Blood Dripping From Urine Cultures Negative - Need Advise

I am very frustrated: my 16 year old cat has had two bouts of red blood dripping from her urinary tract with urgency to go and moaning. I had left over Clavamox antibiotic on hand but am running out. This started with her BUN elevating to 62 so her vet started me giving her subQ fluids. The BUN improved to 57. Three weeks after the BUN elevating my kitty had her first boat of blood dripping from her urinary tract with urgency to go and moaning. I had left over Clavamox antibiotic from years prior still with a good expiration date but the vet on call warned to wait until my vet was in (shared practice) but after waiting all day with blood drips and a moaning cat running to the litter box he agreed that I should go ahead with the antibiotic. Within an hour of taking the antibiotic Clavamox the bleeding stopped and by morning the discomfort and urgency to go stopped. That morning she saw her regular internal medicine vet who took blood and found her creatinine that had been 2.7 and BUN that was 62 were improved. The BUN dropped to 57 and creatinine dropped to 2.1. This was while she was started on the antibiotic. Urinalysis showed nothing. After two weeks on antibiotics she went off them. Seven days off antibiotics a urine culture was done and nothing showed. Urinalysis was ok. However her creatinine had jumped to 3.2 higher than ever before. The BUN remained the same at 57. SDMA was in normal range. Nine days off antibiotic (two days after the that last vet visit) the dripping red blood and urgency to go started again. This time I still had eight days of antibiotics left over and right away I started her on them again. Within an hour on antibiotics the blood dripping stopped. By morning the discomfort and urgency to go stopped. My internal medicine vet did not want her to continue antibiotics because her urine culture had been normal two days prior. She thought it was just Inflammatory and not bacterial and would resolve on its own. Her regular vet a cat vet that she sometimes sees said they always wait ten days off antibiotics before urine culture for kitties. Her culture was done at only seven days off antibiotics and that may have been too soon to show bacteria. She has no symptoms while on antibiotics. Symptoms came back nine days off antibiotics. I think my kitty is not over an infection and may need to be on antibiotics longer. I am in disagreement with her internal medicine vet who has seen her for 15 years who says it is only inflammatory. But she had bright red blood dripping! I have appointments with her cat vet and a different internal medicine vet over the next couple weeks but I will run out of Clavamox in a couple days - a week before her first available appointment. She has had ultrasound a month or two ago and nothing new showed. She has pancreatitis, pancreatic hyperplasia and inflammatory bowel disease and a little inflammatory liver. (Triadic cat) The pancreatitis had been recently uncontrolled. She recently had her steroid Budesonide increased to .6mg from .4 mg for her IBD and pancreatitis. She had 7 bad teeth pulled by a vet dentist around a couple months ago and was given a shot antibiotic. Nine months ago she had a thyroid adenoma treated with I131 and her thyroid is now normal. In 2016 she had a rare benign liver tumor that bled and was surgically removed. Her internal medicine vet has now finally given me an additional 7 days of Clavamox antibiotic but they are flavored chewable and I'm not sure if the flavor will trigger more inflammatory bowel disease allergic reactions. I have not been able to find the regular Clavamox tablets she takes anywhere. The manufacturer will only talk to a veterinarian. Not helpful. I am frustrated with her internal medicine vet who I always liked before and am very worried. I do not want her kidneys damaged. I think she may need to be on antibiotics for a much longer time. I don't like her going on and off antibiotic as it could cause a resistive strain. Advise needed.

Hi. I am not sure what to say, but when the urinalysis was done did that also include a urine culture which usually takes 3 days for results? I know you used the words 'urine culture', but I am just checking because the last UTI Feeby had was initially treated with Clavamox, but she never fully got over her UTI. The vet then ran a urine culture that determined the strain of bacteria needed to be treated with something with a different antibiotic and prescribed Orbax. That did the trick.

I am somewhat surprised at how they are treating her situation with the fresh blood in the urine. I realize that could be caused by inflammation, but blood like that is one serious inflammation - at least in my mind. Have any of the vets mention the possibility of FLUTD or FIC? Stress can be a factor, and I would have thought, as long as her other conditions don't prohibit it, the vet would have considered giving her some pain medications to not only help with whatever pain she is having, but to also help with the inflammation.

The only problematic thing about the antibiotics to me is that I can't believe it would react that fast in the system to stop bleeding that quickly. However, can't you ask the vet to exchange the chewable Clavamox for the one she was on before - just to be on the safe side?

