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Did you know that up to 1.5 percent of all cats in the US are plagued with feline urinary problems? That’s a lot of cats.

Your cat may suffer from an uncomfortable cat bladder infection, or his life may be threatened by a cat urinary blockage. An an informed cat owner, you should always be on the lookout for cat urinary problems.

Is There A Difference Between FLUTD And FUS?

Many cat owners are confused, and rightfully so, over the terms used to describe cat urinary problems. FLUTD is an acronym that stands for Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease. FLUTD used to be known as FUS, or Feline Urologic Syndrome. Feline Urologic Syndrome has been renamed as Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease to reflect that most of the urinary problems in cats happen in the lower urinary tract, which includes the bladder and urethra.

Overview Of Feline Urinary Disease

There are many different aspects to feline urinary problems. Here’s a quick overview of a few different conditions that can affect your cat’s urinary tract.

• An inflammation of your cat’s bladder is known as cystitis.
• If your cat’s urethra is inflamed, he has urethritis.
• Idiopathic cystitis means that the cause of the bladder inflammation is not known.
• Bladder stones in cats often occur as a result of feline urinary crystals.
• if your kitty has a tumor in his bladder, it can cause problems, too.

You can see that it’s important to pinpoint what’s causing your cat’s urinary tract problems in order to treat his condition successfully.

Symptoms of Cat Urinary Problems

No matter what’s causing the feline urinary tract problems, your cat will show these symptoms:

• Bloody urine
• Urinating in places other than his litter box
• Urinating often, but passing only small amounts of urine
• Straining to urinate, or not being able to pass urine at all
• Crying out in pain in the litter box

Any of these symptoms should be enough for you to take your cat to the vet for a check-up.

What Your Vet Will Do

Your vet will examine your cat and feel his bladder to see how full it is. The vet will also want to do a urinalysis to check for infection or feline urinary crystals, and may want to do a cat urine culture to see if bacteria are present. If your cat has a distended bladder, he may have a cat urinary blockage, which may lead your vet to take x-rays or do an ultrasound to look for cat bladder stones.

Simple Ways You Can To Prevent Feline Urinary Disease?

There are many steps cat owners can take to prevent their cats from developing feline urinary tract problems. The most important thing you can do is to feed a high-quality canned food. Cats are supposed to get most of their water from their food.

A cat who eats only dry food is usually chronically dehydrated, which leads to his urine becoming concentrated. And concentrated urine can lead to cat bladder stones, and a whole host of problems that goes along with them.

Be sure your cat always has access to plenty of clean, fresh water, too.

Think about giving your cat a natural remedy for pets that supports feline bladder health. This remedy should contain herbal extracts of barberry and uva ursi, along with the homeopathic remedies Cantharis and Staphysagria. Not only are these natural treatments effective for bladder problems in people, but they have been proven to work just as well in cats.

Your goal now? To make sure your cat doesn’t become a statistic suffering from feline urinary problems.

Visit Natural Pet Urinary Health to learn how to prevent feline urinary problems, and find the best place to buy herbal pet remedies.

Just imagine if your feline friend developed a cat urinary blockage.  This condition is a serious complication of feline lower urinary tract disease, also known as FLUTD.  It’s often caused by cat bladder stones blocking the urethra so your male cat can’t pass any urine.

Why Does This Happen To Male Cats?

A cat blockage is rarely seen in female cats.This is due to females having a urethra that is much shorter and wider than in males.  Although this puts females at greater risk for cat bladder infections, this does protect them somewhat from a feline urinary blockage. 

Because male cats have a much smaller urinary opening than females do, it doesn’t take a very big feline bladder stone to cause urinary blockage in cats.

How Your Vet Treats A Urinary Blockage In Cats

If your cat is unable to pass any urine, or can pass very little, this is an emergency.  Your cat’s kidneys stop functioning when the urine has no place to go, which allows toxins to build up in the body very quickly.  This toxin build-up causes death within a few days if it’s not treated.

Your vet will insert a catheter to allow the urine to drain out of the bladder.Your kitty will more than likely need to be hospitalized for a few days, since the catheter will probably be stitched in place.  Treatment may include flushing the bladder with fluids to wash out any bladder stones that are present. 

