Worried about my cat : (

Peggypeg

Hey guys,

I have 4 cats and I love them all dearly. My problem is that one of them 'Ripley' has had blood in her urine for a while, I brought her to the vets and he gave her some anti-biotics and special food and said if it doesn't clear up bring her back and he'll put her on hormone threatment and if it still doesn't clear up he'll bring her in again to be get scanned etc. for cancer. She's my little pudding, she was abused before I got her from the animal rescue and she's such a nervous and timid cat (she only comes to me for cuddles), I told the vet this and he said it could be cists (nervous cats are prone to this). Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this? My first cat "Hudson" was knocked down and killed in January and I was the most devestated I've ever been, I sometimes think that's why I ended up with 4, overcompensated if you know what I mean, glad I did end up with 4 though, they're all lovely. I'm just so worried, she really is the best little thing, after what she's been through I really wanted her to have a long and happy life and now it looks like that might not happen:(

Anyone else go through this?

mymo

I know its scary but I would go back to the vet, or another if you're not happy with the treatment.
Our late cat (died last year,unrelated to illness) developed those symptoms and was straining to urinate. The vet said it was caused by crystals in the bladder, irritating the urinary tract causing infection and thats where the bloody urine came from. The crystals are related to the cats diet, something to do with whats added to food.
Stress can cause urinary problems in nervous cats too.
He told me it was more serious in males(something to do with the plumbing) but manageable. It did take an op to clean out bladder, as there was a blockage and some heavy duty antibiotics to sort the initial problem, then special food to keep under control. It reoccurred twice over the next two years but I knew the symptoms so caught it earlier and antibiotics sorted it.
Try not to worry to much, I know thats hard, just concentrate on getting her better.

Crafty-Chel

hiya, my boss had this problem with her cat recently, not been able to wee n wen he did there was blood in it, it turned out it was gall stones. did your vet ask you to bring in a sample of his wee, maybe you should and get it tested, if you leave an empty tray down you'll get a sample, dont be worring too much it mite be something very simple to clear up. i have four cats aswell and im like you, i worry alot about them coz one that i had a while back went missing and i never found out what happened to him...

Blueprint

Hi, I had this problem with my girl, she had a very bad one last December and we had her urine checked for crystals as this was her second flare up. Luckily she was clear and she seems to be better now, she hasn't had a flare up for a long time now.

I'd bring an urine sample into the vets. (I managed to get a sample of her before by sticking her into the bath tub, running the water to make her need to go and then syringing the wee up as she's unlikely to pee into a jar for you!)

UTI is quite common in nervous cats and I found that giving her a perfectly safe place to sleep helped a lot, she's got a ceiling height cat tree and sleeps on the second highest shelf, you could also try the Feliway infusers around the house and make sure no one is bullying her.

I found this site quite helpful when reading up on UTIs:
http://www.vetinfo.com/caturinary.html

Oh and the vet reassured me that, while UTIs are quite distressing for the cat, they won't affect their lifespan - unless there are very bad crystals, but as said before, that's most common in males.

Ado86

As the OP said, if you are not happy with the treatment plan that your vet has set for your cat, you are perfectly entitled and probably should discuss this with him or her, otherwise bring her to another vet. The vet is probably trying to rule out problems on a cost basis, giving her an initial course of antibiotics is most definitely cheaper than scanning her. But if you want a thorough diagnostic workup and are unperturbed by the cost you should request this, the vet will not refuse! I am not trying to frighten you, but urinary tract infections can be a sign of something more serious, so it very important the cause is identified.

Peggypeg

Thanks for that guys I feel better after reading that. I've booked another vet's appointment on Tuesday. As well as the blood in the urine she's been peeing outside the litter tray in boxes or other stuff, which she never did before. It's kinda handy though coz we should be able to get a sample for the vets.

I'm really happy with my vet, he loves animals, every time he has to give one of my cats an injection he always gives them a cuddle after and tells them they're brave, big sweetie really but yeah I trust him. He said when I first went he would start with the cheapest treatment and not move on to the other stuff unless we need to so I think he has our best interests at heart.

