Medical help needed!

[njlib]

A good friend of mine has a cat with recurrent, hard to treat, UTI's. She just finished a round of daily shots and seemed OK. Now, the cat's wetting the bathmat again and crying. She's going back to the vet tomorrow, but my friend is now worried that maybe it's something else and the cat wet the mat to get her attention. The cat was at the vet last week, checked for a UTI, and was given a clean bill of health. I know there are several cat experts here and was hoping that someone would have advice for treatment and prevention or suggestions as to what else, if anything, this could be.

Thank you for taking the time to read my first post on DU! Any suggestions and advice will be greatly appreciated!

[japple]

1. Here's a link to a site that might give her some ideas of

what questions to ask the vet.

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_feline_lower_urinary_tract_dis.html

Poor kitty is probably having pain during urination, esp. if he has crystals or kidney stones. Hope she can get some help for him tomorrow.

[haele]

2. Check thyroid functions -

Also, stress can cause UTIs in male cats, even if they're fixed. My old man Bombay mix, Moggy, used to suffer from them regularly from the time he was 5 years old until he got on thyroid meds. Now, he just pisses on things when he's "pissed".

Haele

[njlib]

3. Thank you

Thank you so much for the replies! Vet visit is today, so hopefully I'll have more to post later. Please keep those ideas rolling in!

[ginnyinWI]

4. try this:

Take the cat off of all dry food and only feed canned for several days to a week. See if it makes a difference. I read a book by a vet who points to dry food as the cause of all sorts of health problems in cats because of the carbohydrates they contain, including UTI's. This includes even the higher priced low-carb dry foods.

Cats are carnivores. While people burn carbs for energy, cats burn protein. They don't need carbs, and eating dry food gives them a much too high level of them in their bodies. A cat's pancreas is not designed to handle that much.

So try it for 5-7 days and see what happens. My cat didn't have that problem, but taking her off dry food and giving her only canned has made her finally start losing her excess weight!

If you try this, please post and let us know how it works, ok?

edited to add a helpful link: http://www.catnutrition.org/catkins.php

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

5. I've heard that, too

I listen to Dog Talk radio show whose host wrote The Cat Bible in addition to The Dog Bible. She often says that dry food is not good for cats - they should only be fed wet food.

[njlib]

6. UPDATE....

Yahtzi, sister of Scrabble and furbaby of my friend, is back from the vet. Her urine is now bloody and she's been put on two weeks of antibiotic shots, with a steroid shot once a month. The vet also gave Cosequin to sprinkle on the food. The vet said if this happens again, she'd like to do an ultrasound to check for cancer. My friend is frantic and I'm worried for her!

Thank you to all who have responded so far! We've been checking this forum all day and looking into all suggestions that have been made. Has anyone had a similar experience/diagnosis? Any help will be appreciated more than you can imagine!

[japple]

7. If possible, I'd still seek a second opinion. And I second the

suggestion that the cat be taken off dry cat food. My 16 yr. old cat, Tiny, was diagnosed with chronic renal failure nearly 4 years ago, and the vet prescribed a Science Diet product. He refused to eat it, so I started feeding him freeze-dried chicken/turkey medallions (Nature's Variety) that I get online through petfooddirect.com. He also eats other wet catfood, but his lab tests have improved since his diet was improved, and he's been much friskier. After reading Lorien's long thread about petfood, I'm now a believer.

Here's the thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=243&topic_id=4388&mesg_id=4388

Good luck to Yahtzi and your friend. Please keep us posted.

[njlib]

8. Thank you so much, japple

I've given my friend the link to this page and just e-mailed her to check out your latest post! She told me today that it was so nice to know that people care. I told her this group is probably the nicest on DU and everyone is always so helpful and ready to extend prayers, best wishes, positive vibes, etc. I've shed many tears reading the posts and responses for the few years I've been lurking here! I have two 10 year old dogs and five cats I've taken in over the past few years...the 6th cat died from leukemia on 12/4/07 and we all still miss him terribly...I'm always touched to see the outpouring of support when someone is going through a rough time with one of their babies.

Before I forget, Yahtzi's thyroid is OK!

Thank you to all who have responded and please post any other ideas or suggestions you may have!

[tencats]

9. I'm curious now, how old is this cat?

Do you have any knowledge of what this cats urinalysis lab report was? Since the Dr prescribed an injectable antibiotic along with a steroid injection I would think that there surely has been several urine labs completed. There was a urine culture and sensitivity lab done? What is the injectable antibiotic and is the pets owner administering it at home?

