cat cystitis...with flash x x

Oh poor thing. My puppy had it and was heart breaking watching her trying to wee and the pain on her face she got something from the vets and it did get better within a day and cleared in a week

Is she a young or old cat?

If she's young it's unlikely to be a bacterial problem so antibiotics probably wont help. Your vet will probably want to get a urine sample from her to see if there are any crystals in the urine which could be a cause.

Stress is a major trigger factor for cystitis in cats. Has anything changed in the household recently? Any visitors in the house or neighbours moved in with new cats etc? Do you have any other pets?

Another factor is water intake, increasing water intake can help, for example using a water fountain to encourage drinking or a wet food rather than dry.

Your vet might suggest a prescription diet to help depending on what the urine results show.

Hope that helps

She is 2yrs, a house cat and has a 9month old kitten sister. Nothing has changed that i can think of, shes drinking the same, eating the same, being the same old dafty running around like a loonyhead the same. Ill be ringing the vet in the morning to see what they suggest...

Poor little fuz face x

My last cat got it a lot, caused by stress, I hated seeing her with it.

As soon as I saw a flare up (in & out litter tray & constantly licking herself) I dosed her up on Cystaid or Cystease - opened the capsule and sprinkled it on her food, did the trick everytime. I originally got it from the vets then bought it online because it was happening so often & it worked out cheaper

I would also second getting a water fountain - I've had them for years for my cats and they drink significantly more with one - cats prefer running water.

I second all of this. I have a water fountain which I bought recently and have noticed both cats drink out of it. I also bought some Cystaid as my cat was going through another phase of weeing in the house which is a symptom. She doesnt have cystitis, she is just a very sensitive little creature but you can use it daily as a preventative (it may work out a bit pricey though so it may just be worth keeping some in for the flare ups)

Another thing you could use to get fluids into her is some sort of broth, maybe give it weekly or something as a treat?

My friend kept finding blood in her cat's litter tray and the vet diagnosed bladder crystals so he now has to have special food for it

Thanks for all the advice! OH is taking her to the vets this afternoon..

With regards to the water fountain - we were given one a while back but it was quite whirry noisy and they didn't really like becuase of that. The cord was also quite short and I was worried about them splashing water at the plug socket. Don't know what make it was though. What brand/make do you have for water fountains??

x

I have the Catmate one, virtually silent and has a really long chord, mine is at least a metre away from the socket and I still have some room to play with. I bought mine from Amazon.

This was the first Catit one I had:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cat-Drinking-Fountain-Food-Bowl/dp/B0006L2LWS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1354278494&sr=8-2

It has a dome that the water cascades over and a bowl - ideal if your cat prefers to drink from the bowl. Wouldn't recommend putting the food bowl on the side of the water bowl because it's very easy for food to get dropped in the water and clog the pump

This was the second Catit one I had:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Catit-Design-Fresh-Drinking-Fountain/dp/B004L4XR3I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354278494&sr=8-1

This is the current one we have:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lucky-Kitty-Ceramic-Drinking-Fountain-UK-Plug/dp/B005ELO7FO/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1354278751&sr=1-1

Also check http://www.zooplus.co.uk/ their prices are sometimes better than Amazon

The last one is rather expensive (& looks a little like a urinal!) and I was reluctant to buy it but had no choice. The second Catit one was working absolutely fine except one of my Bengals has become obsessed with water and learnt how to empty it by sticking his paw down the hole where the water bubbles up. He also learnt how to tip the entire thing over. Hence we bought the third one because a) it's made of ceramic so reasonably heavy even when empty and b) its wider and shallower so almost impossible for him to tip over. I never had any issues with my previous cat emptying the second one - Benegals are rather mischievous and often not at all scared of water.

If the fountain was making noises I suspect it's probably because the pump had got clogged up. You do need to take them apart and clean them out regularly particularly if food gets dropped in the water.

Another thing to say, make sure your cat has good mix of wet/dry food should ideally be 2/3 wet 1/3 dry (I think). There has been a significant increase in cats with problems like cystitis due to eating a diet of just dry food - they aren't designed by nature to eat dried - ignore the Iams ad on TV it's a pile of utter rubbish. In the wild they get the majority of their water from prey and don't have a natural instinct to drink.

Yes, a fair bit of experience. My cat is a rescue cat who was abandoned after bladder crystals and cystitis caused incontinence and haematuria (peeing blood). He was saved by a vet and the RSPCA and is now ours.

Before we had him, he had extensive courses of antibiotics, plus scans to check his kidneys were still OK and no stones were present. He is now on a lifetime special urinary diet which dilutes his urine and means no more problems. From time to time he can have Sheba or fresh fish as a treat, but we have to be careful how much rich food he has.

The special food isn't that much more (maybe half as much again?) as normal cat food since we buy online, and Mak is a perfectly happy cat. The vet has warned us that the moment we see him struggling to wee, we have to take him in immediately since the urethra can get blocked or irritated by these crystals, and could cause him to go into urinary retention.

The only problem we have had is when he seemed to have a bit of pain weeing when we went 3 days without the special food (we ran out), but 24hrs after starting it again, he was fine.

HTH, but see your vet asap (as in, today)

Thanks for your thoughts and help everyone. I've been looking at these water fountains today and will probably get one for them both.

Daisy is off to the vets today at 5pm so she won't have to wait too long.

Last time we were there, the vet said that because she is a girl, been neutered and is a tad overweight (something that we've been addressing, and she is losing weight which is really good) that cat cystitis can be a common occurance and that antibiotics should clear the problem (Don't really know why we weren't given these in the first instance tbh!)

Hope it's nothing too serious and that she gets the problem sorted soon. As I say, she seems absolutely fine in herself and doesn't seem in pain so fingercrossed for my fur baby!

I hope she is is ok and the antibiotics work really quickly for her!

On an aside where can I get the non noisy fountain from? Ideal christmas present for Poppy, I am forever switching the tap on for her to drink out of, she will not drink out of a bowl, she has her own mug?!

Whoops sorry Amazon, doh!

This. Cystitis is so horrid when you are a human. Let alone being a cat who doesn't really understand what is happening.

Exactly, cystitis sucks big time!

So, vets given us more anti inflammatorys and a wee sample kit to check for infection although she said its unlikely as she hasnt got a temp etc

Vet didnt seem overly concerned which was reassuring so hopefully this second course does the job

Thanks to all for advice x x

Here is the lady in question:

She is beautiful!

Hope she feels better soon.

I am like, #1 cat fan.

Its a bit sad really.

Ive just started a thread about if I should get another one, a ginger boy needs a home and his current owners have approached me because they know I will look after him.? Should I?

I'll fight you for that honour Mini!

These pictures are making me all cat broody now!!! I love gingers (well anything cat shaped really)

Mine are all black with just a few white hairs but I really want a Seal Point Siamese kitten but OH is being mean and says no.

If I had my way (and lots of money) I would just have a cat rescue centre and take in all unwanted kitties.

Yes Mini YES!!! Everyone needs a ginger boy. Although Joey is vay naughty.

Gingers are brill. Daisy is classed as a calico (tortoise and white) and shes an absolute donkey head. Extremely loving, vocal, daft and super lovely. Every one needs a ginger in their life x

He'll be reet when you get his nads snipped.

Oh Mini, do get the little ginger fella, he is super cute!

She came with the name and it stuck (we adopted her). She also goes by Dee, The Big One, Fancy Knickers and Ginger lol