It seems Beau has another Urinary Tract Infection

Hey Pet Parents & Pet Lovers,

It looks like this week is going to be an “update heavy” week filled with kitty stories and ailments. Early Sunday morning we had another scare with our dearest one Beau. Beau has had a long history of Urinary Tract Infections and even with his most recent Perineal Urethrostomy, we knew there were still chances of him getting UTI’s, although with less of a fear since he wouldn’t be blocked… (fingers crossed.)

On Sunday morning around 2 AM, we noticed Beau had peed in Kalista’s bed (which is actually a storage bin with a towel since she’s not picky about where she sleeps). Everything seemed normal and there was a lot of urine so we weren’t too concerned thinking that it was a one-off. We were however fairly mad at Beau for peeing somewhere where he wasn’t supposed to and so we kept an eye on him since peeing outside of the litter box can either be him asserting dominance or letting us know something was up.

Within an hour of him peeing in Kalista’s bed, Beau tried to pee in it again ( we had removed the towel to wash it and left the storage container empty) and realized he actually peed blood! Now, in the history of having Beau, he has actually never peed blood, so this was very concerning to us. We immediately called the emergency vet and asked if this was very serious and if we had to bring him in immediately. They let us know that it wasn’t overly serious since he already had the PU surgery and that they would just be offering us medications and antibiotics. My hubby and I debated whether or not we should take him in (as the public transit was already shut down and it was very late so walking could be… well… unsafe!) We originally agreed we wouldn’t take Beau until the morning, but seconds later Beau sat on my lap and peed blood again, then moved to his bed, peeing blood for the third time. I quickly put on my clothes and told my hubby we needed to go to the vet. I didn’t care if Beau could wait until the morning, he was obviously uncomfortable and if I could help stop him from losing blood, I would.

Luckily, the emergency vet is about a 35-minute walk from us, so it wasn’t very difficult to get there. (It was also good to know that our new neighbourhood doesn’t have too much sketchy action happening at 3 AM.) As we were walking Beau ended up throwing up, and pooping himself, which isn’t too shocking since he’s known to hate carrier rides.

Upon arrival the staff was super helpful, getting Beau cleaned up immediately. They did a quick check up on him and noticed that his PU site was inflamed. They attempted to get urine samples, however, his bladder was empty (which is a great sign for cats who have a history of blockages, there’s one less thing to worry about.)

We spent some time with the vet, asking her if she had any ideas of why Beau got the infection. Without tests, she couldn’t confirm but it came down to a few maybe’s:

1. He’s been feeling stressed about Kalista, although we all agree that he seems to be doing better one would expect an established cat to do with a kitten
2. Our litter boxes weren’t clean enough, which could be the case since now we’re caring for two cats and may just need to clean them more frequently than we already do
3. He’s just a stress ball in general (which we already knew from his signs of Pica
4. This is just a regular side effect of having the PU Surgery

It’s just so odd because a couple days ago I checked his incision site and it was nice and pink… so for it to suddenly become so inflamed baffles me. But that’s the way the cookie crumbles, right?

The vet gave us some medications to help maintain Beau and said there’s really nothing we have to worry about, and that this is so common for cats who have undergone the surgery. We went home with the following:

1. Buprenorphine: To be given every 8 hours
2. Prazosin: to be given if he shows signs of straining
3. Clavamox: To be given every 12 hours

So, now we’re home. Beau is just standing still and not moving. He’s obviously not in the best mood and is chilling in his cone, but we’ll just hope that he gets some sleep and wakes up feeling better. I hope this isn’t as common as it could be, but we’re just happy that he’s still alive and will be well.