Last Monday (4/28), my grandmother's 15 y/o cat (referred to as LB) began having symptoms of a UTI (prolonged squatting both in and out of the litter box, small production of urine, numerous small urine spots). I took the cat to the vet's on Thursday (5/1) and they did a urinalysis. It's unclear whether it was free-catch or via cystocentesis because I was told different things at different times.
Anyway... The sample came back negative/ok. There were a few white blood cells, but they said that was not unusual. The tech didn't seem to know what why the cat was having these urinary issues. Even though I called them several times, I was never able to speak with the vet or get any answers as to what was wrong with LB.
Today, Thursday (5/8), Grandma called me to take the cat back to the vet because it had blood in it's urine. Another vet at the practice performed a urinalysis (free-catch) and said there was a lot of blood and bacteria in the urine. She felt that the only antibiotic that would treat this is Orbax at 1 ml a day for two weeks. She said the first urinalysis from last week was most likely done too early, before there was enough bacteria to show up.
Does all this sound right to you all? I've had multiple (and I mean lots) of cats in my 16+ years of owning (being owned by) cats and not one of them has ever had a UTI. So I have no experience and very little knowledge about this.
I do know that this cat has had several UTIs in the last 10 years. I suspect they may be related to stress, but I'm really unsure. This time, the symptoms showed up shortly after beginning treatment for CRF (SQ fluids - twice weekly) and arthritis (twice a day pills). The cat HATES getting fluids.
Any thoughts on this would be great. I'm just not that well informed about UTIs. A lot of the information out there is confusing to me. It's almost as if veterinarians aren't on the same page about feline UTIs, cystitis, etc.
Anyway... The sample came back negative/ok. There were a few white blood cells, but they said that was not unusual. The tech didn't seem to know what why the cat was having these urinary issues. Even though I called them several times, I was never able to speak with the vet or get any answers as to what was wrong with LB.
Today, Thursday (5/8), Grandma called me to take the cat back to the vet because it had blood in it's urine. Another vet at the practice performed a urinalysis (free-catch) and said there was a lot of blood and bacteria in the urine. She felt that the only antibiotic that would treat this is Orbax at 1 ml a day for two weeks. She said the first urinalysis from last week was most likely done too early, before there was enough bacteria to show up.
Does all this sound right to you all? I've had multiple (and I mean lots) of cats in my 16+ years of owning (being owned by) cats and not one of them has ever had a UTI. So I have no experience and very little knowledge about this.
I do know that this cat has had several UTIs in the last 10 years. I suspect they may be related to stress, but I'm really unsure. This time, the symptoms showed up shortly after beginning treatment for CRF (SQ fluids - twice weekly) and arthritis (twice a day pills). The cat HATES getting fluids.
Any thoughts on this would be great. I'm just not that well informed about UTIs. A lot of the information out there is confusing to me. It's almost as if veterinarians aren't on the same page about feline UTIs, cystitis, etc.