I was wondering about her being bullied but I've been watching carefully and it don't think she is getting bullied, she's very timid and scared of humans but she seems to do ok with the other cats. She sleeps under my bed, the other 3 sleep on it, I might put a little cat cave under the bed so she'll feel even safer when she's napping.

Anyway guys thanks a mill for you responses, it really has made me feel less panicy, seems bloody urine can be a symtom of easily treated stuff. I was terrified that she might have cancer but I'll put that out of my head now.

Thanks again guys.

Blueprint

No problem, it's really horrible when they're ill. My cat's initial UTI bout hadn't got blood in it, she was just weeing in places she shouldn't, but dut to that I'd read up on UTIs and knew about the blood etc, so when she got the really bad one I knew exactly what it was and didn't panic (so much), if I hadn't known I would have been completely freaked out!

Just a thought, when my cat was so ill with last year, she spent about a week sleeping in a cardboard box with the lid closed (we'd just had a Zooplus delivery and she took up home in the box). So you might try leaving her a few safe dens like that about.

Another thing, I don't know what you're feeding her, but a good quality wet food is much better for UTIs than dry as cats don't drink enough by themselves, which the vets don't always tell you about. You could also add some extra water to her food. And we've a water fountain, which really encourages them to drink more.

Mink

I had this problem with my cat on & off over 2yrs. She hasn't gotten cystitis in about 6 months I think, so we're doing well.

Initially when it kept happening, the vet did tests on the urine & an ultrasound on the bladder. After ruling out various things, it came down to symptopathic cystitis - which basically means there is no real cause for it. The cat just sometimes gets stressed out & brings it on or is just prone to it.

When she gets it she ALWAYS starts doing a pee in the bathtub near the plug hole. The reason for this is their urethra is so irritated that the coolness of the bathtub soothes her.

I would watch for this & watch for any blood. If didn't clear up after a couple days (which often happened) or if it got quite a bit more blood, I'd head down to the vets straight away & they'd do the antiobiotic routine & give her an anti-inflammatory injections.

I try & keep a few dishes of water around the house & change the water daily so she has lots to drink. Getting them to drink enough is key when they have it.

I have her on dry food but it's designed to help with UTI problems. It's made by James Well Beloved & you'd get it in a lot of bigger pet shops. I can't get it where I am now but there is a Hills one that does the same thing. The vets also do a dry food that you soak in water & feed to her that way, she really hates it though.

Anytime I switched her to some other food or cheaper food, it just came back all over again.

She's very healthy now & in great shape & when she does get it, it's not a big deal, we just get it sorted & that's the end of it. Hope that helps.

comongethappy

My male suffers from FLUD (feline lower urinary disease). He used to pick up a UTI when we would go away, poor mite would be so stressed. Tried Feliway, which is a hormone diffuser that helps some cats, but it didn't help too much. First time he had it, he went on 3 courses of antibotics before it cleared up. It kept reoccuring even after that, but when I switched food to Orijen, it seemed to clear up and he didn't have it for over a year.

Then, one day my sister in law popped down to us - she had never been in the house before and has quite a loud voice. My female, the mommy of the pack, ran outside and was away for half the night. My little guy hid upstairs, and then came down to look for tux, and was very distressed when he couldn't find her. Two days later, UTI struck - straining to urinate, evenutally urine in the blood, screaming in discomfort. I tried homeopathic remedies at first (grapefruit seed extract, manuka honey), as the vet was concerned about giving him too many antibiotics and him developing a resistance, but it only cleared him up while he was on them, as soon as I took them off it came back. A trip to the vets and an antibiotic shot that was meant to be the equivilant of a two week course, and he was no better. He had to stay in the vet for two nights for them to get a sample, and many injections and anti-inflammatories later, he got to come home. We got a sample of the Science Hill C/D wet, and it seemed to help, though I wasn't impressed with the quality of the food for the price. His infection thankfully left after that. The vets found bacteria, but no crystals.

He's on a mostly wet diet now (and we add water to his wet food), and anytime there may be a period of stress we are going to give him a special food or supplement with the dl methionine added into it (this was the only special ingredient I could see listed on the Science Hill C/D - not sure why they had to make it prescription only :rolleyes: ). They do a few of these foods on zooplus.co.uk, under the supplements and special diet section.