Cat Urinary Infection

[musicnl12]

Brought my poor boy (who is only two and a half) to the vet this morning, noticed yesterday he was licking his privates a lot and he seemed sore. Good thing I did, turns out he has a pretty bad UTI. The vet did an ultrasound, and drained his bladder with a needle. She said his pee was full of blood, and he had come crystals in it, and there was a small amount of sediment in his bladder. She gave him an injection of metacam as well as cartrophen, and has put him on clavaseptin (antibiotic) for 14 days. I am worried sick about my baby, it's concerning because he didn't even seem sick- he's been eating and playing like normal. How can I prevent this from happening again? He currently eats a can of wet food a day (mixture of tiki cat and wellness core) but we also free feed dry wellness core. The vet mentioned urinary food, but I'm not sure I want to go this route as the reviews on it aren't great (lots of fillers etc) any advice would be greatly appreciated, worried sick.

 

[faeleen]

Maybe add a tad bit extra water to the canned if he will tolerate may help. More fluids would definitely help and soothe the soreness. Or maybe try a wetter canned food with a 'gravy'?

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Sometimes a prescription food is the best way to go when a cat develops crystals

.  I know the ingredients aren't all that good, aren't what a cat in the wild would normally eat, but those prescriptions foods have been lifesavers for many, many cats.

Other than that, lots and lots of water, and low, low stress seem to help, at least with the UTI part of the issue.

 

[Columbine]

If he's actually got a struvite crystal build up, then a prescription urinary food really does help rebalance the system and actually breaks down the crystals. Once he's back to full health you can look at transitioning (partly or wholly) onto a grain free wet or raw diet. If at all possible remove kibble from his diet altogether. Keeping fluid intake high to flush everything out really is key. Add extra water to his wet food - as much as he'll tolerate, and experiment with flavoured water too. My guys love the water chicken or turkey was poached in (no seasoning, naturally ), but tuna water (soak a can of tuna in spring water in more water for a couple of hours, remove tuna, serve water) can also go down well. Water fountains and ice cubes are other things to try.

These links may help :-
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/feline-lower-urinary-tract-disease-flutd
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/tips-to-increase-your-cat-s-water-intake
http://www.catinfo.org