First time with a sick kitty

[Sonatine]

My kitty Mischief was straining in the litterbox last night. She'd then switch to the other box and sometimes lick herself in between. I panicked, having heard horror stories of UTIs and crystals and obstruction in cats. I managed to schedule her an appointment and got off work early to take her to the vet today (I learned that there's a vet literally a three minute walk from my apartment. Convenient!).

The vet agreed it's probably a UTI (couldn't get enough urine for the urinalysis). Missy endured the visit with few complaints, explored the room thoroughly, and was in general a lot less bothered than I was. She was quite popular with the vet and techs, too, since she's such a striking cat. I got her meds, which she vacuums up the way she does everything else that is edible.

In conclusion, everything is just fine. But it was scary! It was the first time I've had a cat sick with anything other than a mild URI (those I tend to watch and wait rather than go to the vet). I'm glad it wasn't anything worse. Now I just hope the abx I got cover this UTI.

Finally, here's a picture of the little gremlin herself, completely unconcerned about how much worry she caused me.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi! Mischief looks like such a sweety!! How old is your girl? Just curious. Normally, a follow up vet visit is done, especially when they can't get urine on the initial visit for urinalysis. It is usually done about 2 weeks after the antibiotics are completed. They can hopefully then get some urine to test to see if the UTI is gone, and whether or not she has sediment/stones in her urine. The urinalysis would also tell them if there is still bacteria in the urine, at which point they might want to do a urine culture to find the type of bacteria it is so that they can treat it with something that might be more effective than what they used this time. It is so good that she handled the vet visit well!!

What does she eat - dry or canned, or a mixture? Most of the time with UTIs, the more liquid/water you can give her (to help flush out her bladder) the better. And, of course, canned has much more moisture in it than dry food.

After a day or so on the antibiotics, you should see a reduction in her straining to pee.

 

[rubysmama]

It's hard being a cat parent sometimes, isn't it. Glad you were able to get her in to see the vet quickly. Sending healing vibes that she's back to normal soon.

 

[Sonatine]

FeebysOwner : Mischief gets all canned food; mostly Fancy Feast Pates, occasionally Friskies when I'm feeling poor or something higher quality when I can afford it. That used to be more often than it is now, but I do the best I can. I always add some water to the food, too. She'll be two years old in a week or two.

Assuming she responds well to the antibiotics, I'll call them at the end of 10 days or so and see if they want to see her. Of course, if she's not improved or is worse, I'll call them around day 3. If she were a human I'd be all about getting that urinalysis and culture to help combat antibiotic resistance (I'm a pharmacy student nearing graduation, combating antibiotic resistance is sort of my thing), but since she's an indoor cat, I'm more inclined to treat empirically since they couldn't get a sample the first time and save her the stress of more testing unless she proves to need it. Maybe we can get out of this with Mischief thinking that the vet is just a funny smelling adventure destination and not something to fear.