What to do if your cat urinates frequently? Inflammation of the bladder (cystitis) in a cat: symptoms and treatment methods.

Frequent urination in cats is scientifically called pollakiuria. The phenomenon may be the norm for a certain condition of the animal and relate to physiological, or it may appear due to a disease, and then impaired urination will be classified as pathological. If the frequent urge to urinate occurs for natural reasons, then the owner should not worry and the pet does not require treatment. When the disorder is pathological, a visit to the veterinarian is urgent. After proper treatment is carried out, the problem usually goes away completely.

Causes of the problem

The reasons for urination in cats, when it occurs unnaturally often, are due to the fact that the walls of the bladder become overly sensitive, and therefore even the slightest filling of it leads to an acute urge to urinate. Irritation can be caused by many reasons. They can also provoke frequent visits to the litter box and disturbances that lead to weakness of the bladder sphincter, which is why the animal simply cannot retain fluid inside.

Veterinarians name several main reasons why urination in cats is impaired.

1. Age-related changes. With age, the muscles in the animal's body begin to weaken, which is why problems arise with them, including the bladder sphincter. It loses the ability to close well and hold urine inside the bladder for a long time. Because of this, almost constantly experiencing the urge to urinate, the cat often sits down to pee. He is forced to go to the toilet in order to get rid of even small portions of physiological fluid. Treatment in this situation is usually not effective, since the tissues of old cats cannot recover and begin to hold urine again.
2. Freezing. A cat, like a person, can freeze, causing inflammation of the bladder and cystitis. With prolonged exposure to cold, the animal's blood circulation in the bladder is disrupted. Under this condition, the cat suffers from a drop in local immunity, and it develops inflammation of the walls of the organ. As a result, urination becomes frequent and painful.
3. Urolithiasis. When a cat encounters pathology, the animal experiences constant irritation of the bladder walls with stones and sand. The disease causes frequent urination in cats, during which, in addition to urine, blood, as well as small stones and sand, are often released.
4. Stressful state. A stressed cat may begin to itch a lot, behave untypically, or visit the litter box frequently. It all depends on how his body reacted to unexpected changes in life or other events that provoked stress. To relieve the problem, it is recommended to give your pet sedatives. They are prescribed by a veterinarian.
5. Drinking large portions of water once. This phenomenon is possible if the cat ate salted fish or spent a long time in the heat, and then drank almost the entire water bottle at once. It is possible that animals may consume water excessively for some other reason. In such a situation, the kidneys will work at maximum load all day, so the pet will empty its bladder into the tray all day. In this case, impaired urination normalizes itself and quickly enough.
6. Prostatitis. An old cat may well suffer from such a disease. Due to inflammation of the prostate gland, the urge to urinate becomes frequent. In this case, the portions of urine excreted are scanty and often mixed with blood.
7. Use of certain medications. Certain medications can cause increased urination as a side effect. In such a situation, the cat restores its normal litter box routine only a few days after the end of therapy.

If your cat begins to urinate very often, it is worth visiting a veterinarian to accurately determine the cause of this phenomenon. Impaired urination is not always a symptom of a pet’s illness, but it is imperative to make sure that this is the case, otherwise you may be late with treatment.

Since cats, unlike dogs, most often live in a house or apartment side by side with people, owners, willy-nilly, pay attention to how often and in what volume their pet urinates. Daily cleaning contributes a lot to this “curiosity”. So, when a cat has difficulty urinating, this pathology rarely goes unnoticed by the owners.

All problems leading to difficulty or impossibility of urination can be divided into two large groups: “problems” of the bladder and pathologies of the urinary tract. In the case of cats, problems with urination are most often explained by the action of the latter group of reasons.

Important! In old castrated cats, there are often cases of complete blockage of the urethra by uric acid salts. This often happens to those animals whose owners constantly feed their pets fresh fish. Contrary to popular belief, this is not an ideal food for cats.

Signs of pathologies lower parts of the urinary system include: frequent and/or painful urination, appearance, constant licking of the genital area by the animal. The faster a specific cause is found, the less time treatment will take.

Practicing veterinarians themselves believe that Poor urine output in cats can be explained in more than 70% of cases, that is, inflammation of the bladder. As a rule, this pathology is accompanied by the appearance of blood impurities in the animal’s secretions.

