Uti Prevention

[Animal Freak]

I'm asking for one of my cats who is prone to UTIs. His name is Ash. He's a male, 11lb, neutered Napoleon. He'll be seven years old this summer. He's been the vet I'm not even sure how many times for UTIs. Four? Possibly five. Not to mention once he peed outside the box and we immediately started getting more water in him and whatnot and he went back to using the litterbox without a vet trip. And again just recently. We were going to take him to the vet, but for some reason they decided to close for the weekend and Monday as it's a holiday. Brilliant. So the only place we could take him would be an emergency vet which costs a fortune just to walk in. I've been getting water in him and he has peed a couple of times since we figured out he had a UTI, but at this point I don't know if he's using the litterboxes or not. He hasn't peed outside of the boxes since I think Friday.

Anyway, I'm not sure what I can do about that right now without knowing if he's using the litterboxes. He's acting fine in every other way other than being a bit lazy which isn't really anything new. I'm posting more for preventing this from happening again in the future. Taking him to the vet for this isn't exactly cheap and, of course, I hate knowing he's suffering. It can take time to figure out what's wrong (though we know pretty much immediately when he pees outside the box) and then it can take time to get to the vet. And the trip to the vet is stressful in itself. But I'm not really sure what else we can do.

Since figuring out he's prone to UTIs, we've gotten two water fountain bowls and I put water in his dry food in the morning. I do intend on changing the meals to two wet and one dry, but I'm in the process of changing the brand and didn't want to change everything all at once. I'm also not entirely sure how I'm going to go about it, so I'll take any tips on that as well. But I was wondering if anyone has any tips on trying to make sure this doesn't happen anymore. We do try to keep an eye on if he's drinking water, but we're usually gone for much of the day and obviously can't watch him while we're sleeping. I was hoping water in the morning and wet food at night would prevent it, but apparently not. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[cheeser]

In our case, we tried to make changes too gradual at first, because the vet said that stress can be a trigger for urinary tract problem flare-ups. But that didn't work out very well, and Buddy kept having relapses every three months.

So we decided to change everything in one fell swoop, and hoped like crazy that wouldn't come back to haunt us. We discontinued all dry food (including Buddy's much beloved Temptations treats), eliminated fish from his diet, used the Protein/Fat/Carb/Phosphorus Chart at CatInfo.org to help us figure out where to start re: selecting some low-carb canned foods, bought some Feliway diffusers, and started him on the Zylkene that the vet recommended for anxiety.

It has now been more than three years since we made those changes, and thank God, Buddy hasn't had a single flare-up since.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! maybe there's something here that might help
Transitioning Your Cat From Kibble To A New Type Of Food (canned, Raw, Or Homemade)
Along with cheeser 's great comments about the canned food and calming products, you might also consider filtering your water if you don't already.

@abyeb mentioned that the water filtering pitchers can get moldy, but hopefully you can put a faucet-end filter for the kitchen sink into place. If you're able to utilize Costco they have pur for a bit cheaper.

 

[Saf]

It may be his urine is too alkaline and providing a good enviroment for bacteria to grow. A raw diet is absolutely the best way to keep a cat's urine the appropriate PH.

 

[maggiedemi]

I would get rid of the dry food completely for at least a few days. If you add it back, I would keep it under half a cup. My cats have never had a reaction from switching to wet food right away. It's usually only if you are switching to a new dry food that you have to do it gradually.

 

[2BSH]

Here is another vote for getting rid of dry food!

 

[duckpond]

I would still try to get him in too my regular vet this week. If he has a URI again he may use the litter box, but it still needs to be taken care of. It wont just go away most likely no matter how much he drinks. And if your luck is anything like mine it will get really bad late Friday or Saturday night when i would have no access to my vet.

 

[Animal Freak]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

In our case, we tried to make changes too gradual at first, because the vet said that stress can be a trigger for urinary tract problem flare-ups. But that didn't work out very well, and Buddy kept having relapses every three months.

So we decided to change everything in one fell swoop, and hoped like crazy that wouldn't come back to haunt us. We discontinued all dry food (including Buddy's much beloved Temptations treats), eliminated fish from his diet, used the Protein/Fat/Carb/Phosphorus Chart at CatInfo.org to help us figure out where to start re: selecting some low-carb canned foods, bought some Feliway diffusers, and started him on the Zylkene that the vet recommended for anxiety.

It has now been more than three years since we made those changes, and thank God, Buddy hasn't had a single flare-up since.

Wow, and I thought Ash got them often. I'll definitely look at that link. I was actually just figuring their food out today since I changed them from Friskies wet to American Journey and needed to figure out the calorie intake. It doesn't look like they'll be need much, if any, dry food.

I'm not sure that Ash's problems are stress related though. Actually, I forgot to mention that they seem almost seasonal. Almost every single one of his UTIs has occurred in spring or early summer and the vet even commented once that they see more UTIs around that time of year. And with all the stress Ember has put him through (she's sensitive and lashes out at him sometimes), I've never noticed him have a problem in those times other than this past issue, but I was actually wondering if she was picking up on his discomfort and lashing out because of that. I didn't consider it being the other way around.

Hi! maybe there's something here that might help
Transitioning Your Cat From Kibble To A New Type Of Food (canned, Raw, Or Homemade)
Along with cheeser 's great comments about the canned food and calming products, you might also consider filtering your water if you don't already.

@abyeb mentioned that the water filtering pitchers can get moldy, but hopefully you can put a faucet-end filter for the kitchen sink into place. If you're able to utilize Costco they have pur for a bit cheaper.

