Our poor kitteh

[mellymell]

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed Mogwai peeing in places other than his litter box, mostly on Jonah's cloth books (luckily the washer was still working then!). But when he would go, it was just a little drop. Then I noticed he didn't seem like himself, somehow lazier than usual. He wasn't all that interested in going outside or anything. I looked up the symptoms and thought he might have a urinary tract infection. So I took him to the vet. They did a urinalysis and an ultrasound on the bladder. Turned out there were crystals in his urine, but no bacteria to indicate an infection, and there was also a grey spot on the ultrasound the vet seemed concerned about. She thought there was a possibility of either stones or *gasp* a tumor. So she gave me a steroid based medication (think it was called Medicam) in little single dose syringes to give him orally, once a day for five days, then bring him back for a recheck.

By the fifth day, I noticed marked improvement. He was using the litter box reliably and would go play (and I mean play) outside. He almost seemed like his old self again. So, I took him in for a recheck and the mysterious spot on his bladder that could have been something serious was gone (so in the immortal words of Schwarzenegger, "it's not a tumor"). But there was still some gunk in the bottom of his bladder, most likely crystals. They didn't do a urinalysis this time, but she gave me more Medicam, this time for 7 days, thinking we'd just treat him for the crystals until they were gone. I scheduled another recheck for the following week.

Toward the end of that week (Sunday to be exact), I noticed he was back to peeing on things that were not his litter box. Luckily he doesn't do this on the carpet or anything. Lately he's been finding things I can just hose off or wipe out (hard surface plastics and such). But this time, there was blood in his urine. Of course, we got really concerned. I didn't panic though, kept giving him the medication and took him in as scheduled. Well, that appointment was yesterday afternoon. They did yet another ultrasound and another urinalysis. He still has crystals and now there's bacteria as well. So, off with the Medicam, on with the antibiotic. At least the medications seem to taste good to him or something because he comes running when he sees me going for the stuff.

So now, once he's done with this antibiotic, I'm supposed to collect some urine and run it up there for them to test and possibly send off to a lab. I did notice this morning that there seemed to not be any blood in the urine anymore, but he's still going in, well, the dog bowls for now (poor dogs). I'm not letting him outside for the next few days until we can get this back under control, whatever it is. The doctor seemed frustrated at trying to officially diagnose and treat what seems to be a moving target. But she seems very good and they're definitely helpful and friendly there. Luckily the vet is just right around the corner from home, so it's not like I'm having to drive all over the place to take him back and forth. But still, I just want our kitteh to be healthy again. :(

Comments

[padawansguide.livejournal.com]

I went through something like this with Sunny. Male cats have small urethras and they can get easily blocked. After a couple of expensive emergency visits (when we was doing the straining to go on things that were not his litter box) to catheterize him, the vet actually did exploratory surgery. Which was expensive, and she didn't find a blockage. But after cleaning him out, he never had a problem again. However we did put him on a prescription dry food - this stuff: http://www.entirelypets.com/felinecd2.html.

I used to buy it at the vet's - it's not horribly expensive, but it's meant for cats with this problem. Maybe the vet can tell you about it. It made a definite difference.

I hope your kitteh is well soon!

[mellymell.livejournal.com]

I read that male cats are more susceptible to UTIs and blockage in that area and such. The vet even talked to me about something called Lower Urinary Tract Disease, where basically they get chronic infections. I think she's going through the process of ruling that out. She said she'd keep good notes on when he gets these episodes (if he gets them again after this one is over) to determine if that was the case. I asked her then if it was something we could control with diet and she said for now, not to worry about changing to an expensive diet just in case that's not what we're dealing with. But if that turns out to be it, we'll definitely be looking into that or something similar. Thanks for the link and the info!

[padawansguide.livejournal.com]

Good luck! It's no fun to have a sick kitty!

[arymetore.livejournal.com]

Poor Mogwai... Hopefully the new medicines will clear up his problem. There are various cat foods that are also designed to help alleviate or reduce such problems so perhaps a combination of them will help eliminate the issue all together.

[mellymell.livejournal.com]

As mentioned above, I talked to the vet about a change in diet and she basically gave me a "wait and see" answer.

[lordofhaladin.livejournal.com]

poor kitty!

[baka-san.livejournal.com]

i hope he's feeling better soon.

[belluthien.livejournal.com]

Oh... I'm sorry! I'll be keeping you all in my thoughts. I hope he feels better soon.
Hugs,
y

[mellymell.livejournal.com]

Thanks! He was playing a good deal this morning, so I think he at least feels better. But he's still not completely consistent on using the litter box and still seems to have trouble going.