Please help - UTI

A little over a week ago my 2 year old male cat started to pee in other places other than his litter box and not long after, my husband and I started seeing blood in his urine. It looks like watered down blood. We took him to the Emergency vet near us and they did a urinalysis, ultrasound and physical. They said they weren't going to do an x-ray due to the expense. They said he has a UTI and gave him a shot that lasts 2 weeks, a pain medication, an oral medication for urethral spasms and water shot into his back (which had burst by the time we got him home. After about 4 days he got better and the blood had disappeared completely. He was back to himself, being playful and goofy. Yesterday I noticed a little blood again and he's started peeing out of the litter again. The blood is dark, but sometimes it goes back to being lighter. As soon as he urinates, he runs and cleans himself (because of pain?). I called every vet that was open last night and they are all booked up till mid-August. We can't take him back to the emergency vet because the prices are 3 times as much as the regular vet (they even stated this when we were there) and we just don't have the money they are asking for, right now. Please help. Is this something that happens normally with a UTI? I really don't want to lose my little precious guy. Thank you so much in advance.

Hello!  I'm sorry to hear this.  UTIs (urinary tract infections) in cats are best not ignored, because it's possible and not unlikely that as the disease progresses, a tom-cat becomes 'blocked' or unable to urinate.  It is then a dire emergency / race against time necessitating anaesthesia and often a tube to be passed to the bladder in order to get rid of the blockage, before the urine backs up to the kidneys causing renal failure.  Failure to pass urine or struggle / pain to pass urine is therefore often considered an emergency. Bladder 'infections' - (or rather 'inflammations' because most of them do not involve bacterial infection) can have many causes, including stress and the most modern research shows that reducing 'stress' is one of the best ways to avoid this scenario. At this point, everyone usually says 'but my cat's not stressed' although usually, they are - it's just that the signs of stress in cats are extremely subtle and easy for humans to miss (cats have evolved to hide stress from one another, just as dogs have evolved to show it). We would strongly advise contacting your vet / emergency vet for triage  and then reading through expert Sarah Caney's website (iCatcare) as well as the blogs on here for more information. Preventative steps that can be taken against urinary infections, include to encourage the drinking of plenty of water, anti-inflammatories (as diagnosed by a vet only), certain changes to the environment and in some cases, certain foods. Best of luck.

Hello!  I'm sorry to hear this.  UTIs (urinary tract infections) in cats are best not ignored, because it's possible and not unlikely that as the disease progresses, a tom-cat becomes 'blocked' or unable to urinate.  It is then a dire emergency / race against time necessitating anaesthesia and often a tube to be passed to the bladder in order to get rid of the blockage, before the urine backs up to the kidneys causing renal failure.  Failure to pass urine or struggle / pain to pass urine is therefore often considered an emergency. Bladder 'infections' - (or rather 'inflammations' because most of them do not involve bacterial infection) can have many causes, including stress and the most modern research shows that reducing 'stress' is one of the best ways to avoid this scenario. At this point, everyone usually says 'but my cat's not stressed' although usually, they are - it's just that the signs of stress in cats are extremely subtle and easy for humans to miss (cats have evolved to hide stress from one another, just as dogs have evolved to show it). We would strongly advise contacting your vet / emergency vet for triage  and then reading through expert Sarah Caney's website (iCatcare) as well as the blogs on here for more information. Preventative steps that can be taken against urinary infections, include to encourage the drinking of plenty of water, anti-inflammatories (as diagnosed by a vet only), certain changes to the environment and in some cases, certain foods. Best of luck.

Sorry there's a lot of waffle.  To summarise: 1) call an emergency vet for triage as this can progress to something very unpleasant.   They may advise that you give drugs rather than a resee at this stage. 2) Usually there's an underlying cause and it's often connected to unknown stressors in the environment - read up about this, and ask your vet about prevention once the crisis has passed. Good luck!