Thursday, June 29th, 2006 01:25 pm
Sunday she started acting suspiciously like she had a UTI. She'd go to the litterbox every few minutes and deposit a couple of drops. She'd also occasionally deposit some drops in random locations. Not fun. I considered sitting in my vet's office without an appointment, hoping to get out of there in time for a 10am meeting at work.

She quit doing it. She was fine Sunday night, Monday, Tuesday. I had started to think I imagined the whole episode.

Wednesday she started doing it again with a vengeance. The house was a mess. (Fortunately, small amounts are very easy to clean up. Also fortunately, this stuff is rather dilute.) So I made an appointment and brought her in this morning.

Turns out they won't do a thing with her unless they can get some urine to check. Of course she didn't have any! Heck, I could have told them that before I went in. Sheesh. And of course Thursday is the one day that my vet's office isn't open all day, so they can't keep her and watch for a sample.

SIGH

So I bring her in again first thing tomorrow morning. Meantime, she's confined to a room with a moppable floor.

Poor thing.
Thursday, June 29th, 2006 08:34 pm (UTC)
One of my kitties had the same and the vet recommended that I get a clean litter box and put some aquarium gravel in it. Then lock the cat in the room with the litter box and water in order to get the urine. Once she goes, use any kind of sealable glass container to pour it into and save in the fridge until you can get back into the vet's office. The aquarium gravel is pretty sterile and won't add anything to the urine when they examine it.

Also, do some research yourself on FLUTD, esp. type II -- overall the recommendation is that it is likely that there isn't much the vet can do. Make sure she gets enough liquid by feeding her a canned food diet, she might need some antibiotics, and potentially things could turn to crystals and cause massive pain or even create a blockage, which is the most dangerous situation.
Thursday, June 29th, 2006 08:38 pm (UTC)
Aw, poor kitty!
Thursday, June 29th, 2006 08:42 pm (UTC)
Aw, poor thing! I hope it's not too uncomfortable.
Thursday, June 29th, 2006 08:48 pm (UTC)
Java gets those form time to time. Antibiotics work fairly well.
Thursday, June 29th, 2006 09:11 pm (UTC)
Poor kitty.

She'd go to the litterbox every few minutes and deposit a couple of drops. She'd also occasionally deposit some drops in random locations.

I'd say it sounds like prostate trouble, except, uh... :-)
Thursday, June 29th, 2006 09:26 pm (UTC)
poor duchess! having just been through that with samkitty, i'm glad you're getting it taken care of quickly. very much not fun.
Thursday, June 29th, 2006 09:52 pm (UTC)
I take my girls to Hemingway Cat Hospital in Saratoga. They're very good there--including being willing to catheter Flynn when she went through something similar. Expensive. But very good.
Thursday, June 29th, 2006 10:24 pm (UTC)
Well, if she doesn't have any urine, it means she's not blocked, that's good news.

I hope it's something easily treatable.
Thursday, June 29th, 2006 10:26 pm (UTC)
Hope all will be okay.

If you are not happy with your vet, I suggest that you switch vets.

Keep us posted on how she does.
Thursday, June 29th, 2006 11:44 pm (UTC)
Poor baby!

Harlie got a UTI last year just as we were leaving for our honeymoon. She kept going to her box about every two minutes and didn't seem to be doing anything. And she was acting weird. We took her in and they thought that's what it was (UTI), then she peed blood all over the ER floor (of course this always happens in the middle of the night the day before we are flying somewhere). The docs scraped up her bloody pee and confirmed that it was in fact a UTI. They started her on antibiotics, but because she was still peeing blood the next day we had to board her at her regular vet while we were gone, rather than leave her with her catsitter here at the house. The antibiotics cleared everything up and she is now on prescription food which is expensive for cat food but way cheaper than kitty-ER. Since on the new food she has not had any UTIs or colitis (something she had a couple of bouts with when we first got her).

I hope Duchess can get diagnosed and on anitbiotics soon if she needs them.

We are very happy with our vet (both regular and ER), but we are on the other side of the bay, so not so good for you. But, yeah, it really helps to have vets you feel like you can trust. Our vets got tested early as Harlie had colitis not long after we got her (tends to be a kitten/young cat thing) and they were really great with the UTI thing. They were very nice when we called everyday from our honeymoon in Alaska to check on her.
Friday, June 30th, 2006 01:47 am (UTC)
Poor kitty. Happened to one of our boys a couple of times. The young boys (4 of 'em) are all on special kitty food (Science Diet C/D) and the old boy can't be on that, so dinner time is exciting...

Get a vet you're happy with...
Friday, June 30th, 2006 02:44 am (UTC)
I am sorry that Duchess is sick. I hope she gets better very soon. My human worries about me having that problem because I am a male, but so far I am healthy even though I am 14 years old. I try to drink a lot of water so I will not have that problem. It sounds very unpleasant.

I will send healthy purrs to Duchess.
Friday, June 30th, 2006 02:47 am (UTC)
Ohhh, poor kitty! She's been through a lot lately. I hope she's okay, and that it doesn't cost you too much to keep her that way. I've been so lucky with my guys -- they're 14 and 11, and so far still healthy, kine ahora. Given my limited means, and their advanced age, I don't know what I'd do if faced with an enormous vet bill. =shudder=
Friday, June 30th, 2006 05:21 am (UTC)
Poor Duchess kitty!

My (now deceased) calico Bandit once had a UTI in her more senior years. I too worried about whether she would remain incontinent. Fortunately antibiotics cleared it up, and I think we were even able to keep her on the same cat food (Science Diet). (She lived to almost 15 years old. Natasha on the other hand, is about 4.)

Something also to check (but may not have anything to do with Duchess' condition): Is she dehydrated? If you pull at a scruff of skin on her back does it snap back with elasticity or go back slowly? If the latter, she may be dehydrated and could need sub-cue fluids... or just be encouraged to drink more. (I think of this because I had several kitties with kidney? disease that became dehydrated... and the "drops" left in the litter box by Duchess would concern me in this direction.) Something to check anyway... and if she IS dehydrated, definitely talk to the vet about it!