Sick kitty...help!

[angrypeppers 1]

We got Squeaker last winter from a local shelter. He's about six or seven years old as far as the shelter could tell. Fairly big cat, about sixteen pounds or so. He had conjunctivitis when we brought him home, but was healthy otherwise. Now, about every eight weeks, he gets a urinary tract infection. Starts out with him peeing in places he shouldn't, and then the diarrhea starts. When we take him to the vet, they give him two weeks worth of Clavamox, and he's fine. The Clavamox seems to clear him up in a day or two, but we always give him the full treatment. We've had him to two different vets so far, with the same treatment. What's also strange is that neither vet was able to find his bladder to get a urine sample, so we're kinda flying blind. I'm wondering if there may be some other cause of the UTI that neither vet has found yet? Sound familiar to anyone? Squeaks is an indoor/outdoor (outdoors for a few hours when we're home) cat, so I don't know if he's eating something outside that may be causing the problems...some type of parasite maybe? I'm taking him to a third vet tomorrow, but would appreciate any help from here...

Thx!

Burn the land and boil the sea,
You can't take the sky from me.

[jumpin_Jan 1]

While researching cat pee issues I read a lot of posts by people who are in a similar boat.

Google 'cat pee cleanup' and read up on the 'causes'.
Ignore the products they are selling! (see below)

Solutions they have found include WET food.
Friskies savory shreads are about 50% liquid.
The theory is that cats evolved on eating small critters that are mostly water.
Some cats do not tolerate much dry food.
YMMV

Another thing they do is have many litter boxes.
Try a different texture litter.
Cats sometimes associate the UTI peeing pain and avoid the litter box in the future.
Some keep a box with different litter always available for when the UTI pain hits and the cat has an alternative to use that is not associated with the initial pee pain.

Find a vet that can actually test for a UTI.
Sounds wierd that they can not find the output hole.
Tell em to get a (censored) blacklight!

Another cause is social.
My cat has issues with intruders on 'her' turf.
Sometimes she feels the need to mark her territory.
I spray intruders with the hose to discourage them and I think my cat noticed that I am also trying to defend 'her' turf. She has stopped pissin in the corner.
_I_ also mark the turf outside at night sometimes, lol.
This also helps discourage coyotes, coons, squirrils, and skunks.
(the advantages of being a guy)


One thing you also need is the magic formula for cleanup!

1:1 mixture of white vinegar and destilled or filtered water. Wet area(completely soak), wet vac and fan dry.
Do this twice or more.
When COMPLETELY dry sprinkle with baking soda and re-wet with 3% hydrogen peroxide, add a bit of liquid dish detergent(a few drops) in it. Rub it in and wet vac after an hour or so, then fan dry again.

If you do it right it WILL stink of vinegar for a day or so. Unlike cat pee though when the vinegar dries it will not smell when re-wetted (ie: high humidity)

The vinegar combats the amonia.
The hydrogen peroxide combats the other bacteria etc.
The dish soap is a surfactant to help the peroxide completely penetrate.
The baking soda absorbs what you missed.

Cleanup is the trick to stopping the repeat.
You have to get it so clean that the cat can not smell it else the potential for rewetting remains.

I spent a lot of $$$ on products that do not work.
Save you self the money!

SIXTEEN POUNDS?
I'm sure the vets ripped on ya for the weight, yadda yadda yadda.
Good luck with that!!! lol.
My cat is 14 pounds and she is 'small framed'.

I also give mine a once a month wormer because I let her out sometimes and ya never know...

Give Squeaker a rub between the ears for me and good luck!!!


PULL
jumpin_Jan

"Dangerous toys are fun but ya could get hurt" -- Vash The Stampede

[skydivellama 0]

(Vet student here)
My first thought is that a urine sample would be the most helpful thing, as they could culture that to find out exactly what bug is causing the UTIs. Urine sample would also show if it's not actually an infection, many cats get symptoms similar to UTI that are of unknown cause but might be due to changes in urine composition or pH, which you might be able to counteract by changing his diet. Do any vets near you have an ultrasound machine? Finding the bladder is easy with one of those. I've also used plastic litter pellets-- you replace your regular litter with the plastic pellets, then when the kitty pees it doesn't get absorbed, and you can get a sample with a syringe. Ask your vet if they have those.
Have either of the vets done bloodwork? Many conditions can predispose cats to UTIs and/or change the composition/pH of the urine; stuff like diabetes, renal failure etc. might show up in blood tests.
Good luck!

