Any advice - urinary problem

Hi, I just found this site - looks great. I wonder if anyone might have some advice. I have a approximately 13yo male who developed blockage problems back in Dec '04. After the second blockage, he was given the urinary passage surgery by my local vet (remove the genitals & widen the urinary passage).
This vet is a good vet overall. Since this past January, however, my cat has developed urinary tract infections (for lack of a better term) on a monthly basis. He feels the need to pee so he keeps going to the litter box, he licks his hind end obsessively and even rubs his bottom on the carpet. There is no blockage or blood going on. Two times the vet I was seeing put him on antibiotics which seemed to clear those episodes at that time. However, in talking to him recently, his advice is that I should put him on a lifelong antibiotic, which he does with one of his own cats, to help prevent reccurrence. I really don't like the thought of permanent antibiotics or any for that matter. Does anyone have holistic advice, avenues to pursue, etc? one thing I may do is bring him to another vet who uses accupuncture locally but this is a frustrating problem. My cat eats wysong urinary diet, Science Diet wet food, and is on a daily regimen of 2 Vetri-Science UT Strength for cats tablets. I also know that possibly stress is compounding the problem. Anyone have any advice and thanks for reading. paul d

 

It sounds like you are doing a lot already. I don't have any great advice for you, but i do know of a product that i once found at Pet Supermarket. I think it was marketed for a digestive aid, but it was sposed to be all organic and contained papaya, cranberry and active cultures like the type found in yogurt. Seems like that might not hurt a UTI prone cat either. It was a liquid that you could either give straight, add to water or food and it sold for around $12. I wish i could remember the name of it tho The bottle is white with pictures of the fruit on it. If i remember or see it at the store when i go tomorrow, i'll post again. Good luck!

 

another option would be to seek out a holistic approach to treating this...a holistic vet.
I used to take my dog to one (she moved) when my dog suffered chronic UTIs....this vet told me that cats respond very well to cranberry to aid with UTIs.

 

Cranberry is good for UTIs but the thing with that is you have to dilute it well with water. There seems to be a lot of sugar either in the cranberries or the cranberry juice so it can worsen the UTI unless diluted with water and make sure your kitty drinks plenty of water even when not drinking the cranberry.

 

Ok, i went to PetSmart today to buy Vianne a new carrier (VERY cute, btw-pics soon!) and i found the stuff i mentioned. And i was wrong, it was only $6, not $12. Anyway, its made by Pet Authority and its called "Cranberry & Papaya Digestive Supplement". I looked it up online, but they must have gotten new packaging and formula, cuz it didnt look quite the same. The new white bottle that i have looks more like the labels on the vitamin sprays. Here's the link: http://www.pet-authority.com/prod02.htm

Also Mary mentioned about trying a holistic vet. Here's a link to try and find one in your area.

http://www.ahvma.org/referral/index.html

Hope that helps. Good luck! :y_the_best:

 

buster got 2 of those before we switched his food topurina special blen uranary tract and he hasn't got it since.