[njlib]

10. tencats

Please see below for the e-mail I received from my friend:


Yahtzi will be 8 years old on June 7th. The urinalysis showed lots of white blood cells indicating infection, no stones but lots of struvite (not sure of spelling) crystals. There is no blockage as of X-ray in late April and no bladder stones as of last test. I don't have the complete report on today's yet.
The antibiotic is enrofloxacin, 25 units a shot..once a day.
She had previously had a penicillin type injection, but that stopped working because she apparently built up a resistance to it.
Yes, I am doing shots at home.....lots of experience with that because of 6 years of administering insulin shots to a diabetic cat. This shot is given differently, however and I am doing it the way the vet indicated.


I hope this information helps! Thank you so much!

[Lorien]

11. I've been told that dry food and not enough water is often the culprit

first, read this: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=243&topic_id=4388&mesg_id=4388 then try to get kitty on to an all low carb canned food-or better yet, a raw food diet (there are several ready made human grade brands at better pet food supply stores). Also, get kitty a drinking fountain and add fresh water to it regularly. Most crystals will eventually flush out when the cat gets regular hydration.

[njlib]

12. Thanks, Lorien

I had read on this board a little while back that a few people swore by distilled water for themselves and their cats. I told my friend and she tried it, but the cats wouldn't drink it! She's been reading the comments here and said last night that she was going to try giving up the dry food. This might sound like a stupid question, but besides wet/raw, is there any other way to get them to take in more fluids? Anything that could be added to the water to get them to drink more?

[Lorien]

14. The circulating fountain itself encourages them to drink more

because the sound of running water stimulates the cat's desire to drink. My Maine Coon is even more demanding: he insists that I make him a fresh cup of water and place it in the sink every time I go into the bathroom. Cats generally don't like water that's been standing for a few hours.

Best of luck!

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

13. Please read - we went through the same thing and found some answers.

My little guy peed outside the box, blood in his urine,licking incessently in the genital area - obviously a problem and we took him right away to the vet who said he had an infection and gave him antibiotics which appeared to relieve the problem for about 1 or 2 days and then the same thing happened rapidly on a weekend.

We took him to an emergency vet (thank God!) who did a much better job than our own vet. The struvite crystals are almost like sand or grit and are very painful for the animal when passing. You might get an infection and pus, but that's secondary to what the major problem is. This wonderful vet gave him an injection of something to dissolve the crystals and a prescription for some medicine , (sorry, don't know what it was but it was not just an anti-biotic)and then gave us a prescription for specialized food to also treat the problem. It is specially designed to either reduce or raise the acidity of the urine (can't remeber which - ha!)which reduces the formation of the crystals and it makes him pee a lot. It worked like a charm! I was really upset that our own vet just entirely missed the boat on this.

I read A LOT about the problem and here's the game plan:

Make sure the cat drinks a LOT of water. We bought one of those circulating fountains which is supposed to encourage water drinking and it does.

Much less dry food. NEVER just leave a heaping dish of it around. Maybe a 1/4C once or twice a day if your cat insists on eating it -but try to get him on as much wet food as possible and try to find low carb like Lorien mentioned. Avoid seafood catfood - I read that this seems to promote crystals for some reason.


We have not had a reoccurance, but if we do, I will just wait for a night or a weekend and take him to the great emergency vet. I also ordered and keep on hand a supply of the special food just in case. I occasionally give him some of it.

[njlib]

15. Thanks, Phoebe

The vet gave her Cosequin to sprinkle on the food, which is supposed to regulate the ph balance, and she's already had both cats off of any food that contains fish. That's what makes this latest infection all the more frustrating! Also, she's going to be getting the swirling water fountain.

Sharon, Yahtzi's mom, wanted me to let everyone know how much she appreciates all the advice, suggestions and good wishes! She said it's nice to know that people care and want to help. You guys are great and I can't thank you all enough.

[njlib]

16. Today's call from the vet

I received this update this morning:


The doctor called early this morning....much more informative today...there are NO crystals this time, at this point anyway, but elevated white blood count (infection) and "way too many red blood cells to count". She said tho it is rare in females, there are some cats who have this chronic UTI syndrome and she is hoping that the monthly steroid which is an anti-inflammatory, will prevent recurrences once this one is cleared up. She also said that the Cosequin does something in the urinary tract to balance the ph factor so if Y will eat the wet food with the Cosequin in it that should help also.


Anyone have any experience with Cosequin? Or getting a finicky cat to eat Cosequin-laced food?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

17. I hope things are going better and well for your friend's cat -

She's really fortunate to have an animal lover/ friend like you who went out of their way to try to find solutions for the little kitty in distress.

