Gothic_Amethyst
This stems from my personal experience with my male neutered male who was at risk of UTI.
I had transported him 1600 kms, roughly 1000 miles, a trip that was meant to last 6 hours total, turned into a 12 hour marathon for the little guy. Anyway, from that night, I noticed that something was amiss.
He strained to do his business in the litterbox. (I am an attentive kitty momma and I monitor EVERYTHING.) I then noticed that he preferred to only urinate in the shower where it was tiled. I took him to the vet two days later which was the soonest that they could fit me in.
In the meantime, I was advised not to change his diet and to provide plenty of water and to keep everything as normal as possible. (Near impossiblity since he had just moved!)
Still two days later, Russell was still urinating in the shower. I was given an antibiotic in an effort to combat a possible UTI. The vet did not want to take any chances with him as he could not even manage to get a sample of urine from Russell and each time he tried Russell became more stressed and made up his mind and refused to stand and sat there glaring and growling.
A week later we returned to the vet and this time a sample of urine was taken for urinalysis with the reult being all clear. But to this day I keep an eye out for symptoms of UTI. Cats don't urinate in inappropriate places for no reason.
And as for food, all cat food went through reformulation in the 1980s and 1990s to prevent alkaline urine which promotes struvite crystals forming in the urinary bladder as these were thought to be the main cause and irritant. So in my opinion, although cat food does not promote alkaline urine from forming, it does not mean that a cat will become immune to the condition which can be life threatening. In extreme cases it can be urinary tract cancer, but this is in very extreme and rare cases.
I really do hope that Vergie goes to another vet for a second opinion. And it is not uncommon for cats at around four years of age to develop UTI.
This stems from my personal experience with my male neutered male who was at risk of UTI.
I had transported him 1600 kms, roughly 1000 miles, a trip that was meant to last 6 hours total, turned into a 12 hour marathon for the little guy. Anyway, from that night, I noticed that something was amiss.
He strained to do his business in the litterbox. (I am an attentive kitty momma and I monitor EVERYTHING.) I then noticed that he preferred to only urinate in the shower where it was tiled. I took him to the vet two days later which was the soonest that they could fit me in.
In the meantime, I was advised not to change his diet and to provide plenty of water and to keep everything as normal as possible. (Near impossiblity since he had just moved!)
Still two days later, Russell was still urinating in the shower. I was given an antibiotic in an effort to combat a possible UTI. The vet did not want to take any chances with him as he could not even manage to get a sample of urine from Russell and each time he tried Russell became more stressed and made up his mind and refused to stand and sat there glaring and growling.
A week later we returned to the vet and this time a sample of urine was taken for urinalysis with the reult being all clear. But to this day I keep an eye out for symptoms of UTI. Cats don't urinate in inappropriate places for no reason.
And as for food, all cat food went through reformulation in the 1980s and 1990s to prevent alkaline urine which promotes struvite crystals forming in the urinary bladder as these were thought to be the main cause and irritant. So in my opinion, although cat food does not promote alkaline urine from forming, it does not mean that a cat will become immune to the condition which can be life threatening. In extreme cases it can be urinary tract cancer, but this is in very extreme and rare cases.
I really do hope that Vergie goes to another vet for a second opinion. And it is not uncommon for cats at around four years of age to develop UTI.