Hello Mammas!
I posted a question not long ago about my cat, Lacy. The quickest way I can fill you in is like this: About a month ago I noticed her pee smelling a bit more than normal. So we switched her over to a UTI health food to try to prevent any problems. She is going on 10 next month so this is a good thing to consider anyway. We have an automatic feeder & waterer for her. We have had it for her 10 years with us. My cat is very private & doesn't come out too too much. She is now & has always been a strictly indoors cat. She's very friendly but prefers to keep to herself resulting in us not holding her much. She's just not interested. I thought (could have sworn) my husband refilled her new catfood through the past month. He thought I had. There was always food in her bowl so I didn't think anything of it.
I noticed here recently that she looked thinner but justified it as the new food being healthier & maybe she was shedding some of her coat. A few days ago she started looking really bad. She was coming out a LOT more & just laying down on the floor. I took her to the vet ASAP. Come to find out, she lost 7 pounds (was a 14.5 lb cat before & is now 7.5 lbs). Obviously this is terrible! The vet said she must have really hated the new food & just stopped eating and drinking all together. I always thought an animal's survival instinct would kick in & like it or not, they would eat it. He said that's true about 99% of the time but there is that 1% with too much attitude. Awesome. NOT! So he ran blood work on her and determined that even though she was nearly starved to death by her own free will, her organs were still functioning properly. She did, however, develop a UTI.
She was quite dehydrated so he gave her an IV of fluid. He gave her an antibiotic shot & an appetizer stimulator shot (never heard of that before). He also sent us home with a 10 day antibiotic to help kick this UTI in the butt. I picked her up some of her favorite wet cat food & she's been averaging 1 can per day. She is already looking better size wise. Still much thinner than she's ever been but not balancing on death. She is still not drinking any water so I'm using an old medecine dropper & sort of forcing water in her. I've given her the antibiotic every day.
I guess here's where the problem lies... Her UTI does not seem to be getting any better! I know, I know, I know this can't be any fun for her. At the same time, she has visible blood in her urine (the vet was quite confident she didn't have any tumors, lumps, stones or anything else). Anyhow, she's still using the litter box all the time & only going a little bit each time. She will also stop walking though & I don't know if she's trying to get a good inside stretch in or what but her little tail shakes like a rattle snake & she leaks pee. Cat pee is gross enough on my NEW carpet but bloody cat pee! I mean, really??? So she's been taking the antibiotics now at home for 3 days. She got the shot on Thursday & then oral pills Fri, Sat & Sun. So I guess in the end I do have a question... this seems to be a nasty UTI. Is it normal that it's not getting much better yet? I don't want her to be in pain. I am trying to remain patient because she is a member of this family & I know she is a very sick kitty with all issues combined. She's developed a cold to go along with it. This poor thing...
Thank you so much to anyone that has read this to the end. Your time means a lot to me. I don't know if I should call the vet again to make sure this is a normal time frame still or what... I just want my baby girl to feel better soon.
You are lucky, our cats infection went into it's kidneys and she became diabetic after 14 years of having her.
UTIs can take a little time, but with no improvement she may need a different antibiotic. I would call to at least let the vet know what is going on and if they to do anything different. Wet food does have a high water content,so that is probably part of the reason she is not drinking much. You can try mixing a little extra water into the food too. Water is great to help flush out the bladder. If she is still getting over the UTI she is going to go more frequently.
I have one kitty with bladder issues, she has had a couple of infections, but also has sterile cystitis where her bladder gets very irritated and she will urinate with blood in it and more frequently and sometimes in the shower (nice and cold for her). She also had crystals in her urine. She has flare ups here and there and I usually increase her water intake for a flare up and wait 24 hours to see if it gets better, if not it's off to the vet. When she has a UTI she goes even more often. Flare ups for her are brought on by stress usually, so she is on a behavioral med, amitryplline (sp?). She is also on a Rx urinary diet and has been for several years when she first started having flare ups and it helps a lot. The diet changes the urine pH and she drinks more, so more urine on it to help keep everything flushing through. I also have her on cosequin to help keep the bladder water from being irritated. I also add water to her food in the AM, about probably about TBS, and mainly because of the cosequin powder. All in all, since starting her on everything about 5 years ago she has only had about 3-5 flare ups, all of which were associated with stress. I have worked for vet's so all of the medications and food were added in after discussing the condition and having repeat UTIs and repeat blood in the urine, but no infection.
Hope your kitty is feeling better soon. If you are having trouble getting the pills in her at all there is also an injectable 14 day antibiotic if your vet has it. It is a little pricey, but sometimes worth it. It sounds like you are getting the pills in without any trouble though, so that is great! Nature's miracle is great to clean up any urine accidents. Cats with UTIs will sometimes go outside the box, since it is uncomfortable to pee and they can associate it with the box and many times will go in a tub or sink or on tile since it is cool. Hope this helps a little, but if she isn't doing better I'd give the vet a call and see what they say. They will want to know if she isn't doing better or any changes. Hope she is feeling better soon and glad she is putting some weight back on.