To keep him from becoming dehydrated, your feline friend will need to be given fluids, either by IV or under the skin.  He’ll also be assessed for any problems related to the toxic build-up in his system.

Most cats can go home after a few days.  But you’ll need to feed your cat a special diet for the rest of his life to prevent bladder stones from forming again.

What If The Blockage Happens Again?

If your cat continues to have problems with a cat urinary blockage, surgery may be the next step.To prevent recurring blockages, your vet can do an operation called a feline perineal urethrostomy, in which your cat’s urinary opening is enlarged. 

This operation only prevents cat blockage, not FLUTD.  A cat who has had this operation is more likely to develop feline bladder infection and bladder stones.  He should have urine cultures done three or four times a year to be sure he’s not suffering from a feline lower urinary tract infection.

Prevent Cat Bladder Stones

You can nip this problem in the bud by preventing cat bladder stones in the first place.  Cats with very concentrated urine are more prone to developing stones. 

Cats that eat only dry food have this problem a lot more than cats that eat canned food.  Cats are meant to get most of their water from the food they eat.  A high quality canned food has a moisture content closer to what a cat in the wild would eat.  A cat who is always fed dry food is probably chronically dehydrated.

Be sure your cat always has access to plenty of clean, fresh drinking water.

Herbal and homeopathic remedies for cats are now available.  These remedies are especially formulated to treat and prevent cat urinary problems.  It’s essential to purchase these safe, effective remedies from a well-known company with a great reputation for manufacturing the highest quality pet products.

Now that you have this information, you can take steps to protect your kitty from ever experiencing a cat urinary blockage.

cat urinary blockage

This is a scary thought.  If your male cat has had FLUTD, or Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease, he’s at risk for developing a cat urinary blockage.  This life-threatening complication needs immediate veterinary care, as your cat can die within 36 hours if he’s not treated. 

What Are the Signs Of Urinary Blockage In Cats?

It can be hard for cat owners to tell if a cat urinary blockage is present.  The symptoms are pretty much the same as for a feline urinary tract infection:  straining, not able to pass much or any urine, crying in the litter box, urinating in places other than the litter box. 

Your vet will diagnose this by feeling your cat’s belly for a distended bladder.  Normally a cat’s bladder is small and soft when it’s empty.  A cat with a urinary blockage will have a hard bladder about the size of a peach.This situation is very painful for your feline friend.

It’s also dangerous.  When a cat can’t empty his bladder, his kidneys stop filtering waste products out of the blood and making urine because it can’t go anywhere.  When this happens, toxins start building up in your cat’s body, which will kill him within a few days.

What Causes A Cat Urinary Blockage?

Bladder stones are the culprit.  These stones form from minerals present in your cat’s urine.  When the mineral level gets too high, the minerals crystallize into stones which can range in size from sand-like to a small pebble.  Your cat may have only one stone, or he could have dozens. 

A male cat has a very long, narrow urethra (the tube that carries urine from the bladder outside the body).  If he has even a few tiny cat bladder stones, it’s very easy for him to develop a urinary blockage.

How Is A Urinary Blockage In Cats Treated?

Your vet may be able to get the blockage out by putting pressure on your cat’s bladder.  Sometimes this works, but usually the cat will need to be catheterized. 

Loss of appetite, vomiting, and irregularites in heart rhythm are often caused by urinary toxins building up in your cat’s system.  Your cat will probably be dehydrated too.He may be given fluids by IV, or under his skin. 

Your cat may need to stay at the animal hospital for several days, until the catheter can be removed. 

Home Treatment

When you bring your cat home, you’ll need to feed him a special diet.The lower magnesium levels in this diet help to prevent mineral crystals from forming.  He’ll have to eat this diet for the rest of his life to prevent another blockage from occurring.

He should always have plenty of clean, fresh water available.  The more water he drinks, the more dilute his urine will be.  This helps to prevent cat bladder stone formation.

Homeopathic and herbal remedies are now available for cat urinary problems.  Probably the best way to prevent this problem in the first place, or to keep it from happening again, is to put your cat on one of these remedies.

Take action now to prevent a urinary blockage in cats from happening to your feline friend.