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RE: Urinary Tract Infections

smbrister — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:46:52 GMT

It looked like vaginal discharge to me (not bloody). Thats the best way I can describe it. I know that is gross. They are both spayed so I don't know why they would have this. I think I'm just going to take them to another vet. Thanks for all your help.

RE: Urinary Tract Infections

freia — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:57:02 GMT

Totally my bad, I should have read your post more closely. I see that he did prescribe the antibiotics, but if food is causing these issues the infection will recur. I guess try to ask him to prescribe the special diet and another round of the meds and see if that solves the issue. Regarding the gel in the pee, that is really odd, that should not happen at all. Are you sure it was in the pee?

RE: Urinary Tract Infections

smbrister — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:19:58 GMT

The vet already prescribed them antibiotics. It didn't work because one of the kittens peed in my bed last week. There was this weird gel stuff in their pee. I may just suck it up and take them to another vet. I don't think this veterinarian will give me another round of antibiotics without coming in for another checkup.

RE: Urinary Tract Infections

freia — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:59:09 GMT

You really cannot get prescription food without a prescription. If he saw microscopic crystals, he should have prescribed the special food. They may be peeing fine, but have irritation/inflammation due to crystals and bacteria Since he already saw your cats I would call him and ask him to get you the following:
1. You need some antibiotics, Baytril, to stop any infection/inflammation
2. You need Purina UR or Hills s/d
Since they are kittens, supplement with high calorie canned food.

I know that switching vets entails another checkup, but this guy really sounds clueless to me. What I am recommending above is a standard protocol for treating these issues.

RE: Urinary Tract Infections

smbrister — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:44:38 GMT

I bought the purina one urinary tract cat food but I am hesitant to use it because they are still kittens. They are approximately 7 months old. The vet said he saw some microscopic crystals in their urine. It has not caused any blockages as they urinate perfectly fine! On my bed, in the bathtub, in my dogs bed.....I think I'm going to try the purina one and see if it helps. I read some reviews and a lot of people have said that it helps. I would prefer to use the prescription food, but that only means another trip to the vet as I know they won't prescribe it without ANOTHER checkup. Does anyone know where I can get some without a prescription? I'd like to use the purina veterinary diets, as one of my foster cats is on that for gastrointestinal problems and he seems to like it pretty well.

RE: Urinary Tract Infections

Bamcat — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:15:23 GMT

You are right that they need specialized urinary cat food. I get the
Royal Canin from an online pet food company. They have called my vet who okayed the food. This food will dissolve the crystals and keep the crystals away. You must continue to give this food for their whole lives.
I went back and had to have my poor male cat treated again.
They have it in dry and wet but wet is better. You can still give treats of
chicken or turkey but regular cat food from the market is out. You can get this food from the vet's too but I get in from online in cases. I order a lot at a time just in case a storm comes our way. My other cat didn't have the crystals but he can eat it any way. It doesn't harm him.
My female is the one this time who had the crystals. The first cat that I was talking is about one who got his wings at sixteen so you can see they live full lives. At least with females, you don't worry as much. It can kill a male cat if they are not treated. It is an easy fix if you use the vet c/d or any other one that needs a prescription. Don't be tempted to use store bought food.
As stated, I did and was lucky that I was home when my male cat ran into problems.

Bamcat

RE: Urinary Tract Infections

freia — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:25:51 GMT

I would take your kittens to a different vet. In general, food is the major cause of bladder crystals and i am surprised he did not prescribe something like Hills s/d for them. The other thing is, do they actually have struvite crystals or just a urinary tract infection? They would have just bacteria in the urine with the infection. If they had crystals, there would be blood and crystals in the urine, as well as bacteria. In some cases an infection is recurring (we had a cat like that) and we treated it with both diet and antibiotics. I dont see the point of having X rays taken, that really will not accomplish anything. There are some low ash and magnesium foods out there, even the generics like Purina special care. Higher end foods have cranberry supplements and low ash/magnesium. Check foods like Felidae, California Naturals, Royal Canin, Nutro, Wysong, Wellness, Eagle, etc. But these are kittens and they have different nutritional requirements than adult cats, so I hesitate to advise switching to a low ash/magnesium diet without consulting your vet. Good luck and keep us posted.

RE: Urinary Tract Infections

smbrister — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:59:18 GMT

Right now I am feeding them purina one kitten food. I also feed them a can of fancy feast as well. I know that the canned food is much better for them so thats why I try to feed them at least a can a day. I bought purina one urinary tract food for when the kitten food runs out. I'm going to continue giving them a can of the canned food each day. I know an all canned diet is best so i'm trying to give them a can a day.

RE: Urinary Tract Infections

EquineLady — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:23:14 GMT

Hi! Hope your kittens are feeling better.

I have not dealt firsthand with UT issues but seeing that you've had no responses thus far I thought I'd post something quick.

Basically, with the rare exception of genetic problems in certain breeds, UTIs are caused by diet. You may already know that ALL commercial cat foods are just poison - here's an excerpt from an article I have:

Most of us trust advertising entirely too much. We see “Nutritious and Delicious” on a bag and think it’s perfectly harmless. Everyone else feeds their animals common name-brand pet food from Wal-mart, so why couldn't’t I? If we would only read the packaging, we’d understand why quickly. It’s poison in a pretty package. Pet food companies have one goal – to manufacture a low-quality food at a high-quality price. They want something that’s cheap for them to make that will taste just good enough and be just nutritionally deficient enough for the dog to eat more of than he needs. Pretty slick marketing, huh? In a common name-brand dog food, you could find the following things and worse: disgusting waste meats that are just fillers (non-nutritive material to take up space in the food), too-high amounts of grains (again, just fillers), harmful dyes to make the food look good to the dog-owner, synthetic vitamins and minerals (some of them barely absorbable by the dog’s digestive system), and fatal preservatives added to give the food a long shelf-life. Dogs weren’t made to ingest these things; in fact, they weren’t made to eat dry dog kibble or wet food out of a can at all! If we are going to feed our animals a different form of food than they were intended to eat, we are responsible for understanding how to do it. We must understand their physical needs and the foods we are feeding them. We cannot just feed them what they like, or what’s cheapest at the store, or what bag says it’s the most nutritious.

(The article was written about dogs, but the same applies to cats.)

The healthier the food you feed your kitties, the healthier they will be. The healthier they are, the longer they'll live, the happier they'll be and the happier you (and your wallet) will be!

What kind of food are you feeding the kitties now?

Hope this helps you somewhat! I'd be happy to help you further with the diet issue, but I don't know any specific details on UTIs.

Have a good day!!

Urinary Tract Infections

smbrister — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:56:38 GMT

I'm hoping someone can help me out here. I have 2 little kittens that I recently took to the vet for litterbox issues. They were both diagnosed with urinary tract infections and given antibiotics. They have taken all of their medicine but are still having litterbox issues, so I assume that the problem is still there. One of the kittens has already been diagnosed and treated about a month or 2 ago for a urinary tract infection, so this is his second time. I asked the vet if I should put them on a special food,and he told me that if treatment didn't work, he wanted to get x-rays. Now, I really don't want to shell out money for x-rays. He felt their bladder and didn't feel any, though there could be some in there that are small. I read that bladder stones are usually treated with a diet anyway, so why not just go ahead and put them on special food? I wonder if I can just go up there and purchase the food without having to see the doctor first. I'm tired of spending all this money on them when the problem could easily be resolved with food. Is there any over the counter food I could use to avoid having to deal with more vet fees? Please help!