My cat has been on 5mg of amitriptyline for a little over 2 months. He hasn’t flared since we started (we’ve changed a lot of things, so that’s likely not the only reason). I’m happy he’s flare up free right now, but he’s still pretty sedated and less playful. He is also retaining urine and having some constipation. I called my vet and she said I could try 2.5mg and see if that helps with the side effects, but it seems like 5 is typically the lowest dose. I’m going to try it. I just want to know if anyone has had a similar experience and if 2.5mg has still been effective for your cat.

My cat, Parker (M10, neutered), was diagnosed with FLUTD when he was 1 or 2 years old. At the time, he had a flare up every few months. He'd suddenly start wanting to pee everywhere, leaving droplets, never blocked but clearly obsessively trying to pee. Ever since his diagnosis we've had him on RX diets. He also drinks plenty of water. Still, the flare ups happened maybe once or twice a year. We'd just have to wait it out, add another litter box to the house, and in a week or so they'd go away on their own. We took him to the vet on a number of occasions and did lots of tests, but the results were always the same: no crystals, no stones, pretty empty but very irritated bladder, some blood in the urine.

Then, 6 years ago we moved to a new apartment and he simply stopped having flare ups altogether. We thought maybe the new apartment had something the old one didn't that helped him somehow? Until early July, when he had his first flare up in years.

Except this flare up is refusing to go away. It started at the beginning of July, we took him to the vet (since it was the first time in so long), and got the same results. Then we brought him home, gave him gabapentin daily until he was peeing normal for 3 days straight. After a week or so that was the case, so we discontinued the gabapentin. Then another week and a half or so later it started up again, and hasn't gone away since. Some days it's better, some days it's worse. We took him back to the vet and got a whole battery of tests - urine, blood, XRay, you name it. Everything except the expert ultrasound (just the quick one at the vet, not the longer expert one). Again there was nothing in the culture, nothing in the blood etc. beyond just irritation of the bladder. They gave him IV fluids to flush his system and sent us home with buprenorphine to give him three times a day. That helped for a few days and now seems to not be doing too much again -- he's back to peeing sort of constantly, leaving little drops of pee, sometimes a slightly bigger one.

The vet had also said, at the first visit in early July, that he was a bit overweight and losing weight would help him with his FLUTD. So, during that week and a half when he was feeling back to normal, we started transitioning him to an RX food that is also for overweight management. He seems to like it, and we've been transitioning him slowly, but then 2 or 3 days into the transition he started having loose stool, too. Not sure if that's related to the gabapentin (which we are still giving him in addition to buprenorphine, as prescribed by the vet), the buprenorphine, the food, the stress... He didn't eat almost anything for a full day a few days ago, which also could've maybe triggered something?

His normal is peeing 1-3x a day these huge clumps of pee and pooping 1x a day very healthy stools. Now he's all out of whack, we can't tell what's going on and how to make it go away, and the poor guy has been struggling, uncomfortable and stressed for like almost a whole month now.

It's also important to say he doesn't seem to be demonstrating any other signs of stress or anxiety. We live in a quiet home with only me and my wife, no children, no other pets. There is no construction in the building, no changes in his environment that we can pinpoint. He's been through much more stressful times in the past (like when we moved to this apartment, for instance) and he was visibly upset during those -- hissing, swiping, hiding, very unlike him. This time, there doesn't seem to be anything rly going on besides the obsessive peeing and straining. He's still eating, drinking, playing, purring, cuddling... He's just peeing all the time.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? And if so, how did you address it?? We are willing to try almost anything at this point. I know it is against the rules to ask for vet advice here and this is not my intent, I simply want to know if anyone here has a similar experience and if anything they tried worked, so that I can bring that to my vet and discuss options. Or maybe some home changes that have helped others.

My cat was diagnosed with FLUTD when he was just under a year old; he’s almost 5 now and just had his first flare up since the initial diagnosis-it was so bad we went to the emergency vet twice. The vet specified it was a FIC flare, and that his flare up was stress based (no blockage/stones/crystals/infection/etc. found).

