Almost 30 years ago my first cat started squatting and trying to urinate constantly. The way she was twitching and crying I knew there was a problem but had no idea what it was. I called the vet and was told to bring her in right away which scared the heck out of me.
The vet examined her and managed to squeeze a small amount of urine from her bladder which he put on a slide and checked it under a microscope. She had blood and crystals in her urine which had her bladder irritated and made her feel like she constantly had to urinate. At the time I was given liquid antibiotics, a tube of paste which would help dissolve the crystals and told to feed her a low ash canned food.
Once I started the antibiotics she started feeling much better and after about a month or so I started feeding her dry food again and thought it was all over. It took a few years but the problem came back.
The second time it happened I knew what was going on and called the vet immediately. This time she got the antibiotics and the paste to help dissolve the crystals but she also got a prescription food called C/D. I kept her on C/D for the rest of her life and she never had a bladder infection again.
With a female cat a bladder infection can be very painful but normally you have time to get her to the vet without endangering her life. Male cats are a different story. The male cats have a much smaller urethra which can become plugged by the crystals. Once the urethra is plugged a catheter has to be inserted to remove the blockage or the cat will die.
A friend of mine had a male cat who didn't seem to be feeling well before he went to work. When he came home from work, the cat was laying in the litter box dead. He took the cat to the vet to find out what had happened and his urinary tract was blocked with crystals which is what killed him. My friend was devastated. His cat had never had this problem before and had no idea that it could get so serious so fast.
I've had one dog get a bladder infection and so has one of my step-daughters. In both cases they were given anti-biotics but my dog had crystals too so she got a chewable tablet to help dissolve the crystals while my step-daughters dog had no crystals. Neither dog was put on a special diet and as of this date, neither one has had a problem.
In all of the cases where the pet survives the bladder infection, the vet will usually want to check a urine sample at the end of the antibiotics to see if the infection and the crystals are gone. If the infection is not completely cleared up then the vet will usually have you give another round of antibiotics and continue the tablets or paste until the crystals are gone.
If you ever see that your pet is urinating more than normal or straining to urinate repeatedly and nothing is coming out, please call your vet immediately - especially if your pet is a male cat.
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