Recurring Cystitis

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Ruth B
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Recurring Cystitis

Post by Ruth B »

it seems my Tiggy may not be doing quite as well as I'd hoped a couple of weeks ago, and my mind is starting to turn to what the out come may have to be. i guess I'm coming here in hope that someone might be either able to confirm my worst fears, or to tell me that their cat went through something similar and was fine.

Two weeks ago to the day, Tiggy, my golden oldie, wasn't right, she was in and out of the litter tray not doing anything really and restless. She went to the vets that evening, and as I half suspected was diagnosed with Cystitis. I hadn't seen any blood in the urine, but the vet got a sample when, as she was examining her, she went all over the table, the vet took one look at the colour of it and said there was blood in it. She gave the sample to a colleague to be tested as well. For the Cystitis she gave Tiggy a long term antibiotic injection, which I seem she said would cover her for two weeks. The urine was tested while i was there and she said the gravity of it meant Tiggy could not have Metacam so gave her 7 days of Gabapentin (a steroid).

Tiggy picked up brilliantly, and last week we collected 30 days of Gabapentin for her (she has been very good at taking them in a piece of cheese fortunately).

This morning she is bad again and everything seems to indicate the Cystitis has returned, possibly worse than before. She seems to be trying to wee where ever she is, while I was preparing her breakfast she was just standing where the bowls go, as if she was straining to go, unresponsive to my voice and only reacted when i touched her. Then she was sat with her tail out on the cardboard scratcher again looking all the world as if she was in a litter tray (I checked the scratcher afterwards with a UV light and couldn't see any evidence that she had gone there). Then she came to sit on my knee and a few moments later I realised i had a wet leg. Get changed go back to finish my coffee, she comes to sit on my knee and does it again, this time when I'm getting changed she goes on my husbands chair and leaves a small damp patch on there.

While she seemed off colour before hand, after she had been on my knee and the chair she did perk up enough to have her Gabapentin. Then she did try and use the litter tray, possibly because i'm in the room where it is now, but i'm not sure anything came out. I haven't seen any blood in the urine but i hadn't seen any last time, when it is all in a grey clump in the litter tray i guess it doesn't show up well, and my leggings were black so I couldn't see if there was any on them.

I will be making an appointment with the vets for this evening after my husband gets back from work, I really don't want to have to book a taxi to take her before then. i wasn't sure two weeks ago if she was coming back, now I'm even more uncertain. I know no here is a vet (or at least I dont' believe anyone is) but I guess I'm just after experiences and what happened either way. When she is good she is good, but then she seems to hit a new low and i don't know just how much the steroids are giving her a false sense of life.
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Mollycat
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Re: Recurring Cystitis

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Fingers crossed for you and Tiggy. Wish I had anything helpful to offer, it does sound rather distressing for her poor love. Hope the vet has something positive up his sleeve for you.
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Re: Recurring Cystitis

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Poppy, my toy poodle, had recurrent cystitis earlier this year. It took several courses of two different antibiotics to stop it, so don't despair just yet. I got CystoPro to try, but as I knew the trigger for her is iatrogenic Cushings caused by the steroids she is on for liver failure, we decided to try reducing the Pred dose first, and so far so good.

I can send you a few CystoPro sachets if you want to try before you buy - see what the vet says,and PM me your address if they might be helpful.
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Ruth B
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Re: Recurring Cystitis

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I've got some Cystophan capsules on order from Amazon that should be arriving tomorrow, the vet did suggest trying something like Cystease, but when I looked they were on quite a long delivery time, then as she seemed so much better it went out of my mind. I guess ordering them today is a way of trying to convince myself i'm not giving up on her yet. Its nice to hear it can take multiple courses of antibiotics to clear it. She was so good that first week, then this week she has had ups and downs, Tuesday night she wasn't wanting to eat so I decided to give her the steroid the hard way, much as I hated to, yesterday she seemed fine, this morning she seems bad.

She has currently tried twice to get on my knee while I'm on the computer, she doesn't normally sit on my knee when i'm at my desk as I have to have my knees tucked right under so I can see the monitor, so it is making me wonder why she is wanting to sit on my knee, and after this morning it is a bit concerning, washing clothes and self isn't a problem, but I'm just hoping if she needs to go she will use the litter tray and not find somewhere else warm and comfy, like the bed.
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Re: Recurring Cystitis

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Might as well just update this, Tiggy has been back to the vets and had another antibiotic shot to see if that will clear things up fully. If not the vet was talking about ultrasound scans to see if there is a growth in her bladder and other tests. We really aren't sure what we will do if it does come back, she is an old girl, so may be it will be time to say good bye then, afterall I'm not sure there is a lot of point in finding out she has a growth in her bladder when we wouldn't do anything about it anyway. We will cross that bridge when we come to it, i'm just glad we didn't have to say good bye today. The other thing i really have to take into consideration is the effect on us, both of us haven't been exactly good today worrying about what might happen at the vets, putting us through the stress week after week does no one any good. Except maybe Saturn, he realised I was stressed this morning and kept coming to cheer me up, give me fuss and walk all over my keyboard. he's a good lad (in the way only a cat can be)
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Re: Recurring Cystitis