[njlib]

18. Thanks, Phoebe

Sharon's been a cat person all her life and has been such good friend to me. The situation is pretty much the same, except now she's got a couple of human houseguests who will be there indefinitely (one of whom is a 3 year old) and Yahtzi is having a tough time dealing with it. She's very stressed out and hasn't been eating, but has been taking her medicine. Since she can't stay home every day, I suggested putting both cats in her bedroom, with food, water and a litterbox, when she has to go to work and making sure the door locks from the outside. They're hiding UNDER her bed anyway, so hopefully once they realize that they've got a safe haven away from everyone, they'll start lounging ON her bed and eating, drinking, and being more like themselves. I hope it works!

As for me, I've got 2 dogs - Buster was abandoned in a vacant apartment at 8 weeks old, Cinnamon is my neurotic girl from the shelter - and 5 cats. Kitty showed up at work one day, we started feeding her and before we could trap her and get her to a vet to be fixed, she had 5 kittens. I've got Kitty and Bunny, one of her daughters. Kitty was just under 5 lbs. when I brought her home and is now 13 lbs.! My "cellar dwellers" appeared out of nowhere, hanging around my house. I had 6 that would come around every night to eat. I'd come home from work and they'd be on my front steps, waiting for supper, then would run around to the deck in the back and wait for me to feed them. I trapped them one by one and brought them to the vet. Piglet, who I was told had "milk" so there were babies somewhere out there, and Kingsford were fixed, vaccinated, and released. Pooh tested positive for leukemia and after a 20 minute hysterical phone conversation, the vet convinced me to put him down. Roo was my next catch and he was also FLV positive, but by this time, I had watched them interact long enough to see that they were a family, especially once Piglet's daughter Baby showed up, and there was no way I could put him to sleep. I brought him home and that's when I decided to re-trap Piglet and Kingsford, trap Baby, and turn my basement into the kitty motel! That Roo was the sweetest thing!! Everyone else loved him because he was the snuggler, groomer, playmate and caretaker of the bunch. Piglet has never been happy about being inside, but Roo always used to get her up out of her snuggly bed and make sure she came out to eat. I have my old couch downstairs and everyone was always snuggled up to Roo. He did well for the first year I had him inside, I fattened him up nicely, but then he rapidly started to deteriorate. It got to the point where I was cooking for him and trying all sorts of supplements to try to get him to gain weight. He'd eat, but just kept losing weight. I went downstairs on December 4th, 2007 to give everyone their breakfast and there he was.....my poor sweet Roo boy. I miss him and so do they...especially Baby! He was so sweet and gentle with her and much more motherly to her than her mother, grumpy old Piglet. Anyway, now Kingsford, Piglet, and Baby are my cellar dwellers and they all seem to be doing OK. Kingsford is my lovey dovey boy and has been since I brought him inside. Piglet is actually letting me pet her SOMETIMES, but still looks like if she had the chance, she'd tear my face off! Baby is another story...still can't pet her or get too close, but she does seem to be interested in watching me when I pet Piglet. I'm hoping she'll come around because Roo never did. I never got to pet him while he was alive and that breaks my heart. Everybody deserves pets and hugs and kisses.

Maybe when I figure out how to post pics, I'll get pictures of them in here!

Thank you again, EVERYONE, for your suggestions, concern and caring...and thanks for letting me ramble on about my zoo! This really is a great group of people!

[japple]

19. Wow, njlib, it sounds like you have all the characters from Winnie

the Pooh living in your house! Good on you for all you've done for homeless animals. It sounds like you know all the right things to do to keep the little colony of stray kitties happy and healthy. God bless you.

[njlib]

20. Awww, don't make me cry, japple!

When Kitty showed up at work, the girls right away wanted to feed her and make her the office mascot. I told them that since I was a dog person, I'd pick up cat food from the store, but didn't want to end up having to feed and take care of the cat. Well, guess who ended up feeding, taking care of, and getting attached to the cat!! I don't think I need to tell you the ribbing I get now for being a dog person with a house full of cats!!

When everyone started showing up at my house, they all said "Oh, you'll be taking them in soon" and I kept saying "NO WAY...I'M A DOG PERSON"!! I can't tell you how many times I get home at night and walk into into the house where the dogs are barking, the cats are meowing and my son is singing in the shower! I truly live in a nut house!

The dogs are on my bed now, waiting for me. I have a queen size bed and end up getting to sleep on about 6 inches near the edge! Kitty and Bunny are watching my son attempt to make a homemade calzone and the cellar dwellers have stuffed their faces and settled in on their couch donwnstairs.

Now, all I have to do is hit the lottery and I can REALLY get to work on having my animal sanctuary!

[AZBlue]

21. Yeah, I was a "dog person" too.

I'd always had dogs my whole life but when I was in my twenties I decided I wanted a pet and wasn't home enough for a dog (plus I live in an apartment, so no doggie door). I got Sally, one of the sweetest souls that ever lived - and also one of the most dependent cats ever. She passed away two and a half years ago and I got Maggie - who made Sally look anti-social, LOL. Well, at least cats don't have to be walked, right? ;)

You sound like a wonderful fur-mother! Keep us posted about your friend's situation - I hope all works out ok!!

