Cat with UTI--any home treatments

[SarahandSam]

Just found one of our male cats squatting in the dining room; he peed a small puddle with drops of blood, so I know he’s having urinary issues. Vet can’t get him in before they close tonight but I can drop him off first thing tomorrow. I can take him to the ER tonight if necessary, but am really hoping he can wait until the regular vet in the AM. In the meantime, does anyone have any home remedies that might help loosen things up a little? I’ll add extra water to his wet food tonight, and did the penis-manipulating thing (way creepy on a cat), but not sure if there’s anything else I can do to make him more comfortable and prevent him from blocking…

In the meantime I’m keeping him in one room with an empty Rubbermaid container to pee in, so I can make sure he’s still peeing… as long as he’s still having liquid coming out and otherwise acting normally, is that good? I would rather take him to the ER than risk having him block, but money is tight and it would really be good if he can wait for the regular vet…

ETA: Just went to check on him; he’s peed in a couple different corners of the room over the past hour (and eventually the Rubbermaid container); still not a lot of pee and it’s bloody, but he does seem to be peeing a little bit every time. The last time it was only a few drops, but he had just peed a larger amount right before it.

[Wraper2]

I don’t have any home remedies, but I just went through an UTI with one of my cats. Two things that my vet did was to 1) give him 1/2 cc of Dexamethazone for the pain and inflammation and 2) Zoomie now gets a cranberry pill each day.

My vet did a urinalysis and based on those results we also checked for crystals. Zoomie had a much lower than anticipated pH. Apparently food companies worked so hard to adjust pH because of old issues that they are now seeing crystals from the other end of the pH range. (calcium oxilate?)

My vet’s biggest worry was blockage. He gave me the stuff to collect the sample and was fine with it not getting in until the next day… but Zoomie didn’t have any blood in his.

Good luck to you and your boy!!

[SquishTheBunny]

Male cat?

If he is blocked, he may not make it to tomorrow morning. Make sure he is still urinating normal volumes…even if its smaller amounts frequently thats not life threatening. Sounds like he is doing that so I wouldnt panic, but do ensure he continues to do this. If not, he needs the emerg clinic ASAP. They can become hyperkalemic and die very quickly if they are truly blocked…but sounds like your cat is voiding urine. With that said, bloody urine and frequent urination is often indicative of cystitis. Likely an antiinflammatory such as metacam, or an opioid like buprenorphine can get them through the inflammation pretty quickly. I wouldnt self dose if you have metacam at home, but maybe ask your vet or ER vet a dose if you happen to have it. Works quickly. If they are prone to cystitis, cosequin daily added to tin food helps.

Jingles that its just a bad cystitis and he isnt truly on his way to becoming blocked.

Cats rarely get actual urinary infections. Most…but not all, actually have something called a ‘sterile cystitis’.

[tarynls]

To clarify, a urinary tract infection can only be diagnosed by a vet. You will have a high number of WBC’s present. It is best not to try and collect the urine, but have your vet draw some urine out of the bladder with a long thin needle (cystocentesis). That rules out (or at least greatly eliminates) bacterial contamination of the urine sample. 99% of cats tolerate the procedure very well, it’s over with very quickly.

However, blood in the urine, at least in my vet tech experience, usually points to crystals in the urine.

Home remedies (and by home, I mean using items in your house), are not appropriate for treatment of either condition - especially if you don’t know if you’re dealing with: a UTI, crystals, sterile cystitis (can present with blood), or a UTI plus crystals. Lots of possibilities here.

Most likely, your boy will be fine until the morning; don’t worry. If you explained the symptoms to the vet and the vet didn’t say "OMG, get him here now! or OMG, get him to the emerg clinic now!, it sounds like your vet is OK with the situation.

My own cat developed crystals with a secondary UTI - his urine went from clear and yellow to almost brownish and extremely turbid in a very short period of time (IIRC, less than a day). He went to the vet the next day.

Best of luck to your boy!

