Urinary Tract Infection???

Hey all, it's been a while since I was last on here...but I thought I'd run something by y'all before I took my cat to the vet ( he has an appt today)

Just a little info. Bonkers is a 2yr old neutered male DMH and I have had him close to 2yrs. He is an indoor cat.

He has been in and out, in and out, of his litter box all week and well it's not all that unusual for him to be like that.. .he loves his litter box

But yesterday he kept meowing and meowing..and when he doesn't stop like that I know something is wrong. I picked him up to cuddle him and give him love, I thought that's what he really wanted. I then let him out on the patio for a few min, but when I was inside, I noticed something wet on my white shirt. I looked down and there was a pinkish substance on it and on my jeans. I took off my shirt and smelled it, it was urin and under the light it looked like it had glitter/sparkles in it. When I let him back inside, I picked him up and flipped him on his back to look at his privates...where there were pink droplets on his area.

Someone told me this happened with one of her cats, except he bled all over her bed sheets, and it ended up being a UTI... do you think this is what it could be? I wouldn't be suprised since he's been spending a lot more time in his litter box this past week..

Thanks for reading all of this. We're off to the vet in a few hours, and I'm actually calling in to work to take him since I'm quite worried he's in pain on this inside by the way he's meowing.

-Renee

It sonds like UTI to me. I hope Bonkers feels better after the vet. <<<<Vibes>>>>

Hello, Renee
It would for sure be a UTI, any poor kitty whom frequents the box
several times per hour has a UTI for sure. I have alot of experience
in this area as my 3 yr old girl just finally got over it after more
than 2 mths. of meds. and repeated vists to the vet. I wish the best
in this and if you need any advise I am here to help. It is very painful
for your kitty and you dont want your kitty to associate pain with the
litter box too long as this may lead to them not wanting to use it in future.
I ran my kitty everytime it reoccured for immediate vet help. Dont delay.
Brenda

Thank you so much for your replies! I just cleaned out his litter box and it was a MESS. I pick out his clumps every evening but good grief I had to empty the entire box and that *was* fresh litter from about three days ago. When I went to clean it out, there was a little puddle of bloody (not dark, but noticably darker tint than the color I saw last night) urin on the tile floor. Thank goodness its not on my carpet.

I feel so bad for him! I recently had a bladder infection and I know how much it hurts. My poor guy Is there anything I can do in the meantime to ease his pain or comfort him? Our appointment isn't until 2:10 and it's 11:54 right now (MST)..that's the earliest appointment I could get for him.

I'm glad you're getting Bonkers to the vet! (btw, love the name!) The pink tinge is blood as the crystals scrape the urethra as they pass. This happens alot to neutered males. Not all of them, but enough for it to be common.
Stop giving Bonkers tap water immediately and buy bottled water. Once you get this problem under control, and he gets only fresh bottled water, this wont happen again. The tap water is almost ALWAYS the problem.

Bonkers, feel better soon!

Oh really? Tap water does that? Yikes! Poor guy. We have filtered water at home that I'll be giving him instead. Thank you!

So the vet said there wasn't enough acid in his urin and there were crystals in his urin. They've given me Clavamox to drop orally into his mouth twice a day.. and a Hill's Prescription C/D cat food that is also supposed to help.

The vet said when they took his urin sample, there was so much blood that it looked like they were taking a blood sample He's doing a lot of licking himself downt here and meowing still, poor guy. He just lays behind the recliner, so I put his favorite blanket there to give added comfort...and so that it protects my carpet from becoming bloody.

Well, he seems to be doing A LOT better!! As of today, he's not going as frequently, is actually playing with the dog again...and has stopped meowing loudly. We still have a check up next week with the vet to see how he's doing and I'm giving him medicine as directed.

Glad to hear Bonkers is doing better!
Filtered water is better than plain old tap, but bottled spring water is even better if you can do it.
The chlorine used in most city water systems seems to be the culprit, from what I've learned on my own. Spring water is ionized instead of chlorinated, improving taste and also reducing high levels of minerals that can build up in a cat's urinary tract system. In severe cases I've read it's even better to give cats with weaker systems distilled water, which has practically no mineral value.
Certain minerals in a cat's diet are necessary of course, but wet food will usually contain these amounts in safer levels during processing. Added minerals only clog up the works, so to speak.

Since I've done some reading on the subject (due to my boys' reoccuring UTI's years ago) I dont drink tap water anymore. And, I havent had any UTI's either

LOL! Thank you very much! I don't drink tap water either.. it has such a unappealing taste.

Bonkers is doing MUCH better. He's been getting into trouble all morning long, so I think it's safe to say he's back to normal... jumping on everything, chasing the dogs, teasing the dogs... falling off his recliner..