STILL this cat has a uti??

[Melinurse]

Hope it is not a behavioral thing. Although that can be corrected relatively inexpensively sometimes. I am anxious to hear what the vet says though. Hope kitty is doing better.

[MoreDilaudidPlease!]

Originally Posted by Poliopioneer

Does he eat canned food? If not, you might want to start him on it, since it does provide at least some hydration. Many cats do not drink a lot of water.

I don't do canned food since I had a cat with very rotted teeth from it (and while I did attempt using the 'finger brush', it was NOT a success).

Anyway, he definitely does drink water....he's a fussbudget and if he sees a "hole" in his food dish (meaning he can see the bottom of the bowl in the center) he complains until it's filled, and if there's ANYTHING in his water dish other than water, he complains about that too--even if HE'S the one who stuck his foot in it and dropped a fuzzy there LOL No, he does get his fresh water :)

[MoreDilaudidPlease!]

Originally Posted by crunch

Lucky cat that he has you for a person.

thanks :)

And YES, he IS!

[MoreDilaudidPlease!]

Well, no call from the vet today (and should have had results). Will give him a call tomorrow (has Sat hours) and see if they have them. Then can start him on the next round of Fortune 500 meds :-/

[Poliopioneer]

Originally Posted by MoreDilaudidPlease!

I don't do canned food since I had a cat with very rotted teeth from it (and while I did attempt using the 'finger brush', it was NOT a success).

Anyway, he definitely does drink water....he's a fussbudget and if he sees a "hole" in his food dish (meaning he can see the bottom of the bowl in the center) he complains until it's filled, and if there's ANYTHING in his water dish other than water, he complains about that too--even if HE'S the one who stuck his foot in it and dropped a fuzzy there LOL No, he does get his fresh water :)

That might have been your cat's bad luck to inherit bad teeth. We had one cat whose teeth actually broke off on more than one occasion, and that was an isolated incident.

[MoreDilaudidPlease!]

Well, got the call from the vet. Went to see for myself the lab reports, the one from mid January and the one from yesterday. Good news is the WBC that was high on the first one is gone now. But the blood, elevated proteins, and acidic pH is still there. So what's new? Now it's showing elevated struvite crystals where before there were none. A touch odd, since there's been no change in his food, etc.

Anyway, now we have to do a bladder ultrasound on Monday. Vet wants to see if there's thickening of the bladder walls, but mostly if it's the "snowglobe" (worst case scenario) we might see, lots of crystals. We've got a few more meds for him to start on tonight, and once the crystals are confirmed in the bladder, we'll start him on some fancy-schmancy food (Mel, was it you talking about that earlier?) designed to lower the pH which will then allow the crystals to dissolve. Magnesium isn't the problem, but the pH imbalance is likely allowing the growth of crystals, so the food change should do it. That, and drugs :-/

Can't wait for THIS bill to tally up. Especially that we just got my car back after two days in the shop and that bill was $1200!!!

Life is getting expensive, indeed.

[Melinurse]

Yes, that was me with the food thing. Can't remember but I think the urinary formulas are lower magnesium or ash? Anyways, whichever it is designed to help. How old is your kitty?

[MoreDilaudidPlease!]

He's four years as of September....I guess that means very nearly 4.5 years. I don't know if it's magnesium, ash, or what, but it DOES have something that's designed to keep the pH of the urine more alkaline so it dissolves the crystals that it appears he's inclined to get.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the vet said that I shouldn't think of it as a UTI exactly, as it's really a "lower urinary tract disorder" rather than an infection. Bacterial infection, he said, shows up in less than 10% of these cases; typically it's the pH, the crystals, a too-thin urethra (common in the male cat), something about how otherwise healthy males his age have this crop up sometimes. But he does put them on atx (we started him on amoxicillin today) because even with a negative WBC, with this much inflammation (bloody, etc) he doesn't rule out a secondary malfunction with bacteria at some point.

I asked the vet why it is that a very popular, well-respected brand (Purina Complete Adult Cat Food) might be causing this imbalance; it wasn't like I was feeding him some total crap. And he DIDN'T think it was the food initially, because of the absence of crystals. Anyway, he said it WAS a perfectly good food, it's just that Jack might be, well, "sensitive" and it wasn't a good match for him. Grand. His sister (Jill) apparently can eat any old danged thing, and be fine....she's had a fraction of a fraction of her brother's vet bills.

More than I ever wanted to know about Jack's voids, I assure you!

[Melinurse]

After he finishes this round of ABX and after his first bag of gold standard priced food, ask the vet about a " cranberry prophylactic pill " for kitty for the urinary issues ( intolerance ). Pills also come in a chicken flavored gel that some cats love. They usually cost $10.00 and last a bit better than the expensive food. Hopefully that will help with the budget if it is something the vet thinks might help. Anyhoo, does not cost anything to ask.


I was told when I got my cat that she'd need a special food for her GI issues that boy cost a fortune. She can eat regular IAMs food now and eats Nutra Max canned cat food.

[MoreDilaudidPlease!]

Mel, I'll be sure to follow up on that. Although, I don't know that giving him cranberry in the form of a pill is going to keep the pH in his urine more alkaline...?

Well, that's a few steps away yet :)