Surprise UTI

[E's]

At 3 a.m. Sunday morning I was sleepless, got up to work on the laptop awhile... 19 month old Pinto joined me as usual - he loves to lounge around on the table and try to work the printer/scanner/copier...


But this night he acted miserable - licking at himself and even meowing a little sometimes... he had been perfectly all right at bedtime... no history of uti (so far as I can recall, no cat of mine had ever had one, but I'm careful about food etc.) and had his annual exam just a couple months ago...

Anyway, long story short, Pinto and I spent most of Sunday afternoon at the emergency vets - a small but very cool, quiet, restful place with comfortable decor and calm, competent staff.... I wish every pet owner could have such an establishment in their town! Some things about Austin I really like.

http://www.austinvetcare.com

So El Gato Pintado is doing fine, doesn't even seem to be uncomfortable: He's on Clavamox and prescription chow; his records have been faxed to his regular vet - he will be seeing her as soon as the antibiotic is finished - and both fellas are on the special combination of chow from now on...even though Q, who is 13 1/2, has never had any sign of uti... Of course, one card is $175 closer to being maxed but all in all, I consider that a bargain...

[Traci]

Thank you for being so attentive and recognizing this so immediately!

Does the vet feel crystals may be present? (a urinalysis I presume was done?)

I love his pic, he is such a cutie!

[E's]

Yes, they did the urine test for confirmation - as the vet thought, there were definitely crystals. Since I had never actually dealt with feline uti before, I had emailed DD Nan - who is practically a vet herself LOL and she came over as soon as she could Sunday.. She also suspected uti; she could not go with me but brought a smaller carrier for me to use and helped us into my car. Pinto meowed a little but was mostly his sweet-natured self. The tech staff and the vet - all women - are so professional and thorough. They did a preliminary exam and consultation, then took Pinto to a lab for the test (I was grateful: he is so affectionate I didn't want him to think I would hurt him!) What amazed me was that he seemed to start feeling better right away... he is such a people cst and loves attention... it was like he appreciated we humans noticing he had a problem BTW - this is the same EM vet Nan and William and I took Sergio the golden retriever to when William's dad forgot the gate open... golly, I believe that was Labor Day a year ago... our dog and we got fine treatment then too. It really makes a difference, doesn't it?

[picturesofcats]

I'm glad Pinto is doing better. That's a nice photo. I bet he likes playing with the mouse.