Ahh, poor kitty.

Have you tried a water fountain ? My cats love theirs and drink a lot.

I looked up the model I have for you. Seems the Amazon reviewers are once again a puzzle to me. Mine has been running for ten years now. My advantage is that I am an experienced aquarium enthusiast, so caring for little water pumps is second nature. I picked the Catit specifically because the Hagen water pumps have an excellent reputation in the industry and have been great in my tanks over the years.

One needs to not let it run dry, and keep the inlet free of debris so it isn't over working. Knowing my tendency to get busy and potentially forget things, I set up the cat fountain in the kitchen, not too far from the sink. I notice it there and it's easy to refill and rinse out regularly. Easy enough I don't tell myself I'll get to it later. ;)

Pet shops will have several brands to choose from, so that may be your best option. I do highly recommend the filtered, moving water to keep cats drinking enough.Though some cats do like to bring a favorite toy and give it a bath regularly. LOL

Here is a link that might be useful: with photo to explain better

We mix water (hot tap water) in wi our cats' canned food. You could try that.

Adopted a cat from shelter where I volunteered who had UTI's, hematuria, and crystals so severe he had to have surgery to remove them

On the advice of the feline vet, when I adopted him (9 yrs ago), switched him to canned food only, adding a little water - cured the problem completely.

Goal is to keep the urine dilute, so it does not irritate the bladder lining causing cystitis.

Try bottled spring water. It's about 99 cents a gallon. Maybe she doesn't like the taste or smell of chlorine. Mix some in the canned food. If your vet approves get some unflavored Pedialite and add some to the water.
None of my cats and rabbits are ever allowed tap water.
I'm going to pray for your kitty.

Encourage you to read info on attached link. Very reputable site, used by vets & vet techs.

Please let me know if link does not work (I'm a member, so it may recognize my computer).

Here is a link that might be useful: great info on feline urinary tract problems

Thank you MDLN I was able to open it up and read it top to bottom. In this literature it time and time again talked about this problem taking 2 weeks to clear up. I have been battling this all year now. First I tried to address it myself with Antibiotics I had on hand, then after it returning each time went to the vet now we are 4 vet visits in.

Thank you to the others for you kind suggestions I have done the add water to food trick. That didn't fix it, altho I am sure it helped. Never thought of spring water but heck I will get some. I even added clam juice to water and Anchovies to water.

Now I am on Purina UT medicated feed. We have hooked up a little pond pump to the drinking bowl. No one was excited to see that addition. But we will keep it in. I have purchased a 10 lb box of tilapia to make fresh fish for them. To which last night I might have served it too warm cause they all walked away from it. IDK it felt ok to my fingers.

At this point I don't know what to do especially when the article talks about problem going away in 2 weeks .... what the heck!

How old is your cat? Most cats under the age of 12, with the exception of diabetics, RARELY have urinary tract infections. Blood in the urine, or excessive attempts to urinate are not necessarily signs of urinary tract infection, as they usually are in dogs or people. Cats develop cystitis (which is an irritated bladder) often, but rarely due to infection. Treating with antibiotics is rarely recommended and can actually cause more problems than solve. Most cats with cystitis get better and worse at intervals, often making it LOOK like they are responding to antibiotics, but unless a culture is done on the urine and actual bacteria found, do NOT assume it is an infection (statistically only 3% of all young cats with signs of cystitis have an infection... so your odds are definitely that your cat does not (unless your cat is old... you never say if its a boy or a girl, or how old he/she is)).

The suggestion of canned food is definitely a good one. Lots of water in canned food... but more importantly, there is far less carbohydrates in canned food. I would, in general, avoid fish, just because it can have a lot of the building blocks that sometimes irritate bladders. Acid urine does NOT mean your cat is not getting enough water, but that the diet is acidic. Normally that is OK. What was the pH? Do you have that information? The only sign that your cat does not drink enough is the Specific Gravity (shows how concentrated the urine is) though cat's often have very high specific gravity on dry food.

