4 out of 12 cats have UTIs...any ideas why?

[niki-nicole]

All are allergy tested and eating whatever raw food is best for them. We have one water fountain, a lot of water out for soaking plants, and they can go outside where there is usually a lot of collected water. One area of our yard I refer to as a moat.

They only want to go out now when it is above 40 and we have the heat running. Could the dry air be the reason?

3 are male and one female; all fixed. The female is on a different brand of raw so I don't think it is because of the food. Two of the males are about 3, the female is about 7 and one male found us as a feral adult and I have no idea.

We only noticed because they were peeing out of the box and that is how we were able to get samples.

We are getting 2 more fountains. Has multiple UTIs happened like this to anyone else? Any tips to help? They have all been prescribed antibiotics.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Could it be stress? That can cause UTIs. Did you ask the Vet their opinion on how this might have happened to 4 at once?

 

[FeebysOwner]

How the urine is collected can 'contaminate' the sample, which can then depict bacteria of some sort. Was a urine culture run on the urinalysis results to depict the bacteria involved? There can be 'harmless' bacteria in urine that does not need to be treated with antibiotics. Did the urinalysis identify sediment or crystals/stones?

Some of the locations they have available to them to drink water might also be bacteria laden, and there are always some cats more prone to having related issues. As far as 4 of them peeing outside the litter boxes, how did you determine they were all doing it? And how did you make sure that the samples you collected were representative of each cat? There are some cats that if one goes outside of a litter box, another will do so just to cover up the scent that was left behind.

If they aren't going outside as much, which could be where they were peeing sometimes, maybe you don't have enough litter boxes inside to accommodate them all, or the litter boxes need to be cleaned more frequently? Some cats can be very picky about their litter box conditions causing them to pee outside of them.

None of what I am suggesting is meant to be anything other than varying options for you to consider as you try to get to the bottom of this.

 

[niki-nicole]

Could it be stress? That can cause UTIs. Did you ask the Vet their opinion on how this might have happened to 4 at once?

The vet thinks it is the food. My local vets are more familiar with cows than cats and I've never found them helpful.

It could be stress. My mom gets stressed when she knows her eldest daughter, son-in-law, and grand baby are coming over--which they did for Thanksgiving. I know the cats were stressed when they were here--they don't like men/strangers. They are usually ok around my sister and we have the grand baby a lot so they are pretty used to him. I think the peeing happened before Thanksgiving but I don't know how much before. So unless they were reacting to my mom's stress, I'm not sure.

 

[niki-nicole]

How the urine is collected can 'contaminate' the sample, which can then depict bacteria of some sort. Was a urine culture run on the urinalysis results to depict the bacteria involved? There can be 'harmless' bacteria in urine that does not need to be treated with antibiotics. Did the urinalysis identify sediment or crystals/stones?

Some of the locations they have available to them to drink water might also be bacteria laden, and there are always some cats more prone to having related issues. As far as 4 of them peeing outside the litter boxes, how did you determine they were all doing it? And how did you make sure that the samples you collected were representative of each cat? There are some cats that if one goes outside of a litter box, another will do so just to cover up the scent that was left behind.

If they aren't going outside as much, which could be where they were peeing sometimes, maybe you don't have enough litter boxes inside to accommodate them all, or the litter boxes need to be cleaned more frequently? Some cats can be very picky about their litter box conditions causing them to pee outside of them.

None of what I am suggesting is meant to be anything other than varying options for you to consider as you try to get to the bottom of this.

Samples collected: for each, I watched the cat pee right in front of me. One peed in the kitchen, one in a basket, one on some plastic that was down for painting, and one on a sheet that was covering some things from paint too. We have two cats that have a history with peeing on fabric type things on the floor so we are usually careful about keeping anything like that up. The ones who peed aren't the ones with that history. But there shouldn't be bacteria where they peed. (There was one more "sample" left for us on the plastic too but we didn't know who it was--suspected it was the one who usually pees on plastic--but since we didn't see it happen, we didn't test it. The ones we tested where ones I saw pee.)

Scent Marking: That is what we thought was happening at first. The female cat has been marking everywhere for years and is now confined to just part of the house where there are no other cats (unless they sneak in which happens rarely but keeps her paranoid). She is now on gabapentin and it helps a lot. She is sensitive to stress and needs her dose increased when we have guests over--even though she doesn't interact with them. We thought one of the male cats was marking too because a 4-week old kitten joined the family when he was found meowing at our other cats for help. This new guy thinks all the cats love him and invades their space a bit and this male, Butters, doesn't like that. We thought he was marking because he was getting a bit insecure. We are used to this because of all the strays we have taken in and it seems like there is a bit of adjustment until they are all settled again. But since I saw him pee right in front of me, I figured it wouldn't hurt to get it checked. That was the same for Coco. He is FIV+ and I have been keeping an eye on him for infections, and since I had a sample...why not.

