[mute]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here and happy to have found a site where people love cats as much as I do! I'm going to look around the site and see what all is here!

The reason I sought this place out is because I'm having issues with my 8 year old cat Callie. I have 2 cats- 10 year old Connor and then Callie. I also have a 4 year old schnauzer. I rescued all three, I got both cats when they were kittens.

I've never had any litter box issues with them. 5 months ago we started finding urine on our linoleum at the front and back doors randomly. Then on the linoleum in the kitchen. We have 2 litter boxes that are always clean. We hadn't changed anything at the time- literally hadn't moved a piece of furniture or added anything at all.

So we first took him to the vet. They did an exam, found nothing wrong. Took him home, started using Feliway diffusers (which I love) and still urine randomly- maybe once or twice a week or 2. Then we started Rescue Remedy- still the same. We changed one box to crystal litter and left the other one with the regular so that they could decide which to use. Nothing is working. Today he is at the vet to get a urine sample to verify there is nothing physically wrong (which I'm pretty sure there isn't).

It doesn't seem physical- nothing seems to be wrong with him. Sometimes he pees when we're around and sometimes he doesn't. The other day he meowed at us, we picked him up, pet him, he jumped down and walked to the linoleum and peed right then and there.

I'm at a loss as to what to do to make this better. Any ideas?

 

[laurief]

Inappropriate elimination can be a symptom of a number of diseases that don't involve the urinary tract. In addition to a urinalysis (better yet, a urine culture), I recommend you have a full blood chemistry and CBC run on your boy to check for other indicators of disease. If he still checks out healthy, keep an eye out on your yard. It's possible that you have stray animals or wildlife visiting your yard that are upsetting your cat. It's not at all uncommon for cats to start spraying in response to unwelcome animal visitors in their yard.

Is your boy peeing (squatting) normally, or is he spraying? Peeing is more indicative of illness. Spraying is more likely to be behavioral.

Laurie

 

[hoofmaiden]

Ditto laurie. What did this "exam" entail? Unless it included a full blood and urine workup it was useless. ALWAYS assume the problem is medical, and do everything necessary to diagnose that, before jumping to non-medical causes.

 

[hoofmaiden]

The other day he meowed at us, we picked him up, pet him, he jumped down and walked to the linoleum and peed right then and there.

This just SCREAMS medical problem to me. Poor guy is trying to TELL YOU!

 

[MowMow]

Y eah, this sounds medical to me.

HOW did the vet determine it wasn't medical. Did he run a blood test/urine test?

 

[mute]

Thanks for the advice! He is at the vets now so I will just call them and ask them to do bloodwork to eliminate having to bring him back for that.

The vet has been telling us since there is no blood in the urine that it probably wasn't medical.

What other kind of issues can this be a symptom of? I want to make sure I ask for everything I can. If it's medical I want to FIX it!!! I don't want him to be having an issue we don't know about but the vet has been telling us it's behavioral.

 

[mute]

I called and they said that wouldn't be an issue. They said they will do a CBC and full screening of the blood to see if anything is wrong with him. I realize now that I should have pushed for that before, but I guess I was relying on the vet to be correct.

So will wait and see if anything comes back. I just want to be able to fix it for him and make him better.

 

[hoofmaiden]

The vet has been telling us since there is no blood in the urine that it probably wasn't medical.

Um . . . I would be looking for a new vet.

Please read this in its entirety:

Feline Urinary Tract Health: Cystitis, Urethral Obstruction, Urinary Tract Infection by Lisa A. Pierson, DVM :: cat urinary tract health

and this:

Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition :: healthy cat diet, making cat food, litter box, cat food, cat nutrition, cat urinary tract health

Even if the bloodwork and urinalysis is neg chances are the problem is urinary tract syndrome. Do you feed dry food?

 

[mute]

Um . . . I would be looking for a new vet.

Please read this in its entirety:

Feline Urinary Tract Health: Cystitis, Urethral Obstruction, Urinary Tract Infection by Lisa A. Pierson, DVM :: cat urinary tract health

and this:

Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition :: healthy cat diet, making cat food, litter box, cat food, cat nutrition, cat urinary tract health

Even if the bloodwork and urinalysis is neg chances are the problem is urinary tract syndrome. Do you feed dry food?

Actually, we are moving next week and will be getting a new vet then. We live in a tiny area so there are very limited options when it comes to vets, drs, etc.

We do feed dry food and wet food both. They get dry food in the AM and PM and wet food at bedtime. I will read both links, thanks. I've been reading about urinary tract infections with cats for the last few months but he doesn't seem to be in pain or bleeding when he urinates so we've been thinking it was more behavioral.

 

[cinderflower]

Is your boy peeing (squatting) normally, or is he spraying? Peeing is more indicative of illness. Spraying is more likely to be behavioral.

