I have a 4-year-old neutered male cat that I rescued from abusers in my neighborhood about 3 years ago. He was an outside cat at the time of rescue and has been indoors ever since. He’s feral, but is calm and gets along very well with the other cats he now lives with. He has faithfully used his litterbox, up until about six weeks ago. He started occasionally peeing on towels that were left on chairs and beds. I took him to the vet and he was diagnosed with a raging urinary tract infection. The vet also found some Spindle cells, which we will keep an eye on. The vet gave him a Convenia injection for the UTI. He went back to the vet 2 weeks later for a follow-up and he still had the infection, but it was much, much better. The vet gave him another Convenia injection and he will go back to the vet in another two weeks for another progress check. During this time, the cat has been sequestered into a bedroom where there are no soft surfaces for him to pee on and he has been using his litterbox, solely. If I place a towel on the floor or on a chair, he will eventually pee on it. My question is; once the UTI is cleared up completely, how long before he goes back to using only his litterbox?
Thank you for any help you can give me on this matter.
How Long Will Peeing Problem From Cat With UTI Continue?
Re: How Long Will Peeing Problem From Cat With UTI Continue?
I've mentioned this numerous times in the forum over the years, please do not leave towels on floors or bath mats, etc, because cats WILL urinate on them. The same applies to clothes on floor or piled in an open closet, laundry baskets with clothes accessible to cats. They "mark" these items as their own, or they know they don't normally belong there, so they will mark them and use them to their "advantage".
I'm not adverse to the use of convenia, but I'd think it more prudent and effective to use a more direct approach, such as oral clavamox, and if the infection is severe or insistent, then get a urine culture/sensitivity done to rule out forms of bacteria your vet might be missing.
Was there any signs of crystals in the urine or heavy, grainy, sandy sediment? Has there ever been blood in the urine?
Has your vet recommended a change in diet to keep the pH levels normal?
I'm not adverse to the use of convenia, but I'd think it more prudent and effective to use a more direct approach, such as oral clavamox, and if the infection is severe or insistent, then get a urine culture/sensitivity done to rule out forms of bacteria your vet might be missing.
Was there any signs of crystals in the urine or heavy, grainy, sandy sediment? Has there ever been blood in the urine?
Has your vet recommended a change in diet to keep the pH levels normal?
..........Traci
Re: How Long Will Peeing Problem From Cat With UTI Continue?
Thank you for your reply.
“please do not leave towels on floors or bath mats, etc, because cats WILL urinate on them.”
I should have said; towels, bedspreads, cloth, etc. He never did it before the UTI. In a perfect world, the towels and clothes are all put away.
“I'm not adverse to the use of convenia, but I'd think it more prudent and effective to use a more direct approach, such as oral clavamox,”
I suspect the vet used the injection of Conenia over an oral approach because he is feral and it would be nearly impossible to dose him.
“if the infection is severe or insistent, then get a urine culture/sensitivity done to rule out forms of bacteria your vet might be missing.”
A urinalysis was done. I don’t know what else was discovered from that, other than the UTI.
“Was there any signs of crystals in the urine or heavy, grainy, sandy sediment?”
No
“Has there ever been blood in the urine?”
Not that I’m aware of
“Has your vet recommended a change in diet to keep the pH levels normal?”
No
“please do not leave towels on floors or bath mats, etc, because cats WILL urinate on them.”
I should have said; towels, bedspreads, cloth, etc. He never did it before the UTI. In a perfect world, the towels and clothes are all put away.
“I'm not adverse to the use of convenia, but I'd think it more prudent and effective to use a more direct approach, such as oral clavamox,”
I suspect the vet used the injection of Conenia over an oral approach because he is feral and it would be nearly impossible to dose him.
“if the infection is severe or insistent, then get a urine culture/sensitivity done to rule out forms of bacteria your vet might be missing.”
A urinalysis was done. I don’t know what else was discovered from that, other than the UTI.
“Was there any signs of crystals in the urine or heavy, grainy, sandy sediment?”
No
“Has there ever been blood in the urine?”
Not that I’m aware of
“Has your vet recommended a change in diet to keep the pH levels normal?”
No
Re: How Long Will Peeing Problem From Cat With UTI Continue?
Well, just to reiterate, there's a couple different reasons cats do this. One is simply to mark the item as theirs. Another is if it is in the bathroom, there's something about moisture/water in the bathroom that makes towels, etc somehow very appealing to urinate on. Another is that a cat with a UTI might be painful and want to avoid the litterbox either due to the pain and the litter is too full and it touches the genital region, or the cat associates the pain and the UTI WITH the litterbox, therefore avoiding it.
Yes, same applies to any material, cloth, soft things, even blankets. But, don't fret, the majority of cats, once healed from a UTI will continue to use their litterboxes faithfully. If they don't, then you have to get a bit creative and only slightly change something about the box, litter type or placement/location so they get a sort of "renewed" interest in it again.
It's important that if the vet is concerned the UTI is not healing in a timely manner, that a culture and sensitivity test is done, this detects certain types of bacteria that may or may not respond to a certain antibiotic. Clavamox for example, is generally the first choice antibiotic, but more resistant bacteria require stronger or different types of antibiotics. If a UTI has not cleared, been resolved within 4 weeks, it's time to re-evaluate the urine, and culture it to rule out resistant bacteria, or some other problem like inflammation, hematuria, bladder wall thickness, injury, etc.
A urinalysis alone is not enough to identify the "type" of bacteria. A urine culture is best when treatment with a certain antibiotic fails or does not resolve in a timely manner.
If he has never had a UTI and there is no evidence of crystals, then the diet may not necessitate change. But, if this is a resistant bacteria, then a change in diet to maintain proper pH (along with appropriate antibiotic choice) may be beneficial and may help prevent future occurance.
Also beware of stress. Stress is a common precursor to UTI's or persistent UTI's.....make sure nothing in the environment is causing him undue stress.
Yes, same applies to any material, cloth, soft things, even blankets. But, don't fret, the majority of cats, once healed from a UTI will continue to use their litterboxes faithfully. If they don't, then you have to get a bit creative and only slightly change something about the box, litter type or placement/location so they get a sort of "renewed" interest in it again.
It's important that if the vet is concerned the UTI is not healing in a timely manner, that a culture and sensitivity test is done, this detects certain types of bacteria that may or may not respond to a certain antibiotic. Clavamox for example, is generally the first choice antibiotic, but more resistant bacteria require stronger or different types of antibiotics. If a UTI has not cleared, been resolved within 4 weeks, it's time to re-evaluate the urine, and culture it to rule out resistant bacteria, or some other problem like inflammation, hematuria, bladder wall thickness, injury, etc.
A urinalysis alone is not enough to identify the "type" of bacteria. A urine culture is best when treatment with a certain antibiotic fails or does not resolve in a timely manner.
If he has never had a UTI and there is no evidence of crystals, then the diet may not necessitate change. But, if this is a resistant bacteria, then a change in diet to maintain proper pH (along with appropriate antibiotic choice) may be beneficial and may help prevent future occurance.
Also beware of stress. Stress is a common precursor to UTI's or persistent UTI's.....make sure nothing in the environment is causing him undue stress.
..........Traci
Re: How Long Will Peeing Problem From Cat With UTI Continue?
Thank you for that very useful information