Teazer is producing blood in the litterbox again!

My Teazer-cat is producing blood in the litterbox again!

I posted about using the First Alert litter in http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94303 .

Last night I thought everything was ok! We lined her litterbox with a plastic bag and put the First Alert litter in her box to check and be sure everything was ok, and it turned yellow. It starts out green, turns yellow if the ph is normal, blue-green if the ph is off slightly, and bright blue if the ph is way off, which can indicate a bladder infection.

This evening I checked on her litter box, and there were drops of red liquid on the white plastic liner on the side, and red in the litter next to that spot, but the area around it had turned yellow for normal ph balance. There also seemed to be a lot of litter turned yellow, meaning she'd pottied there and the ph was normal, but that could be spread out from earlier spots that she scattered when she scratched around.

She's running around and eating and drinking ok. The only thing she has been eating that she doesn't normally eat is a little bit of shredded turkey in the evening, but she usually gets a little ground-up chicken in the evenings to supplement her dry food. She won't drink from her filtered fountain, but she does drink water from a container I set on the floor with filtered water in it.

I'm pretty upset and freaked out because if it's not a bladder infection, I'm terrified it might be her kidneys. We're going to be at the vet's bright and early tomorrow morning. I used some q-tips to wipe what I could off the liner and put it in a plastic bag to take with us, cause it's as close as I can come to getting them a sample. Other than hold her and pray I can't think of what else to do but I'm trying really hard not to fall apart.

My best friend has been doing what she can to take my mind off it. I'm such a cool head when it involves an emergency at work or something but something happens to my Teazer-cat and I really just loose it. I just want her to be ok!

Is she spayed? Morgan, who just passed 13 hours ago due to something totally unrelated to the bleeding, would have bloody stool and drip blood after using the litterbox. The vet said it was due to her heat - some cats bleed, others don't. But the end of the bowel movement was usually bloody, then sometimes a few drops outside the litterbox as she left. Just a though. Hope the vet visit goes well!!

Blood in the urine doesn't always mean crystals. It sounds like the First Alert is only checking pH, which would indicate when crystals might be forming. However, cystitis (bladder inflammation) sometimes occurs without any crystals or stones present. I would have the vet check the urine specific gravity to see how dilute or concentrated her urine is (post the values here if you can). You might consider having a urine culture done to check for infection.

Seeing what Spiritedstef wrote above, is it possible the blood is coming from her bum and not from her urine?

Yeah, she's spayed but that's a good thought. I've only found blood where there's puddles of urine. I took her to the vet cause I figured that they are much more qualified to judge what this is than a cat litter. I mean, if nothing else, the results from the litter might at least give them an idea of where to look next.

I called the vet's office and they didn't have an immeadiate appointment available but they didn't want to wait so they had me drop her off. I took the cat (obviously!), the box the cat litter came in, the q-tips that I used to swab some of the bloody liquid of the side of the litterbox (cause they might be able to use that for something), some notes I typed up with the history of this problem and how I found it (stuff I would tell the vet if I was acutally there), and a picture of her litterbox as it was last night. The vet tech really liked that cause it was almost as good as being able to see the actual literbox.

So not I get to sit at home and not worry. They have my cell if they need me to come sign something or come get her or need to talk to me about what they need to do.

Cloud_shade, thanks for the info on the crystals and stuff. I didn't know any of that. Having information helps. My research has come up surprisingly empty. I still think the First Alert is a good thing, but you're right, it's a tool. I told them that if they need to get a urine sample or take blood so they can run any tests they need that they can do it. If I was there in the office, I'd tell them to do it anyway. My vets take a pretty agressive approach when dealing with things because they believe in getting in there and getting rid of the problem, so that it can't get too serious. Their patients tend to live a long time so it speaks well for them! I trust them completely. Not that that makes this any easier!

Thanks everybody. I'll keep you posted.

PS. Spiritedstef, I'm so sorry about Morgan!

This is Rumpleteazer. I would just like to let you all know that I am home from THAT PLACE! and I AM NOT SPEAKING TO MY MEOWMY!!

Was the vet able to tell you anything? (And to Rumpleteazer- your meowmy loves you or she wouldn't have taken you )

Would you like to know where she is sitting right now? On top of the computer tower on my desk, glowering down at me! Woo! I am not her favorite person right now!

So the vet looked her over and looked over my notes, which I guess he appreciated. He said she has spunk, which is a nice way of saying she growled at him the whole time! But overall, she seems to be healthy cause she's eating and drinking and using her litterbox just fine. So he gave us a new antibiotic, which I think is stronger because it has a smaller dose, because it can still be an infection, even if the ph isn't off (thank you Cloud_Shade ).

He also ordered a geriatric blood panel, which I had never heard of before I read about it on TCS.com today. Basically it will check all her organ functions, so they can be sure this isn't her kidneys, or an infection, or whatever. Basically, it will tell them how healthy she is and where to look next. So they are going to call me tomorrow morning with the results and then we'll talk about what's next.

I don't know what it will mean if it is her kidneys but it could also just be an infection that she is having a hard time fighting off. I'm trying so hard not to panic and assume the worst.