Trouble adjusting to incontinence diapers/stud pants

[Angela.klingensmith]

My cat Jeffrey has been struggling with incontinence due to FLUTD, and we have started having him wear diapers and then switched over to stud pants so he has a little more flexibility and can easy poop in the litter box. The issue now seems to be that he refuses to pee and holds it until he cannot hold it any longer and pees through his stud pants. I am experimenting with finding absorbency pads to add to his pants, but does anyone know if cats will typically stop holding it once they are adjusted to the diaper/pants? It was fine when we would leave him out of the diaper only when we were out of the house.

[critters]

Hmm. Cats don't tend to like stuff tied to their bodily person--wheelchairs, clothes, splints, or whatever. If he can hold his pee that well, does he need diapers? Does he leak when he's asleep, for instance? My diaper butt was spinal cord injured, so it was different.

[Angela.klingensmith]

His incontinence is intermittent because of FLUTD that is caused by stress. When he starts peeing inappropriately or in secret (no issues with BMs) is when we put the stud pants on him. Part of it is to monitor when symtoms are flaring up and there is blood in his urine. The other part is to protect my stuff from being peed on (piles of clothes, corners, in boxes).

[BendyMom]

Hello!
FLUTD can be a complicated issue. Sometimes just feeding special food is all you need to do, but not always. It is often related to anxiety/stress. I have a little girl who gets very bloody urine, no crystals, just inflammation. Took her to a specialist who said "your cat is stressed."
Gabapentin has been a big help. I get it as a liquid and mix it in some smelly food for her. It calms her down and that in turn calms the bladder down, the inflammation goes down and she is much happier. We can't always tell when our cats are stressed until they start doing things like peeing inappropriately. I would focus on getting his stress level down before worrying about the stud pants. Some cats are ok with wearing things, others not, and it sounds like he does not like those stud pants.