If you've ever seen any of my posts, there's a fair chance you're familiar with Arnie.
You know, adorable, green-eyed, orange little puffball?
Yep. Him.
Just look at his adorable little face!
Okay, fine, we all know he's cute. I don't need to re-establish that. This is Arnie's saga, because our poor, sweet little fluff-ball has a chronic condition. He's one of the many male cats who suffers from frequent UTIs. Ask the internet, and it'll tell you a few hundred different names for the condition - but no one can really determine the how/why. Just that it's oddly common for male cats to get these reoccurring issues. Normally, our vet will prescribe a round of amoxicillin, then we'll finish the doses, have is urine tested, and all is well until another flareup a few months down the road.
Arnie's last UTI was around Christmas, it cleared up fine. Then, this new one reared it's ugly head - gosh I can't even really remember when it started - mid or late March?
Our Dr. gave Arnie a different antibiotic. Arnie is a very large kitty, which I think was the reason for the stronger meds. We theorized, at this point, that Arnie's levels of stress may be the culprit for his reoccurring issues. We did some research and prepped some lifestyle changes.
- He needs more water, and we need to provide access to water in places that will entice him to drink (that was fun to figure out, let me tell ya.)
- Chicken Stock: A tasty way to ensure he is better hydrated
- Urinary Diet - exclusively, and from now on.
- Dust free litter
The hydration promotes the flushing of his little system, so that even when stressed, hopefully everything continues functioning correctly. The urinary diet levels out his PH levels, so that should he develop stones, they dissolve. Then there's the dust free litter, one of the theories we read about says that clumping litter is the problem - has yet to be proven or disproved but hey, it's worth a shot.
After Arnie's first round of antibiotics, we dropped him off at the vet so that they could collect a urine sample. The theory behind this process seems simple enough, drop of your cat in the morning, he'll hang out and eventually have to go - and they can collect a sample for testing. Except not Arnie.
Lesson 1: Arnie will not pee at the vet. (We know this, because it happens again later...)
They sent us home with some non-porous litter crystals, a collection bottle, and a little suction doohicky to collect the sample.
Our first attempt getting Arnie to use the special litter was painless! Flawless!
Dylan set up an old litter pan with a liner to ensure there was zero contamination
We separated Peggy, and replaced the box that usually lives in the guest bathroom with the new sample-collection box.
We brought Arnie over to the box, he checked it out, and went right to the bathroom.
Bad news: he still wasn't clean.
So, another round of antibiotics. Usually, Arine's meds are liquid. But when you're facing you're 2nd round of meds for a gnarly UTI, you gotta take pills.
I thought I was so smart "I'll just crush these and add them to tuna! That'll cover the flavor of anything!"
Now, it's true, he didn't notice the pills mixed into the tuna, because he happy enjoyed the tuna.
Except, I forget, Arnie is a wee, dainty and finicky eater. He -very slowly- consumed about 6 tiny bites. Then, he snubbed the rest of it and started to clean up. *sigh*
After that, we thought, maybe he'll drink it in some liquid. So, the next day we crushed up his 2nd dose and mixed it into the broth he loves, maybe a tablespoon +/-. Yeah. The chicken broth DOES NOT cover up the taste, he wasn't having it. But, we thought, heck, here it is liquid, and we have a little syringe from his previous liquid meds - lets just shove it in his face.
It worked, sure. Except that tablespoon of liquid is SO FREAKING MUCH if you're going to attempt to squirt it down your cat's face. We essentially waterboarded the dang cat. We felt horrible.
Lesson 2: Don't waterboard the cat.
The next day, we decided we'd pre-measure the liquid so that it's a wee tiny amount, and it'll be a less traumatizing event all around.
Crush ...
mix ...
tada! Manageable cat meds!
He still hated this process. But, it was doable.
One day, about 4 days before he was finished with this round of meds, Arnie relieved himself in an empty laundry basket. It was clear as day the poor little guy still had blood in his urine. So I called the vet to ask them what we should do.
Because this particular UTI had been around for so long already, our vet was concerned that Arnie may have the types of stones that do not dissolve. We scheduled the poor little fella for some Xrays.
This meant, another trip to the vet, and of course, added stress levels.
Good news came of it, however, because of lesson 3!
Lesson 3: Arnie does not need surgery
~whew~
Doc sent him home with a 3rd and different round of antibiotics.
The trip home from the xray visit reinforced what we learned in lesson 1.
We asked for some of the littler crystals so that we can just collect a urine sample to drop off when this next round is complete. The Dr. agreed that was probably best.
Now, here we are, Arnie finished his last round of antibiotics. Water is placed strategically throughout the house, we're keeping the box clean, and the littler is dust free.
Lesson 4: Getting your cat to pee in the collection box ain't always easy.
We're going into our 4th day attempting to collect a sample from Arnie. We have to separate Peggy each time, because we have to know who's pee we're collecting and he's not just immediately relieving himself like he did the first time. Now, I'm about to remove Peggy from the room and swap the boxes. Hopefully, the meds have cleared up the gnarly infection, and the changes we've made to his diet and lifestyle will keep him clear moving forward.
(That's both cat's new favorite water dish, where their box lives on the table that the cats have claimed ownership of ...)
Wish us luck. On all of it!
