Cat UTI what to do?

[Chocolatecustardcreamsrule]

My cat has been having problems since before Christmas with peeing. On and off he seems to be in pain and making a funny noise and hissing when he pees. I’ve had him to the vets twice and had a video call with a vet. They say he has stress cystitis (no testing just feeling him) he miraculously is fine and dandy every time he sees a vet. I have a painkiller for him but it doesn’t really help his pain.

He has just peed on my bed and was hissing and crying as he did it. Absolutely loads of pee. Bedding thrown out as I didn’t know where to even start with it.

Hes back at the vets Friday morning anyway for this but is there anything I can do to help get him better medicine/ make it go away? Would I be a crazy cat lady to bring a sample of his pee with me? He’s seems absolutely fine now and chasing his brother round.

Ive tried switching his food to UTI friendly food (biscuits as he points blank refuses wet food) I have 2 fountains and bowls of water everywhere.

we had metacam and gabapentin prescribed for our cat, def take a sample in. He wasn’t howling out in pain though, poor thing.

Cystease. Mix it in food or a lick, get the loading dose in him

amzn.eu/d/8WA2cFH

I use that with hills urinary food and it's helped massively

I’ve got a boy cat who has had issues with his water work, the vet sold us these… I have since bought them from Amazon https://amzn.eu/d/8QhrsM2 they worked a treat.

Oh and if mine ever starts looking a bit like he might flare up, I get another one of those down him (so up from maintenance to loading dose) and give a dose of metacam and it usually stops it

You can get special litter that doesn't absorb at all to collect wee.
My cat had similar and had bladder stones. Was put on a struvite-free diet.

Oh... and the bedding. We used to wash ours as it'd get peed on lots. Spray really
Liberally with the pink stuff or vanish. Leave for an hour or so. Wash as hot as you can.

Wow thank you all so much I am getting all of the suggestions. Its awful seeing him in pain, I give him loxicom from the vet but it’s not really helping him.

There was so much pee on my bed I used one of the medicine syringes to suck it up as a sample. I was wondering how I was going to get one.

You can save your bedding - soak it in bio detergent and a bit of bicarb. Leave it overnight if you can then wash on a hot long wash.

I would have him rechecked urgently in case he has crystals in his bladder which can cause a blockage and be very dangerous.

You can get d-mannose for cats, it helps a lot.

Please get a urine sample and ask to test at least, if no improvement after meds ask for a scan.

It's assumed it's just cat stress etc but sadly I put a post on here early January ( not sure how to link it) about my cat who was diagnosed with same She had blood in her small bits of wee.
She was given pain and antibiotics had urine tested etc.
Once meds had finished she was given more pain and different antibiotice as she was still the same she never seemed to get better, so i decided to have a scan as i knew something was wrong with possible blockage / stones.
She had a scan on 6th January and it was found she had a large Mass which had attached to her bladder
so if operated on she would be left incontinent and risk of infection to the 2 wounds that she would be left with.
I'm.still so upset and feel her absence every day.
Go to another vet if they fob you off.

Just an update, I managed to switch his appointment to today. To say he made a fuss at the vets is an understatement, hissing and yowling at her.

Unsure as to what it is but suspected crystals. He’s booked to be sedated tomorrow for an ultrasound of his abdomen, blood test and urine sample. Poor boy.

The urine sample I got was no good as it had to have been within the hour or refrigerated.

In the longer term OP I'd really, really persist with trying to find a wet food he'll accept. Maybe try a novel protein, something he's never had before. The best vet I ever knew, a real old-school guy who ran his own practice and never upsold, told me that 'literally any wet food is better than an all-dry diet. Especially for males'. He's long gone now, but he really had some wisdom.

I have cystitis type cats. Hills cd food works well. We get an occasionally flare up but just give some metacam then. My cat refuses wet food. We give no other food or treats. It works well

I would speak to your vet about a supplement like cystease or ask about prescription diets, there are ones out there for stress cystitis which helps prevent further episodes.

Yeah I've heard that before
Mine will only eat Sheba fine flakes or raw chicken/turkey mince so that's what he gets plus the hills urinary food
Won't eat raw food but raw chicken is delicious

He also quite liked blink food

I'm so very sorry for your loss.
We lost our 9 year old beauty to the same thing.
I'll admit that I really hadn't realised how bad it could be for cats, so by the time I was pushing for more help he unfortunately took a turn for the worse and it was all over within 23 hours 😞
We were given the option of trying to stabilise him and operate, but the prognosis was long term problems.
So we decided to PTS.
I'm not sure if the vet was just trying to pacify us, but she said she'd have made the same choice.

I just wish I knew then what I know now , how quickly something seemingly simple can turn into heartbreak so fast.

I'm now left with his heartbroken sister 😞

He went for his appointment yesterday and it was unsuccessful. They tried to sedate him but he fought the sedation so they gave up and sent him home with some anti anxiety medication. I asked for the food that breaks down crystals too to start him on in case that’s what it is. Wish they had kept him until they could do it but he hates the vet and it proper stresses him out so they said no.

Fast forward to today and he was really struggling and sorry TMI but white puss was starting to come out when he was trying to wee. I called the emergency vets and he’s there now still my poor boy. I can’t believe how difficult getting this diagnosed is being.

So sorry to hear of your loss :(. My boys brother is sleeping on our bed tonight, he’s exhausted after searching for him all day.

Your vet doesn't sound very good, the very first thing they should have done was test a urine sample for blood, bacteria and crystals. You can buy testing kits called Katkor which let you get a clean sample. You can buy them from the vet, Amazon and other online retailer.

Unfortunately, I am another one who lost my cat a fortnight ago to a mass on his bladder. He was 14 and had been peeing blood for weeks. He had numerous urine samples checked before they did a scan as things were not clearing up with treatment.

How is your cat doing now?

So sorry for your loss :(

I thought that too but she said the sample needed to be within 20 mins to test for crystals or else it was useless.

They worked on him until 3am he was blocked and the sediment in his bladder meant each time they unblocked him he blocked back up. He’s got a catheter in and they are going to keep him in for another 48 hours. They are going to sedate him to remove the catheter as he’s kicking off with them.

So glad he’s ok but going to have to try the food and cystease long term as there’s no bacterial cause.

Our old school vet says the name - no need for fancy diets, get them eating wet food. His advice is also to let them roam outdoors as much as they like. In other words - let them lead a natural life to prevent them from feeling trapped and stressed.

It's worked wonders for ours.

I'm surprised they sent him home with a suspected blockage. Our vet told us it would be fatal if the bladder burst.

I'm going back a few years and our old cat is long gone but he did recover and go on to have a few years without any problems.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Ouch , hope he gets well soon it sounds incredibly painful .

I am a bit annoyed about it really. The emergency vet said we had done the right thing bringing him in as the blockage could have killed him. I don’t know why they sent him home the day before without unblocking him or at least doing something. He hates the vet and hisses but surely they have cats doing that frequently?