Cat with FLUTD

Ophiopogon

My 12 year cat has been diagonsed with FLUTD about 4 weeks ago.

She was put on a course of METACAM and for two weeks it seem to came down than came back. I took her back to the vets and they said again its FLUTD and gave me a bigger bottle of MATACAM and said to put her on 3 day course every time it flaires up. In the last two weeks she has been on it for three days off for two and it comes back so back on METACAM and so on.
Today she peed on my bed (which has never done) and is looking misreable.

The vet said that this is all due to stress and in fairness she has all her life been a very anxious cat. We have had to put her on valium in the past at holloween. There had been another cat getting into the house and upsetting her but that had stopped now. I've also used that plug in calmer thing. Our house is a calm house and she has never had any serious trauma. She has always been on wet food and since getting this I've been adding extra water to it.

I'm at my wits end now because I was under the impression that she would suffer from bouts of this but it been nearly constant for the last 4 weeks. All my others cats prior to her were farm cats so I've never had any issues with "emotional" cats before. Also, This is costing me a lot of money that I really don't have(over €200 so far) which as well I'm annoyed about as it would be cheaper if i was the one with cysitis.

I just want to know how long this will be going on for as I don't think its fair on her to put going through this all the time. Also, I think that Matacam is just a painkiller but surley they could put her on an antibiotic?

Any help or suggestions??

EDIT: I know there is a number of threads of this topic and I have look through alot of them. I just am worried about her being on metacam long term so I mostly want to know from other owners, how long do the UTI's generally last for and are they not usually put on antibiotic?

Zapperzy

Ophiopogon wrote: »

My 12 year cat has been diagonsed with FLUTD about 4 weeks ago.

She was put on a course of METACAM and for two weeks it seem to came down than came back. I took her back to the vets and they said again its FLUTD and gave me a bigger bottle of MATACAM and said to put her on 3 day course every time it flaires up. In the last two weeks she has been on it for three days off for two and it comes back so back on METACAM and so on.
Today she peed on my bed (which has never done) and is looking misreable.

The vet said that this is all due to stress and in fairness she has all her life been a very anxious cat. We have had to put her on valium in the past at holloween. There had been another cat getting into the house and upsetting her but that had stopped now. I've also used that plug in calmer thing. Our house is a calm house and she has never had any serious trauma. She has always been on wet food and since getting this I've been adding extra water to it.

I'm at my wits end now because I was under the impression that she would suffer from bouts of this but it been nearly constant for the last 4 weeks. All my others cats prior to her were farm cats so I've never had any issues with "emotional" cats before. Also, This is costing me a lot of money that I really don't have(over €200 so far) which as well I'm annoyed about as it would be cheaper if i was the one with cysitis.

I just want to know how long this will be going on for as I don't think its fair on her to put going through this all the time. Also, I think that Matacam is just a painkiller but surley they could put her on an antibiotic?

Any help or suggestions??

EDIT: I know there is a number of threads of this topic and I have look through alot of them. I just am worried about her being on metacam long term so I mostly want to know from other owners, how long do the UTI's generally last for and are they not usually put on antibiotic?

Typing on phone so keeping it short. Given her age I would be very weary of metacam as it's harsh on the kidneys.Â*

Ask them to check for crystals. Mine had similar symptoms and had 2 different antibiotics but iv since read antibiotics usually don't make much difference depending on what the cause is. You could try prescription food c/d also. I also use zylkene for stress.Â*

Themadhouse

Did your vet run bloods and run a urine analysis?
Like the above poster I would be wary of metcam. Its a pain killer and anti inflammatory.

Were xrays done of the bladder?

We have 2 here that suffer/ have suffered with regular issues.
One was getting herself stress up and it became a "head" issue so we moved her to a quiet area of the house so she could chill out. Thankfully this worked after a couple of doses of ab's. She doesnt eat wet food so we fed her steamed chicken with the water it was steamed in.

The other girl gets uti's very regularly. We have now learnt to recognise the signs and can deal with it ourselves.
RC SO pouches i fiind brilliant at first signs along with cranberry tablets crushed into it.
http://hpp.ie/product_info.php?cPath=41&products_id=200
A water fountain I find attracts the cats to drink more too. As has been suggest Zylkene tans i find excellent for chilling out.

Really afterr 10 days all signs should be gone and your cat should be back to normal. I would be concerned that the source is not being hit fully and it just reoccurs.

Ophiopogon

They did a blood test and it was all clear and she saw two different vets and they both said UTI.

Altough one of them had talked about an xray for crystals but as its another €100 (that I just will not have for a couple of weeks) the vet said she couldn't feel any so didn't think she had them?

I know the antibiotic wouldn't work if it is from stress but they have not put her on a course and I feel they should have as it may help. Were either of your cats put on antibiotic at first.

I can't afford a water fountain but I started giving her water using the appilicator for the meta. She hasn't had any accidents today so hopefully...

Themadhouse

Amoxocillin was prescribed along with metcam for the girl who has the mental issues. We took her off the metcam after reading up about it. the abs went on for a few weeks while we tried to determiine what the issue was. once it was figure out that it was stress from the other cats the bladder issue went away.

The other girl had abs the first few times but as i said we know can read her behaviour and catch it before it kicks in. We also changed her food to a grain free one, might be coincidence but things got better after that.

If it's stress related, Zylkene tabs, pulsatilla tabs, feliway plugs all the time, cat nip etc all will help reduce stress in different ways. A radio left on if shes in the house on her own.

Is she indoors only orr indoor outdoor?
Has she lost weight, blood in urine,dull coat? What is her form like? Is she straining or having accidents, running regularly to the litter tray and staying in there ages? Is she eating and drinking ok?

Ophiopogon

She has free run but is mostly indoors by choice. In every other aspect she seems fine, eating normally etc. although I think she have been having ears issues but I got ear drops yesterday.

She never did drink alot of water to the point when she was a kitten she would be at near colllaspe from dehydration. I think maybe force feeding the water (this does not cause her stress as I do it really quick) the past two days maybe helping. She was always on a wet diet so don't think that it. I think I may have a bottle of rescue remedy somewhere that I may start adding to her food when she at the height of it.

I got her a v.root toy yesterday that definitely seemed to cheer her up!

The Sweeper

Ophiopogon, they can spin a urine sample to see if there are crystals in it, they don't have to x-ray. Problem is getting the urine sample... if you can assist by gathering one you can leave it into the vets to be spun.

Try leaving a litter tray out with only a tablespoon of litter in it, when the cat eventually pees in the tray (it's confusing, but they will) you can collect a sample with a syringe barrel and put it in a sample cup for the vet - you can collect both a syringe barrel and a sample cup from the vet for free.

Themadhouse

I would try and get a urinalysis done if you could, just to rule things out, it will only cost about 20 euro. Not all vets have the ability to check for crystals unfortunalty, i know this from friends who have had to go to different vet to get this checked.
Blood in urine can be checked as well.
Would she drink say whiskas milk or kitten milk if she is not interested in water? or water that a pice of chicken has been boiled in or steamed in? Just to get her drinking extra at the moment, not long term. Is she eating a urinary wet food?
Is she over grooming her genital area?