[Puglet]

If he were my cat, I’d take him in. I had a girl with similar symptoms. I did end up taking her in after hours, and I’m sure glad I did. She was hospitalized for 3 days.

It’s painful for them. Hope your boy is ok!

[SarahandSam]

Thanks all… I wish I still had a bit of my dog’s Metacam, but she just finished that up (was scheduled to pick some up at her next appointment on Monday, argh). He’s still peeing small bloody amounts, and actively ate his dinner (plus extra water), so he seems uncomfortable but not actually blocked at the moment and I am still hoping he’ll be okay until morning.

He (and my other two cats, one of which has chronic UTIs and the other just for the heck of it) had been on the Purina U/D, but I decided to try a different wet food (Natural Balance chunks in the pouches), so apparently that’s what I get for thinking that better quality and more moisture would actually work better than the crappy prescription stuff. Sigh.

[In_The_Gate]

Please be careful using the canine Metacam in cats. The concentration of the drug is different (cats should use the 0.5mg/mL solution while most dogs get the 1.5mg/mL solution). It’s very easy to overdose cats using the more concentrated form because you can’t measure accurately and cats are much more sensitive to NSAIDS than dogs are. In dogs, we rarely see toxicity more serious than gastrointestinal side effects whereas cats can go into acute kidney failure from NSAIDS when you’re not careful (and occasionally, even when you are careful).

[SarahandSam]

Good to know, In the Gate–thanks.

Kitty is at the vet, hoping I can pick him up soon…

[texang73]

Good luck with your kitty, I’m going through the ordeal of having one with chronic (recurrent) bladder inflammation so have been doing everything possible to help her…

From everything I’ve researched, wet food is best for those with UTI problems (I feed Nature’s Instinct rabbit - grain free). Cleo (my cat with the UTI probs), who needs the added moisture the most, is a die hard dry kiddle addict, so I’m having to mix and match wet and dry foods. She was almost there eating all wet food, but then I had to go out of a town for a few days so had to leave dry out and she’s back slid abit. AVOID FISH flavors (dry or wet), as the fish is not good for them at all! I’ve also gone grain free with all foods.

Laser treatments have seemed to help Cleo’s bladder heal/ remodel nicely according to the very first ultrasound compared to the 2nd ultrasound 3 months later. :yes:

Cleo’s on a round of Baytril now and per the vet, we are also trying out a daily dose of Cosequin and cranberry to see if that also helps.

And of course, keeping the litter box very clean helps. And adding a Feliway diffuser near the box can help reduce the stress associated with the litter box (i.e. with a UTI kitties can stress out and start to have negative feelings towards the litterbox because it hurts - or used to hurt - when they go pee)

As all have said, antibiotics, pain meds, steroids as prescribed by vet will help, but taking holisitic measures (diet change, etc) can help prevent more trouble down the road. Good luck!

[red_mares]

My female cat has had UTI issues, after fighting with her for 2 weeks to get pills (baytril) down her throat 2X a day, (I think she spit at least half of them out) she was better sort of. A few weeks later she relapsed, & vet gave her a shot of antibiotics that apparently stays in their systems for 2 weeks. A month later and she looks good. That visit ran me less than $30. I was able to just get a vet tech appt since we already knew what was going on.

[VaqueroToro]

I read that the cat version of Cosequin helps bladder health or is that just an old wives tale?

Obviously, that won’t help with your kitty before getting to the vet appointment tomorrow, but I wonder if that isn’t a side benefit to giving a cat Cosequin as a joint treatment.

[Liberty]

[QUOTE=VaqueroToro;7022488]
I read that the cat version of Cosequin helps bladder health or is that just an old wives tale?

Obviously, that won’t help with your kitty before getting to the vet appointment tomorrow, but I wonder if that isn’t a side benefit to giving a cat Cosequin as a joint treatment.[/QUOTE]

My (former) vet thought Consequin was beneficial for cystitis, but it didn’t do a thing for my cat after he was diagnosed with idiopathic cystitis. We tried everything my vet could think before she basically just gave up.

