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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

Would a cat's UTI clear up on its own?

50 replies

RainCloude · 08/12/2021 10:06

A week ago I noticed my indoor cat was grooming around his willy more than usual, and though he's castrated it was sticking out a lot. So I took him to the vet.

He didn't seem in any pain whatsoever but she kind of blindsided me into him having a strong painkilling injection which she said was an opioid and also advised opioid tablets.

She said that would all come to £220. Whilst she was giving the injection I recovered from my shock and said actually I won't need the tablets (thinking that would reduce the bill quite a bit - but it just brought it down to £191).

She gave me a pack for getting a urine sample, so they can analyse it and then treat it probably with anti biotics.

Anyway cat is completely normal again now - never was in any pain start with, but the grooming has stopped and I haven't seen his willy out at all! I feel I should still do the urine test to make sure but I feel like the vet is a bit dubious and presume they will charge me another £200 at the very least to do the urine analysis and will probably prescribe more medication even if the analysis is clear. Basically I don't trust them now.

My question is, could the cat have just shaken off whatever was troubling him? I've been adding warm water to his pouch food to make sure he's getting his fluid.

I want to do the right thing but I am hesitant to be ripped off again especially so close to Christmas. I'm not an irresponsible cat owner and will always pay for appropriate treatment, but the vet's behaviour with expensive and unnecessary opioids makes me think twice.

Sorry for long post but would appreciate any thoughts! Cat is happy as Larry by the way!

OP posts:
Original poster
RainCloude · 08/12/2021 10:52

One more thing! When the vet listened to his heart, she said he has a heart murmur. She previously listened to his heart when I took him in three months ago for his castration, and it was fine then. At that time he had just been rescued and had been through goodness knows what, but no heart problems. It seems strange that he would develop a murmur after three months of living in the calmest most loving home possible, post rescue. Not impossible I know, these things happen, but my thought are now that they want to take money for expensive heart investigations!

OP posts:
santasmuma · 08/12/2021 10:58

She said that would all come to £220. Whilst she was giving the injection I recovered from my shock and said actually I won't need the tablets (thinking that would reduce the bill quite a bit - but it just brought it down to £191).

Your very advised tablets but you refused because of the bill? Have you got pet insurance?

santasmuma · 08/12/2021 11:00

@RainCloude

One more thing! When the vet listened to his heart, she said he has a heart murmur. She previously listened to his heart when I took him in three months ago for his castration, and it was fine then. At that time he had just been rescued and had been through goodness knows what, but no heart problems. It seems strange that he would develop a murmur after three months of living in the calmest most loving home possible, post rescue. Not impossible I know, these things happen, but my thought are now that they want to take money for expensive heart investigations!

You know the expensive heart investigations are not free to the vet? They don't just take your money and keep it.

Ohbotherpiglet · 08/12/2021 11:06

My cat had a UTI. But apparently in cats they aren’t always caused by infection, sometimes it’s just stress.

Our vet just gave us an antibiotic injection and the cat equivalent of ibuprofen to put on her food. The thing is she got better almost instantly. Before we took her she was seeing every 5 minutes and then she was fine when we got home. It was like the shock of the vet sorted her out!

Ohbotherpiglet · 08/12/2021 11:09

*weeing every 5 minutes

I posted to soon. I was going to say that I can’t remember how much it was, but I’m sure it was nothing like £200.

But yes cats can clear it up by themselves. How long has it been? If it’s a few days I would ring the vet for advice to see if a sample is still needed. If it’s 12 hours then it could be that he was grooming where he was sore and the opioids have meant he isn’t sore “for now”. UTI’s are much more commob in male cats as well than female

EveryFlightBeginsWithAFall · 08/12/2021 11:11

Mine had one last week, couldn't have the injections that were 3 days apart as it fell on the Sunday. Vet said 10 day injection wasn't as good so we went for tablet antibiotics. Cost £48

He wasn't grooming himself though at all, had gone off his food and was obviously starting to feel really unwell

Ohbotherpiglet · 08/12/2021 11:12

Oh and my cat has a heart murmur but the vet has never suggested investigating it further. I think they will only do that if it progresses past “minor”.

People will have a go at you for not being insured up to the ears but I don’t think expensive investigations and lots of vet trips are always in the cats best interest either. You can’t get insurance to cover his heart or utis now the vet has mentioned it anyway!

Pixiedust1234 · 08/12/2021 11:19

There are different reasons for uti and a urine sample will tell the vet which treatment is most effective. Most cats need a painkiller whatever the underlying reason. Don't forget that cats rarely show how much pain they are actually in as they are a prey animal too. Call the vet and ask if she still needs the sample as its been a few days.

If you feel that vet is ripping you off then go to another but did you have an emergency or out of hours appointment?

