My cat is on amitriptyline, does is help unwanted urine behaviour?

[james rofe]

I have posted this in the health section also, as not sure which section is best.
Hello, firstly I am in the UK so the medications may differ a little. First off we are not allowed to use injectable amitripyline over here. I have also tried the liquid form once but Sophie threw it up straight away. We have been giving 2.5mg of the pill for nearly two weeks but have missed it twice, once due to not being able to get it into Sophie's mouth and it was too stressful and today Sophie vomited it up with some grass. Sophie has been urinating mostly on my bed and throughout the house and I have been reading online this medication could help. I would like to know anyones experiences, how long does it take to work? Does is always work? Thank you for any advice and help.

 

[red top rescue]

It would not be my first choice as a way of treating inappropriate urination.  The first thing I would do is get the cat on a wet food diet that is low in carbs and off of all dry food (which always has too many carbs.)  Some females (I have one) tend to have a urine pH high enough so they form struvite crystals which irritate the bladder and make her feel like she needs to urinate all the time.  Struvite crystals cannot form in slightly acid urine, and eating meat and not carbs makes the urine more acid and also eating wet food dilutes the urine so it is not so irritating.  This is a very simplistic explanation and may not apply to your cat, but it definitely worked on the cat I have here.  I do use pH test strips to test her urine whenever she pees in an inapprpriate place (and she doesn't do this unless her pH is approaching 7.0, which is neutral, and it needs to be brought down to between 6.0 and 6.5.)  That usually means she got into some dry food I didn't know about.  To bring it down fast, I used a mix of 4 parts water with 1 part organic apple cider vinegar and gave her 1 cc by mouth every half hour until the pH came down.  It is not a problem now, a year later, but it was a serious problem for the first three months I had her.  She eats a turkey & giblets canned food with NO carbs at all in it (no grains, no veggies, no beans) mixed with a little chicken baby food (Beech Nut, not Gerber, because Gerber has put starch in their baby food!)  I am not saying this will cure your cat at all, but it certainly can't hurt to try it for awhile.

Here are some things you may want to know about amytriptiline

http://pets.thenest.com/effects-longterm-use-amitriptyline-cats-6659.html

 

[james rofe]

Thanks for you reply. I was reading up on the apple vinegar cider and it says it is could for bacterial cystitis, Sophie does not have this and thankfully she is not blocked. Sophie has stress related as when she gets stressed it flares up the bladder gland to think she needs to urinate and does.