Laurie

that's what i always thought too, so i had a lot of tests done on the bedwetter because he always puddled on the bed. it's weird too though because he was bleeding from his urethra when he was nine weeks old. i had x-rays and a cystoscopy done, and nothing. my vet was completely perplexed and so was i. he was running around playing and acting like nothing was wrong, but that kind of bleeding makes me panic. he took prednisone for 2-3 days and it never happened again.

but a cat meowing and then going on the linoleum right in front of you sounds physical to me too. maybe you could think about asking for a cystoscopy? i know there's no blood but they still might uncover something. (or like me, find nothing lol but at least i tried to find out)

good luck!

 

[mute]

Oh and yes he is squatting like normal, I haven't seen any spraying at all.

We also thought it could be outside cats irritating him. We put citrus outside to deter any outside cats coming around- but we haven't noticed any recently.

 

[MowMow]

Yah, my guy went through 3 UTIs before I got him off Kibble for good and he never had blood in his urine either. My vet had to pull urine from him to test and each time he had crystals and an infection...

Good on you for taking care of your boy and covering all the medical bases.

 

[mute]

I believe when something like this happens- either with a cat or a dog- that something is wrong. Either they are sick or there is something wrong in their environment or that I have done something wrong. I believe it's up to me to figure that out and change whatever i can to make it better for my babies.

I just hate that it can be hard to figure out lol. My dog had some issues when we got her but we worked on them and they got better. I hate when people give up on their animals and that's not an option for me.

Not that I'm doing such a great job here since Callie has been doing this for so long

I do appreciate any and all advice I get, so thank you!!

 

[mute]

Callie is home, lab results tomorrow. I'm pretty much hoping there is something wrong so I can make it better.

 

[MowMow]

Callie is home, lab results tomorrow. I'm pretty much hoping there is something wrong so I can make it better.

Whatever the results, you're an awesome cat mom for working so hard to find whatever it is that's going on with this poor girl.

Everyone here will do their best to help you see what's up if you post the results (have the vet send them to you).

If it's not medical we'll hammer out what is going on to upset her and help get it fixed!

 

[mute]

Urine sample and blood results came back fine. They're doing a urine culture so that should take a few days to come come back. I should have answers on that by next week.

This weekend we are moving from an apartment to our first house. I've moved with the cats about 10 times over the last 8 years so I know what to expect in terms of them being stressed out and how they take time to get past it. Every time I move it's stressful but they do get over it. This time will hopefully be our last move though so yay for that!

However, I am worried that the move will exacerbate whatever is going on with him. If it's behavioral I was almost hoping that after he got over the move all the extra space would calm him down and he would have a lot of room away from our dog. But I know that's wishful thinking

If the urine culture comes back fine I won't even know where to start with helping him. We already have a plan for where the litter boxes will go, how many we need and all that. But beyond that I'm clueless anymore.

 

[hoofmaiden]

Keep in mind that even if the labwork comes back normal he may still have urinary tract problems caused by dry food. Did you read the entire website I linked to before?

It is actually a GOOD thing that you are moving. I would switch to 100% canned food NOW. When you move, confine kitty to ONE ROOM for the first 3-4 weeks. Make it a nice room but one w/out a lot of stuff in it. Provide litterbox w/ Dr. Elseys' Cat Attract litter, water, toys, etc. Spend time there every day. Keep litter box PRISTINE. You will be establishing a completely new habit in a new place. After 3 weeks or so start letting him out for short periods of time. Make sure there are at least 2 LBs, with Cat Attract. I would make the periods out of the room short at first, then longer.

But IMO none of this is likely to work until you STOP feeding any dry food, regardless of what the labwork says.

 

[hoofmaiden]

And once you are letting him out, keep "his" room a dog-free zone. Put a babygate in the doorway so the dog cannot enter. Kitty can either go over it or you can get one like I have that has a little cat door in the bottom. This goes a LONG way to chilling out cats who are worried by dogs.

 

[mute]

I did read the whole link, both of them that you posted. I don't know that I'm convinced that I should switch to all wet food though. I've fed both my cats this diet- one for 10 years and one for 8 years and have never had a urinary issue before. If this switch would help I would do it without issue- my cats have very sensitive stomachs and they've been on a few different brands but the current brand they've been on for 2 years now without issues. They used to get really bad diarrhea with some of the other ones so I am hesitant to switch their food.

 

[MowMow]

That's the problem with kibble..... you don't have a problem until you do. Kind of like me saying "I've been eating two bags of cheesie puffs a week for 25 years. It's never been a problem before... oh ****, I had a stroke!! I guess I better quit eating the junk food!"

SOme animals do fine on it for their life. Most do NOT.\