Read also: Hemolysis in cats: features of the disease and treatment methods

Most common predisposing factors

Of course, we have not listed all possible reasons. The practice allowed veterinarians to collect list of pathologies due to which cats most often cannot pee normally:

• Urethral blockage or obstruction. The latter most often occurs in cats that have suffered some kind of injury or infectious disease that in one way or another affected the penis.

• Bladder inflammation infectious or toxic etiology.

• Kidney problems, when the excretory organs cannot synthesize at least any urine at all.

• Wound or in the urinary tract.

• . This is often forgotten, but a cat that has been transported by train for a week from one end of the country to the other often takes months to recover. And difficulties with urination are still minor things.

• Spinal injuries, spinal cord infections.

• Congenital or acquired structural anomalies of the genitourinary system.

• in the kidneys, bladder, or directly in the urethra. The worst thing is when uric acid crystals form in the urethra (in old castrates). The animal experiences unbearable pain.

By the way, the appearance of urine in the blood is a very bad sign. It may well turn out that a blood clot will one day block the urethra, turn into a blood clot and completely deprive the cat of the opportunity to pee. Oddly enough, diseases of the endocrine system (for example) can lead to pathologies of the lower excretory tract.

Are there predisposed categories of animals? Cats under one year of age almost never get sick. In cats who have already reached the age of four, the frequency of such pathologies increases markedly. the chances of developing pathologies of the urinary system increase many times over. Males (especially) get sick noticeably more often than cats.

Read also: Melanoma - a tumor in cats

Clinical picture and therapeutic techniques

If you see any of the symptoms described below in your cat, immediately take your pet to the veterinarian:

• Full inability to urinate, “drip” urination.

• Bloody or cloudy urine.

• The cat can start writing (try, more precisely) everywhere, even on the owner's bed. You shouldn’t blame him: most likely, the animal is suffering from acute spasms of the bladder, which often happens with cystitis.

• Increased frequency of urination or visits to the tray. In the latter case, the cat generally runs there every minute, but cannot squeeze out a single drop of urine.

Diseases of the genitourinary system? a common occurrence among representatives of the cat family. Urinary retention is an alarming symptom. Violation of the natural physiological process requires prompt identification of the causes and emergency assistance.

Signs

You can understand that an animal has problems with urination by the following signs:

1. The cat stopped going to the litter box “in a small way.”

2. On the contrary, the pet visits the toilet too often, urine comes in small portions.

3. Blood, mucus, salt crystals, and small pebbles are noticeable in the discharge.

4. The bladder feels hard to the touch. In a healthy cat it is soft and difficult to find.

5. The animal shows anxiety, spins around the tray, presses its stomach against the side, and experiences pain. After 48-72 hours, he becomes lethargic and apathetic, and does not respond to anything.

Feline urological syndrome

Feline urological syndrome, or FUS, is a group of diseases associated with various dysfunctions of the urinary tract. Urinary retention is one of the main signs of USC.

Factors contributing to the development of urological syndrome:

• high concentration of magnesium in food, which leads to crystallization of salts;
• unhealthy psycho-emotional state of the animal, stress. For city cats, for example, moving to the country is a big stress;
• a dirty litter box that the cat simply ignores;
• urinary tract infections due to general alkalization of urine;
• bacterial or viral cystitis, which leads to relapses of USC;
• low quality food, improperly selected diet. For example, frequent feeding of fish; -reduced water consumption;
• characteristics of a particular breed;
• obesity.

Males are more susceptible to the disease than cats. This is due to the anatomical features of the structure of the urinary canal: in cats it is narrower and longer.

Reasons

The causes of urinary retention in cats are quite varied. Only a veterinarian can make an accurate diagnosis of your pet. Under no circumstances should you do the treatment yourself!

Let's look at the most common reasons:

1. Colds and infectious diseases. If your cat is urinating blood, she may have cystitis. This disease is caused by bacterial and viral infections. The catalyst could be climate change, hypothermia, etc.
2. Presence of crystals of salts, sand, stones, mucus in the parts of the urinary system due to urolithiasis. Drops of blood appear in the scanty discharge, and subsequently the animal cannot urinate at all - a complete blockage occurs.
3. Kidney diseases. The urine has a cloudy color. Symptoms such as exhaustion, dehydration, loss of appetite, thirst, and sometimes vomiting are observed.
4. Stress. In this case, urinary retention can be successfully treated with sedatives.
5. Atony of the bladder, impaired contractile function of its walls, rupture as a result of overextension or injury.
6. Anatomical features of the urinary tract, kidney pathology.

