Need advice for a kitty with a bladder infection

Hi all. Wow, I haven't been here in a while!

My beautiful little cat, Rumpleteazer, is 11. She went to the vet yesterday cause she got up and puddled on my bed (which she NEVER does!) and left behind splotches of blood. I rushed her to the vet and he said she had a bladder infection. He felt her tummy, took her temp (which, believe me, she REALLY resented!), gave her an anti-inflammatory shot (which she resented even more ), and sent us home with an antibiotic. (I trust my vets; they would never have sent her home if they thought she was in danger.)

Later that day she had eaten but she hadn't had anything to drink. I cleaned her fountain water dish, put in a new filter, and everything. Still nothing. I called the vet and they said to try and entice her with some milk or chicken broth, otherwise she'd have to come back for an IV. I gave her some milk; she drank that like there was no tomorrow, and later gave her some chicken broth, which she also enjoyed. Later she used the litter box and produced more than the quarter-sized spots she'd had up to that point. I was celebrating.

I'm concerned because today she wasn't interested in the milk or the chicken broth (mind you, she's picky and spoiled rotten ) and I know how important it is to push fluids when you have a bladder infection (I've tried explaining this to her but she just stares at me ). And yes, I know how important it is to catch this kind of thing early so it can't spread to the kidneys (this is her first bladder infection ever!). She did drink some of the broth and milk, and it looks like she drank out of her fountain water dish but it's a little hard to tell. Just a few minutes ago, she went into her litter box and produced a nickel sized wet spot.

She appears to be eating, sleeping, and bathing normally, and she's been much perkier today. She's gets the antibiotic twice a day and she's had four doses so far.

Is this normal for her to go back and forth between the larger wet spot and the little one? Anyone have any tricks I could use to entice her to drink something? The vet said that if I have to I can use an eye dropper and squirt water into her mouth, but I'd rather she drink it on her own. How much liquid should she be getting?

Any advice would be appreciated!

My 10 yo recently had a bladder infection, so I understand what you're going through.

Have you tried putting water in some different containers like coffe cups, different kinds of bowls in various places around the house? Something new and different might pique her curiosity enough to get her to drink some.

As a last resort (before giving her plain Pedialyte via syringe) would be to put some tuna juice in some water. I've also mixed broth with wet food and tuna juice with wet food before to get liquid into my kitty.

Stephanie

Well, she also has a coffee cup of water near her fountain dish but maybe it's cause everytime she moves I am right there watching her. lol

I warmed up some milk and she drank some of that. I'm just not sure how much she should be drinking. I never really payed attention to how much she drank before!

She can't have canned food; she's part abysinian and they're known for their touchy tummies. I haven't found one that isn't loaded with so much junk that she can have it. She does get a little bit of cooked chicken that I've been saturating with the broth and she's eating that, so she is getting the moisture from that.

I will try putting out some more dishes in different spots and try the tuna juice. Pedialite? Really?! I'd never heard that but it makes sense.

But your kitty's alright? I'm nervous cause she's older and she's never had one before, so this is a bit out of my range!

Thank you for the suggestions!

Originally Posted by Rumpleteazer

She can't have canned food; she's part abysinian and they're known for their touchy tummies. I haven't found one that isn't loaded with so much junk that she can have it.

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Will she eat a little baby food maybe? Some plain chicken baby food will get a little more fluids into her--just read the ingredients to make sure it has no spices or garlic or onions in it. Gerber makes one in their "2nd Foods" line called Chicken & Chicken Gravy that is just ground chicken, water and corn starch (obviously no good if she's allergic to corn products, but otherwise shouldn't upset her sensitive tum tum).

My cat's fine now, but she was on antibiotics for about 10 days. It was also her fist experience with a bladder infection. I was scared to death! She is back to her normal self now and doing great!

If you give her pedialyte, be sure to get the plain-jane variety. You can also do a search on the board for a homemade recipe that is just as good as the store bought kind. Also, the baby food is a great idea. I give it to my girl as a treat, or when I really want to make sure she eats her meds!

Just remember, that it may take her a little bit longer to get over her infection since she's not a spring chick anymore. My vet told me that often, these things are aggravated by stress, so make sure you keep stress in your home down and use a feliway plug in if needed.

