Severe arthritis flare-up with UTI

I brought Lucy to the ER Sunday morning and to her vet yesterday for a follow-up. The ER did a blood test which showed normal kidney function and no abnormalities there. They confirmed yesterday that her urinalysis shows abundant rod bacteria meaning a UTI, which is what was suspected due to her constant in and out of the litter box and peeing blood. The ER put her on amoxicillin the night I brought her home, which we have been giving her since. The vet is waiting on the culture to come back and confirm this is the right antibiotic.

All that being said, I noticed Lucy was leaning to one side last night while she was sitting down to eat. When we woke up this morning, she was limping badly, favoring one side. I called her vet as soon as they opened and they said it sounds like an arthritis flare-up (they did x-rays several months ago and confirmed she has severe arthritis in her knees and elbows). They gave me more buprenex, which I have been giving her the past few days to help with the UTI, as well as some onsior, which is an anti-inflammatory (this particular medication is new to me, but they said it will help). She is still eating a good amount.

Lucy has never had a flare up like this to the point where she is limping, so am trying to figure out what the heck is going on as she has had quite a busy past few months at the ER/vet (pancreatitis episode about a month ago). The vet did put her on a new food after the pancreatitis incident due to suspected IBD (Royal Canin venison), so am not sure if all of this happening is just a coincidence with that, the vet said the food did not cause any of this. She has never had a UTI before either.

Could the stress on her body from the UTI have caused the arthritis flare up? Also, she was completely fine leading up to early Sunday morning when I woke up to her using the bathroom around the house and then brought her to the ER. Can a UTI happen that fast? The mention of 'abundant' bacteria has me concerned/confused, as she showed no signs leading up to that. I am just so worried with Christmas coming up, her vet being closed for 6 days, having no idea what is going on with her, and seeing her in pain...

Edit: we live in a townhome with a very small set of stairs (there are 5 of them), but Lucy has food, water, and a cat box on both levels. We built her a ramp to use on the stairs but she does not use it.

 

All bacterias creates toxins in their turnover. Since it is in the urine, waste product, urea, urine pass through the kidneys first, then into the bladder and further down.
Yes, they can start as a small amount bacterias, only giving a fever temp of 38 Centigrades which for humans means bacteria blood poisoning culturing direct and bacteria urine culturing direct. Been put through that myself. So the amount can start out small, but undetected, bacteria amount explode until you hit fever temp 40-41 Centigrades, and are really in a bad bad serious condition.
Undoubtedly it will affect ones whole body if earlier injuries, ageing, arthritis and be a whole lot more uncomfortable.

Others will help you more.

 

The best thing for arthritis are adequan shots!!! Life changing.

 

I'm not sure what causes an arthritis flare-up either but my civvie had one last year that was so bad he wouldn't get up for three days. They gave him onisor for pain but it didn't help. After a few days he got to feeling better but struggled with squatting after so he has a dish riser and is on Adequan injections, you administer them subQ just like insulin. Couldn't recommend it more honestly.

 

It sounds like Adequan is the way to go, thank you both so much for the recommendations!! Thank goodness the vet is open tomorrow, I will be calling them first thing to ask for some before they close for the holidays. I am so glad to hear it has helped both of your kitties

 

Definitly. They overcharge for it at the vet.... Order it online like in chewy.com.

 

Which one do you usually order from chewy.com and/or does it need to be a cat specific version? I looked up Adequan, but only see two items, one is stated as for the dogs and the other for horses.

 

You want the dog Adequan. The horse Adequan does not contain a preservative and a vial is meant to be used the same day it is first pierced. Also note that a script is required.

 

I think Chewy only sells it in a 2-pack though, at least last time I checked. My last vial expired before I finished it. I bought my most recent one from Walmart's pharmacy, it was the cheapest.

 

Your pet will love this Adequan Canine Injectable for Dogs, 100 mg/mL, 5-mL, pack of 2:
https://app.chewy.com/wShBeVN1tcb