A little over 3 weeks ago I noticed my 1.5 year old female cat(Mia) straining in the litter box and not producing a lot of urine with some blood. Took her to the vet and got meds(antibiotic and cosequin) for 2 weeks with a follow up appointment. The vet wasn't able to get any urine at the first visit for a urinalysis but did get a urinalysis done when we went back at the 2 weeks appointment. The vet described her urinalysis as A+. Ph was 6.0 and no crystals. Now a little over a week later I started to see a little bit of blood again and a decrease in urine output. When I noticed this last night I went ahead and gave Mia a dose of her antibiotics. The vet had wanted me to get Hills C/D + stress only because I have a multicat household literally that was the only reasoning. I understand stress is like the number one reason for urinary problems. I've debated about the perscription food because I know that it is filled with crap. I've been doing a ton of research on everything uti related. I had decided to imorg. ment diet changes(low carb, low phosphorus, more wet food, more water, no fish) from information I gained from catinfo.org. I already feed my cats wet so I have been trying to increase that amount and cut way back on the dry(which I'm also transitioning to Purina One Urinary Health) Everything is moving very slowly so Mia doesn't get even more stressed with food changes. We have been trying new wet foods in between their regular friskies trying to move towards the low carb/low phosphorus but the cats are being very picky and all of them have only liked one kind so far. As for the decision to try the purina one I thougjt of it as more of a procaution because they have always had dry food so I can't just quite giving it to them and the vets only reasoning for perscription was due to the fact we are a multicat household. Now though with seeing blood in Mia's urine again I'm second guessing myself and wondering if I shouldn't get the perscription food atleast for the time being. I bought fountains to replace the water bowls right after this happened and all the cats gave adjusted to them and now really love them. I am using only filtered by reverse osmosis water in them and I add water to their wet food. I'm going to call the vets office to see what they say about whats going on and if I need to bring Mia in or to just continue giving her the antibiotics for now. Any help would be greatly appriciated.
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Uti Trouble - Need Advice
- Thread starter xx18xx
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I would give the antibiotics at least until you reach the vet, and follow his advice from there. I agree that some of the prescription diets seem to be less than ideal, so don't be afraid to ask your vet why, precisely, that particular food, and if there is a better-quality food that would do the same job. Don't be afraid to ask questions and be proactive in your cat's care. NO good, reputable vet minds a guardian who wants to educate themselves.
Shortly after I adopted my cat Chula, she developed a UTI that took almost 3 months to go away. Within a day or so after finishing the antibiotic, blood would reappear in her urine. In the end, it took 3 different antibiotics, switching her to all wet food and buying a fountain to encourage her to drink more water. The stress of moving to a new home may have played a role as well. While this was taking place, I was reading everything I could about UTIs and towards the end of this nightmare, I read a recommendation that cats with UTIs have their urine cultured to avoid the shotgun approach of prescribing antibiotics. If that had been done for Chula, the vet would have known exactly which antibiotic to prescribe and the UTI would undoubtedly have resolved itself sooner.
Your cat's situation sounds a bit like Chula's where the antibiotic reduced but didn't eliminate the pathogens. I would ask your vet to culture Mia's urine to find out first, if there actually are bacteria in her urine and second, what antibiotic will knock them out.
As far as the prescription food goes, I'm not that familiar with cat nutrition but if he is recommending it just because Mia might be stressed because she lives in a multi-cat home, perhaps a Feliway diffuser would help reduce her anxiety. These emit calming substances that can be very effective. Unfortunately, they aren't effective on every cat but they are probably worth trying.
Has anything changed in your home that might be stressing her out? Changes in routines are often a major source of stress so I'd look at any changes and see what you can do to minimize their impact. This article, Six Surefire Strategies To Reduce Stress In Cats should help you evaluate what's going on with her and give you some ideas to help her feel more relaxed in her home.
Good luck! I hope Mia is back to her old self soon.
Your cat's situation sounds a bit like Chula's where the antibiotic reduced but didn't eliminate the pathogens. I would ask your vet to culture Mia's urine to find out first, if there actually are bacteria in her urine and second, what antibiotic will knock them out.
As far as the prescription food goes, I'm not that familiar with cat nutrition but if he is recommending it just because Mia might be stressed because she lives in a multi-cat home, perhaps a Feliway diffuser would help reduce her anxiety. These emit calming substances that can be very effective. Unfortunately, they aren't effective on every cat but they are probably worth trying.
Has anything changed in your home that might be stressing her out? Changes in routines are often a major source of stress so I'd look at any changes and see what you can do to minimize their impact. This article, Six Surefire Strategies To Reduce Stress In Cats should help you evaluate what's going on with her and give you some ideas to help her feel more relaxed in her home.
Good luck! I hope Mia is back to her old self soon.
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Thank you Mamanyt1953. I called the vet and actually ended up taking Mia in for a appointment where theh did another urinalysis and an ultrasound on her bladder. Urinalysis came back excellent but found pretty bad inflammation of the walls of her bladder. We saw a different vet than before and I actually felt a lot more comfortable with this one. He diagnosed her with idiopathic cystitis. So we are back on meds for a while trying to knock the inflammation down. We also talked about her diet and he said he thinks I'm doing very good with all of it and the perscription food wasn't really necessary unless we can't get it under control.
Thank you margd. It does sound familiar to your exprience. We saw a different vet today instead of the one orignally. He did talk about culturing her urine but said since she already has been on an antibiotic that we would have to wait a while so it wasn't in her system. Mia has been on Orbax and we are starting that again along with prednisone and cosequin.
Yes there has been several changes going on in our household so I'm sure that is what has stressed her out. I'm hoping things will be calming down now. I've already looked into several things to help reduce her stress.
Oh, good! Be sure to request this second vet now whenever possible!
This sounds very promising. I'm really glad you saw the second vet. Please let us know how she does! 