Original poster
RainCloude · 08/12/2021 11:21

Injection was a 24 hour one and it would have worn off on Friday. He's absolutely fine. I'm going to phone a different vet for a second opinion. Why did they give a £200 pain killer to a cat not in pain, that's the issue

OP posts:
Anonaymoose · 08/12/2021 11:22

A basic urinalysis is around £20-£30. Microbiology a bit more but not necessary unless an animal isn't responding to treatment. UTI's are very painful for cats whether you think so or not, you should have taken the treatment. You've been lucky this time but if he'd ended up blocked you'd have been at the emergency vets with a 4 figure bill. And honestly if £200 is out of your reach then you're being very irresponsible not to have your pet insured, there is no NHS for animals as I presume you knew when you took on a pet.
Heart murmurs can come and go, sometimes they can be heard and sometimes not.

Original poster
RainCloude · 08/12/2021 11:23

@santasmuma if you read back you will see I refused pain tablets because he wasn't in pain not just because of the bill Confused

OP posts:
Original poster
RainCloude · 08/12/2021 11:25

@Anonaymoose and anyone else who cares to read, I will copy and paste the following from my op:

I'm not an irresponsible cat owner and will always pay for appropriate treatment, but the vet's behaviour with expensive and unnecessary opioids makes me think twice.

OP posts:
santasmuma · 08/12/2021 11:26

[quote RainCloude]@santasmuma if you read back you will see I refused pain tablets because he wasn't in pain not just because of the bill Confused[/quote]

I don't need to read back, you said you 'didn't need the tablets (thinking that would reduce the bill quite a bit

Ohbotherpiglet · 08/12/2021 11:31

The overgrooming is a sign of pain op

Original poster
RainCloude · 08/12/2021 11:38

I didn't think he would need the pain tablets thinking it would reduce the bill YES and he wasn't in pain anyway FFS! He stopped the grooming the next day and was back to normal so I believe I made the correct choice there. I'm going to phone another, family-run vet (this one is a chain, that does sometimes make a difference) and will update.

OP posts:
santasmuma · 08/12/2021 11:57

I didn't think he would need the pain tablets thinking it would reduce the bill YES and he wasn't in pain anyway FFS!

I only went on what you said, no need for the FFS. However, you don't know if your cat is in pain or not. I fully trust my vet though.

MrTumblesEyebrows · 08/12/2021 12:07

My male castrated house cat had recurrent UTIs and ended up with blocked bladder. He was in absolute agony and we had to put him to sleep. Don't mess around with UTIs especially in male house cats as they are more at risk.

Lunde · 08/12/2021 12:33

Whenever you adopt a cat you need to factor in the cost of medical care and the best option is to take out pet insurance. The costs seem high to you because you are used to the NHS being free. I however live in a country where everyone pays the full cost of meds for the first £100 and a co-payment to medical care. I know that in the real world it is not an unusual cost a antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds can easily cost £25-45 each. Veterinary costs are similar to private medical care.

It is really hard to tell whether a cat is in pain or whether it has swelling inside the bladder than may cause ongoing issues, I also recommend that you fully treat any bladder issues as they can become chronic. Some cats are prone to them, some cats will develop crystals in the bladder and require surgery.

We had a cat that we found in the garden, had been abandoned by his owners we had him vet checked and he seemed fine. 6 months later we were on holiday and the cattery called to say they had taken him to the out of hours animal hospital because of bladder issues (the swelling inside his bladder meant he was unable to wee at all). We came home to A £2,500 bill for scans, xrays, surgery to wash crystals out of his bladder and 3 days on a drip in hospital. Thank god we had pet insurance that paid most of it,

Original poster
RainCloude · 08/12/2021 13:42

On reflection I think the issue here is that I just don't trust this vet. Urine sample is going to the family vet that treats our other cat and our dog.

Of course I know I can't get cat treated on the NHS 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

OP posts:
santasmuma · 08/12/2021 13:58

Why have you been taking your cat to a different vet?

Bigassbeebuzzbuzz · 08/12/2021 14:01

One of my cats has had 2 or 3 uti never had injection just antibiotics at about £50 a visit. However if he has another they do want to do more investigations because of having too many.

Lou98 · 08/12/2021 14:08

If you have other reasons not to trust the vet but going by what you've said here - you can't possibly know that your cat wasn't in pain. Over grooming is a sign of pain, the vet will have given the injection as a precaution in case he was in pain since neither of you know for sure if he was. The injection may have been enough to help which is why he was back to normal the next day.

We were told my cat had a heart murmur years ago, he's 14 now and absolutely fine, they never wanted to do any investigations. Developing a murmur has nothing to do with how happy their home is etc, it can just be random

Lou98 · 08/12/2021 14:09

That first line should have said "if you have other reasons not to trust the vet then fair enough but"

Original poster
RainCloude · 08/12/2021 14:21

@santasmuma

Why have you been taking your cat to a different vet?
But of a long story but short version is that this vet accepts vouchers from cats protection and he was a rescue cat. Also they are closer, so I thought I might carry on with them just for this puss.
OP posts:
EveryFlightBeginsWithAFall · 08/12/2021 15:09

We wernt offered pain killers. Seems a bit odd that we paid £48 where as you paid so much. Unless injections are really expensive!