Bad Kitty....

[psmith0803]

We've got a male cat about a year and half old. Three weeks he starting urinating outside the litter box. We took him to the vet and they said it was a UTI and we got him the anti-bodic shot to cure it up. About a week went by and life was getting pretty good then he had a total blockage. We took him back to the vet and they said it was crystals blocking him up. They inserted a catheter for a day and then watched him for a day. The second night he blocked again and they started the process over.

We got him back after 4 days at the vet and when we brought him home he was very angry and went in about 5 places around the house. We cut him some slack and just kept working with him. Now here we are 3 weeks later he's got a clean bill of health from the vet but he still occasionally goes outside the box. It seems like one or sometime twice a day outside the box.....that we can find =(

It is sometimes near his food dishes, we've relocated them and added a second set. We've added 2 more litter boxes both with different types of litter in different areas in the house. We've got a diffuser that is suppose to be putting out some kinda of kitty prozac or the like.

Usually it's in the evenings and we'll see him start sniffing for around, sometimes he will even sniff one of the litter boxes. Then he will squat down and if we catch him quick enough we can get him to a box and he will finish in the box.

We are at lost at this point,we've done about everything we've been able to find on line. We like our little cat but we cannot let him destroy our house. We've tried locking him up after he goes outside the box for the night in the laundry room. In the morning you can't find anything outside the box and there are 2 or 3 clumps in the box.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[stephanietx]

Did they tell you that he needs to be on a special diet? If not, then you need to call and talk with the vet about this since most kitties with crystals and blockages need prescription food.

Clean all the spots you can find with an enzymatic cleaner. Get a black light and look for all the spots in your home and clean them.

Add additional boxes and use Cat Attract litter until he's using boxes faithfully. Most likely he's connecting the pain he experienced while urinating in the box with the pain of the infection/blockage so he's afraid that if he goes in the box, he'll experience pain.

 

[addiebee]

Originally Posted by stephanietx

Did they tell you that he needs to be on a special diet? If not, then you need to call and talk with the vet about this since most kitties with crystals and blockages need prescription food.

Clean all the spots you can find with an enzymatic cleaner. Get a black light and look for all the spots in your home and clean them.

Add additional boxes and use Cat Attract litter until he's using boxes faithfully. Most likely he's connecting the pain he experienced while urinating in the box with the pain of the infection/blockage so he's afraid that if he goes in the box, he'll experience pain.

He is not a bad kitty - traumatized, stressed and still recovering. I second what Steph said... he will need to be on special food for the rest of his life.

 

[psmith0803]

Yes, he is on prescription food, sorry I forgot to mention that.

 

[psmith0803]

Also it never seems to be the same spot twice, we do clean them very well when we find them.

 

[cheylink]

He spent 4 days at the vets? Is he a single kitty?

 

[psmith0803]

Originally Posted by cheylink

He spent 4 days at the vets? Is he a single kitty?

Yes 4 days at the vet total in a row, they did the catheter twice.

No, we have one other cat, a 3 year old female, both are fixed.

 

[strange_wings]

I don't think he's better yet, honestly. Get him back in for another urinalysis. If he still has quite a bit of crystals in his urine you can catch this early and prevent yet another block.

Also, your vet should have had you bring him in for another follow up urinalysis around this time, anyways.

 

[psmith0803]

We took him back in on Monday, and the vet said urine looked good. It was not medical that is was behavioral.

 

[kailie]

I wonder if he is now associating the litter box with pain? I would try Feliway hun and see if that helps.

 

[otto]

I'd be looking for another vet at this point. I agree with the others, something is still bothering him.

get rid of the old boxes, and put in new boxes. If he's not still in pain he may still be assoicaiting the old boxes with the pain.

Install some feliway plug in diffusers.

And find a vet who won't brush you off with "it's behavioral". That's a lazy vet's favorite diagnosis.

 

[psmith0803]

We are running the diffuser, and we have two new boxes with different types of litter.

I really do not think our vet is trying to pass the buck here, she has really went above and beyond to help us out. There are also 3 total vets at the office and I think they have all been consulted, they said it was one of the worst blockage issues they've dealt with. I really appreciate everyone's responses, I guess it verifies we've done almost everything we can find.

We are going to try the cat attract litter and black light looking for stains ( even though he seems to go in random places). We're going to give it another week or two and hope he comes around. I think we've got one more week of the liquid anti-bodic to give him. By then he will have been on the prescription food for over a month.

If anyone thinks of something new please let us know, we'd hate to be pushed into a bad decision on what I consider the smartest cat I've ever known.