I did some online research and found the following homeopathic. I was amazed that within hours (less than 24), my cat had stopped his “sprinkling” everywhere, was back to using the litter box and was noticeably more comfortable:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000TMW28C

Manufacturer’s website (as you can see, it’s less expensive on Amazon):
http://www.nativeremedies.com/petalive/products/uti-free-cat-dog-urinary-tract-infection.html

As all cats are different, it probably won’t work for all cats, but it sure did the trick for mine.

SarahandSam - I hope your kitty is now home and doing better!

[SarahandSam]

Thanks–he is home now and doing better, though my wallet isn’t! It was an actual UTI and he’s got antibiotics. I will definitely check out the homeopathic stuff–there was one I used on my female cat (who is very prone to FLUTD) years ago that worked really well, and then I couldn’t find it anywhere, so it’s good to hear recommendations of other supplements that might help. I had also never heard that fish is problematic; the Natural Balance wet pouches that I’ve been getting are grain free, which is good, but I generally get ones that have fish in them. I’ll look for fish-free ones and try those for a bit before I go back to the U/D–both of the more UTI-prone cats like this much better than the U/D, so I’m happier with the grain-free aspect and the higher moisture content, since I had to mix the U/D with kibble). Thanks again for the advice.

[SquishTheBunny]

[QUOTE=SarahandSam;7022798]
Thanks–he is home now and doing better, though my wallet isn’t! It was an actual UTI and he’s got antibiotics. I will definitely check out the homeopathic stuff–there was one I used on my female cat (who is very prone to FLUTD) years ago that worked really well, and then I couldn’t find it anywhere, so it’s good to hear recommendations of other supplements that might help. I had also never heard that fish is problematic; the Natural Balance wet pouches that I’ve been getting are grain free, which is good, but I generally get ones that have fish in them. I’ll look for fish-free ones and try those for a bit before I go back to the U/D–both of the more UTI-prone cats like this much better than the U/D, so I’m happier with the grain-free aspect and the higher moisture content, since I had to mix the U/D with kibble). Thanks again for the advice. :)[/QUOTE]

Wow, I’ve never known a urine culture to get done so quickly. Hopefully the antibiotics help, Ive always thought urine cultures took 5 days to see which antibiotic the infection is susceptible to. Jingles that this fixes your boy up quickly

[mbv]

Culture isn’t always necessary to diagnose a UTI; it is sometimes possible to see bacteria under the microscope when examining urine sediment when doing a urinalysis. A lot (most?) of vets will choose empiric antibiotic therapy for a first time UTI. Culture is, however, necessary to fully identify the bacteria, and is important for any animals with recurrent UTIs to better target antibiotic therapy!

[Hulk]

Use only distilled water for kitty to drink. This has been recomended by the cat vet at our clinic. Hope kitty is better soon.

[Marshfield]

Very few cats under the age of 10 will get a true urinary tract infection as the urine is too concentrated to allow for bacterial growth. Sterile urinary tract inflammation is common. Often what looks like bacteria on an in house urinalysis is just contaminants in the stain.

[JB]

When boy-kitty had an issue (he was blocked, never fully developed into a big infection) I was given a tube of a magnesium paste to give him. I used that when he started to show symptoms a 2nd time and got it fixed right away. Just FYI.

[Joanne]

I have finally almost 100% transitioned my male cat over to wet food, getting maybe a tablespoon of Merrick Salmon dry cat food a day.

His preferred flavor of wet cat food is fish, and I have been giving him Fancy Feast pate variety.

Is the fish varieties not recommended because of increased chance of mercury, or some other reason?

[_Teddy]

I wish, mine like kibble more!!

For dry we use usually medi-cal low residue, or calm any of them are low residue and highy palatable but apparently the wet version isnt?

We use fancy feast for the older boys, kitten likes meow mix or frisky