7. Rarely: tumors, spinal cord injuries.

Treatment

Depending on the etiology of the disease, clinical manifestations, the severity and condition of the animal, the veterinarian (and only!) selects an individual treatment regimen. The first measures will be aimed at ensuring the outflow of urine from the bladder. The doctor inserts a special catheter or makes a puncture in the abdominal wall.

In particularly severe cases, surgical intervention is necessary. If a cat has had a blockage of the urinary canal several times, is surgery performed to widen it? perineal urethrostomy. After the first emergency procedures, the animal is usually prescribed special medications and fluid is administered intravenously to eliminate dehydration and remove toxins from the body. A mandatory point of treatment is antibacterial therapy.

The pet remains in the hospital for some time with a catheter installed, where the doctor monitors its condition.

After discharge, antibiotics and antispasmodics are prescribed, and the veterinarian gives recommendations regarding nutrition.

Prevention

To avoid problems with urination in your pet, follow these simple recommendations:

First, try prepare the animal’s diet taking into account the veterinarian’s recommendations, do not forget about vitamins and amino acids. For prevention, it is recommended to give special diuretics that help dissolve uroliths (stones). This is especially important if the pet has already had USC. The animal's bowl should be filled with fresh water.

Secondly, try to ensure that the feline moved more. Neutered cats, deprived of essential hormones, are especially susceptible to obesity. A fat animal, of course, is much cuter: there is something to look at and something to pet; the bear cat evokes nothing but admiration and tenderness. But is the cat himself happy? Not at all... Every owner should know: excess weight of an animal is fraught with serious consequences.

Thirdly, keep the tray clean. Change the filler in a timely manner. Cats are quite picky about the cleanliness of the litter box.

Be attentive to your pet. Timely detection of urinary retention can save an animal from death!

The structure of the lower parts of the urinary system in cats and cats differs significantly. The urethra (the channel through which urine comes out of the bladder) in cats is wide and short, so in case of any inflammatory processes, blockage does not occur, the matter is limited to frequent and painful urination, sometimes with blood. It is important to understand that in this case, as a rule, there is no danger to the animal’s life (although there are exceptions).

Another thing is the cat’s “stronger sex”: the cat’s urethra is long, narrow and curved. Therefore, with any inflammatory processes in the lower urinary tract, there is always a serious risk of complete or partial blockage of the urethra. In this case, the animal sits on the tray for a long time, strains, screams, urine is released drop by drop, a small volume, sometimes with blood, an unpleasant odor, or no urine is released at all. Not immediately, but, as a rule, a day after the development of urinary retention, the general condition also worsens: the cat is depressed, does not eat, and sometimes vomiting develops. Such symptoms occur when the urethra is blocked by stones, sand, mucous or protein plugs, the outflow of urine from the bladder is impaired and it is full.

It is very important to understand that when urination is delayed, harmful toxins accumulate in the animal’s blood, which should normally be excreted in the urine.

Urinary retention is an emergency, and if your animal cannot pee normally for more than a day, you should urgently take him to the veterinary clinic!

What can you do at home?

At home, you can give a pill or inject an antispasmodic - no-shpa, papaverine. Call the clinic in advance and check the dosage for your pet!

What can't you do at home?

Do not attempt to force urine by massaging the bladder or insert a urinary catheter yourself if you have never done this before and are not qualified to do so.

Do not try to use diuretics on the advice of your all-knowing neighbors! This is not your case! Don’t waste time, if there is no urination for more than a day, the animal may die!

What will the doctor do?

To make a diagnosis, in addition to talking with the owner and examining the patient, an ultrasound and urine test may be required; in many cases, a biochemical blood test is required in order to assess the severity of intoxication in the body.

In the case of urocystitis in a cat, the matter is usually limited to prescribing home treatment in the form of tablets.

Another thing is a cat with a blockage of the urethra. The first thing such a patient needs to do to eliminate the threat to life is to establish the flow of urine from the bladder. Usually a urinary catheter is installed for this purpose, this procedure, with rare exceptions, is performed under general anesthesia. If the disease occurs for the first time, the doctor will offer you a conservative treatment regimen for the cat in the form of an antibiotic, an antispasmodic and a special therapeutic diet, depending on the result of a urine test. If this problem does not happen for the first time or it is impossible to install a urinary catheter, an operation will be proposed, the essence of which is to form a new, wider opening of the urethra.