 

[otto]

Your vet can't tell by looking at the urine if it is healthy or not. A culture needs to be done to determine if he is crystal free. And a culture takes a few days to get the results. So it sounds like a culture was not done.

further x rays should be taken, to check for stones.

He needs to be kept well hydrated. Super hydrated. This means (prescription) canned food, or administering sub q fluids at home.

In addition he may have scarring in his bladder or urethra that is causing him discomfort, which, again, he will blame the box for.

I'm not sure what can be done about scarring. Adding cosequin for cats to his daily regimen may help with scarring. It can't hurt him to use it, so I recommend starting it. It will take a few weeks for the cosequin to help with his discomfort.

Perhaps steroids will be needed, to reduce inflammation, that is another thing to consider. I don't know if scarring will show up on an x ray but it is something else to ask the vet.

Another medication to consider is amitriptyline. This medication (brand name, Elavil) is often used in cats who have these kinds of issues. Amitriptline will reduce stress kitty is feeling.

He may, ultimately, need PU surgery to solve his pain and inflammation problems, but I myself would go the medication route first.

Not sure what you mean "give it another week or two"? You mean you will seek another opinion after that? Or consider medication after that? Or Surgery?

 

[strange_wings]

^Good post, also well laid out so it should be easy enough for anyone to understand.

One thing to add about keeping cats hydrated. If he will eat wet food, and better yet prescription wet food, add a little bit of water to it so that the wet food is slightly soupy.

I do this with my former crystal kitty because he does get some dry (1/4cup a day) and I don't trust him to drink enough.

 

[piikki]

Originally Posted by psmith0803

We got him back after 4 days at the vet and when we brought him home he was very angry and went in about 5 places around the house.

Usually it's in the evenings and we'll see him start sniffing for around, sometimes he will even sniff one of the litter boxes. Then he will squat down and if we catch him quick enough we can get him to a box and he will finish in the box.

We've tried locking him up after he goes outside the box for the night in the laundry room. In the morning you can't find anything outside the box and there are 2 or 3 clumps in the box.

These were some of the things that popped up from your first post...

First of all - if you have always used clumping litter, do you have an idea how many times your kitty goes to the potty/day? Is he now/still urinating more than usual? Just asking because for my cats it would be unusual to go to the toilet 3 times (or even 2) during the night and from your story it sounds like your cat pees a lot - is this something he has always done?

Second, I am quite sure he is not angry and possibly still experiencing quite a lot of discomfort. He is definitely scared to bits of his experience. Did you vet give him any pain medication in addition to the antibiotics? Pure pain meds? It sounds like his blocking was pretty radical and he is still having a lot of irritation, feels the need to go more often but fears the potty. Sniffing around the potty to me appears a good sign, he knows and wants to go there but is probably terrified. Maybe he needs pain meds or more if he is getting some? Maybe you could ask?

Cosequin was already mentioned, has your vet brought this up? I am giving it to my (male) cat who had a UTI recently and it sure does not have any negative effects. If your kitty still struggles removing crystals from his system, it could ease the process.

Don't give up on him yet. Couple of weeks is not a long time when recovering from such a serious event. He just wants to pee like he used to and is trying to find a way.

 

[otto]

Originally Posted by piikki

These were some of the things that popped up from your first post...

First of all - if you have always used clumping litter, do you have an idea how many times your kitty goes to the potty/day? Is he now/still urinating more than usual? Just asking because for my cats it would be unusual to go to the toilet 3 times (or even 2) during the night and from your story it sounds like your cat pees a lot - is this something he has always done?

Second, I am quite sure he is not angry and possibly still experiencing quite a lot of discomfort. He is definitely scared to bits of his experience. Did you vet give him any pain medication in addition to the antibiotics? Pure pain meds? It sounds like his blocking was pretty radical and he is still having a lot of irritation, feels the need to go more often but fears the potty. Sniffing around the potty to me appears a good sign, he knows and wants to go there but is probably terrified. Maybe he needs pain meds or more if he is getting some? Maybe you could ask?

Cosequin was already mentioned, has your vet brought this up? I am giving it to my (male) cat who had a UTI recently and it sure does not have any negative effects. If your kitty still struggles removing crystals from his system, it could ease the process.

Don't give up on him yet. Couple of weeks is not a long time when recovering from such a serious event. He just wants to pee like he used to and is trying to find a way.

Excellent points on the trauma he has suffered, and especially about pain medication. My vet always prescribes pain medication for UTIs. It makes such a difference for kitty.

My vet prescribes buprenex. I do not allow metacam to be used in my cats

 

[wendyally]

Sounds like the cat is stressed.