A.- we have dealt with UTI's in our house several time, our little boy cat seems to get them continuously. The wet food has lots of water in it so feel good that between that and the stuff you are forcing in your baby that should be good. I would call the vet back and ask for two things, a pain killer you can give your girl so she will feel better, that works WONDERS with our boy, i don't know why vets are so reluctant to give pain killers to animals, if this were our kid with this bad of a UTI the doc would have sent home some kind of pain medicine! Secondly ask about a steriod shot, it is not always good to give an animal with an infection steriods because they suppress the immune system, but for UTI's they can really help with the irritation and inflamation in the urinary tract and help with the constant need to pee. Our vet said that it is the uncomfortablness and the pain that cause the cat to constantly visit the litter box, and if you can control that, they can at least stop that frequency while the anti-biotics are working to fix the infection. Some UTI's require a really strong anti-biotic, and several courses of the medication before they are resolved unfortunately!
Good Luck!
Take her back to the vet. She needs plenty of fuilds to beat the UTI. If she is not drinking its not going to help her. I had a cat the got ill shortly after I got him as a kitten. We had issues with dehydration. After having an IV he did not pick up as well as he should have. In order to keep his kidneys and bladder functioning, the vet gave him some subcutaneous fluids. Basically they injected a bunch of fluids under his skin. He looked kind of lumpy for a couple of days until his body absorbed all the fluids but it was enough to keep him going until he could drink on his own. I would also have the vet do an xray and make sure her bowels aren't impacted. Good Luck.
Some antibiotics take 3-5 days to begin working, so I'd give her a couple more days or if you're really worried it won't hurt to call the vet and ask them what they think. I'm sorry your kitty isn't feeling well and I hope she gets better SOON! Good Luck.
Cats can get worse so quickly... I would call first thing in the morning and ask if this is what's expected from a UTI, or not. My mom's cat has a history of UTIs and she has learned that it can lead to a kidney infection, which is very serious for cats. Her cat almost died from a kidney infection. So I wouldn't take a chance. Just give the vet a call in the morning and double-check if you should bring her back in for another check-up. Maybe it's normal, but if the antibiotics aren't making a dent, the vet may want to up the dosage or prescribe something stronger. Good luck! I hope kitty feels better soon!
I also recommend calling. Unfortunately, animals do not always have a long time-frame when they get sick and you will feel better for asking. Unlike adults and kids, it can be really hard to tell how they are doing.
If you are going to get her back on hard food, you might try soaking it in a bit of water, just enough to make it the consistency of soft food, but you know she is getting some water. Poor baby...they totally are part of our families! Hope she feels better soon.
I responded to your last post about my 22 yr old cat (who unfortuantely developed seizures, and had to be put down this week, wwaaahhhh).
The UTI's I've dealt with, I saw marked improvement fairly quickly. I would say, in 24 hours there should be improvement (although I could understand a few difficulties still). After 3 days, I'd say call the vet. She may need a stronger antibiotic.
Natures Micacle by the gallon. Pour that over the areas she has pee'd, and saturate them. Allow them to dry (make sure to get padding and subfloor). They also make a spray stain remover (I got a free bottle attached to the gallon jug). That took the rusty looking stain right up.
If you continue having problems w/ odor, pull up the carpet, replace that section of padding, and seal in the subfloor. Kilz is good to seal the scent. Of couse, soak the carpeting again before doing this, as well as clean it.
Good luck.
I would call the vet. When our cat has had UTIs it's been a two week course of medication so I assume they do take time to get rid of. In the mean time get some type of pet enzyme cleaner. Wal-mart carries Pet Out brand and PetSmart carries a variety of these, one is Natures Miracle. Just be sure it contains enzymes. These are the BEST type of cleaners on the market especially for blood and pee. Works on carpet, clothes, furniture and is supposed to be non-toxic. It's my everyday laundry stain pre-treater. I've not found much of anything that it doesn't get rid of.
Hope your cat is feeling better soon.
Ask your vet about Dasuquin. It helps the lining of a cat's bladder calm down.
Hey A.,
I can tell by reading your post that you love your cat very much. I feel the same way about my cat, Koal. He is about 9 years old. He also has been having very similar problems. Urinating around the house, blood in the urine, lack of an appitite, and less frequent urinating. When I took him to the vet, the Dr. ran some tests and did an examination. He told us that with the list of symptoms and the results from the blood tests that he was able to diagnose him as having renal kidney failure. We are so sad because there is not a fix for this problem other than a kidney transplant which is too expensive. The only thing we could do for him is to feed him a special cat food that is easier for his body to break down and get rid of waste and will hopefully help prolong his life. I know that this is probably something that you don't want to hear but I would ask your vet if that could possibly be what is wrong with your cat. If it turns out that she does have renal kidney failure then you can get her started on that food and hopefully have a little more time with her. Good luck to you and your family and God Bless!
S.
