Cat has a urinary infection... I think?

I know, I know. Go to the vet. At the moment though, it’s almost 9pm and I can’t do that. So for now…

I came home to discover that my cat had urinated all over the foot of my bed. I saw the spot, and I sniffed, and it didn’t have the usual cat urine smell. I recognized the smell from when I had a UTI myself several years ago.

I took the cat, and first squeezed her belly, all around, sides, bottom, everything… and I gave her a good squeeze too. She didn’t appear to be in any pain. I looked at her butt, since she’s a Maine Coon and sometimes gets buildup in the long fur (it’s very difficult to wrangle her to shave it myself, and I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve been too broke to take her)... and I saw a tiny bit of pus. Like, maybe a “drop” or two. I cleaned her up as best as I could with a damp towel, and I puffed her butt with the topical antibiotic powder from when she had a bit of an infection back there a few months ago.

Last time, they gave her Clavamox, and this topical stuff. I have a fresh, unopened, sealed box of Clavamox… still well within the dates that it’s good for, and I have this little puffer bottle of antibiotics.

She is eating, she’s drinking, she is not in any pain from what I can tell. She’s happy lounging, wrestling with her sister… she greeted me at the door like she always does, and happily sniffed my breath when I offered (standard as well). She’s her normal self in every other way except she peed on my bed. I went sniffing around and found no other spots. It was just that one spot. She’s also not running around looking for a place, constantly going to the box and not going, or any of that. I also completely cleaned out the box and didn’t get that same smell.

Bottom line, I have a mere few dollars to my name. The vet is expensive, and pretty unwilling to budge on the “payment due at time of service” thing. I would have to really scrabble, beg, borrow, and barter to get the money together to take her in the morning, and that’s just for them to look at her.

Please don’t yell at me, or berate me. This is killing me. I feel like a negligent mother… but is it completely wrong to try the antibiotics as they were prescribed to her before? I’m pretty desperate here.