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Aww, fingers crossed. Gabapentin isn't actually a steroid though, it's an anti-epileptic drug that they discovered was good for neuropathic pain, never heard of it being given for cystitis before, but I'm guessing as it helps with nerves, they are thinking it might relax the bladder, but I would have thought a muscle relaxant would be better. I personally wouldn't put her through scans to see if there is a growth, if you wouldn't be willing to put her through treatment if it showed something. Pretty much every cat I've had with cystitis has needed more than one course of antibiotics to fully clear it up.
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Re: Recurring Cystitis

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Interestingly the vet tonight said Gabapentin wasn't a steroid, but the one a couple of weeks ago said she was going to give her a steroid as she couldn't have the Metacam. In the if it works i'm happy with that, and the vet tonight did say that the bladder felt relaxed which she seemed to think was a good thing. this mornings episode scared me, both her lack of reaction to anything for a few moments in the kitchen and then her going while on my lap. We take it day by day, and while it may be hard on us at times as long as Tiggy isn't really suffering that is enough for me at the moment.
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Re: Recurring Cystitis

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I didn't like to say but I was given it for Molly as a sedative (which she politely declined) and for the dog as one of a trio of painkillers post orthopaedic surgery. I think I'm just shocked at the number of seriously poorly cats this week, both with members here and back home as well, my dog's reiki lady's lad is starting to turn for the better from some form of hepatitis, and the dog attack still so raw. So much worry and sadness all around all at once. Hoping this next round will sort Tiggy out.
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Re: Recurring Cystitis

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Just to update this.

Tiggy is still with us, but last time it she seemed to start to go down hill again about a week and a half after the antibiotic injection, so we just have to see how things go next week. If she gets through next week then she will need a follow up with the vet the following week to see how she is doing.

When I took her the first time her weight had gone down from 3.1kg to 2.7kg, which was a real worry, last time it was up to 2.9kg, so that was a good sign even though the Cystitis had returned. I'm not trying to weigh her at home because .1 or .2 of a kilo would be a big thing for her, but well within the margin of error for weighing her on a different set of scales and just bathroom ones at that,so I figured it was best to wait and let the vets weigh her again.

She does seem to be eating well and so far is being wonderful at taking her meds, but it is costing me a fortune. She currently has her Gabapentin (whatever it is, it seems to be working) twice a day in a piece of Double Gloucester Cheese, I can normally push it into the cheese and then wrap it around it as the cheese is slightly squidgy and she will happily eat it pill and all. The Cystophan powder is more problematic, just getting the capsules open isn't easy then the powder tries to go everywhere over the kitchen side. I've tried it in cat milk (which works well for the Bisolven powder that disolves) but it just formed a sludge at the bottom of the bowl, I tried it in cream and that worked better, but still was difficult to get it mixed in well, Tiggy has gone off the Lick e Lix, sometimes she will eat them, sometimes she just walks away so I can't risk that, so thecurrent option seems to be smoked salmon or cream cheese. The cream cheese allows the powder to be mixed in well, and the smoked salmon is nice greasy strips that the powder sticks to and can then be rolled up in to sushi like offerings. Talk about a spoiled cat.

Life is not helped by Saturn having a natural ability to hear the fridge door open 2 gardens over and turning up to sample whatever she is getting. I have yet to find a treat he doesn't like,so to make sure he doesn't pinch Tiggy's, he tends to have to have some as well.

The things we do for our cats.
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Re: Recurring Cystitis

Post by fjm »

Have you tried the gravy from Felix cat soups as a carrier for the powder? It was one thing that Pip continued to eat right to the end, and it would be a lot cheaper than smoked salmon!
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Re: Recurring Cystitis

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Unfortunately when I have tried any of the cat soups the reaction has been the same, 'what is this muck?' even Saturn only ever grudgingly ate them.

The salmon isn't a bad as it sounds it only takes small pieces to hide the Cystophan powder, and as we like it as well it does for lunches for us to and it's freezable, so if need be I can always freeze small amounts just big enough for a doze for her, which might actually end up cheaper than the cat soups would as I'm not sure if they could be separated and frozen. I'm also wondering if things like the Dairy Lee triangles would be accepted, they might be cheaper than Philidelphia cheese, or even just Asda's own brand.

