Urinary Issues

Gizmom

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Recently, around the beginning of December my boy (2 years old as of November) has been having some urinary issues. I first noticed he was struggling to urinate because he would squat in the litter box, but not much came out. Then he would immediately jump out of the box and lick himself down there. This was at the beginning of Dec.

It may be important to note that this started right after I changed his litter to pine pellets. He usually used clay litter and had no problems. There was one instance a day after switching to pine pellets where he pooped outside of the litter box, I just assumed he was not a fan of it and changed back to clay litter that day. Then i noticed the straining in the box, as well as the licking after trying to pee. At this point he had peed in a couple places outside of the box, so I knew he must be in discomfort. My mom thinks the pine pellets caused it, but I struggle to see how that could've caused him to struggle to pee so drastically.

We took him to the vet exactly one week ago, they kept him for the day and did a urinalysis. She found nothing unusual in his urine, however she did say it was very concentrated. We were advised to get him to drink more water, either by adding ice cubes to his water to entice him or adding water to his food. (He eats 2 3oz portions of grain free wet food a day, with around 2oz of dry food). I've been doing both.

I mainly came to ask exactly how much water should I be adding to his wet food? I've been doing a couple capfuls of bottled water. He tends to lick up all the broth first and sometimes doesn't finish all of the morsels of food, so I think he doesn't mind the water as it kind of adds to the broth. Do you guys have any more suggestions to help him consume more water?

As of today, his condition has gotten better, no accidents outside of the litter box. But, he still jumps out of the box (quite frantically, at least in my eyes) and licks himself right after going.
 

abyeb

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I’m so sorry that your cat is going through this. I’m glad to hear that he is doing better, and that you were able to get veterinary care for him. :catrub:

Regarding your question of how much water you can add to his wet food, it really depends on your individual cat’s preferences and what water concentration they are willing to eat. I’ve read that people will add water up to a 1:1 ratio with the wet food, so I think you can probably still put more in than you’re doing now, as long as your boy still eats it.
 

Kieka

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It sounds like a good amount of water has been added to his food but as long as he is eating it you can add as much water as he will tolerate. Another thing you could do, if you don't have it already, is try a water fountain. Some cats prefer moving water to still water so that could help. It could be as simple as one of those decorative home fountains to see if he goes for it at first and then upgrade to a nice pet fountain if he does. You could also try offering topper foods (fancy feast broth or Pure Bites for example) as a treat or on top of his regular food. Toppers are not a complete diet but they are better then regular treats and tend to be very liquid.
 
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Gizmom

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I’m so sorry that your cat is going through this. I’m glad to hear that he is doing better, and that you were able to get veterinary care for him. :catrub:

Regarding your question of how much water you can add to his wet food, it really depends on your individual cat’s preferences and what water concentration they are willing to eat. I’ve read that people will add water up to a 1:1 ratio with the wet food, so I think you can probably still put more in than you’re doing now, as long as your boy still eats it.
Thank you!
I may upgrade to using a spoonful of water in his food and see if he'll still eat. He's pretty finicky, as most cats are lol.
 
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Gizmom

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It sounds like a good amount of water has been added to his food but as long as he is eating it you can add as much water as he will tolerate. Another thing you could do, if you don't have it already, is try a water fountain. Some cats prefer moving water to still water so that could help. It could be as simple as one of those decorative home fountains to see if he goes for it at first and then upgrade to a nice pet fountain if he does. You could also try offering topper foods (fancy feast broth or Pure Bites for example) as a treat or on top of his regular food. Toppers are not a complete diet but they are better then regular treats and tend to be very liquid.
Thanks for the reply!
I did used to have a cat fountain for him, but as far as I can remember he didn't drink out of it any more often than he's drinking now. I might try to use it again just to compare how much he drinks out of it, even though cleaning it was a bit of a hassle.

I think the topper idea is great! Now I just have to find one he likes haha, hopefully he'll enjoy it as much as the broth in his regular food.
 

basschick

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when HK wasn't drinking enough, between meals we squeezed all the juice out of cans of fancy feast, added a little water and then let him at it. he LOVES that, so we were able to get a lot more liquid into him.
 

ManekiNekko

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Sorry Gizmo is going through this.

My Sam has never been good drinker no matter what we tried, but we shrugged and didn't worry about it until he had a full blockage two years ago (at six years old) and had to have surgery. Since then we switched him to a diet that is about 98% wet food (not prescription) with only a tiny bit of dry food to keep him entertained while his brothers (who are closer to half wet/half dry) have their dry food snacks. I water his wet food down every day to the limit of how liquidy he will accept. So yeah, your idea about experimenting until you figure out that most amount of water Gizmo will accept in the wet food seems like a good one.

Sam still doesn't really drink voluntarily *at all*, from our regular fountain, a Drinkwell Platinum, the trial fountain we got right after his surgery (a bubble up kind instead of a waterfall style. We got rid of it since no one really like it), or the water bowl that gets refilled every day.
 

thecatlady3

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I have a cat with idiopathic cystitis. Basically, he stresses himself out, gets inflammation in the urinsry tract and then has problems peeing. He isn’t obstructed, just a stress case. Usually it happens if we have company over or if the crow flies by LOL. When this happens he does what you describe your cat doing. It could be that the change in litter freaked him out? And then caused a cystitis. Just a thought if there isn’t actually a blockage. We usually give him a dose of metacam and then he is fine. Oh and we got a feliway diffuser with good results!
 
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Gizmom

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If you can, please take the time to read my first thread about this to understand better.

I guess he isn't doing any better, but I thought he was as he was consistently peeing in the litter box. He peed on one of his favorite scratching pads just now, it's sad that I have to throw it away.

As you might know, we went to the vet a little longer than a week ago and all that was done was a urinalysis which came back with nothing unusual in it, just very concentrated urine. The vet told us to get him to consume more water, and I've been doing various methods for the last week to try to get him to get more water in him. To no avail, apparently.

I'm quite upset because I really don't want Gizmo to start peeing in my room. In all honesty, my room is one of the only pee-free rooms until now. We have two unfixed dogs that mark all over the apartment, but I don't allow them in my room. They're 7 and 8 years old, and I am 99% sure my mom will never be convinced to neuter them now. I suggested male dog wraps months and months ago, but she never got any. That is not the point though.

I'm at a loss with Gizmo, should we take him back to the vet? Is there anything else they could do? I assume he's still in discomfort if he's not wanting to go in the litter box. This was never a problem before. Please let me know if you have any suggestions.
 

ManekiNekko

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We usually give him a dose of metacam and then he is fine.
Gizmom, could you ask your vet about the possibility dosing him with a NSAID like metacam like thecatlady3 does or some other temporary painkiller? Maybe part of his problem is he's still having ongoing pain.

My aforementioned Sam just had a bout of idiopathic cystitis this week, necessitating an emergency vet trip because we were worried he could become blocked overnight (he was in and out of the litter boxes 7 times in 10 minutes, and had blood in his urine). After a urine test (no bacteria or crystals), quick scans (x-rays?) of his bladder and kidneys, and an antibiotic shot (I don't know why because they said there was no bacteria in his urine), they sent us home with prazosin to help him relax the urethra and simbadol for pain. A good chat with your vet might let you know if those could help Gizmo and might not require him to be hauled in to see the vet again yet.

Also, are all of Gizmo's pee spots in the same room or spread throughout the house? Just want to rule out that he feels the need to pee so urgently that he's going on whatever is closest rather than trying to make it to the litter.
 
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