UTI in Cats. What to do?

Question

My cat recently started peeing on my pillows on my bed and on my thorw pillows and throw blankets on my couches. Could this be a bladder infection and if so how do I cure it? Can giving him cranberry pills in his food help? He is 1 1/2 years old and fixed. I recently had to give him seditives because we moved could that be causing the problem he also had ear mites taken care of. Could that have led to a urinary tract infection?

Answer 1

The only thing you can do is take him to the vet, and as soon as possible.

As a human who has suffered UTI symptoms, I can tell you that it is HORRID. Get the poor boy some relief.

There's nothing you can do at home to cure it. But there is something you can do to prevent future outbreaks.

Male cats are especially prone to UTI's because of their longer, narrow urethra. Because of this, it's even more important that they be fed canned food, with dry comprising very little of their daily meals - if any.

It's fine to go completely without dry food - it doesn't clean the teeth and is only good for humans because of the convenience.

So start switching him now to a canned food, preferably a good quality one. See the link for suggestions and advice on how to recognize them.

Don't bother buying the expensive "prescription" food your vet may try to sell you. Technically it works, but it's inferior quality and should never be fed long-term.

From my blog:
CATS AND URINARY ISSUES
This is not my area of expertise, but this has been my experience: As a kitten, Poppy developed both a weight problem and a UTI. My vet told me to start feeding her special food which he happily sold me *gulp*. Poppy refused to eat it. Back then I was less aware of how to get cats to eat new foods, so I just said the hell with it and bought Purina's urinary health food, mixed with weight management. She ate that from then until she was 2 years old. She never had another UTI, so that tells me that the overpriced CRAP the vets sell you are typically unnecessary. The grocery store crap is just as good.

For various reasons, I soon thereafter began researching cat nutrition. I learned about the benefits of wet food, and found that in many cases, that's all that's required to prevent future UTI's. Even the crappy brands like Friskies would be better than dry food!

I don't claim to be a vet, vet tech, vet student or anything like that. But I know how to research and examine results. I've read a bit on this topic which is how I've reached the conclusions I have.

At the very least, were I to have another cat with urinary problems, I'd sooner try them on a GOOD QUALITY canned food before shelling out the dough for a "prescription" dry food (or even their canned varieties). That's because I believe that good nutrition and species appropriate food is much more likely to keep a cat healthy than something designed to change their chemical composition.

Answer 2

I too have wondered about cranberry or vitamin C in a cat with a UTI. I do know that cats do not require vitamin C because they synthesize their own. But I would think that a little cranberry or supplementary vitamin C (very little, though; don't want to OD) might be warranted in a cat prone to UTI.

Urinary tract infections -- and it definitely sounds as though that is what you are dealing with -- are dangerous in cats, because they can crawl up to the kidneys, and in cats, their kidneys are their Achilles heel. So if you even suspect UTI, you simply must get your cat to the vet. This is not a condition that will clear on its own, and you do not have the luxury of experimentation time with herbal remedies that may or may not work.

You have a serious situation on your hands, and if you do not intervene medically, it may very well become an emergency.

Answer 3

The only sure thing that will help clear this up in your cat quickly and effectively is to get antibiotics from the vet. Cats and dogs don't process things like humans do (so the cranberry probably wouldn't hurt but I doubt it would be near enough to actually help the problem) so they need to have species appropriate medications when things like this occur.

Answer 4

Take your cat to the vet and they should be able to treat it if it is a uti. my sister had a cat that did this and she tried to return it to the shelter after she found out that it did not have a uti . she found it a home on a farm instead . she recently moved after getting the cat as well . she could not keep it cause it was too uncomfortable in the house so she took it to a farm and the cat is still there living happily outdoors. good luck .

Answer 5

It sounds like a UTI. You need to take him to the vet. I think that they give them antibiotics.