[njlib]

22. Funny how that happens

Now, I have to say I'm an ANIMAL person whenever someone reminds me that a dog person doesn't have so many cats! Used to be that I wasn't crazy about cats unless they were like a dog. In my younger years, I only knew one cat that didn't run and hide from people and was as sociable as a dog. It wasn't until I brought Kitty and Bunny home that I really saw how friendly, funny, and goofy they can be. The cats will look at my dogs like they're idiots, but they have their silly moments, too. If I'm downstairs with the cellar dwellers and the dogs start to bark, Kingsford will run over and hop up on the kitty condo to look out the window and see what's causing all the commotion. I HAVE to figure out how to post pictures here!

As for poor Yahtzi, she's still stressing over the houseguests and is not a happy camper! I should be getting a more in-depth update tonight or at some point over the weekend and will post it here. Thanks for the good wishes!

[AZBlue]

23. I'm an animal person too.

My house is for the cats (well one cat now but I want to get a second this summer) and my parents' house is for the dogs (they have two adorable dogs I love as much as if they were my own).

To post pictures, use a free picture hosting server like snapfish or photobucket and load your pictures there. That makes them an image with a url that you can use to post them (to post any image, just type in the url including "http://" and it will appear in your post - it only works for .jpg or .gif images).

[njlib]

24. Thanks for the photo advice

I'm going to try it later today. All my "kids" are napping now...if they don't get their 20 hours a day, they're just NOT themselves!

[BrklynLiberal]

25. You are an exceptionaly kind and loving person, and I think all the furbabies

know that...and appreciate it, even if they won't let you pet them.
Belated sympathy on your loss of Roo. He sounds like he was a real gem.

[njlib]

26. Thanks Brklyn....

He really was a sweet boy! I'm going to try to post some pics now. Hope it works!


I love this one because he's snuggled up to Baby and has a big smile on his face!


Here's Baby, Piglet (Baby's mother), and Roo


Kingsford - my lovey dovey boy


How Roo squeezed himself into the condo like this and was able to sleep so soundly is beyond me!



Kitty's on the left, Bunny, her daughter is on the right.


Neurotic Cinnamon!


Here's my Buster working on his tan! My mushy baby since he was 8 weeks old....

[njlib]

27. Yahtzi update

Just heard from Sharon and Yahtzi is eating her new food, only has 2 more shots left, isn't wetting the bathmat, but still isn't crazy about drinking out of her new fountain and prefers the bathroom faucet! Hopefully, she'll adjust to the fountain in time, but at least she seems to be getting better.

Once again, thanks to all of you for your suggestions!

[BrklynLiberal]

29. After reading this thread, I went online and bought a new water fountain for my babies.

Here is the link to several as shown on Amazon.com. I went for the newest, which is also the biggest, the Drinkwell. I have a German Shepherd and 5 cats, so I wanted to make sure there would be enough for everyone each day.
I am thinking that I might put ice cubes in the water during the summer.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=drinkwell&x=11&y=21

[njlib]

30. I was thinking

I might get a couple for my guys. Thanks for the link! I think that's the cheapest I've seen them and they look to be large enough to accomodate everyone in my zoo.

[BrklynLiberal]

28. Amazingly gorgeous family...and wonderful pics. Thanks for posting.

[njlib]

31. Thanks!

They certainly are a funny bunch. Crabby old Piglet actually let me brush her yesterday! Just a few strokes, but that's major progress for her. Now, I have to work on gaining Baby's trust. She's the only one that won't let me touch her at all. She'll sit and watch while I pet Kingsford and Piglet, and does seem to be comfortable letting me get a little closer to her, but still takes off if I'm too close.

[japple]

32. What a beautiful family. So glad you posted their pictures.

They all look so happy, esp. Roo with the smile on his face. I love the mother/daughter shot of Kitty & Bunny. It nice to see them all snuggled up together.

[njlib]

33. Thanks, japple

Kitty and Bunny snuggle all the time, which is why it's been so hard losing Roo. He was always the center of the snuggling downstairs! Poor Baby really is lost without him because Piglet doesn't seem to want to be bothered with anybody and Kingsford's just a big, brutish oaf, who plays too rough and doesn't get it when it comes to snuggling. He's VERY mushy with me, but not with the girls downstairs. I ended up putting some stuffed animals in the corner of the couch, figuring Baby could snuggle with them. She has a few times, but for the most part, curls herself up in the tightest little ball and just sleeps on her own. I wish I had video of Roo and Kingsford doing "Raging Bull". They'd lie on their sides, belly to belly, and swat each other in slow motion...it was the funniest thing!!