When my parents cat got diagnosed with diabetes, the information they found indicated that a high protein diet was a good thing, so they decided that she could have a meal of roast chicken each day. They then found that she rather liked the Waitrose (it was the main supermarket in the town they lived in) ready cooked chickens, but only when they were fresh. So it got to the point that they were buying her the chickens and when she decided it was too old for her to eat they would eat the left overs. Normally it is the other way around the cat gets the left overs from the human food. I guess it runs in the family.
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Re: Recurring Cystitis

Post by booktigger »

Cheese wise, the best I found for tablets was primula, as it is very sticky, and easy to mould round the tablet - Sam loved it so much he came running when he heard me pick up his pill bottle! I could hide Metacam in it too, so maybe it would hide Cystophan.
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Re: Recurring Cystitis

Post by Mollycat »

Love it Ruth, I recognise so much of what I've done in the past for my own cats too or near enough.

Don't forget cheese slices as in what I call plastic cheese for burgers, Dairylea make one but there are also really cheap nasty ones. Easier to work with than sticky gooey triangles I would think. Or the Primula squeezy cheese in toothpaste type tubes. The cheese aisle is full of the most astounding junk. What about mackerel or salmon pate?
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Re: Recurring Cystitis

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At the moment I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that she gets through this week without a relapse, and then I can see what the vet says next week at her follow up appointment.

i guess in a way I would rather buy more expensive products that we will eat as well and so prevent anything going off before it is used up, although I'm fairly sure some of those 'cheese' options really don't go off at all. It also helps to be able to ring the changes a bit, i'm sure given time Tiggy will even decided she doesn't like smoked salmon anymore.
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Re: Recurring Cystitis

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I am a great believer in being able to share food - Tilly's renal options are taking over the fridge as she changes her mind as to what is edible on a near daily basis, and life would be much easier if some of it could be used up in a sandwich! Hope this round of aBs etc does the trick.
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Re: Recurring Cystitis

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fjm wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 7:29 am I am a great believer in being able to share food - Tilly's renal options are taking over the fridge as she changes her mind as to what is edible on a near daily basis, and life would be much easier if some of it could be used up in a sandwich! Hope this round of aBs etc does the trick.
Hey nobody's stopping you having Purina sandwiches with a bowl of kibble on the side! Perhaps you'd like a little Felix soup and a Lick-e-lix for dessert too? :lol: :lol: :lol:

Until someone bought B&M a bag of Dreamies for Christmas, no cat of mine ever had commercial treats. Except Misha had dried sprats from the pet shop at the end of the road, that's all. Treats were and still are my food, during cooking or eating. It may be an antisocial habit, but at least it's real human grade meat. When I give the odd meal of raw, it's human meat. Er, human food meat, not, yeah you know.

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Re: Recurring Cystitis

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I might as well do an update here. Tiggy has been for her follow up examination and all is looking good, we have another bottle of Gabapentin tablets for her, and i'll be buy more Cystophan from Amazon, so she is costing us a fortune, but we have been lucky so far and if it keeps her healthy then it's worth it. I had noticed that the clumps in the litter tray were back to normal size, but her stools were rather hard, but from what the vet said that is probably just a side effect of the kidney problems picked up first time and as long as she is still producing them not to worry about it. She was also due her annual vaccinations and the vet did ask if i wanted her vaccinated due to her age, she seemed a little surprised that my questions was 'is there any danger in vaccinating her at her age' and when she said no, i told her to go ahead. For about the last 4 years Tiggy seems to have given us a major scare each year, so she could be with us, weeks, months or years, we don't know, and i'd hate for her to end up succumbing to something we could have safely vaccinated against.
Interestingly it was mentioned in another thread about not stopping the Gabapentin suddently, so while i was there I asked if there was a danger if she missed a tablet, as occasionally she does manage to eat around it, and was told it wouldn't be a problem and a dose of 1, 2 or even 3 tablets a day wouldn't do any harm. I don't mind having to give her the odd one the hard way if she wont take it in food, but I don't want it to become stressful for her, at least now I know if she misses the odd one it should be fine.

On an entirely different note, Saturn was also due his vaccination so we took them both today, and he is in good health, except his teeth. He had most removed about 18 months ago when one of his upper canines had broken off, we hadn't even realised he had lost one of his lower canines, but we had noticed that his remaining upper one was starting to show when his mouth was shut. It's loose, and the vet thinks he will lose that in due course, but unless it gives him problems then let it happen naturally. So it seems my little lad will soon be down to a single canine. I rather hope this puts paid to his hunting days, but I rather think it will just mean i have more live mice to chase around the house.

Finally no doubt anyone in the UK has been finding it a bit warm the last couple of days. I have heard about charities asking for cool mats for the animals and often wondered why they didn't do them in human size, last year i found out they did or at least 2 foot x 3 foot ones. This year I left it on the bed after I had been reading and found Tiggy looking rather smug on it.
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Re: Recurring Cystitis

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Good to know she has come through this bout safely, and is obviously enjoying the cool spot!
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