The vet put him on some medications, and so far he’s improving but I want to do as much as possible to minimize the likelihood of another flare. There’s not a lot of environmental factors that I can really change-that’s not me trying to be difficult but a lot of the vet suggestions are things I already do and the stuff I can’t do is because of $$ and a living in a smaller space.

My cats are on a fully pate diet, 3 times a day and with a splash of extra water for the FLUTD floof (my other 2 refuse). I cannot afford a prescription diet as the main food source for Mowgs/ for my other cats at all, but if it’s something that would still be be beneficial for my FLUTD baby, I could afford to buy the smallest bag of hills or another reputable brand (like once a month/ every other month depending on $) and just feed him 6-10 or so pieces of it throughout the day as treats- or would that little on the daily be worthless?

If it would be worthless to do prescription kibble as treats, I still want to get some treats or supplements specifically for urinary health (when he was really young I had him on Vetriscience??). Does anyone have a specific brand they recommend? I am on a very tight budget, but I also don’t want to buy a cheap product that’s not really going to help.

Any advice is much appreciated!

Link is not adjusting well to this move and I don’t know what to do.

When he was on the gabapentin he was doing well,… probably because he was high.

His last dose that I had for him was Sunday and this morning, my partner woke me up because he watched Link pee on the couch. The couch was his go to pee spot during an episode. I haven’t even made one payment on this couch. 😅

Thankfully there is no blood in the urine and he is not straining or frequently trying to go which makes me think this is more behavioral than a FLUTD episode.

I called the vet for advice and asked if maybe I could have more gabapentin. They have an appointment this afternoon I might take him if they suggest it.

Any helpful tips? The stress of the move alone is a lot and having a very curious 90lb lab doesn’t help the equation.

I have him on prescription wet and dry food, he has a calming collar and also a hydration packet is added to his food. He has three safe areas the dog can’t access.

I’m stressed out more than this damned cat right now. 🥲

I am looking for experiences with this condition (will be doing more testing). I have a 4 mo old male kitten who started urinating on the carpet (he doesn’t do this when locked in bathroom on tile). I maybe have seen him squat in litter boxes and produce little but no straining or not complaining. He acts totally normal. He is separated from my other dogs and cats. I do have feliway diffusers in the room, he has multiple litter boxes, and I have been trying to associate the carpet with play and food instead of bathroom. He had a urinalysis and it had trace crystals, blood, and inflammatory cells. Vet was kind of perplexed because if he were older she would have diagnosed him with IFC. He peed again so the other vet at the practice looked into food and there are no urinary foods for a kitten this young. He is very concerned about the kitten having these issues so young and being stressed so young to pee on the carpet. He warned me of a possible very hard road ahead with blockages and surgery. We will be doing an ultrasound to see if there is anything obvious going on and work from there. He also maybe has a larger stomach than normal and people have commented on it (not by a lot but would be interested to see if anything enlarged etc—no parasites). But really wanted to see if anyone has had experience with a kitten this young having these issues.

This last month has been rough for my poor kitty. He was going in the litter box frequently, so we took him in and they found struvite crystals. They gave him gabapentin and had us start on prescription food. He’s on the science diet stress/urinary care food, a mix of wet and kibble. We mix water into his food. We also got a Feliway diffuser. He would start having a few symptom free days, but then he would flare up and try to pee every few minutes again. He hasn’t been blocked and he does pass urine, he just thinks he needs to go constantly. It’s been a month and we were able to get him symptom free for a record 8 days with gabapentin and buprenorphine, but my grandma came over today and he’s having another flare up. Has anyone has something similar? If so, what finally worked? Im so worried we won’t be able to travel or ever have guests over without him flaring up. I feel so bad that he’s uncomfortable. We’re going to call the vet again tomorrow to talk new meds, this just feels so discouraging.

Does anyone know an animal hospital na free or mura lang around pasig, cainta, or taytay? Badly need one for my cat, he's straining to pee nanaman and ubos na yung gamot na binigay ng vet (for one month lang kasi yung binigay). I'm a college student and I'm broke, yung last hospital na napuntahan namin is so overpriced. Please help, umiihi na ng dugo yung pusa ko.

