Cat weeing blood - any thoughts/advice please

[Thewindsofchange]

We’ve had an ongoing issue with our 3yo cat; the vets are stumped and so I thought I’d see if anyone else had had something similar.
It started at the end of last year when our cat started weeding in the house outside the litter tray every so often (he goes outside in the day and is inside at night). To start we didn’t think much of it but after a few instances it looked slightly pink so I took him off to the vet. The vet thought it was stress related. Gave him a week of Metacam, recommended supplements for stress annd urinary and off we went. It started happening again and this time his wee was definitely bloody. I ran a sample to the vet, they did tests and said there were crystals in it. More metacam.
It kept going so he went in for a blood test, scan and ultrasound. There they found a growth in his bladder but couldn’t identify it. More metacam, longer term now. Scanned again a while later and it had shrunk. A few weeks later (still on Metacam) and it seemed to have disappeared. Vet couldn’t identify the cause, said probably cystitis of unknown cause (can happen in young cats apparently) and to stick with the Metacam until it runs out, try to encourage him to drink more and go back if any issues.
A few months later, last week, the metacam runs out. 2-3 days later I see blood in his wee and he wees on the floor. Straight back to vets. They are still stumped. Just said to put him back on the metacam long term and see if it happens again when it runs out. Tonight he sprayed bloody wee up the wall.
I’m so fed up. The house stinks. We’re have to keep doors shut again to limit the rooms he can see in. Dh is increasing annoyed (he didn’t want another cat).
Thank god we’ve got insurance as we’re now hitting £1,500 in vets bills but are still no closer to getting an answer.
Does anyone have any ideas please?
At this stage I’m tempted to give him up but the dc would be devastated. Plus it’s just passing the problem on.

Give him up!? Because he got sick. That's horrible.

why does the house stink ? is he not neutered ?

Have you cut out dry food/kibble? Done anything to increase water intake, like a cat fountain?

He’s peeing in places you’ll notice because he wants your attention/help. My lovely tom used to pee in the bath when his kidneys flared up.

Had the same issue with my cat and vet told me to stop all dry food as it was causing urinary infections. Never happened again after that so maybe try cutting out dry food for a while and see how you go?

So did ours. Antibiotics sorted it out. She had twice. Thankfully she's been okay since. She was treated for cystitis.

Have you tried a specialist urinary food? https://amzn.eu/d/07zTAuA0

Bladder problems make them pee in odd places, they can’t help it.Vets try and avoid antibiotics now but if it’s severe UTI they should test for the bacteria and give you appropriate ones . UTI can be life threatening in cats they have small bladders. Can you ask another vet?

Cat wee always stinks, even if cats are neutered.

Erm vet?

If there are crystals, he needs to have an operation to remove them. And he needs to go on urinary cat food, which should stop it from happening again. Have they tested his wee for infection/crystals? I’d find another vet, and stick
him on the urinary cat food to see if that helps. There is also a urinary complementary treatment you can try, called Cystease, which you can get from Amazon. I don’t think you can get it in UK but we gave our cat something called Urinovet Cat Dilute, which seemed to help.

Did you not read the OP's post at all 😂

You can't 'give him up' - who to?
If you don't want a cat that pees blood up the walls then no one else is going to.

I'm surprise the vet is only giving pain relief and no other treatment though, I'd definitely get a second opinion.

So would I. A UTI is no fun.

We had this with a family cat. It turned out that he had bladder cancer. We had to take him to a specialist vet practice before it was diagnosed.

Is he on specialist urinary food, with the correct ratio of wet/dry (they have it in both). If not drinking enough water then the wet ratio needs to be adjusted or sole. Is there a water fountain cleaned regularly? Having said that it’s not the panacea, our household cat prefers bowls (fresh bowl daily with water changed several times), but many cats do prefer the fountains.

ETA - if the vet doesn’t seem to have a ‘fix’ why have they not on-referred to a feline kidney specialist? Kidney problems in cats are rife, to the extent our vet has a kidney/urinary feline specialist that visits weekly for cases that are referred, but you can ask to be referred to ones elsewhere. Ask for this.

