My cat (aged 6) UTI again

[LineRunnerSaturnalia]

Hi, just checking on here whether there's any extra advice I can follow that might help.

Since a lady moved in two doors away with four cats - that seem to spend a lot of time in my garden and at at my back door - my cat #2 has been prone to UTIs. The vet says it is most likely stress, and recommended: Feliway, plenty of water to drink, and a 'renal health' cat food. I am doing all this. I also spend some time in the garden with her every day so she can go toileting in peace. At the moment the back door is open and she is flitting in and out from the garden next to me quite happily, but weeing in every plant pot in turn.

The cats also have a catflap.

Get her a litter tray with an entrance...one of the "private" ones. I say this as the owner of two easily spooked and very fussy Siamese. They were going in and on everything bar the earh before I got their private loo!

As much as I loathe litter trays, have you considered one, just for the short term. My cat turns her nose up at them, thankfully, but when she was constipated, I left one just outside the door, and she used it. Stopped her shitting in the fireplace anyway!

Ah! I might be able to help with this one.

My friend had problems with her cat peeing inside.

Eventually they paid for a cat psychologist, who (despite a lot teasing from her friends and a very reluctant DP) actually had some very interesting insights.

Her cat was peeing because she felt at threat from the toms outside. The reason she was peeing inside was because she had cat cyctitis, basically caused by stress. She could only pee when she felt comfortable & safe.

Cats feel very vulnerable when they pee. Unlike humans they don't want privacy at all, they want to be able to see all around them. It's possible I guess that she's peeing on the plant pots because they give her a vantage point - i.e. she can see if anyone's sneaking up on her.

Also my friends cat was scared to go out. The helped with this by providing some pot plants as cover around the cat flap so she could sneak out. I'm not sure if this bit is an issue for you but posting just in case!

HTH

Cross posts. And totally conflicting advice I see! From no advice to confusion, OP, hey ho

Cat water fountain? Supposed to encourage them to drink and so lessen chance of uti. Can you discourage other cats by squirting with plant mister? Wouldn't hurt them but might help reclaim garden...

I have put in a temporary cat littler tray, inside by the cat flap. The other cat (the Mother Cat i.e. cat #1) has immediately used this!

Cat #2 has now just weed in the bath, by the plughole, bless her.

I have taken a half day off work for this. There is Feliway everywhere. I think it's working on me, too; quite relaxing.

at relaxing feliway

Have a look at Vicky Halls website , she's a cat behaviourist, I've got a couple of her books and find her advice good.

Not that its helped my annoying cat much, but seems helpful.

Bit late noticing this post but hey. My poor girl has suffered from repeated UTIs all her life, she's 12 now. We've tried everything........nothing worked and we ended up this time last year with her in intensive care with suspected renal failure. To cut a long story short, she has cholangiohepatitis, basically inflammation of the liver and bile duct. She did pull through....but we were warned that more UTI's might make this come back again. So we tried the urinary food etc but what has really worked was cutting out dried food altogether. Its not been easy as my girl would sell her soul for cat biscuit.....but its helped.

larakitten Sorry for being a while getting back to you, but have had her on 'wet' food for a few days and it has semed to improve the situation.

But don't they need some dry food for their dental health?

Does your cat drink enough? When my cat first had a UTI the vet told me that cats don't always like their water near their food so I've had bowls of water in various different parts of the house. He drinks a lot more since I did this and doesn't get UTIs anymore. He does have early onset Kidney Disease though which I became suspicious of when I noticed he was drinking loads from the water bowl in out bedroom (hard not to notice when it's there). I suspect this was caused by the fact he was hardly drinking before, which also caused his UTIs so do make sure he gets plenty of fluid. Wet food also helps with this. My vet told me that it was fine to not give him dry food. I think opinions vary on this.

The flitting from one plant pot to the next could also be to do with only being able to do a little wee at a time. Have you ever had cystitis? You can only do a few drops because it feels like pissing broken glass so you feel like you need to go again straight away. I suspect it's not much different for cats.

My last cat suffered from a lot of UTIs. Best answer we got, after a lot of tests etc, was it was stress. Even getting the xmas tree out would trigger him.

i'm not sure what really helped. If he didn't get out and used the litter tray, he was more prone. I think in the litter tray he didn't squat properly and clear his bladder. More water helped too - he liked a pint glass of water in various locations in the house (and as his slave I obliged pmsl). And almost no dry food. However the UTIs completely cleared when he was moved onto Fortekor for his heart condition. Between that and him dying of suspected kidney failure (depsite bloods being clear) I think there was maybe an underlying kidney problem all the time.

Have you had a urine sample checked? Was there crystals in it? Blood in it? With our cat it was clear he had a UTI - he'd yowl and pee blood in the bath. But some cats it's not actually a UTI that requires treatment, it's just stress peeing places IYSWIM. So it's worth getting a sample checked to see if there's something medically wrong or if it's a behavioural thing (or both).

Thank you HavingKittens and suzi2.

My cat's fine at the moment, hurrah.

She has lots to drink - and yes, I have made sure she has an extra water bowl away from her food bowl. Her urine sample has been checked and the vet says it's stress, but Feliway does work well with the cat for this.

I've also set up a litter tray indoors whilst the storm outside rages.

This cat is cat#2 - we also her have her mother. They are both spayed and get on quite well. However there are a lot of new cats in the neighbourhood, new neighbours, and everything seems to set her off!