Cat with peeing problems

[angeldust]

Hi - I was wondering or rather hoping someone could give me some reassurance/advice re my 19 month old cat.

Three weeks ago I noticed on the Sunday that she was in and out of her tray all morning and obviously having problems peeing. I have had a cat before who had cystitis but he was male and have not had a female cat before. I took her to the only vet that was open in the area and not where she is registered. They gave her Metacam to give by syringe.
By Tuesday she wasn't any better and had small amount of blood in the pee that did come out. I phoned my vets and made an appointment for Wednesday evening. I got home from work Wednesday and she was fine so I cancelled. She was fine the rest of the week until I got up on the Saturday morning and she was the same again.

I called my vets and they saw her. The vet gave her an antibiotic injection, antibiotic tablets and more metacam. She told me if she was no better to come back the following Saturday. Made the appointment but then all week she was fine so I cancelled. Got up Saturday morning and she was back in the tray. Took her back to the vets yesterday and they said it is stress related and gave me cystophan to give her and gave her an antibiotic injection again but no other tablets. They asked me to get a wee sample but she isn't producing much in the litter.

I have put out tuna spring water and cat milk watered down so she takes on fluids. The vet says her bladder isn't inflammed or painful but yesterday through to today has been really stressful if she isn't asleep she is in the tray. She is eating and playing but not her normal self.

I don't know what else to do and it is upsetting me to see her not enjoying life. Am I expecting the medicines to be working quicker than they should be?

I have tried to work out why she would be stressed but I have no idea. I have another older cat but they have always got on and we live in a very quiet place so I cant see that it is anything there. I dont understand why it would be that she gets better but then seems to be bad again a week later.

Does anyone have any suggestions/advice/recommendations???????

[Kay]

stress cystitis is quite common in females, and is not serious, but of course is painful for the cat, and distressing for the owner

my Tiffany is subject to it, and for years now I have given her a Cystaid type medication in her food every day - there are several kinds around and can be bought online, as they are classified as supplements rather than drugs - I use these myself http://www.vetuk.co.uk/vetuk-vetuk-clin ... ap-p-20409" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; because I have found them the easiest to open

I don't know what your vet suggested, but starting with two capsules a day for a couple of weeks, and then reducing to one a day if symptoms have disappeared is the usual recommendation - up the dose again if the cystitis shows signs of recurring, or if a stressful situation for the cat is coming up - I have found 2 days of an increased dose has done the trick

these supplements can be given for life, and the powder seems to be odourless and tasteless - I use Gourmet pates to mix it into - and are much better (and cheaper) than giving antibiotics when there is no infection present, or stressful vet visits for an already stressed cat

obviously anything you can do to alleviate the causes of the stress will help - it is the presence of other stranger cats which sets my girl off, even though she can only see them on the other side of a catproof enclosure - and if you see her in actual pain rather than discomfort when trying to pee than that could indicate something else going on, but otherwise try not to worry and hopefully you'll find you can get on top of this really quickly

[lilynmitz]

It could be crystals in the urine, which are treated with a special diet. However, in my Lily's case, these ended up as little stones in her bladder, and we had to operate to have them removed. Your vet should be able to take a urine sample direct from her bladder to have it tested, which is a helpful diagnostic. After being a repeat sufferer with cystitis on and off, after her bladder op we never had the problem again.

[Crewella]

My boy Daz has suffered from frequent bouts is cystitis, I agree with Kay that Cystaid/Cystophan works very well.