FeebysOwner said:

Hi. I am not sure what to say, but when the urinalysis was done did that also include a urine culture which usually takes 3 days for results? I know you used the words 'urine culture', but I am just checking because the last UTI Feeby had was initially treated with Clavamox, but she never fully got over her UTI. The vet then ran a urine culture that determined the strain of bacteria needed to be treated with something with a different antibiotic and prescribed Orbax. That did the trick.

I am somewhat surprised at how they are treating her situation with the fresh blood in the urine. I realize that could be caused by inflammation, but blood like that is one serious inflammation - at least in my mind. Have any of the vets mention the possibility of FLUTD or FIC? Stress can be a factor, and I would have thought, as long as her other conditions don't prohibit it, the vet would have considered giving her some pain medications to not only help with whatever pain she is having, but to also help with the inflammation.

The only problematic thing about the antibiotics to me is that I can't believe it would react that fast in the system to stop bleeding that quickly. However, can't you ask the vet to exchange the chewable Clavamox for the one she was on before - just to be on the safe side?

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The internal medicine vet did a urinalysis but one was done while on antibiotic and a urine culture and second urinalysis was done only seven days off antibiotic. The cat vet recommends 10 days wait. My kitty was dripping bright red blood. I am disabled so it is hard for me last minute to bring my cat in as I need help to do it. If it happens again I will have to take her in. My vet was saying it was just inflammation but why does it only occur when off antibiotic. My cat has a very fast metabolism she eats at least two 5 oz cans a day and is petite and thin - 6 lbs 9 ounces at best. It is possible the antibiotic worked fast to resolve bleeding but other symptoms took a while longer. If it is not an infection then why do symptoms go away while on antibiotic. She has no bleeding or straining while on antibiotic. Cystitis Inflammation is not common in 16 year old cats and the dripping red blood really concerns me. The regular Clavamox tablets are not made anymore so I will try the chewable as my vet said it will be ok. If it happens again I will try to take her in. I don't think stress is an issue for it was two days after the stressful vet visit that she reacted, if stress would bring it on it should have happened closer to the vet visit. When I am gone from my home and my garage door is plugged in my home environment generates excess harmonics for a few days. I have a situation of environmental harassment related to an unusual injury I have from many years ago so I don't know if my house is contributing. The other notable thing is that her being on antibiotics helped lower her white blood cell count, her creatinine and BUN when they go up it is only when off antibiotics.

So sorry this is so confusing. I have no explanation as to the antibiotics and the positive effects it has on her. (Did I miss her name?)

The other thing - if you could collect a clean sample of the urine with the blood in it, it could be stored in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours, and maybe you could take that to the vet (without the cat even) in case they are not recognizing the amount/freshness of the blood you have described to them?

I would recheck with the vet about that urine culture that was done 7 days after antibiotics (vs. 10) - if the actual bacteria that is involved isn't being treated with the antibiotics that have been used, wouldn't that bacteria that is NOT responding to treatment still be present?

If the excess harmonics from your garage door isn't a new thing, then I can't imagine why it would come into play now. But, just for the sake of just asking, did you mention it to the vet?

Do you have a vet university nearby - one that you could call and ask about using as a consult to your vet(s)? It's worth a shot for an extra set of eyes, and I believe most of them will work with existing records from the current vet (so, no additional vet trip, at least not at first).

It is not so much blood in the urine what I see is she is walking around dripping blood! And running to the litter box again and again. I emailed photos of the blood drips on her beds to the vet. Next time if it happens I will photograph her bloody furry bottom! I did notice my house was extra horrible last time we were out when we got back so I don't know about my house contributing. My antibiotic is more than a year old and might have been in heat over the summer maybe not quite effective enough -she will be on fresh antibiotic for the last seven additional days. Maybe something is happening in the collecting of urine at the vet that causes the recurrence of bacteria. If it goes away this time I will maybe have the vet just leave the urinary tract alone and then if it still comes back that would be ruled out. I have appointments with two other vets but if stress is a factor maybe that will add to her issue. University is too far. Thank you for trying to help. It is frustrating and scary.
By the way my kitty is named Tutu and she is turning 16 this week.

Tutu is a beautiful sweetie! At 16 the vets should be doing every test under the sun - if you can afford it.

Sorry, if it sounds like a ridiculous question, but are you sure the blood is coming from her urethra and not her vaginal tract or her anus?

She is spayed so I don't think she has parts like a vagina as for anus I checked stool rub with damp cloth no blood and she had urgency and peed in my lap with blood edges. There was a tiny piece of blood soaked stool but it might just have been stuck to her bloody fur there. Next time if she bleeds I will crawl to my car loading it to take her in if I have to.

