Urine Burn

[bernieshouse]

I have a five year old female cat that was born with deformed hind legs and partial paralysis. She urinates and defecates on her own; but, doesn't seem to be aware that she is going. She wears diapers when I am home and sits in a kennel on a highly absorbent puppy pad when I am away. I have had her for five years and no problem until today. She has a urine burn. I haven't done anything different with her care so I am a bit confused. I washed her today, shaved the area around the burn, put on antibiotic cream and placed her on amoxicillin just in case an infection is lurking.

I would appreciate some advice on how to properly treat the urine burn and also advice on how to properly take care of her so this doesn't happen again.

[critters]

Personally, I'd shave/trim very closely and use Cavilon spray, now widely available as 3M first aid spray. It was originally used as a skin barrier for people with ostomies to keep poop and pee away from skin.

[bernieshouse]

Critters,

Thanks. Do you mean spray her with the cavilon spray daily before putting her in the kennel?

[CarolC]

I haven't done anything different with her care so I am a bit confused. I washed her today, shaved the area around the burn, put on antibiotic cream and placed her on amoxicillin just in case an infection is lurking.

I don't really have any advice, only some questions/comments/thoughts. That is really something that you managed to keep her from getting a burn for 5 years and now all of a sudden she did. It would be driving me crazy, trying to figure it out. I'm just curious if she got the burn while in the diaper or in her kennel? I can't help much with the urine burn, I tried Cavilon with my rabbit but it was too hard to keep him shaved close enough so that the spray didn't gum up his fur. I used Desitin ointment for my dog but it contains zinc that is toxic to pets if it is licked (more so to cats I believe) and since your cat spends part of her time with her diaper area uncovered I think you would have to remove all the ointment every day when you removed her diaper.

As far as preventing it from happening again, it's hard when you don't know why it happened this time, after 5 years with no problem. I wonder if they changed the puppy pads so they're not as absorbent? Or is there some reason why she did not move off the wet spot...what could that be...was she sleeping too soundly? Or did it happen when she was diapered? I wonder if the diaper or diaper pad you have been using was changed? Maybe they put less gel in them? When you remove her diaper or her diaper pad and run your fingertips across it, is it dry to the touch? I had that happen with my dog, or I think that's what happened. We were lucky she didn't actually get a burn but she started getting redness. It turned out the pads were not dry to the touch, so I had to switch brands. Honestly the way companies always reforumulate everything (sometimes to keep costs down) it wouldn't be surprising if the quality of something you were using might have changed, and you might not be able to tell just by looking. I wonder if she hasn't been drinking as much water so her urine was stronger? Or possibly in the past she would clean herself but this time she didn't...arthritis? But she's only 5 years old. I don't know but if you figure out what caused it, I hope you will post it here.

[critters]

I don't expect you'd have to respray every day, but I don't know.