meds. She hates it. I have two cats and a two bedroom apartment so the only way to give her her meds without the other cat eating them is to lock her in the bathroom until she does so. She absolutely hates it but we have no other way.

Does anybody have any recommendations? I don't have much money but even getting the most expensive food would probably be cheaper than the vet bills if she didn't have to go so often.

Please, any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!!!!

Someone will be here shortly to help with this question. One thing I may add since my kitty Max had UTI we changed all of our cats to a Maintenance Diet which the vet recommended after Max's med were completed. This food has cran berries which help maintain the proper PH balance which reduces the risk of more infections. We were told by our vet that different foods your baby may eat may put them at risk. For instance more ash things like that. A maintenance diet is also great for all the cats in the house so you wouldn't have to worry about having to pick up different foods.

Hopefully this is a bit helpful.

Depending on the severity .. Max cat adult and max lite are both to help utis/// If it is very severe talk with you dr/ vet about an rx..does she get wet food if not I would highly recommend it ... I know all the rx making companies do make a uti wet and dry I do beleive..

Originally Posted by sharky

Depending on the severity .. Max cat adult and max lite are both to help utis/// If it is very severe talk with you dr/ vet about an rx..does she get wet food if not I would highly recommend it ... I know all the rx making companies do make a uti wet and dry I do beleive..

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Yes she eats both Nutro Natural Wet and Max Cat wet. This is how I give her her meds.

I got a chance to talk to the vet today and he says that he thinks she has lower urinary tract disease and he wants to do a culture to see if she has cytosis... I think that's what it was. She's had many many tests and x-rays before but never the culture because the pre-culture tests came up negative. He recommends that we do that, now. I'll be so grateful when this is all solved.

Good luck and

Have you joined the Yahoo Group for FLUTD (Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disorder) kitties? If not, they may be able to offer more advice. A lot of them recommend switching to all wet food or giving a syringe full of distilled water (slowly though, so the cat doesn't choke).

If the pill is an antibiotic, then they can become immune. You might need to try a different antibiotic. Since your cat is prone to crystals, you might look into some of the foods designed to prevent crystals, such as Royal Canin SO. My cat has also run the gamut of tests, but she doesn't have crystals. The final diagnosis was interstitial cystitis, which in English means that her bladder is inflammed but they don't know why. I have her on Amitriptyline, which reduces the stress and controls the inflammation, and it seems to help. Unfortunately, it has also caused her to gain weight.
Best of luck to you and Bitsy.

Well I can switch her over to all wet foods, but giving her a syringe would not work. She has been labeled by many as the most difficult cat they've ever had to deal with as far as giving meds. She's already rather large (14lbs I think) and extremely strong. We've learned from experience that there is no holding her down and putting things in her mouth.

Thanks for the advice. I will subscribe to that list. Tomorrow we go to the vet and hopefully, after much money, we'll have gotten a little bit further instead of staying in one place which is what always seems to happen.

Instead of holding her down to give meds try holding her by the scruff of her neck - if she'll relax in that position - it is the easiest for giving oral meds

Yes we've done that as well and it works better than anything else. But the doctor's theory has always been that her problems are caused by stress so we have to find an unstressful way to medicate her. Holding her by the scruff of her neck agitates her and makes her mad. So immediately after we release her, she runs to the litter box to try and force herself to pee. Bitsy is... a fraidy cat, you could say. One time, when she was just a kitten, I was feeding the two of them. When doing this, I would shake their bowl so they could listen to the food and get all excited. But one time I accidentally dropped the bowl. The loud noise scared the crap out of her and after that, for a few months, every time I would shake the bowl, she would run away cause she thought I was going to drop it again.

My point is that I only have to harm her once and she's scarred. She eventually got used to the fact that when we went into the bathroom and closed the door, that meant she was going to get methigel on her paws (before I mixed it into her food) and she HATED that. So she would immediately run to the litter box and strain herself. We eventually learned that we could mix it into her food but it took a long time for her to stop the habit, just the same. Recently she's starting trying to do it again, unless I stop her and steer her in the other direction (towards the food). I don't know why.

We have to keep her life as stress free as humanly possible. But it seems like the things that are necessary are the things that cause her stress (meds). If she had her way, she'd sleep, eat, and chase milk rings all day long. That's my kitty.

Perhaps you could offer her something tasty, like sodium-free chicken broth? Anything to increase her intake of floods would be helpful.

I will try that. Every now and then I give both my kitties the juice from tuna. But somebody told me recently that fish can be a cause of UTI's. Does that have any validity? She does drink water. I've seen her do so. But I know she'd get really excited about chicken broth. Would that have to be heated up or anything...?

