Do you have unanswered questions about the cat urinary infection treatment your vet provides?  Even though feline bladder infections are the most common reason for cats to visit the vet, many pet owners are confused about what their vets are doing.You’ll find the answers to your questions in this article.

Are Feline Bladder Infections Contagious?

The short answer is no.  It’s not possible to pass cat urinary tract infections from a cat to a person or from one cat to another.

What’s The Difference Between Feline Bladder Infections And Cat Urinary Tract Infections?

People get really confused about this, and for good reason, since the terms are used interchangeably.  However, to answer the question, a cat bladder infection really only affects his bladder.  A feline urinary tract infection (also called a UTI) can affect any part of your cat’s urinary tract.  This includes his kidneys, his ureters (the tubes that carry urine from his kidney to his bladder), his bladder, and his urethra (the tube that carries urine out of his body). 

Usually, when someone is talking about a UTI, they really mean a feline bladder infection.

What’s The Difference Between A Urinalysis And A Urine Culture?

Your vet may want to perform both of these tests.  Many cat owners don’t understand exactly what they are, and what they’re for.

Usually a urinalysis is done first.  Your vet looks at the sample to see if the urine is cloudy or bloody.  Cloudy urine is due to the presence of white blood cells, which indicate an infection.There’s obviously a problem if there’s blood in the urine.  Your vet may see that crystals are present, which indicate cat bladder stones.  The urine is also checked for protein. 

Based on the results from the urinalysis, your vet may want to do a urine culture.

A urine culture involves separating out the bacteria found in the urine sample from your cat.  These bacteria are then grown in the lab.  This test gives your vet some important information, namely, how many bacteria are present, what kind of bacteria it is, and which antibiotic will kill it. 

It takes at least a couple of days to do this test, as the bacteria need time to grow.

Do I Really Need To Give My Cat All Of Those Antibiotic Pills?

The good thing about antibiotics is that the cat urinary problems go away quickly.  The infection is still present, though.  Many cat owners make the mistake of not giving their cats the antibiotics for the entire ten or fourteen days.  If you stop the antibiotics too soon, the infection can come back, as it hasn’t been totally eradicated. 

A more serious problem is that of antibiotic resistance.  More and more disease-causing bacteria are becoming resistant to common antibiotics.  One of the reasons is that people are not finishing up all the antibiotics, which encourages the bacteria which aren’t killed right away to keep growing.No matter how much your cat resists you, it’s essential for you to finish giving him the antibiotic treatment.

Natural Remedies For Pets Can Help

You may be interested in learning more about herbal pet remedies.  These remedies are safe and effective, and are easy to give every day to keep problems from cropping up.You should buy them only from a reputable company that’s known for manufacturing the best quality products for pets.

Just click on any link in the article to learn how natural remedies can help prevent and treat cat urinary tract infections.  Your kitty will thank you!

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Filed under: Advantage Flea

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