# Cat UTI Treatment?



## ufo_chris (Apr 30, 2010)

I think my fixed indoor male cat has a UTI .
He has been peeing in a couple of odd places and seems to only go in the litter box in smaller amounts ....
Now he does every now and then pee in odd places, could be smells I bring in on my shoes from the outdoor cats and other animals ,but I want to make sure....
So I searched here but words too common , did a google search and a found quite a few people saying how bad antibiotics are for a cat and just give them more wet food and bottled water and some recommend herbal remedies....so very confused now....what to do?
He does not like wet food but I make him eat some every couple of days by not giving him any dry ,usually 1/2 a can is all he will eat ,or 1/2 a pouch. Is this not enough?
Can I try anything herbal ???
He is not in any pain , acts normal otherwise....


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

Cats are so good at hiding pain and/or discomfort. I have experienced UTI's myself and know the discomfort of feeling like you always have to go and then just a little comes out. If this were my cat I would get him on antibiotics right away. I would also take a urine sample to the vet and have it checked for crystals and go from there. If the cat were to become blocked up it is extremely painful and life threatening. Just my opinion.


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## Ardie/WI (May 10, 2002)

That cat need a vets attention FAST. It's in awful pain.


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

Not only is he in pain, the possibility of him having crystals that can plug up his urinary tract and cause liver failure and death is very real. He should be checked by a vet and treated immediately, this can easily escalate into a life threatening situation. Once he's healthy again, then work on things like getting him to eat more eat food and drink more water to keep his system flushed and healthy.


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## BoldViolet (Feb 5, 2009)

Yup - cats with UTIs can't generally be treated at home and he needs to see a vet. Male cats tend to easily get UTIs and urinary crystals.


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## ufo_chris (Apr 30, 2010)

I took him to the vet 8.30 this morning ,made me late for work but he is more important!
I too know all to well what a uti feels like,had to wait for 2 weeks once to get a docs apt.for it,only thing helped was drinking lots of water and hot tea.....and it was still bad...
that's why I took him,didn't want him to suffer and also found all that about the blockage when I googled after my post here....was almost sure he didn't have a blockage because he still 'went' a bit,no pain or crying,or blood,soft belly (they say it will feel like a peach if there is a blockage).
even vet says he wasn't in any pain,was caught early.
so he got an antibiotic shot and some meds that make him groggy,2x/day,$89 later but so worth it for my peace of mind!
what do u guys think about acv for future prevention?


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

If the antibiotic shot was called Convenia, be careful of it in the future. We took our cat in with a UTI and I was thrilled for him to get the one time shot instead of dealing with medicating a reluctant cat. He was a zombie for several days and out of curiosity I googled Convenia. Scared me!!
I'll deal with medicating our cats myself next time.


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

Convenia has it's place but not the best anti biotic for UTI unless you follow up with another shot in 2 weeks or so.
I'm thinking he got a shot of pen and some antibiotics were sent home with you? I don't understand what meds he was given to make him groggy unless it's valium to help relax the urethra for less painful urination. 
But the only thing that matters is that he on the road to recovery!


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## ufo_chris (Apr 30, 2010)

it was convenia,now I'm afraid to google it !!! next time.....
the oral is a mix of buprenorphine/acepromanzine wow is that like morphine?
she said it will make him real groggy right away and yes relaxes so he can go easier....
came home from work and he is sleeping in the other room ,so I'm tiptoeing around!
so what's a person to do? it is frowened upon to self medicate ,but if u take them to the vet there are also questionable things....a normal person can not educate themselves enough about all the medications for their pets ,livestock and even themselves ,so u end up trusting your doc unless its something really odd I guess???
I have to say my LG. animal vet is from the same practice and I trust him 100%!