"Perhaps she saw before her a lifetime of walking on the ruined earth and chose instead a single moment in the air." -Carolyn Parkhurst

[tigra 0]

He's a cutie so I hope everything works out. I had an orange tabby who also had similar problems, minus the diarrhea. Has anyone suggested changing his diet? You can buy perscription food at the vet's office that is specifically made for cats with UTI issues. Its difficult for a vet to get a urine sample if his bladder isn't full when you take him in, but as someone else suggested, you can get a sample from home using the special plastic litter pellets. That's actually a little less traumatic for your cat anyway, although my cat always hated it- mostly because I have more than one, so to get a sample that I knew was HIS, I had to lock in him in the bathroom until he used the litter box. I think he felt like he was being punished.

Anyway, like I said, my orange tabby Milo also had a recurring UTI issue and my vet put him on a perscription diet but even with that, it seemed like I was still taking him in every few months for the same problem. After an episode where he just wasn't getting any better after 10 days or so, the vet suggested an x-ray to check for crystals or kidney stones. Well, she didn't find any of that but she did catch something else that turned out to be a pretty serious heart condition. Oddly enough, once his heart condition was diagnosed and he was on medication for it, I never saw a recurrence of the UTI problems. I did eventually lose him to heart failure, but I'll always be grateful to that vet. Just by being thorough, she caught a condtion we were able to treat and manage for several years.

[maadmax 0]

Cystitis can sometimes be very frustrating to control. At a bare minimum you should get a bacterial culture and sensitivity on a sterile urine sample, collected by cystocentesis at the Vets office. Change the food to either Science Diet C/d, or Purina's Urinary Diet, test for FIV & Felv along with a CBC & Profile, get X-rays of the urninary system and/or ultrasound. If you use a prescription urinary diet, Squeakers should not be allowed to eat anything else including treats. The fact that Clavamox works so quickly means that it is a good choice of antibiotics. You may want to switch to a 6 week treatment with Baytril or Ciprofloxicin. There is a lot more that can be done but this would be a good start and takes care of most problems.GOOD LUCK!

[flyangel2 2]

Quote

(Vet student here)
My first thought is that a urine sample would be the most helpful thing, as they could culture that to find out exactly what bug is causing the UTIs. Urine sample would also show if it's not actually an infection, many cats get symptoms similar to UTI that are of unknown cause but might be due to changes in urine composition or pH, which you might be able to counteract by changing his diet. Do any vets near you have an ultrasound machine? Finding the bladder is easy with one of those. I've also used plastic litter pellets-- you replace your regular litter with the plastic pellets, then when the kitty pees it doesn't get absorbed, and you can get a sample with a syringe. Ask your vet if they have those.
Have either of the vets done bloodwork? Many conditions can predispose cats to UTIs and/or change the composition/pH of the urine; stuff like diabetes, renal failure etc. might show up in blood tests.
Good luck!

(Vet Tech here)
Good advise. I would add, change of diet. Too much ash in over the counter cat food. Check out PHD foods. http://phdproducts.com/

BTW, to the OP, finding a bladder on a 16 pound cat is not easy. Besides, it's always better to just wait it out and let the cat pee on their own rather then stick a needle in the bladder to get a sample. It's easy to get a sample at home. Just empty the litter box of all litter, clean it and then put in packing peanuts. Make sure the packing peanuts are not the ones that melt when they get wet. Collect the UA and take it in to the vet. IMO, changing around to different vets isn't always a good idea. Stick with a trusted vet and do the extra bloodwork, x-rays, etc to find out what's going on.
Good luck.

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[sharimcm 0]

Some of what you're describing is what my cat Ladybug is going through now, except she is having quite a bit of weight loss. My vet believes it could be IBS (can cause diarrhea) since the bloodwork showed nothing of great value except that she's healthy. He has suggested changing her diet (food including lamb, rabbit or kangaroo) and generally keeping an eye on her. She's on Clavamox right now for her UTI (they did a urinaylsis). She seems to be doing better and after changing her diet up a bit, she seems a little more social.

But, back to Squeaker... Make sure the new vet does bloodwork to make sure all his organs are properly working, etc. It's a little costly, but if you want to get aggresive with finding the cause, I would look in to getting an ultrasound. With that, they're able to see issues that bloodwork or a UA won't find Bug will be going in for an ultrasound in two weeks if her weight check shows she lost more weight.

Good luck to you and I'm sending Squeakers some good vibes and a couple of scratches.

"I had a dude tip his black cowboy hat to me after I provided him with a condom outside my hotel room at 3-something in the morning." -myself

[Nightingale 0]

Get your vet to keep him long enough to get a urine sample. Find out what you're dealing with. You may be dealing with repeated UTIs, or maybe crystals/FLUTD, or something else entirely.

[angrypeppers 1]

Thanks for the info and advice! Squeaks is doing fine now, the urinary tract symptoms have gone away. I'm still not convinced there's not some underlying problem though. His kidneys and blood checked out OK, but we still can't get a urine sample. If I can't get one from him in the morning, he'll be spending the day at the vet's office so they can collect one.

Burn the land and boil the sea,
You can't take the sky from me.