The poor cat is telling you clearly there is a problem. It’s your obligation to find out what this is, and address it, rehome the poor thing because you can’t be arsed.

I'm baffled that a vet would prescribe a NSAID painkiller for a cat with a UTI.

Move vet practice and get a second opinion doesn't sound like yours is being especially proactive in getting to the bottom of the problem. This happened to my childhood cat, he was diabetic.

You need to find another vet for a second opinion.

Sounds bladder or kidney related. Did the vet say anything about moving to wet food? You aren't obliged to keep going to the same vet. Find one that specialises in cats, if possible.

Metacam is fairly well used in urinary issues. Mine was on that with bupenorphine and gabapentin

OP - recommend Cystease, feliway, and drowning him in fluids basically - Purina hydracare and Almo nature hydration chicken. Urinary wet food if there’s crystals as well

I get it, mine hit 6k, I was exhausted, upset and having to consider euthanasia but I kept on

You need to find another vet because your current one sounds useless.

Your vet has been weak here! If there’s crystals, it’s unlikely stress triggered- Metacam will help him wee without pain but they have done absolutely nothing to treat the cause. Cystease is an absolutely winner and can be bought cheaply off Amazon. They also need to be planning for how to deal with the crystals. Buprenorphine can help him pass the crystals if they are small but it needs close monitoring or they can also clear his bladder with a catheter under sedation. Then looking at diet to prevent this happening again in future!

Male cats with wee issues is hugely risky and he should be closely being monitored for blockages! Mine has a strict routine of Cystease capsule with wet food and prescription bladder dry food and he’s been so much better on this!

All of this. Why do so many vets just throw painkillers at the problem and never bother to actually treat the underlying cause? It’s so lazy. At the very least this vet should have prescribed cystophan (or equivalent), recommended a full diet change and had a discussion about potential stress triggers. Not just keep pumping the cat full of incredibly strong painkillers on a cyclical basis.

For us it was a reaction to fish based cat food. It’s actually not that uncommon. Take all fish flavoured cat food out of his diet and see if it helps.

They get pain when they pee which they associate with the litter tray, so they do it elsewhere. Plus they’re in plain which is stressful, so stress related marking behaviour.

poor little cat. he must be in agony. please take him to another vet asap. your vet is not sorting the problem. you need fresh eyes. today preferably.

cats mask pain. so dont thibk “he doesn’t seem to be in pain”. he absolutely IS in pain. We all know how sore a UTI is.

ps crystals are sadly common in cats. more dangerous in males. you must make sure he does pee. if he stops peeing it could be because he has a crystal blocking his pee tube. this is serious and he must be seen the same day as it can be fatal.

Have they tested for infection? My cat never showed infection but we sent off a pee sample anyway £150, to be cultured in a lab and it showed up what uti infection it was and what antibiotic should be used to treat it. i needed a ten day course, at about £30 a week, as my cat had it for months. it kept coming back. it was awful. i think you could be in the same boat.

the poor cat won’t want to pee everywhere. it’s the pain. poor thing. it’s not his fault. it must be agony. Imagine peeing out jaggy edged crystals daily. agony.

what can you do at home to make him less stressed? do you have feliway plug ins? they release calm hormone smells and really help. i used the (pets at home or pet smart or whatever it’s called now) cat one as it was cheaper. leave it in 24 hours a day.

feed wet food. a water fountain can encourage drinking as they like running water. as others have said try non fish flavour wet food.

you cannot just give up the cat. hes your responsibility. just like a child. his whole world is you. you are his everything. hes family now.
you just need to get on with fixing him. youre doing the right thing for the wee man taking him to a new vet.

And don’t get any more pets in future if life is too busy or expensive. vet fees are something we don’t think about but i learned the hard way that pets can cost practically nothing or thousands per year. it’s just your luck. i have none now. not because i dont want one,but because i cannot afford vet fees. head before heart.