My 3 year old cat has been urinating straight red for weeks now. He is a male tabby who seems relatively healthy. Outside of this bloody urine issue, he eats fine, drinks his water, still spry and active. The way I found out was due to him urinating on the bed (and now couch) for months now. At first, his urine was dark orange. I took him in to our private vet (cat doctor only) and she insisted that it was probably a behavioral issue. A couple months later, the urine eventually got red and now I have to lock him in the room so that he wont urinate on the bed or couch.
Fast forward to last week, he urinated on a white towel that was sitting on the couch and it was so red that I had to take him back in for a urinalysis. I called in the vet on a Wednesday morning and she said she'd only be available on Friday. I took him in Friday and left him there all day for the urinalysis. The vet claimed she needed to sedate him and use a catheter to draw the urine, but this is unusual, as he urinates frequently at home. Either way, The urinalysis was $320, which seemed pretty high to me. I searched online and saw that the average price for a urinalysis was $90-$150....pricing is not my main concern, but I did call in a more widely known vet to confirm how much they charge for a urinalysis and they quoted me at $140. Top priority is still the cat, but honesty is a big part of professionalism IMO.
Despite the high cost, I wanted to be open to her methods, as she seems to really love cats. One thing I found funny is that her main concern has always been that he doesnt eat fish or products with a fish like taste, as cats are "not meant to eat seafood". She literally stresses this every time we go in for a check up...Anyways, so I pick my cat up Friday evening after leaving him with the vet for a urinalysis all day. She said she would have results by Monday and would call me up with them by then, and sent me back home with 2 cans of urinary care wet food. Got no calls on Monday... So I called in myself today and she didn't seem to have an answer. No crystals, no bacteria...only thing she knew for sure was that his urine was very high in acid, but she couldn't tell what was causing the blood. So her suggestion was to keep him on the urinary care wet and dry food diet for 2 weeks and see if that does anything. Now, I don't want to be cynical, but this seems kind of strange for $320. What if this is a serious issue? Is bloody urine really something that should be given the wait-and-see approach?
Now, I want to take him in for a second opinion to a more popular vet, but I'm considering putting him on the diet for these next two weeks and seeing if maybe she's right first..would I be crazy for taking her advice? Is this something that can be serious and needs urgent attention? I don't want to pay again for another urinalysis with a different vet, as I just came out of pocket $320, but I will if I have to.
Any cat experts with some advice would be GREATLY appreciated. Maybe I'm being cynical, but for some strange reason, our vet has really given me a gut feeling that she lacks professionalism, despite specializing in cats. Hopefully I'm wrong, but I just want to be sure.
Thanks!
Fast forward to last week, he urinated on a white towel that was sitting on the couch and it was so red that I had to take him back in for a urinalysis. I called in the vet on a Wednesday morning and she said she'd only be available on Friday. I took him in Friday and left him there all day for the urinalysis. The vet claimed she needed to sedate him and use a catheter to draw the urine, but this is unusual, as he urinates frequently at home. Either way, The urinalysis was $320, which seemed pretty high to me. I searched online and saw that the average price for a urinalysis was $90-$150....pricing is not my main concern, but I did call in a more widely known vet to confirm how much they charge for a urinalysis and they quoted me at $140. Top priority is still the cat, but honesty is a big part of professionalism IMO.
Despite the high cost, I wanted to be open to her methods, as she seems to really love cats. One thing I found funny is that her main concern has always been that he doesnt eat fish or products with a fish like taste, as cats are "not meant to eat seafood". She literally stresses this every time we go in for a check up...Anyways, so I pick my cat up Friday evening after leaving him with the vet for a urinalysis all day. She said she would have results by Monday and would call me up with them by then, and sent me back home with 2 cans of urinary care wet food. Got no calls on Monday... So I called in myself today and she didn't seem to have an answer. No crystals, no bacteria...only thing she knew for sure was that his urine was very high in acid, but she couldn't tell what was causing the blood. So her suggestion was to keep him on the urinary care wet and dry food diet for 2 weeks and see if that does anything. Now, I don't want to be cynical, but this seems kind of strange for $320. What if this is a serious issue? Is bloody urine really something that should be given the wait-and-see approach?
Now, I want to take him in for a second opinion to a more popular vet, but I'm considering putting him on the diet for these next two weeks and seeing if maybe she's right first..would I be crazy for taking her advice? Is this something that can be serious and needs urgent attention? I don't want to pay again for another urinalysis with a different vet, as I just came out of pocket $320, but I will if I have to.
Any cat experts with some advice would be GREATLY appreciated. Maybe I'm being cynical, but for some strange reason, our vet has really given me a gut feeling that she lacks professionalism, despite specializing in cats. Hopefully I'm wrong, but I just want to be sure.
Thanks!