Stephanie

Oh! Those are great suggestions! If I got some baby food, I could get different meat flavors and give her a different one each time. Then she'd be less likely to get bored. Lol

I put out some different containers of water, like a coffee cup and a drinking glass too. She loves to drink out of people dishes. For obvious reasons, I don't drink out of drinking glasses and coffee cups that I've left sitting out anymore. Lol

She's in pretty good health for an 11 year old cat; a touch of arthritis and a little acid reflux. That's pretty much it. A year ago she was in for her physical and the vet asked me how old she was as he was looking at her teeth. I said, "Going on ten." He didn't believe me, went and got her chart and was shocked when he saw her age on there. He said that she has the teeth and health of a five year old.

However, as far as stress goes... She had surgery a week and a half ago to remove a lump from her leg (speaking of scaring me to death!). It was a low-grade tumor, we found it early, she's in excellent health, and the vet is sure he got it all, and she could live another 10 years. They did a blood test before hand to check things like liver and kidney functions and those all came back at the levels they would expect on a younger cat (I've had her since she was 6 weeks old, so I know her age for certain).

But all that meant she had to go through the stress of a needle aspiration so they could find out what they were dealing with, a week of antibiotics, surgery, staying over night, stitches, she pulled her drainage tubes out, wouldn't stop pulling on her stitches so I had to put one of those collars on her for a week (which freaked her out like you would not believe!), another week on the antibiotics, cleaning the stitches and drainage holes with watered down hydrogen peroxide (vet's orders), the antibiotics gave her diarrhea, and post-surgery check ups (where she also got her yearly ear cleaning because she was already there and they didn't want the stress of having to come back for another appointment). Every time we cleaned her stitches and drainage holes and gave her the antibiotics, she got some ground up chicken. Through it all, she's been a very good sport, but now she's looking at me like, "I've had just about enough of this!"

I don't know if the stress has caused this problem. She got dehydrated after the surgery cause she wouldn't eat or drink anything at the vets' but she did when she came home, but getting dehydrated certainly didn't help the problem. I don't know, maybe it's because she couldnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t clean herself properly with that collar on. Or maybe the antibiotics messed up her system. I know human women can get a yeast or bladder infection after a round of antibiotics because it kills off the good bacteria as well as the bad. But stress is why I'm trying not to have to use the syringe or take her back to the vet. But I will if I have to!

Or maybe she's annoyed with me after all she's been through and she's milking this for all it's worth! Lol I wouldn't put it past her! She's such a little drama queen! When she had the collar on to keep her from biting her stitches, if someone was in the room, she'd sit there with her little head handing down, like she could barely lift it (it was the most pitiful site you've ever seen!). But if no one was in the room, she walked around like normal. Lol

Well, anyway, sorry for the long answer! Thanks for the suggestions, I will try them. She's been on the antibiotics for 48 hours now so hopefully we'll see some improvement soon.

An alternative to pedilyte is something called Gastrolyte (it will be in the adult part of the pharmacy with other stomach ailment stuff) and it comes in powder form so it will last forever (where pedialyte has a short shelf life). You can mix the powder in with water, or broth or whatever you can make her eat. If she's still picky, I had to syringe it into my fosters when they were sick. My Rambo has just gotten over a bladder infection so i know what you are going through.

Good luck

Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you know that your suggestions worked great!

I called the Vet cause Teazer wasn't all that interested in food and water. He called me back (himself! we have such a great vet!) and asked a lot of questions. In the end he came to the conclusion that part of the problem was the antibiotic. Apparently Amoxi-drops can make an animal not all that interested in anything but sleep. But there was no more blood in her urine, and she was eating the watered down baby food, and the antibiotic was almost gone so he said, "Keep an eye on her, make sure she's still eating something, and call us in a few days and let us know how she's doing."

Apparently, bladder infections in cats aren't like they are in people. A cat can get a bladder infection because of stress. And with the surgery and all, she'd certainly been under stress!

Well, I checked on her Friday afternoon, and she'd eaten most of her dry food, her water dish was down, and her litter box was well used. She's back her usual sassy self.

Thanks so much for all your advise and suggestions! They were so helpful, and it made me feel so much better!

Bye for now!!

So pleased to hear of Teazer's improvement!