Analysis: I they just said it was a UTI and didn't mention sediment.

Litter Boxes: They are scooped once a day (or more if the poop is stinky but it only is if one cat stole some of the wrong food) and cleaned every weekend. We have 6 litters, plus the outdoors which some of the cats who found us as adults prefer. We don't let them out after dark but they are free to come and go otherwise--except the baby. I was hoping to keep the last 4 who found us inside only (one has a badly healed broken leg and one is FIV+) but they escaped enough times to get a new taste of the outdoors that they now tell us their soul is outside--at least on warm, sunny days. The baby doesn't get to go out until he is a bit older--he escapes as much as he can already. We might be able to add one more box now and when the basement is done, we might let them down there and add a one or two litters down there too.

I think that is everything people have commented so far. Thanks for all the ideas! I really appreciate it.

 

[FeebysOwner]

You know your cats better than anyone, especially those of us here on this site - and even your vet(s). But I would still pursue what was entailed in the urinalysis and whether or not a urine culture was done to identify the specific bacteria involved. Out of 12 cats it isn't inconceivable that 4 of them might have crystals/stones attributing their peeing issues. And the urine culture is the only way to know what bacteria is involved.

Normally, raw feeding entails a high level of protein, and that can also cause urinary issues in some cats. So, that would be another area you might want to research.

 

[Eurocat]

Hi )
Just adding to what everyone else has said - are the litter boxes open top or closed?
If closed could it mean that they are not high enough (actually I find most closed litter boxes are not high enough ) increasing the possibility of the cats having to touch the (soiled) litter when they squat and increasing the tendency for infection?
Otherwise - maybe the type of litter you are using could be a factor?
Just running off some of my spontaneous ideas…
All the very best to you and your cats…))

 

[daftcat75]

I don't know anything about what causes them. But Vitality Science just started emailing me daily about their Urinary Health Combo.

Urinary Health Combo

With four of them in your house, it may be worth it to give this a try. Maybe you can write their customer service and see if they have ideas about what could be causing them?

 

[catsknowme]

Are the kitties drinking filtered and/or good fresh well water? The chemicals added to municipal water systems can cause bladder wall irritation. Have you asked your vet about adding S.Boulardii as for maintenance? Cornsilk as well as marshmallow root teas have soothing properties.

 

[niki-nicole]

Thanks again everyone! These are great help. I will keep this all for more information for the future too.

Litter boxes: They have hoods. I will have to compare them with some non-hooded ones to compare depths.
Litter: Sustainable Yours Multi-Cat Plus From Corn and Cassava Natural Litter--recommended by Jackson Galaxy. We've been using this for a while (year at least) and they don't seem to mind it.

I will keep researching all this based on your ideas!

 

[niki-nicole]

Are the kitties drinking filtered and/or good fresh well water? The chemicals added to municipal water systems can cause bladder wall irritation. Have you asked your vet about adding S.Boulardii as for maintenance? Cornsilk as well as marshmallow root teas have soothing properties.

I didn't think about water. There is a filter in their fountain but I will start filling it with filtered water. I will research s. Boulardii and Cornsilk.

Thanks again!

 

[botolo]

According to some websites, water fountains can contain tons of bacteria unless they are cleaned almost daily and unless they are metal and not plastic. That might be the cause.

 

[muffy]

Four of my cats were always getting UTI's. I started giving them bottled water and the amount of their UTI's went down drastically.

 

[niki-nicole]

I want to thank you all for your suggestions. My mom was pretty sure that they just dipped the urine sample. Again, we haven't had the greatest relationship with vets there. One doctor told us we should put down the FIV+ cat because he is a danger to our cats and the community cats. One of our cats died under their care, and she argued with me about one of our cats being put down at the end of fighting with FIP even though she was the one who administered the injection. Another doctor said cat behavior can't be changed because they aren't dogs and if they pee everywhere, it is because they are cats and that is what cats do.

The last one was about the female cat. I had taken her in to start her on gabapentin again, this time as a pill. She was so paranoid about us giving her the liquid kind before that whatever relief she got from the medication was taken away by her fear of taking the medicine.

She was one of them who had a UTI. We got another sample and tested it after the antibiotics to make sure the infection was gone and I specifically asked about sediments and crystals because of a post here and we finally got a vet who seems to know about cats!

The cat still had an infection and she said she saw something concerning that made her wonder if she might be diabetic. She told us to give her another round of antibiotics and bring her in she can get a sample right from the bladder and she would run more tests on everything.

Thanks again!