Try to keep in mind that cats don't have a moral compass. Always assume good intent. If he is doing something "wrong"...it's not wrong to him. It just doesn't happen to be what you want.

That being said, he's just been through a very trying experience. I do think you need to continue to cut him some slack. Do the recommendations above (extra litter boxes, etc.), but as for YOU, do yourself and him a favor and take a deep breath and remind yourself that he's not doing this to be bad. He's doing it simply because it's the only thing he knows to do in response to the way he is feeling.

 

[psmith0803]

Lot's of new questions and I'll try and answer them all.

1) Was he given pain meds, sort of he was given a valium to use if we caught him straining to go when we first brought him home after the 4 day visit. We gave it to him twice. It mainly made him sleepy and I didn't actually think a cat could sleep more.

2) About the "3 clumps in the morning", he is going much more often then he used too and they are smaller clumps in general. It's hard to tell beyond when we lock him up for the night, because the other cat is in play.

3) Our vet did give us Cosequin but we were suppose to sprinkle it on his canned script food, but he wouldn't hardly eat the canned food so we went to the dry and it didn't seem like it would work to put it on dry.

4) We did have xrays taken when he was in the vet for 4 days, I've got a call into her now to discuss the culture issue.

5) I do not know what "sub q fluids are at home"

6) I can't really say what" we'll give it another two weeks" means or else we would be trying those things now

It will be 6 weeks tomorrow from when he was first treated ( with an injection ) for the original UTI.

Thank you again for the good input, we found a local source for the cat attract and will be putting it out this afternoon in one of the boxes.

 

[strange_wings]

Originally Posted by psmith0803

I've got a call into her now to discuss the culture issue.

I'm glad to read that. I hope that is done and this can be fully investigated.
It makes no sense to fight this as a behavior issue if there's still a serious health cause for it. Until urinary issues are fully better you may make little to no headway.

Sub-q fluids are fluids that you inject under the skin of a cat. Some only run a small amount and others need larger amounts given from a bag of fluid. I hope this is not something you ever have to do.

Did your cat ever like any other wet foods? While it's better to stick with script, if he'll eat other brands you may be able to discuss with the vet which ones would be safe to use. This way you can get more fluid into him and his supplement. You might also ask the vet if cosequin comes as a chewable treat... I could have sworn that it does for dogs, but I'm not sure for cats.

You have just one diffuser? For how many sqft of space? You may need to add an additional one. You could also try adding bach's pet rescue remedy to his water.

Other things you might want to consider doing: Daily play time(s). Exercise is good for every cat and it helps de-stress them. As does a bit of catnip a day. Make sure you're giving him plenty of attention and not letting your frustration or stress spill over on him - cats can pick up some of our moods. This could make him anxious which could either further stress him or directly cause him to go pee.

 

[psmith0803]

Originally Posted by strange_wings

I'm glad to read that. I hope that is done and this can be fully investigated.
It makes no sense to fight this as a behavior issue if there's still a serious health cause for it. Until urinary issues are fully better you may make little to no headway.

Sub-q fluids are fluids that you inject under the skin of a cat. Some only run a small amount and others need larger amounts given from a bag of fluid. I hope this is not something you ever have to do.

Did your cat ever like any other wet foods? While it's better to stick with script, if he'll eat other brands you may be able to discuss with the vet which ones would be safe to use. This way you can get more fluid into him and his supplement. You might also ask the vet if cosequin comes as a chewable treat... I could have sworn that it does for dogs, but I'm not sure for cats.

You have just one diffuser? For how many sqft of space? You may need to add an additional one. You could also try adding bach's pet rescue remedy to his water.

Other things you might want to consider doing: Daily play time(s). Exercise is good for every cat and it helps de-stress them. As does a bit of catnip a day. Make sure you're giving him plenty of attention and not letting your frustration or stress spill over on him - cats can pick up some of our moods. This could make him anxious which could either further stress him or directly cause him to go pee.

He's never liked wet foods, he received a couple of cans in his stocking last year as a treat and it just annoyed him. He really likes playing with his dry food, pulling the pieces out and chasing them around. I also throw them and he likes to catch them in mid air. I will ask about the cosequin coming in a chewable when I talk to the vet again.

Right now we have the house choked down pretty small, spare rooms and etc are blocked off so the diffuser is not doing a huge area maybe 800 or 900 sq feet in the areas he has full access too. We do open the house up some to him when we are there to keep a closer eye on him.

We have been playing with him a lot trying to de-stress him. We've been letting him do all his tricks over and over and over....and over....