Cystitus!

[MrsR]

Good news

[rach]

The vet has advised us not to give him dry food anymore - which is working out fine! Am also adding a bit more water to his wet food and he seems to like it as he probably thinks he is getting more gravy than Rollins. He is being weaned off medication too and is doing really big wees, lol so that is a good sign.

  for all your replies.

[LittleLijah]

My Mum's cat Boris had the same problem when he was about 4 years old (he's not FIV+) and it got to the point where he was in and out of the vet hospital having to have a catheter fitted and because of the crystal blockages they couldn't get one in. My Mum was told that they weren't sure they could do anything else for him so she decided to take him to another vets for a second opinion and they contacted one of the teaching hospitals. I'm not sure about male cat anatomy but they operated and basically removed one "part" which made him like a female, anatomy wise and he's been fine ever since. I know this was an extreme case but it's amazing what they can do!

He has to have urinary tract food and the vets told my Mum that Go Cat is the worst dried food for causing this in male cats. Not sure if you were using this brand but it may be worth switching to a urinary tract special food.

[rach]

Thanks I will

[MrsR]

See what your vet says obviously but my vet recommended RC Urinary and Vesti did brilliantly on this - I had to be very strict though and not feed him anythign else.

[rach]

Manson is going to stay with the vet until he is weeing properly. The vet is going to administer treatment and watch over him to make sure he passes urine without pain and in full.....then my cat sitter is going to bring him home once he is better. She pops in two times a day so we thought it best to keep him in for his treatment so we know exactly what is going on.

The urine test showed crystals in it, so we now need to look at long term medication and diet. Poor little butter!  He is our little trooper though, so he wil be fine!

[MrsR]

Its best they kept him in if his bladder was still full.

Male cats cat go downhill very quickly with crystal blockages so your vet did the right thing and I bet this morning he will be back to his normal self.

Any idea how he is?

[Janeyk]

psitive vibes going his way and hope he is soon home with you xx

[rach]

Its too late now but ideally you need to get a urine sample taken before any antibiotics are given, they can check this inhouse and also send away for culture to see if theres bacteria present, most cases of cystitis are not caused by bacteria yet antibiotics are nearly always given 
Is he staying in a cattery?
Bad timing if its stress related 

Yeh we did that the last two times, but they just kept him in straight away today

[rach]

Hi again, thanks for your replies!

The vet has kept him in overnight, as Manson was doing little wees all over the place yet his bladder was still a little full....they have given him some medication so it will relax him and they can check if he relieves himself fully when not in pain. If he does then he will be able to come home straight away with some other meds and stuff but if not I think it may be crystal blocking the urine

They have just phoned to say he is settled for the night though, which is good   He never goes into a cattery, we have a very nice colleague with 9 cats at her home who comes and feeds our 2 little nippers twice a day and gives them a run around too x

[Millys Mum]

Its too late now but ideally you need to get a urine sample taken before any antibiotics are given, they can check this inhouse and also send away for culture to see if theres bacteria present, most cases of cystitis are not caused by bacteria yet antibiotics are nearly always given 
Is he staying in a cattery?
Bad timing if its stress related 

[Janeyk]

awww poor boy, hope he gets well soon 

[MrsR]

Good luck at the vets hunnie, let us know how you get on.

Always best never to put the vets off with cystitis as things can go downhill very quickly especially with male cats. 

[rach]

Thanks I will look into the RC stuff, I feel so sorry for the poor little lad he really looks down in the dumps!

[Michelle (furbabystar)]

Again my Freddy (who also isnt FIV) suffers with it.
As Mrs R has said, a diet of RC urinary food should help.

Good luck at the vets x

[MrsR]

My Sylvester (who didn't have FIV) suffered from recurrent bouts of cystitis and the only way we found we could manage him was to keep him on a strict Royal Canin Urinary diet - even if we gave him something else for only a day he would start getting blocked.        On the strict urinary diet he was totally fine.

[rach]

Hi guys,
once again I haven't been around much so apologies!
Looks like our Manson has gotten another bout of cystitus, poor boy! He has been plonking himself on any cushioned surface to try and squeeze a little wee out. Booked into the vets tonight, but we are going away on Weds!

Has anyone else had regular cystitus bouts from their FIV cat or have you changed any diet/supplements?