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- Jan 15, 2016
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Hi. I hate to start a new thread, I know these are two of the most frequent topics. I have read many threads and can't find an answer to a couple of questions, so here we go...
Speedy is 17+ years old with advanced cardiac disease, stable on medication for many years but underweight. After a long healthy life, she suddenly has her first UTI and constipation, I don't know if they are related or if it's just bad luck. Throughout everything I am about to describe, she has been eating, drinking and behaving as usual.
About a week ago we had the classic UTI symptoms - in out out of the litter box every five minutes, straining but producing only a few drops of pee. My vet chose not to see Speedy at this time, we had just been to our regular checkup and the blood and urine work were fine except for a little blood in the urine. (At the time she suspected the blood was from the syringe used to draw the urine.) So the vet prescribed a 21-day course of Baytril.
How long should it take for Baytril to clear the UTI? The symptoms got better, she is in the box less often and producing pretty normal urine (at least two big pees per day, she's on lasix and drinks and pees a lot). However, her urine continues to be pinkish. Speedy is elderly and nowadays she frequently pees over the side of the box, I can see pink on the puppy pad. Should her urine be normal color by now? I recently put her on some new treats which are a reddish color and could that be dyeing her urine or is it definitely blood?
In the meantime, Speedy is also constipated for the first time in her life. She went two days with nothing, produced a tiny poop, then three more days with nothing. She eats and drinks, is affectionate, doesn't appear to be in pain, and let me feel her belly. The only symptom is a lack of poop. I checked my house to be sure she isn't secretly pooping somewhere, it does seem to be constipation. The vet said I could give her a pinch of miralax but only a pinch (remember, elderly underweight cardiac patient). I gave it to her yesterday and 18 hours later, after some moderate straining, we had a poop that was almost normal size. Yay!
Do readers recommend giving a cat miralax every day until she's regular again? Or should I wait a day or so and see how it goes? Also, do you think the recent introduction of new treats and wet foods could be the cause? For the last 3 years, Speedy ate lower-sodium Weruva wet foods and Friskies Temptations treats (yeah, I know you all hate them) almost exclusively. But she is underweight and the cardiologist told me to not worry about sodium and just feed her whatever she'll eat, to get more calories into her. So now she is enjoying a variety of higher quality wet foods. Could that be a cause? We also reduced her lasix by half, but that should make her less dehydrated, not more.
Thanks for your advice on the Baytril and Miralax.
Speedy is 17+ years old with advanced cardiac disease, stable on medication for many years but underweight. After a long healthy life, she suddenly has her first UTI and constipation, I don't know if they are related or if it's just bad luck. Throughout everything I am about to describe, she has been eating, drinking and behaving as usual.
About a week ago we had the classic UTI symptoms - in out out of the litter box every five minutes, straining but producing only a few drops of pee. My vet chose not to see Speedy at this time, we had just been to our regular checkup and the blood and urine work were fine except for a little blood in the urine. (At the time she suspected the blood was from the syringe used to draw the urine.) So the vet prescribed a 21-day course of Baytril.
How long should it take for Baytril to clear the UTI? The symptoms got better, she is in the box less often and producing pretty normal urine (at least two big pees per day, she's on lasix and drinks and pees a lot). However, her urine continues to be pinkish. Speedy is elderly and nowadays she frequently pees over the side of the box, I can see pink on the puppy pad. Should her urine be normal color by now? I recently put her on some new treats which are a reddish color and could that be dyeing her urine or is it definitely blood?
In the meantime, Speedy is also constipated for the first time in her life. She went two days with nothing, produced a tiny poop, then three more days with nothing. She eats and drinks, is affectionate, doesn't appear to be in pain, and let me feel her belly. The only symptom is a lack of poop. I checked my house to be sure she isn't secretly pooping somewhere, it does seem to be constipation. The vet said I could give her a pinch of miralax but only a pinch (remember, elderly underweight cardiac patient). I gave it to her yesterday and 18 hours later, after some moderate straining, we had a poop that was almost normal size. Yay!
Do readers recommend giving a cat miralax every day until she's regular again? Or should I wait a day or so and see how it goes? Also, do you think the recent introduction of new treats and wet foods could be the cause? For the last 3 years, Speedy ate lower-sodium Weruva wet foods and Friskies Temptations treats (yeah, I know you all hate them) almost exclusively. But she is underweight and the cardiologist told me to not worry about sodium and just feed her whatever she'll eat, to get more calories into her. So now she is enjoying a variety of higher quality wet foods. Could that be a cause? We also reduced her lasix by half, but that should make her less dehydrated, not more.
Thanks for your advice on the Baytril and Miralax.
