Kitten / Urine Problems

[emma_pen]

One of our hand reared kittens has developed awful urinary problems He is 7 weeks old now and has been hand reared with his littermates from 2 weeks of age. His siblings are all completely healthy and have homes, Alfie is staying with the nurse who reared him.

He is a little character, and such a nice little kitten. For the past 2-3 weeks, he has been urinating on himself and never took to litter training like his siblings. He is now urinating pretty much all the time he is awake, and his bladder is hard and inflamed. He is urine stained, bless him. He cries in pain when he urinates.

Last week, his bladder was huge and we thought he had a blockage. He was anaethetised (he's so young ) and a tiny catheter passed easily enough. We xrayed him and found his bladder to be inflamed and thickened. A bad case of cystitis was diagnosed, and he was put onto antibiotics & analgesics.

Today, he's no better, and the vet has prescribed steroids in small doses

Otherwise, he is a normal, healthy kitten. He plays, eats, drinks, poops, snuggles, sleeps and runs about like any normal 7 week old.

Has anyone ever experienced urinary problems in such a young kitten? Any advice on feeding, or the dangers of steroids in such a tiny babe?

I am doing my own research right now, but anything else anyone can come up with would be very very helpful!

Ems

[Meowmie]

What kind of food is this kitten on?

What is the urine pH? Did anybody make a note on it?

Just wondering, did anyone X-ray the kidneys?

No bacteria or crystals in the urine?

[coaster]

Sorry, can't help....just feel sorry for such a young kitten to have that kind of a problem.

[emma_pen]

He's on wet kitten food at the moment, and is eating very well. His entire abdomen was xrayed and the kidneys weren't mentioned. He did have his urine analysed, I know there were no crystals but I will find out pH, protein, etc today.

[Meowmie]

Please check the ingredients in the wet food and if you find grains it, PLEASE switch the kitten to a grain-free wet food. My understanding is that you have Sheba in the UK. Maybe some other wet food without grain also.
Sheba will do if you don't have anything else. Do NOT use ANY fish flavors!

This food will produce a low pH that is very healing.

If medication and diet are not enough to bring lasting relief, keep the possibility of an anatomic abnormality in mind.
Here is what someone whose cat had a relentless problem found out a little over a year ago. Paragraphs from two of her e-mails:

"little Gizmo is undergoing surgery in the morning. We have had him at the vet and run every imaginable test in the world.

The ultra sound cannot locate ANY stones or crystals, neither do they show on x-rays of the bladder / kidneys. There is no obstruction or collapse of the urethra. He was treated for dehydration these last few days and has improved enough they feel he will do fine as a surgical candidate.

His bladder walls are 3.5 times thicker than normal. This thickening could be hiding an embedded stone/crystal/polyp/blood clot, or possibly a tumor, although they are very encouraging in stating they rarely see a cat 4 years of age with a tumor."

**********************

"He had a birth defect! Where the umbilical cord connects to the bladder developed a pouch, and in the pouch was found "gritty sand like materials" which they have sent to the lab for analysis to determine if they were crystals, which they suspect....OR.......because things collected in the pouch, it became infected, irritated, enflamed, etc., which caused the bleeding in the urine."

**********************

Emma, I hope we'll get helpful information from the pH number when you find out what it was.

[emma_pen]

Thanks, Meowmie, that info was interesting & helpful. He is on Whiskas kitten food at the moment, but will pass on the info re grains, etc. I don't think Shena do kitten food, and I've always understood Shena to be a bad brand? Also found out that everything on urinalysis was normal apart from the prescence of protein indicating an infection.

[Meowmie]

In an emergency like this one it's okay to feed adult food, it won't do any harm. I've had to do it more than once myself and the kittens grew up to be very healthy adult cats.

Right now getting the grain out would be the most important thing because grain-free food produces a naturally acidified pH. Sheba - if you have no other canned grain-free food - is fine as long as the fish flavors are not included.

The quality in this emergency is less important than the pH the food is producing. Infection can't develop in an acid environment. And artificially acidifying the food is not a safe and healthy option, even for an adult cat.
I would never ever do it for a tiny kitten.

You probably don't know this but in Greece, Sheba is the only grain-free food people can get and it's shipped to them from the UK.
They have the most terrible veterinary care imaginable in that country, the food choices are also awful, Sheba, even though we don't think of it as the greatest food, is a lifesaver for sick kitties over there.

Have you been able to find out the urine pH yet?

[emma_pen]

I don't think it was recorded anywhere... The kitten should be in tomorrow so I will try to get a urine sample out of him myself.