I sometimes have to heat for a 10-15 sec...

my cat now 22 lbs has UTI problems also the only food i have found to work for him is the puriena uti food. and it is a must that the bathroom tub drips for him to drink from, he doesn't drink from his water bowl no matter how fresh the water is. But since his weight is becoming a bit of a concern i've just started mixing his food the puriena uti and science diet light (it is said to have lower ph, i think, than normal diet foods do) All seems to be well so far. but our food is all dry food, no wet.
I hope you find out what is wrong and can figure out a diet for your kitty.

Originally Posted by megansvdub

my cat now 22 lbs has UTI problems also the only food i have found to work for him is the puriena uti food. and it is a must that the bathroom tub drips for him to drink from, he doesn't drink from his water bowl no matter how fresh the water is. But since his weight is becoming a bit of a concern i've just started mixing his food the puriena uti and science diet light (it is said to have lower ph, i think, than normal diet foods do) All seems to be well so far. but our food is all dry food, no wet.
I hope you find out what is wrong and can figure out a diet for your kitty.

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Has your vet said anything about the cats weight?? I would talk to the vet before doing any diet change

So I took Bitsy to the vet yesterday but he was unable to collect any urine because her bladder was empty. So he gave me a method in which to do that myself. He said that based on her symptoms he thinks she has idiopathic lower urinary tract disease which means, apparently, that there's no known cause. Does anybody know anything about this?

Originally Posted by daniR

So I took Bitsy to the vet yesterday but he was unable to collect any urine because her bladder was empty. So he gave me a method in which to do that myself. He said that based on her symptoms he thinks she has idiopathic lower urinary tract disease which means, apparently, that there's no known cause. Does anybody know anything about this?

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Yea, that's what they tell me my cat has- an idiopatic cystitis.
They couldn't collect any urine out of my cat either.
What did they tell you to do for treatment, if anything? What did they tell you to feed the cat?
My cat has been peeing all over the place. And I am really confused. Vet told me to give him dry food special for urinary problems. Other people say that it's better to feed the cat wet food only. I am not sure what to do with the food.

Well he wants to find out more after I collect the urine before he treats her for anything. For this, he gave me a little container of something called NoSorb. They look like little beads. I'm supposed to put them in a newly cleaned litter box (with no litter) then put her in the bathroom over night (it has to be an area with no absorbable surfaces). This NoSorb stuff acts as litter so she'll use the litter pan but it wont absorb it... hence the name. Then I can suck up the urine and bring it in for tests.

He says that stress is the most common cause of this problem and he wants to put her on an anti-depressant. Gah! I really don't want my kitty on an anti depressant. I feel like I've got the child with ADD that's been overmedicated since he was three and nobody knows what the real problem is because they just keep medicating him.

He mentioned a couple different types of food but didn't want to sell me much until he knew better what the problem was. But he did sell me one can of something called c/d. It's Hill's Prescription Diet. I haven't given it to her yet. Then he mentioned something else. It looks like an air freshener and its supposed to let pheromones into the air. It's calming for the cat and is supposed to prevent things like peeing outside the box and high stress. It was $40. I didn't buy it because I said she doesn't pee outside the box but I may at a later date. I'll probably try to find it cheaper, too. You may want to look into it. I'd definitely rather have that than put her on anti-depressants.

I also asked about the chicken broth thing and he said that was an excellent idea. At her age she can probably handle the sodium. I said sodium free was mentioned to me, and he said that's even better. But it's good to know that if I can't find sodium free then she can take low sodium or something.

Thanks to everybody for your help! I'll keep you posted for sure.

I think your vet was talking about Feliway. It doesn't seem to do a thing for my cat. He was put on anti-anxiety medication-alprazalam. I am happy about that because for a long time I was telling the vet that my cat is super-anxious and he is making himself sick. They wouldn't give anything to me. It makes me really angry when clearly there are anti-anxiety meds for cats, and I was asking for them, but the vet wouldn't prescribe it. Well, I had to go to another vet to finally get it for my cat. I will see how he does on this one and if I don't like it, I will try something else. But clearly he needs it because he is crazy.

Well hopefully that will work for you kitty. The reason I don't want to put Bitsy on the anti-depressants is because she doesn't seem depressed to me. He said that cats, like humans, hide it sometimes. And because she doesn't seem to have any other cause (thus far) for her recurring UTI's... he thinks its stress and that she simply doesn't display it and internalizes it, thus making it worse.

It's so hard to figure out what to do. Vet says feed special dry food. Other people say feed only wet food.

I don't think my cat is depressed either. But I think he is super anxious. Anxiety is what causing his problems, I am pretty sure of it.
So, he is going to be on anti-anxiety meds for now to see how it goes.