Blood in urine

So my cat has had 2 bladder infections and might have a 3rd now. His most recent one was just about 1 month ago and was given medication and after a day or two was feeling much better. We continued medication and all was fine but now think he has one again due to his symptom of vomiting just stomach bile. We noticed this last time he had the infection. We are going to be checking his urine today to see if there is blood in it.

But the question is, why would have have back to back infections like this if he does have the infection like I believe? Is the vomiting connected or not connected? Could there be something else worse that we should speak to the vet about when we take our cat?

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

Chronic urinary tract infections are not uncommon.  It could signify:

1. That the antibiotic is not the correct one. A culture and sensitivity of the urine is necessary in this case.

2. That there is a secondary stress component. Your cat may need some other medications to help with the stress.  Stress can be implicated in a disease called interstitial nephritis or FLUTD or FUS.  This disease is much more complex than just a bacterial infection of the bladder, but has similar symptoms.

3. That there is inadequate water intake.  In this case there is not enough liquid in the diet to help flush out the infection.

4. That there may be stones in his bladder or crystals in his urine and that he should be on a special diet.

There may be a combination of several factors, for instance interstitial nephritis can occur with a bacterial urinary tract infection.

Blood in the urine can occur with all of the above.

Since this is the third occurrence in your cat a culture and sensitivity of the urine may be warranted as well as a X-Ray of the bladder to see if there are bladder stones.  If the results are normal than stress may be a component.  The medication, Amitriptyline is very helpful for stress in cats.  Additionally, feed an all wet, canned diet,  Use Cosequin for cats, and give a cranberry supplement.

[Vance2335]

Thank you for the information. I checked when i got home and he does not have any blood in his urine. And his actions were back to normal. I am going to keep a close eye on him though.

[Vance2335]

So no incident of blood in urine but did find cat vomited blood last night. He is an indoor cat, his behavior seems to be normal. The blood was mixed with a hairball at 1st but other spots of vomit was just blood. Very fresh when it was found and very red. He is being watched to see if it happens again and from reading I have done she should see a Vet even if it doesn't happen again correct?

Also do you know what this might be? I have read about possible cuts and things like that but don't know how that would happen unless he ate something around the house that did that.

[Vance2335]

Well cat was taken to the vet and could find nothing wrong. So we just have to keep an eye out.