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

Everything out there has a horror story when you google it. 
At the vet where I work there has not been a bad reaction or complications with Convenia....ever. But there has been instances where it didn't work on UTI's because the strength wears off too fast. That is why we have them come back for another injection if they go the convenia route instead of oral meds daily. I treated my own barn cat for a UTI with convenia and it worked just fine with one dose. Just keep an eye on him. I'm sure it will be fine  
The other stuff he gave you is indeed a sedative. lol!! We use that to knock out cats for surgery...I'm sure you got a much smaller dose


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

I'm glad you caught it early and treated it. Don't let Dr Google get you too wound up though, you can trust your instincts (your cat was sick) and your vet on the whole. 

I'd encourage him to eat some wet food, been moving my cats towards that after one of my boys had an uti that was worse than yours, he had to be put under and drained. BTW, $89 for a vet call is a lot cheaper than knocking your poor sick cat out and having the vet work on him to get him able to pee again! Most of my cats are happy to eat about 1/2 a small can a day and the litter boxes have a lot more urine in them, so I know even that makes a difference. I might try feeding their dry food soaked (but I know I can't leave it down any length of time or it'd go icky). At least I know they like the taste. One person recommended making the wet food even wetter to encourage them to get more water without it costing a lot, as the cats like their dry food. I may try that, though I don't know it would work well in the plates I got from the thrift store to feed them on. 

I don't know about ACV for prevention, others might be able to help you there.


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## ufo_chris (Apr 30, 2010)

Thanks Guys. Yes ,the dose is 0.5 ml , he is 15 lbs. but man he hates it! Squirt it under the tongue they said,yeah, ok ! First time ,he didn't know what was coming, not too bad, second time had to wrap him in a throw rug and he still almost got away! Keep saying someone needs to make a kitty straightjacket to make this kind of stuff easier!
Vet says right now it only looks like a lower uti maybe thats why she used the shot?
GC, 
I add hot water to the wet food a lot to warm it up cause 'Baby' does not like it cold .
I saw the thing with the ACV while I was googling last night,didn't save it though .


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

Minelson said:


> Everything out there has a horror story when you google it.


I understand that but had no idea why my cat wouldn't eat and was so lethargic after being treated for a very mild UTI. 
Finally googled Convenia and the first site that came up was Dr. Lisa Pierson, a vet and cat specialist who has some of the best info on diet and prevention of UTI's on the web. So as far as I'm concerned, she's not just some Joe Shmoe making wrong assumptions and blowing things up into a horror story. 
My cat did recover and was back to normal within a week but it did make me nervous and it's certainly worth it to read the article and decide for yourself whether or not you want to take the risk.

http://www.catinfo.org/?link=convenia
*Convenia: Worth the Risk?*


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

GrannyCarol said:


> I'm glad you caught it early and treated it. Don't let Dr Google get you too wound up though, you can trust your instincts (your cat was sick) and your vet on the whole.
> 
> I'd encourage him to eat some wet food, been moving my cats towards that after one of my boys had an uti that was worse than yours, he had to be put under and drained. BTW, $89 for a vet call is a lot cheaper than knocking your poor sick cat out and having the vet work on him to get him able to pee again! Most of my cats are happy to eat about 1/2 a small can a day and the litter boxes have a lot more urine in them, so I know even that makes a difference. I might try feeding their dry food soaked (but I know I can't leave it down any length of time or it'd go icky). At least I know they like the taste. One person recommended making the wet food even wetter to encourage them to get more water without it costing a lot, as the cats like their dry food. I may try that, though I don't know it would work well in the plates I got from the thrift store to feed them on.
> 
> I don't know about ACV for prevention, others might be able to help you there.


My cats were reluctant to switch to canned food so I bought (on Amazon for $20) a box of Feline Fortiflora, a probiotic in a base of what I think of as kitty crack. It was recommended in Lisa Pierson's website to help cat's switch over.
I sprinkled a packet of that over there food and they gobbled it. After we went through a couple of boxes of that over a months time, they got used to the canned food and absolutely love it.


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