My Cat Is Peeing Blood

[golgotha]

Today, my Cat Margaret age 9, looked a like she lacked energy, so I wanted to make sure she was OK so I gave her a treat. She ate it fine, but right after that she went to the litter box and pretty much peed all blood.

I freaked out and took her to the vet straight away, vet gave her a couple of shots, said one was for the pain and another for the bleeding, and told me is most likely a urinary tract infection and also to watch out if she has difficulty peeing the blood or if it comes straight through, in case it was stones or sand instead (it comes out easy).

I'm supposed to take her back in the morning, but since I brought her back, I fed her some chicken (which she ate no problem) and after that she had some water and she went and peed blood again, and now I'm freaking out again.

I don't trust the local vets very much, and I'm worried her issue might be too urgent to wait until the morning, I never had a cat pee straight up blood before, and she seems to be walking funny, probably because of the pain. Though now she managed to lay down and rest.

Am I freaking out over nothing? Is the peeing of blood normal for urinary tract infection. if that's what this is? Could this be something more serious, since she had some breathing problems recently that may not be related? Any advice would be appreciated.

For the record, she is not spayed.

 

[stephenq]

It sounds more serious than a garden variety UTI, she needs daily oral antibiotics, not just a single injection, and she should be spayed as soon as possible as she is at risk for other problems, breast cancer, other infections etc.

 

[foxden]

G golgotha
Did the vet take a urine sample to check for crystals or an infection? A urine sample from the bladder with a syringe is typically required to test for an infection.
Can I ask why she is not spayed? I'm amazed you have been able to tolerate her behavior when she has been in heat. The stray kitten we found last year went into heat (my fault, partially because I didn't realize how old she was). She was REALLY loud and obviously uncomfortable, and I believe every male cat in the neighborhood was standing guard outside our house (even though Trina is indoor only).

The practical advice I have is to make some "soup" for your kitty. Take some pate wet food and add water to make a gruel or slurry. Most cats eat this "flavored water" fairly quickly. Increasing her water intake will help flush her kidneys and bladder, and will help her through any discomfort. Crystals or sand appear to be less likely as she is peeing easily.

For Kiki (my female cat who occasionally got bladder crystals), pain meds typically resulted in her behavior returning to normal fairly quickly. She "told" me when there was a problem by peeing little bloody spots in several places around the house. I believe the vet occasionally gave her sub-Q fluids to help flush out the struvite crystals.
She had occasional issues with this starting when she was 2. An ultrasound diagnosed this as FIC (ideopathic, as there wer no obvious physical causes).
I was not a member of this site then. Since joining the site, I have learned that if I had switched her to a completely wet food diet, we may have been able to minimize this recurring problem.

 

[golgotha]

Did the vet take a urine sample to check for crystals or an infection? A urine sample from the bladder with a syringe is typically required to test for an infection.

The vet barely did anything, besides examine her physically, give her her shots and tell me to bring her back tomorrow morning.

Veterinary care for cats locally is pretty bad, cats are very replaceable and disposable here, at least to most of the locals, usually when I take a cat to them they just give them antibiotics and send them home.

But in this case in particular, is a religious holiday season here for Easter and it was right around closing time, the vet was about to charge me the emergency rate too but did me a 'favor' and didn't. The surgeon and head vet probably wasn't available, because due to the holiday he was probably stuffing himself with food in some village or another. And this is supposed to be the best clinic in the city, there's no going in a 'better' vet either, they all treat cats like crap here.

Which is why I'm really worried she needed more urgent care and waiting until the morning to take her again might make things worse, when they actually have the 'time' to look after her.

Can I ask why she is not spayed? I'm amazed you have been able to tolerate her behavior when she has been in heat. The stray kitten we found last year went into heat (my fault, partially because I didn't realize how old she was). She was REALLY loud and obviously uncomfortable, and I believe every male cat in the neighborhood was standing guard outside our house (even though Trina is indoor only).