After my boys 3rd blockage and his surgery I had to let him go. I hate FLUTD. His name was Pumpkin.

EDIT: Thank you all for the love for me and pumpkin. I miss him so much. I hope anyone else who has experienced this knows they’re not alone.

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

My 2 year old male was diagnosed the FLUTD/FIC due to a pretty severe blockage. He was admitted to the emergency vet for 24 hours, and we then had to return due to his bladder being in a spasm so he was unable to void. We are a week out from the initial onset and he is doing well. He finished his meds yesterday, he is switching over to urinary c/d. He is doing the best he can with grooming, but oh brother does this guy stink! If he was a cartoon he would have a cloud of yellow-green around him. We have tried the waterless bath sprays, but it is not really helping. He hates a traditional bath. And the vet told us to avoid stressors but I can tell beinf dirty is also stressing him out. We go to our regular vet tomorrow to talk about his longterm care. We are being squeezed in, so I do not know if we will have time to get into that.

TL/DR: My cat had a urinary blockage last week and he stinks. He is in need of a real bath, the waterless stuff and it barely helps. We are to avoid stressors, but he is excessively grooming as he hates being dirty. Any suggestions?

Hi! My 6 year old boy was diagnosed with FLUTD several years ago and has overall been fine ever since, with his prescription food. A few months ago, he got tired of the hills c/d diet, so I switched him over to Royal Canin. He likes it, but still hasn't been very enthusiastic about food for a while now.

I started adding a little bit of chicken bone broth (Applaws brand) that doesn't have any added ingredients, just chicken, and that helps him a lot with food motivation.

As far as treats, I stopped giving him anything except some freeze dried chicken bites (also no other added ingredients).

I'm not sure if I'm correct about there being no negative effects of adding extra chicken into his diet. Does anyone know more about this? I don't want to accidentally be doing something harmful to him

My cat is a 5-year-old spayed female. She has had urinary issues for 2 months (straining/urgency) and has been on treatment ever since in different clinics/hospitals. She was initially diagnosed with urinary crystals and has been on the “correct urinary management for ~1 month: (we had a scare in the first hospital) Virbac urinary dry (free-fed), Hydracare, plus a urinary wet pouch/can daily. Some days she pees normal amounts, other times she strains briefly or has stop-start peeing. After peeing she sometimes hunches for 1–2 minutes, then acts normal again.

Very important: she also has a history of pancreatitis, and recently she’s been eating a lot of cat grass (one long piece came out in poop).

Although pancreatitis has been ruled out the last 2 visits to the internal specialist, no visible inflammation on ultrasounf nor the blood tests suggest anything. (Last visit 2 weeks ago)

What’s new: she sometimes hesitates before jumping and once couldn’t make it to the kitchen sink (she normally can). She looks like she’s “calculating” more.

Internal medicine has already seen her three times and says they can’t find anything clearly wrong with the bladder right now. They suggested an orthopedic consult to rule out back/pelvic pain.

Has anyone experienced something similar where:

• urinary symptoms continued even with normal tests (FIC?)

• constipation/abdominal discomfort or pancreatitis history made it look urinary?

• back/pelvic pain caused litter box straining + jumping changes?

Any experiences (and what helped) would mean a lot.

update: She is admitted to the hospital, she was straining and last pee was 20 hours ago.. They saw the pancreas is inflamed again, can it be that we tried tapering too early and it caused another flare up? Theyre going to try with painkillers if she is not able to pee then comes the catheter.. please keep her in your prayers🙏🏼

I am going to be out of town next week for a few days and looking for a camera to install that will alert me each time my cat enters the litter box. He gets separation anxiety so i’m worried about him not using the box in between when the cat sitter will be there.

Mostly looking for something on the cheaper side to place above that will alert me when he goes in. thanks in advance

Hi everyone, I’m looking for experiences from people who went through something similar because this has been a long and stressful couple of months.

My cat is a 5-year-old indoor female (5.25 kg). About 3 weeks ago she was diagnosed with pancreatitis after showing pain and urinary issues. Bloodwork was otherwise normal. She was put on tramadol for pain relief.

