As I mentioned in another post (from the vet should pay me a referral commission), one of my coworkers took her cat, Colby, in because of inappropriate urination problems.

Colby and Evan's appointments were at the same time last night. Colby had to stay overnight, as they could not get a urine sample to test. The vet is also doing a blood workup on him.

Colby is an elderly cat - over 12 years old. I think he is 14, but I will have to get the exact age. He is the cat who is spraying. Over the past few weeks he has started to urinate on the carpet, etc.

Of course, as soon as I heard about this, I badgered my coworker into getting a vet appointment for him.

From what I understand, Colby is drinking more frequently and putting out larger amounts of urine. I think the vet suspects kidney disease as part of the problem. Ranger never had blood tests when we were first working up on his IC / FUS / FLUTD, so, for that reason, and the larger urine output, I suspect that something more may be going on.

My coworker is a bit frantic right now, since she has not heard back from the vet. She is in the process of calling them for the info.

Mark

Colby has a UTI. He has been prescribed antibiotics 2x/day for 10 days.

More info as it becomes available.

Mark

Hi Maria:

Yes, she is aware of the food recall. I sent the info to her as soon as I found out about it. She is not feeding those foods to any of her pets.

From what I understand, the only issue is a UTI. However, I asked her to get the rest of the test results so I can discuss it with her.

There was blood and bacteria in the urine. No crystals.

Mark

I'm glad it's just a UTI - hopefully with no complications.

Maria

I'm glad you badgered your coworker into taking Colby into the vet before the UTI turned into something far worse.... I hope that will turn out to be the only problem.

I have a more detailed update on Colby.

According to Lorie, he has a “very bad” UTI (so said the vet). He was prescribed clavamox (sp) 62.5 mg 2x/day – for 10 days.

He is in the very beginning stages of kidney failure. His BUN was high, one point outside of the normal range. His CREA was high normal. Phosphorus was good, however, being in the low normal range.

For right now, the plan is to administer the medicine and monitor. The vet asked Lorie to consider a change to a “kidney diet”. The vet said that Colby would also be loosing weight over the next few years. He is a pretty big kitty – something like 17 lbs.

Lorie knows to watch for vomiting, etc. I gave her that briefing. The vet did, too.

I also told Lorie that doing fluids is not all that difficult. It’s hard to start, but now, with Evan, I don’t have any problems at all.

Mark

That's really not good news, and I'm sorry to hear it. Poor little Colby - I will certainly say a special prayer for him.

I hope Lorie is able to care for him, and will be able to handle it emotionally as well.

Maria

I hope that Lorie will be able to give Colby the the same quality of care you have been giving to Evan and that he will survive a long time as a happy kitty with her. How did Lorie take the news????

She will take good care of the little ones.

Sammy is her cat. You may remember him, he is the one who had the fractured hip and has the surgery in Montréal to fix it.

She is frightened by the thought of giving fluids. That is understandable. I think, when that day comes, she will do fine.

Now, the trick is to get her to watch closely enough so that when the symptoms show that he needs the fluids, she will recognize them and take him to the vet.

I should suggest to her that she get his blood tested every 6 months or so from now on.

Mark