Originally, it was because she was one among many cats I took care of, it was too costly to do all of them (over 20 cats) and I'm not exactly wealthy, the fuss they make when in heat you get used to eventually. But now is mostly because I don't like putting older cats under the scalpel.

The practical advice I have is to make some "soup" for your kitty. Take some pate wet food and add water to make a gruel or slurry. Most cats eat this "flavored water" fairly quickly. Increasing her water intake will help flush her kidneys and bladder, and will help her through any discomfort. Crystals or sand appear to be less likely as she is peeing easily.

She ate quite a bit of chicken and drink a good quantity of water which she is keeping so far, she is of good weight and at least after the first blood piss she wasn't anemic. I don't want to give her anything else until I take her back to the vet in case she eats too much and pukes it out. But I will keep it in mind for when I bring her back from the vet.

For Kiki (my female cat who occasionally got bladder crystals), pain meds typically resulted in her behavior returning to normal fairly quickly. She "told" me when there was a problem by peeing little bloody spots in several places around the house. I believe the vet occasionally gave her sub-Q fluids to help flush out the struvite crystals.
She had occasional issues with this starting when she was 2. An ultrasound diagnosed this as FIC (ideopathic, as there wer no obvious physical causes).
I was not a member of this site then. Since joining the site, I have learned that if I had switched her to a completely wet food diet, we may have been able to minimize this recurring problem.

Margaret never had an issue with her pissing blood before, or anything else similar, she's generally being healthy for most of her life, besides losing most of her teeth (she has about 4 left) and her somewhat recent coughing and breathing problems.

I used to feed them wet food, but it usually caused them to have really loose stool, because of that I switched to boiled chicken (breast or thigh) along with kibble.

Thanks for the input.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

If she is urinating a LOT of blood, this sounds like Feline Interstitial Cystitis, which is discussed in this article: Feline Idiopathic Cystitis - How To Improve Your Cat's Quality of Life

Has she been under any undue stress or anxiety lately. This can be the cause of her issue. As long as you monitor her closely and she doesn't STOP urinating, she should be ok. If she stops urinating, then you need to get her to a VET as soon as possible.

 

[golgotha]

If she is urinating a LOT of blood, this sounds like Feline Interstitial Cystitis, which is discussed in this article: Feline Idiopathic Cystitis - How To Improve Your Cat's Quality of Life

Has she been under any undue stress or anxiety lately. This can be the cause of her issue. As long as you monitor her closely and she doesn't STOP urinating, she should be ok. If she stops urinating, then you need to get her to a VET as soon as possible.

I'll check the article, the amount doesn't seem to be more than what her pee would be normally, is just that is all bloody, not just spots or anything like that.

No stress that I can think of, no new cats or change in environment recently. She was playing with a toy only a few days ago.

I've been keeping an eye on her since the first incident, but I have to sleep at some point, she will probably pee 1 or 2 times, by the time I take her to the vet in the morning. I'll try to keep an eye on her throughout the night.

 

[maddies momma]

It sounds more serious than a garden variety UTI, she needs daily oral antibiotics, not just a single injection, and she should be spayed as soon as possible as she is at risk for other problems, breast cancer, other infections etc.

Alot of times the antibiotic injections last for two weeks and are much more effective then oral meds.

 

[orange&white]

I've only had one cat who had 3 UTI's in her life. She used the cat box unless she had a UTI, then she would pee on the carpet while I was sitting on the sofa (so I'd notice). Her urine, blotted up with a white paper towel, was pink-ish/orange-ish to indicate blood but certainly not "pure blood" coming out.

Peeing pure blood sounds very serious. I hope that your baby only has a "standard UTI" which is easy to treat.

 

[maddies momma]

Yes I am also confused by the "pure blood". Do you actually closely see the stream coming out? If so is it thick as if someone was bleeding? Or is it thin like urine but colored red?