So if blood in urine or straining is NOT due to infection, what causes it? We are not 100% sure, but stress, carbohydrates, idiopathic pain, obesity, etc. are some of the causes. Pain meds are always indicated and can help immensely get rid of the problem (still, a good canned food is the main 'cure'). There are a lot of other options, but this is getting lengthy, so if you are interested, I will add more later.

Lzddr thank you for your very informative reply. I will try and clear something's up and try and remember the details of our testing and vet visits.
Female 5 years old
She did have infection present
Her acidic number was 7.5 at first it was lower on last check
We just started with pain meds last week and you are right that has shown the most results.
Urine is extremely concentrated at times went its t it worse.
Crystals have been present on some lab tests.
Elevated red blood cells
We now have bladder discomfort meds
Anti-inflamitories
Psycotic meds and pain meds.
The last few days I have only given 1 half dose of the pain meds per day and she is doing better. But were not finished.

Oh she is on Purina UR and able to keep it down.

Thoughts?

Lzddr thank you for your very informative reply. I will try and clear something's up and try and remember the details of our testing and vet visits.
Female 5 years old
She did have infection present
Her acidic number was 7.5 at first it was lower on last check
We just started with pain meds last week and you are right that has shown the most results.
Urine is extremely concentrated at times went its t it worse.
Crystals have been present on some lab tests.
Elevated red blood cells
We now have bladder discomfort meds
Anti-inflamitories
Psycotic meds and pain meds.
The last few days I have only given 1 half dose of the pain meds per day and she is doing better. But were not finished.

Oh she is on Purina UR and able to keep it down.

Thoughts?

Excellent post - Lzddr!!!

I hope you are giving CANNED purina UR and adding water to it.

If urine is concentrated, it means kitty is not getting enough water.

As an alternative to frequent urine testiing and getting a hydrometer for use at home - I target odorless urine.

If there is an odor, that tells me it is too concentrated, and I increase the amount of water I add to the canned food (range 2 Tbsp - 1/4 cup water mixed in with canned food, twice a day).

For my kitty who had crystals, I started with Rx food and within 6 months transitioned to a variety of canned foods mixed with water (Fancy Feast, Purina, Iams, Hills). Nine years later, still no problems.

We started with the Hills c/d and she couldn't keep any down dry or wet. So yes I leave the dry Purina u/r out, I have 3 other cats and they free feed. She started to turn her nose up at wet food and that was a problem cause I was sticking the meds in it. So I got a fancy pouch one, She is now on an anti inflamit and something for urinary discomfort. The pain meds ran out and the vet didn't have anymore. So we are waiting. The last 3 days have been good. No strong odors and she is using the litter box again with huge urine spots. They said Purina u/r has a high level of salt and encourages drinking and I think that's working really well. So far so good, didn't know fish would possibly make things worse but that's what I have now and hope I don't have 10 lbs of tilapia for myself.

Findings of crystals not always a concern... many (in fact most) cat's have some crystals in their urine even though they are symptom free. Excessive crystaluria is a problem, particularly in male cats that are having cystitis as well (cystitis results in mucus production by the bladder wall, and this mucus, combined with excessive crystals, can plug up the urethra (known as being 'blocked')... an emergency situation (very painful and dangerous when you can't pee!). But you have a girl so no chance of this happening (extremely rare a female blocks, though it has happened).

Red blood cells in a urine sample can also be tough to interpret. If the urine was a 'free catch' sample (voided, not obtained with a needle) then that is certainly a sign of an unhappy bladder. But blood on a cysto sample may be due to the procedure itself and should not be a huge concern.... unless it is a LOT of blood.

Odd for a place to run out of pain meds... get some soon I hope. Prescription diets can be useful, but also can simple canned, pate-style, non-fish diets such as Fancy Feast or Friskies (not a 'junky' as used to be thought of). Gravy-style cat foods have too much sugar generally.

Good luck... hope your kitty's bladder is getting better .