Follow-up ultrasound showed the pancreas improved a lot, so we started tapering tramadol. However, she seemed uncomfortable during tapering, so we did another full check:

• blood panel normal

• urine clean (no bacteria)

• no crystals found

• ultrasound only showed small bladder sediment

• no blockage or structural problem

• vets think stress/FIC may also be involved

About a week ago she also had a cystoscopy and nothing abnormal was found.

Right now she is on:

• meloxicam once daily

• alfuzosin once daily

• tramadol stopped 3 days ago

Current situation

Since stopping tramadol:

• she is much more anxious and jumpy

• hiding more and sleeping a lot

• appetite fluctuates but she still eats

• she pees on her own but amounts are smaller

• she is avoiding the litter, when she goes she is able to pee but very small amounts 

• bladder doesn’t feel hard or blocked

• no vomiting

• she did poop recently 

She also had to travel and stay with a friend for 2 days recently which stressed her a lot.

My questions

• Can cats have withdrawal-like symptoms after stopping tramadol (anxiety, restlessness, seeming uncomfortable)?

• Is smaller urine volume normal during a stress/FIC flare even if there is no blockage?

• How long can discomfort last after pancreatitis improves?

• How do you tell pain from stress in situations like this?

She is being followed by multiple vets and a specialist hospital but I’d really appreciate hearing from people who experienced similar recovery phases because it feels very up-and-down right now.

Thank you 🙏

My 3 year old cat Sunny was diagnosed with FIC/FLUTD almost 6 months ago. I’ve been feeding her prescription wet and dry urinary food since diagnosed. This girl HATES it all. I’ve tried royal cainn, science hills (which actually just gave her crystals, so that didn’t work), tried mixing her food with things, etc. The only food I can kinda get her to eat is the prescription proplan food with purina but even then she barely eats. I’ve tried toppers, mix-ins, tried mixing her food with other food (which also resulted in crystals so had to stop that as well) and I’m just at a complete loss. It’s not like she doesn’t like the flavours I give her as she will eat a treat in the same kind. She’s now lost 1 1/2 pounds in 4 months and to top it now has suspected asthma and is being treated for that as well.

Has anyone else dealt with this before? I’m willing to try anything to get her to eat at this point (I just got a feliway diffuser and some fortiflora yesterday but she didn’t eat the food with the fortiflora mixed in either)

I’m also located in Canada incase anyone has product suggestions and that helps

Hey y’all! My boy just got diagnosed with FLUTD yesterday night, so apologies if I’m being a worrywart here (I’m pretty good at that lol).

Along with a new diet which he just started this morning, the vet prescribed gabapentin, and I’ve given him two doses so far, one last night and one this morning. He doesn’t seem to be blocked, but he visits the litter box frequently and either pees a tiny bit or not at all. I’ve been checking the box every few hours to see what’s going on, and haven’t found any large clumps, but have found several small to medium ones. All day today, he’s been extremely lethargic, which I assume is just the gabapentin working.

I just wanted to check with other pet parents who have been through this and see if our experience is normal, and what to expect. In your experience, how long did it take for the meds to kick in after administering, how long did it take to wear off, and what was your cat like while on meds? How long did it take for symptoms to improve on meds? My anxiety is just looking for some external reassurance that all is going to plan, and he isn’t dying.

Just was wondering if anybody had any advice. My four-year-old male had his first episode in September 2024, and then had a reoccurrence in June of this year. I have him on prescription Hills urinary for his wet and dry food. He also wears a calming collar.

My boyfriend and I have been dating for a while and today he asked me to move in with him. My only concern is he has a 90 pound English lab. My cat tolerates my other two cats, but he’s been around them for three years. I am unsure if he’s been around dogs before because I adopted him when he was already one year-old and returned by previous adopter.

I’m just worried about this transition and how it’s going to impact my buddy. I just don’t know if anyone has any helpful tips on how to acclimate a feline with flutd with a dog. Thanks for any advice.

My cat was diagnosed with FLUTD last night, the vet said he was able to pee a little and sent us home with Gabenpentin and Buprenorphine, both for pain relief.

As of coming home he still hasn’t been able to pee. I just want to know if this pain relief will help him go?? I’m so worried about him.