0k, so its my cats health, but I am very worried

[lilibet]

Harriet, who is 18 months old has always used a litter tray. This morning, i noticed that she was stood in the sink in the kitchen, bit strange I thought. Then I went to have a shower and she usually walks around the edge of the bath as I am doing this, but she jumped in the bath and stood in the water near the plug, then I noticed that she was squatting and there was blood in the water round the plug hole. decided to book her into the vets tomight but when I got to workand was telling someone about this they said that she had probably hurt her paw on something (she has recently scratched up some flooring, so that made sense) and was going in the sink as it would be cold on her paw. Anyhow, she has just jumped in the sink and squatted and there is blood there. I have checked her paws and they are all fine. I will take her to the vets tomorrow but in the meantime I am worried sick.

and yes to all non cat lovers I know its disgusting that she is squatting in my sink and she has never done it before!!

PIles?

Yup ... this happened to my cat - though admittedly he was a bit older.
It is quite alarming to see your cat obviously in pain. The fact that they don't pee in the litter tray ( or in my cats case outside ) is a way of attracting your attention and also the need to go immediately .... must be something like cystitis.

It's something to do with the urine calcifying in the bladder - not nice - and fairly painful to pee.

The long and the short of it is that the bladder has to be flushed to clear out the deposits. My DC ( ) is on special pills now so that the same thing does not happen again ... and special urinary tract food ( available only from the vet ) ... all rather pricey BUT he's worth it.

HTH - but it does look like a trip to the VET - is your cat insured ?

no, not insured. But thanks a load crystaltips, I'm a real hypochondriac when it comes to the children and the cats, its never anything minor.

Thinking of you .... it's horrid as there is very little you can do xxx

Def cystitis by the sound of it. Dont panic, much less of a problem in femal cats than male cats. Stop all dry food and add a little salt to the tinned/wet food to encourage extra drinking. Also if your cat likes anything like milk, make that available. Go to your vet who should give you some antibiotics but wont need special food etc unless it happens again (sometimes one off, sometimes recurrent problem).
HTH

I agree, def sounds like cystitis. Our cat used to get it frequently, sometimes with gravel in the bladder, which I guess is related to Crystaltips bit about urine calcifying?

She had a/b's and a hormone tablet, both of which worked. She hasn't had it since we moved house. I jokingly said to the vet that it must be the change of water that improved her health; he replied that I was nearer the truth than I'd imagined and that water quality can affect animals.

Our cat use to frequently get cystitis. Since we have stopped giving her dry food (recommended by the vet) she hasn't had it again.

Oh lillibet, i wish iseen this thread before, i hope your cat is ok x

CrystalTips, our dc had EXACTLY the same - still can't believe he is Ok after three bladder flushes. He was in agony, awful to see. And of course it happened on a Sunday so needed emergency vet.

Lilibet, I hope your dc is OK. i do remember the vet saying the mineral build-up my cat had is common in middle-aged males. So maybe Harriet does have cystitis. Fingers crossed for her. x

One of our cat's had cystitis a couple of weeks ago (was also peeing blood in odd places). She had antibiotics from the vets and it seems better although she is still licking herself a lot. I noticed the other one also has a bare tummy - probably from licking but she is pretty good at sorting herself out naturally (if she were human she'd use herbal remedies).

Question on the dried food. Both our cats have nothing but Iams. The useful self-sorting cat could eat anything. The non-useful cystitis prone cat however gets the runs really badly if she is given tinned food. I mean so badly that wherever she is she produces a stream of gravy seemingly with no warning to herself even (clearly not good esp with a small child around). Hence we have stuck to Iams as she is fine on that. If she hasn't eaten in a while she will gobble her food and sick it up almost immediately (bulemia?). So I cannot give her anything apart from dried food.

Thank you all very much - it was cystis, she is now on antibiotics (how to give a cat tablets is another thread!) and is feeling really sorry for herself.

Squeeze the jaw, shove the tablet in (as far back as possible) and jam the jaw shut. Hold shut whilst stroking throat downwards. Keep holding until you feel the cat swallow. Then watch carefully incase it is fooling you.

I stick our cats tablets into a lump of Philadelphia and he takes it off my finger. If the tablet is biggish, cut it into pieces and do each piece seperately.