Lucy--Another bloody urine day

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derf

Member Since 2013
Was alerted by my wife that Lucy had urinated in front of the litterbox and the urine was quite tainted with blood.
Took her to the vet. Temp not indicative of infection. Got antibiotics IN CASE it is a UTI, but vet suspects something else (urinary tract inflammation, stones, etc).

She seems to be back to her normalish self already so I think I tend to agree.

She is referring me to a specialist who will do an ultrasound in a few weeks.

Ideas on possible causes? I'm asking b/c I am trying to become as informed an owner as I can.

Thanks

Derf
 
Has Lucy been stressed recently? High stress can cause bladder inflammation and bloody urine.
Have you had a urine culture done to check for an infection?
BTW, about two weeks ago my civi Joey had bloody urine with frequent urination. Some bacteria was found in urine and antibiotics and buprenex cleared the blood urine until this Tuesday when it returned. Went to vet yesterday and started different antibiotic. Seems to be better already. If it reurned I will have a culture done. Cold be stress related since MurrFee tends to attack Joey. Might have to start Prozac.
 
We moved at the end of july, but the contractors and swipswapping of temporary living spots didn't seem to bother her. She is one of the most easy going calm cats I've ever met.

The stress factor was indeed brought up by old vet (New Jersey) as a possible cause as they had cultured the urine and found nothing.

The bouts seem to last a day or two at most and really don't seem to have a pattern to them. My new vet as a safety measure puts her on antibiotics from the same class that have been effective against her confirmed UTIs, but has not been drawing urine b/c she's pretty convinced something else is going on.
 
Already giving Dasuquin -- a glucosamine-chondroitin supplement -- twice a day for some time.

Interestingly, the pets.thenest.com article states that Cosequin should not be given to diabetic cats.

I was going to start a new thread about it but hadn't searched to see if one existed on the topic, but I might as well just throw it in here since the topic just got raised.

Since joining the forum I've been doing some independent research on glucosamine and diabetics. From the articles I read (and stupidly did not bookmark), it seems like there is no definitive studies that indicate that glucosamine affects BG levels or insulin resistance. It doesn't break down into glucose and as such is not a direct source of sugar in the blood.

How many of you are using the glucosamine / chondroitin supplements and can you see a difference in BG levels?

Apologies if this has been discussed before.
 
I am using Cosequin for Cats for my MurrFee. Now that I think about it, it may have raised his insulin needs. He is now on 11 units Levemir twice daily, he was on a little lower dose before. He does eat about 10 oz of food a day and always has.
 
I have been giving both my cats cosequin for months. I haven't seen a difference. Not sure what would trigger the higher BG anyway - is there anything forbidden in it?

Maybe I will try stopping it.
 
derf said:
Got antibiotics IN CASE it is a UTI
Click to expand...

And this overuse (abuse in many cases) of antibiotics is what gets both humans and animals into trouble with antibiotic resistance.....as well as disrupting the intestinal flora which can have significant consequences.

This (using ABs without a confirmatory culture and sensitivity) is a huge pet peeve of mine - as well as frustrating the heck out of other doctors.

I strongly urge people to stop letting their vets throw 'just in case' antibiotics into their pets. They are **not** benign chemicals.
 
update: Lucy--Another bloody urine day

I agree. Overuse of antibiotics is rampant indeed is an epidemic in behavior that needs to be addressed.

some updates:

Still having issues getting lucy to bleed. Obtained 28ga lancets and a different lancing device but it just doesnt shoot deep enough. Works on my finger. Paw pads and ear. Will try warming ear.

wanted to run a 0 3 6 9 12 on her yesterday; took 15 min of poking lucy to get a sample. Traumatic to us let alone her.

hours later she had soft stools and blood in her urine again. For only a few hours.

tentative conclusion: blood in urine in absence of other sickness indicators is being triggered by stress, seemingly acute stress. Interestingly she slept though almost all of thanksgiving day in her normal spot with 19 people in the house.

should I have a sonogram of her kidneys bladder and urinary tract performed? Or do I just accept the situation as is?
this is all quite baffling as she is one of the most easygoing lovey cats I've ever known. You say her name and she purrs. You can hold her and twist her into a pretzel ans she keeps purring.

Of course to compound matters we've begun cutting her dry down and have seen based on yesterdays reading she's at 125 if that measurement is to be believed. But the home testing is so traumatic to her we don't want to subject her to it yet I am acutely aware of the need to be careful of the insulin dose based on her food intake.

I am surprised that cutting her dry by 1/4 could bring her from the 280 range to the 120 range remembering that her dry food is a half and half mix of purina dm and rc high fiber.

by the way I am assuming cystitis. She has been on dasuquin for quite some time now.
 
Just another update.
Yet another bloody urine day. Happened with no warning. Nothing going on. Just happened. She was acting a LITTLE funny last night but not seemingly in pain or distress.
Lucy gets so out of sorts and it is painfull to watch her in pain. At one point she became so unsure of her ability to get to the litter box in case she had to pee she actually laid down in it. I removed her and cleaned it but right back she went. I gave up after several rounds.. She gets really upset if she goes outside the litter box (only when sick or constipated)or pukes -- she comes and gets us.) We give her only praise.

Ultrasound this coming Thursday.

Wish her luck
 
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