How do you know if your cat has a UTI?

[ALovelyBunch0fCoconuts]

CocoCat has just used the tray 4 times in the last hour despite me letting her outside. shes coming back in to use the tray. she seems to be doimg small amounts each time not her usual stream. is this a sign of a UTI?

she seems fine in herself other than that so how else would I know if she was ill?

Mine used to pee a bit of blood too. And do that weird bum dragging along the floor thing dogs do. But seemed otherwise fine, so cats can def put up with discomfort. I never realises she was poorly til I saw blood

She has had some wet food and a drink since her poo.

no haematuria yet thank god.

My cat gets this quite regularly - hers is caused by stress (neighbour bully cat) rather than an infection (can be either)

She does have some medicine for it which solves it quickly, but I can sometimes get rid of it (and manage it normally) by mixing loads of water in with her wet food. Limit dry food and give her some cat milk.

So, I would try this before you can get to the vet to see if it helps, but if it is an infection she will need medicine. Ours was pretty reasonable cost IIRC and I have used it a few times.

Fingers x'd pushing additional fluids works in the next 12hrs or so until you can get to a vet

Nothing has changed at home to increase her stress levels but there is a bullycat that comes and yowls at the windows every night. he's horrible. hes the kid in the playground everyone hates!

She's still sleeping now bless her. ill take her biscuits away tonight and put some extra wet + water down for her and re assess in the morning. She refuses to sleep upstairs at night so might camp out downstairs to keep an eye on her

We had a cat that waited outside for ours as well - a water gun convinced it to stop up yowling at 4am outside out house (now whenever we open the window it runs away).

ive mixed some water in with some more wet meat and she slurped it dry in seconds so gave her sone more water in it and she drank it all down before eating some of the meat. even though there is always fresh water down for her she never really drinks much of it. perhaps this is parr of the problem.

Sounds good - keep up with getting liquid into her as long as she'll take it.

Has she peed again?

Coconuts, my cat never ever drinks water but will take it at about 50% water/50% wet food pouch. It seems enough to keep her stress related peeing problems at bay

we were also recommended trying Feliway plug ins for the stress but they were expensive and useless for us

I would say is she starts peeing normally and not sitting trying to pee 4x per hour then you may well have washed it through

If tomorrow she is still not peeing I think you will need the vet for some medication

Good luck

Mine will drink out of the loo if we don't keep the seat down.

How did she do overnight?

I had to go to bed but I left all doors open for her in case she decided to come upstairs but she didnt.

when I got up there was a solid poo in the tray, and three clumps of wee (thank god for clumping litter). shes been outside and toiletted and eaten more 50/50 food&water.

im going to hospital tomorrow for a minor op so cant take her to the vet tomorrow.

She's now trying to steal the butter off my toast and playing with the cords on my onesie

That all sounds good

Can you keep he in for a bit to see if she is still visiting the tray a lot but struggling to wee? This will hopefully help you to see if the irritation is still there.

That's promising. Keep up with the 50/50 - it seems to be suiting her.

How can I get her to drink more without mixing it with her food? syringe? im worried im encouraging her to eat too much. yeah im going to try and keep her in so I can monitor things a bit more.

Wet food has a high water content anyway (the figure of 70% comes to mind but I might be mistaken) so if you're starting with that and then 50/50ing it, I doubt she'd be eating too much. Certainly a lot less than any sort of comparable amount of the dried which you used to give her, I''d have thought.

Cat milk? Would a dripping tap entice her. As I say, mine never drinks any water from her bowl or elsewhere as far as I can tell. The 50/50 is usually good enough to pull her back from a minor stress irritation

I havent got any cat milk although can go and fimd some later.

how long woukd you say id meed to keep going with this 5050 to pull it back? how long before I see improvement?

sje usually has wet food anyway. biscuits are always down for her, water bowl always full and she has 1 pouch a day of wet.

With mine, it's within 12-24 hours she stops the constant trip to the litter tray. I change to no biscuits and 2 wet pouches a day for a few days after too. Also tinned tuna in spring water drained as a treat.

If she is still 'dry weeing' with v regular trips to the tray I would be starting the medication I have. Mine was diagnosed by a vet, and yours might well be something different.

She has been to the tray twice this morning and produced a small amount each time so it's improving hut still not better. I need to be at hospital by 10 30 tomorrow so im calling the vet and trying to get her in by 9am tomorrow. I really cant afford tje £100+ for today.

Infections usually cost me £35-40. Keep pushing the fluids.

booked in for 9.35.

keep you posted.

she does seem so much better this morning tho

Good that she's better but I think you're right to have her to the vet. UTIs seem to be a recurring problem so any vet advice/intervention now would be timely - and would keep the practice in the loop with her health.

Best of luck and let us know how she gets on.