 

[golgotha]

Yes I am also confused by the "pure blood". Do you actually closely see the stream coming out? If so is it thick as if someone was bleeding? Or is it thin like urine but colored red?

Is not thick, is watery like normal pee but full red. Though I think the second time there was a thicker part in the middle, it was pooling so I'm not sure.

She got up again and she is drinking water, I'll try to take a closer look if she pees again.

 

[orange&white]

Do you happen to have any puppy pee pads? Not something that most cat owners keep on hand, but if you have some, you might line a litter box with one (if she'll use it that way).

 

[orange&white]

....or replace her litter with a bunch of shredded paper towels until tomorrow. Something white and absorbent so you can see the color.

 

[golgotha]

I have four other cats using the same litter box, if I put anything in it, they'll shred it to bits if they go in before she does.

I thought she was going to pee again since she got near the litter box, she didn't, she made her rounds then jumped on top of me and wanted me to pet her.

She got off me after awhile and started licking her nether region, I see no blood droplets or anything, she's not leaking or anything like that, but now I'm worried that she may be blocked...

I had males who had sand blockage in the past, but never a female, she didn't do the peeing motion without anything coming out so I don't want to feed in my paranoia that she is blocked, I'll try to get a couple of hours of sleep and come back and check on her.

 

[IndyJones]

Will she let you touch her belly? If so gently press on the area between her hind legs. Does it feel hard and round indicating a full bladder?

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Can you put her in the bedroom with you and her own litterbox? Will that stress her out? That way you will know if she has gone, although does she normally urinate often. Just a couple of times during the day/night would be normal, wouldn't it? Look for straining, etc.

 

[golgotha]

I have an update.

It looks like she stopped peeing blood and she's not blocked up, vet still not sure if its UTI or sand or whatever, just gave me antibiotics and told me to watch out if she pees blood again.

I hope this is just a case of UTI with just a particularly bad case of bleeding, and its nothing more serious the half-ass local vets can't diagnose.

The reason I said 'pure blood' before it was because her piss, was pretty much like red wine, not thick but uniformly red, which was pretty much a first for me.

Closest I seen was the piss of a stone blocked male after he was blocked for over 24 hours (over a decade ago), but that was the result of a catheter and it was more like really dark orange than wine red.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for their input and I hope the antibiotic treatment will work and she will get to live happily and healthy for many more years yet.

 

[orange&white]

Yes, hopefully it is just a "standard" infection (not FLUTD or a symptom of something more serious) and the antibiotics will clear it up.

I would suggest adding at least a second litter box. Four cats in one box is a lot. Holding urine, waiting to pee, is one cause of urinary tract infections. Just a thought.

 

[golgotha]

I would suggest adding at least a second litter box. Four cats in one box is a lot. Holding urine, waiting to pee, is one cause of urinary tract infections. Just a thought.

Is one of those extra large ones, and there's four cats plus Margaret so a total of five!

But yes you're right, I'm going to be bringing a sixth one over soon and I've been looking for another extra large one but can't find one locally, only normal sized ones, so I'll be looking for one online I think, as an alternative I'm thinking of using an Ikea SALLADSKÅL, though it will take a few modifications to work as a litter box given that is meant for plants.

 

[orange&white]

That box looks pretty shallow, especially if any of your cats "dig to China" and throw cat litter out of the box.

You might consider a Rubbermaid-type tub with a door cut out like this:

Photo Source: The Litter Box From Your Cat’s Point of View

With the new website upgrade here, I've been having trouble with photos showing up, so I hope that picture worked. If not, the photo is shown on the linked website.

 

[maddies momma]

The rule for litter boxes is that you need 1 box for every cat and then one more. Or 1.5 multiplied by the number of cats you have would equal the amount of boxes you need. Even if you clean them every day 1 or 2 boxes for five cats is not nearly enough. Also did I read correctly that your soon getting a sixth cat? When this happens please watch your girl very closely, and be sure to do proper slow introductions. The stress from this could set off another UTI.