Well, I know the bowls have filters in them though I could probably do better at keeping up on changing them. Does it need to be filtered beyond that? I do have a water pitcher which I would hope isn't moldy since I use it, but I can look into possibly getting something for the sink.

It may be his urine is too alkaline and providing a good enviroment for bacteria to grow. A raw diet is absolutely the best way to keep a cat's urine the appropriate PH.

Definitely a potential cause I'll have to keep in mind, but I'm afraid a raw diet isn't really an option at this point.

I would get rid of the dry food completely for at least a few days. If you add it back, I would keep it under half a cup. My cats have never had a reaction from switching to wet food right away. It's usually only if you are switching to a new dry food that you have to do it gradually.

I think I could manage that. I do believe they already get under half a cup. I am going to increase the amount of wet as well. I've just had to figure out how much they'll be getting and much of the dry they'll need to meet their calorie requirements. My math skills are not the best though.

I didn't know that about switching food though. I thought changing anything in their diet required a gradual change. If that's true, that'll make it easier when I want to give them a different wet food.

I would still try to get him in too my regular vet this week. If he has a URI again he may use the litter box, but it still needs to be taken care of. It wont just go away most likely no matter how much he drinks. And if your luck is anything like mine it will get really bad late Friday or Saturday night when i would have no access to my vet.

Oh, I actually meant this past weekend. I noticed he seemed to have problems urinating I think last Wednesday and we called to make and appointment on Thursday which was when we were told they'd be closed. Well, that night he peed all over my bathroom and it was quite a lot with no signs of blood or anything. He peed on a towel the next day as well, but I don't know about after that. Which isn't really consistent with his past UTIs where we'd frequently see him at least trying to go on towels and it would never be much, if any. And I can't say he's ever gone back to using the litterboxes before recovering from it before.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi, I think it somewhat depends on where you live, if you're in Michigan of course filter everything five times, ugh. In Denver Colorado after my boy's liver numbers came back elevated a couple years ago i decided it'd just be easier for me to do the faucet end style, since he likes drinking from it, for the coffeepot, etc. (He also has a bowl on the floor fresh daily).

 

[carebearbaby1]

I used NutriVet Uti Ease along with fountains and wet food for my chronic UTI kitty. It's a urine acidifier. She went from having a uti nearly every other month to none at all. It's a paste that you just squirt on their food or paw and they lick it right up.
Nutri-Vet Uri-Ease Salmon Flavor Paw-Gel for Cats, 3-oz tube

 

[Animal Freak]

Hi, I think it somewhat depends on where you live, if you're in Michigan of course filter everything five times, ugh. In Denver Colorado after my boy's liver numbers came back elevated a couple years ago i decided it'd just be easier for me to do the faucet end style, since he likes drinking from it, for the coffeepot, etc. (He also has a bowl on the floor fresh daily).

Well, I'm not in Michigan. If I did get a filter for the faucet, do you think I'd have to keep getting the filters for the bowls? Filtering twice might be better, but those things are quite expensive so if I didn't have to buy those then getting something for the faucet could actually be cheaper in the long run.

I used NutriVet Uti Ease along with fountains and wet food for my chronic UTI kitty. It's a urine acidifier. She went from having a uti nearly every other month to none at all. It's a paste that you just squirt on their food or paw and they lick it right up.
Nutri-Vet Uri-Ease Salmon Flavor Paw-Gel for Cats, 3-oz tube

That's very interesting. I'll definitely be looking into and maybe getting some of that. We've used a paste for hairballs before so it shouldn't be a problem getting him to eat it.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi, probably you wouldn't need bowl filters in addition. The pur faucet filters eliminate a lot of bad stuff. If the bowl filters are still basically charcoal like when I was using them 6 or 8 years ago, the pur filter is doing a LOT more.

 

[Animal Freak]

I wanted to let everyone know Ash has a vet appointment for this Friday. I would have rather had it sooner, but there's not much I can do about that. He's acting fine, but he was seen trying to pee on a towel this morning. I did tell him he'd better use the litterbox or I was going to stalk him all day... Guess that was his answer to that. It did save me the effort of following him around. Not that it would have been hard. He spends most of his time on the cat tree in the storage room. Hardest part would have been finding a place to sit.

Also, @cheeser, you said you cut out all dry food including treats. I'd be willing to do this, but I use treats quite a lot. I give them out for being brushed and use them to ease tension after a fight(which has been happening a lot lately), and I was wanting to get back to doing a training session to get all four animals together. So I was wondering if there was any treats I could use in place of Temptations.

Hi, probably you wouldn't need bowl filters in addition. The pur faucet filters eliminate a lot of bad stuff. If the bowl filters are still basically charcoal like when I was using them 6 or 8 years ago, the pur filter is doing a LOT more.

Alright, thanks. I might just do that. Perhaps not immediately, but hopefully soon.

 

[cheeser]

Oh, we still give Buddy treats. He absolutely expects a little reward after I give him his meds at least twice a day, or do anything else to him that he doesn't like.

We just make sure they're a freeze-dried meat type product like PureBites, which aren't loaded with ingredients that are high in carbs like the Temptations he used to be addicted to and that were causing so much trouble for him.

 

[Animal Freak]

Oh, we still give Buddy treats. He absolutely expects a little reward after I give him his meds at least twice a day, or do anything else to him that he doesn't like.

We just make sure they're a freeze-dried meat type product like PureBites, which aren't loaded with ingredients that are high in carbs like the Temptations he used to be addicted to and that were causing so much trouble for him.

Okay, thanks. I'll look into getting some of those.