After all these bleeding reactions after urinalysis months later it happened again and this time we caught it - it is an infection needing a different antibiotic. No more urinalysis without a weeks worth of antibiotic to follow to prevent it from occurring again. I was right all along!!!!!

EDIT*** I am glad she is better and that she got the right antibiotics. But order the Utopia Silver Collodial Silver to keep on hand for her. And get her started on the CoQ10. ***EDIT
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I don't understand what you mean about house excess harmonics and environmental harassment. If your garage door electronics is bothering you, why not unplug it?

As for your cat. Get some colloidal silver at your local health food store tomorrow. Go to the utopiasilver.com website now and order a couple of bottles of their colloidal silver. Dose your cat with 1 tsp of colloidal silver 4-6 times a day. And switch to the Utopia Silver as soon as it arrives. Colloidal Silver is a powerful antibiotic, antifungal and antiviral. I have used it before on myself and my cats when we've had UTIs. Continue for 14 days. She should see relief quickly.

CoQ10 is very good for the kidneys and liver. It will lower the creatinine and BUN levels. Put her on 200mg CoQ10 daily. Get the capsule form so you can sprinkle it on her food. If need be you can mix it with a little water and draw it into an oral syringe to dose her. It needs a little fat to better absorb it. I know she has pancreatitis can she handle a little vitamin E with it? If not whatever fat is in her wet food, you can dose her before or after feeding her to get the fat that way.

Jojo&Tutu said:

After all these bleeding reactions after urinalysis months later it happened again and this time we caught it - it is an infection needing a different antibiotic. No more urinalysis without a weeks worth of antibiotic to follow to prevent it from occurring again. I was right all along!!!!!

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I had issues with a recurring eye infection and the vet just kept throwing the same ophthalmic ointment and it wasn't clearing up. I finally got fed up, made an appointment with another vet in the practice and demanded that she give my cat an oral antibiotic too. And I made the technician put in my file that I never wanted my animal to be seen by the other vet that just kept pushing the eye ointment again. The oral antibiotic cleared up the infection once and for all and I got a phone call from the vet apologizing for not listening to me. We are our children's and our animal's advocates, we have to speak up, be the squeaky wheel and sometimes make a scene in order to make sure our children and animals get the right care. I am so glad that Tutu is all better. I used to suffer from recurrent UTIs they are no fun.

Her internal Med vet wanted Tutu on Leukeran an anti cancer Med when Tutu started losing weight with the excessively high steroids she put her on and the repeat urine infections. I consulted two oncology university vets who suggested what I wanted to do made sense. I wanted to lower her steroid and get her on an antibiotic. Tutu needed a lower steroid and now I have changed internal medicine vets lowered her Budesonide steroid and after a week on Tylosin antibiotic I started her on a little bit of probiotic in her morning food. She is doing much much better. Trust your instincts with your fur babies. You know them best. Best to change vets and do what you believe is right. Tutu might eventually need an anti cancer Med like Leukeran but for now she stabilized in a lower steroid with a little probiotic. Her weight is stable and she is not a crazed steroided up cat! Prayers for Tutu and all the triadic cats struggling with infections and inflammation.

Update months later: her bun and creatinine jumped up really high. Met with a urinary kidney vet expert and he &recommended change of diet is the only thing that helps slow kidney failure. I switched Tutu and when rechecked a month or so later Tutu’s numbers for creatinine and bum were normal!!! RemarkableWe’re getting a hand made diet to match set up for kidney failure that will eliminate more salt, phosphorus and preservatives. Tutu’s weight is still very low at 5 1/2 lbs as she used to weigh 6 to 6 1/2 lbs but it is holding steady.

Thanks so much for the update! Sometimes it is hard to follow up on everyone, so I am glad that you are keeping us posted! Also, glad to hear Tutu is doing better. Even is she isn't gaining weight - she isn't losing it either, so that is a win!!

Update The change of diet did the trick. Switched to Lotus Rabbit pate and her Bun & Creatinine came down to normal, lower than it has ever been. Her weight is steady though low at 5 1/2 lbs. Her stools are normal not hard little rocks and I can leave out pumpkin. She is eating a lot and pooping a lot. Her new internal medicine vet still recommends a nutritionist formulate a kidney diet as it has less salt, fewer preservatives and a lower phosphorus. Getting back Tutu’s kidney levels to normal is the best holiday present ever!!!!!

Great news!!