Often cats suddenly develop health problems, and the owner does not know what to do or how to help the pet. If the cat cannot go to the toilet in a small way, then, of course, you need to quickly contact a veterinarian. In our article we will try to explain in more detail the problems of this disease, what the possible causes of this condition may be, and how to provide all possible assistance to your pet.

How to tell if your pet has urinary problems

If a cat cannot go to the toilet in a small way, then it will be difficult not to notice, because she moans loudly, meows, and screams in a voice that is not her own. When she does manage to urinate, very little urine comes out. The pet can come up to its tray, stomp next to it, and snuggle up to it. It’s as if he doesn’t dare to go into it; in fact, the cat is trying to help himself go to the toilet to urinate. He does not allow you to touch his bloated belly, like a drum, which is very painful. The pet cannot lie on its tummy. Sometimes there are traces of pus or blood in the tray.

What can cause such a condition?

Many owners of mustaches are interested in why problems with urination occur? Your pet rarely goes to the toilet for several reasons:

• Low urine output can be caused by insufficient fluid intake. A small amount of urine contains a high concentration of salts, from which stones subsequently form.
• Hereditary factor. If a cat has had similar diseases in its family, then it is more likely to have problems with urination than those animals whose heredity is not burdened with such issues.
• Physiological features. There are cases when a kitten is born with a urinary tract obstruction. This issue can only be resolved surgically.
• Improperly managed cat nutrition can lead to heavy urination. Excessive consumption of raw meat and fish, salty and mineral foods can provoke this problem.
• A cat may rarely go to the toilet if he is overweight. As a rule, such pets lead a sedentary lifestyle, which can cause poor urine flow.
• This reaction occurs after suffering stress. This could be a sudden move, a change of owner, or a trip on public transport.

There is an opinion that cats that eat dry food are more likely to develop urolithiasis. However, this is a misconception; on the contrary, dry food is a more balanced source, the main thing is that the cat always has fresh water available.

What can be done to alleviate the pet's condition?

Of course, when a cat cannot urinate, it is necessary to urgently take him to the veterinarian, but if this is not possible, then you can put a heating pad on the pet’s perineum and stomach.

Under no circumstances should you massage your cat's tummy; these actions can only worsen your pet's condition.

First and urgent aid is to insert a catheter to drain urine. This is a difficult and rather painful procedure and should only be carried out by a qualified specialist, and there are often cases of placing a catheter under general anesthesia. During catheterization, the bladder is washed with antiseptics. Frequent catheterization should not be performed because this procedure leads to swelling of the urinary tract, and as a result, the cat will not be able to urinate. Next, the veterinarian will determine the cause of this condition and prescribe treatment.

Diagnostics

After emergency measures are taken, the cat must undergo the necessary diagnostic procedures to identify an accurate diagnosis and prescribe the necessary treatment. Typically, a urine test is taken from the animal and an ultrasound scan of the abdominal organs, kidneys and bladder is performed.

Treatment

If a cat does not walk for several days or does so rarely, then a large number of microorganisms multiply in his bladder. At first, the cat should be in a hospital so that stagnant urine can be professionally removed. Using injections, the pet is given fluid to eliminate dehydration. The veterinarian also prescribes antispasmodic drugs to help relieve pain and relax the urethra. Antibiotics and antibacterial agents are usually used to help relieve inflammation in the bladder. After treatment, the cat is discharged home, where all care falls on the owner.

Corrective diet

If a cat is susceptible to urolithiasis, then it needs a corrective diet. It is necessary that the food be rich in vitamins B6, A and glutamic acid. Food should not contain salt and minerals, namely:

• The cat should have a complete exclusion of salty foods.
• Raw fish and meat are prohibited.
• The consumption of all types of fish is excluded. Phosphorus, found in any type of fish, is deposited as an excess mineral in the bladder and leads to the formation of stones.
• Milk should not be consumed by a pet with urinary problems. The point is the increased magnesium content, which will lead to even worse urine flow.
• Pork is too fatty meat, it will lead to thickening of urine, which will further complicate its outflow from the bladder.

The cat should eat special dry food, balanced for animals with problems in the genitourinary system.

Risk categories

Problems with urination often occur in cats that have undergone castration as children. There are cases when urinary retention occurs in kittens, but according to statistics, adults most often suffer from this condition, especially in cats. If a newborn kitten has a problem with urine discharge, then the reason, as a rule, lies in congenital mechanical obstruction of the urinary tract.

Preventive measures

It is quite difficult to cure the reason why a cat cannot urinate; out of 10 cases there will be 9 obligatory relapses. To alleviate your pet’s condition, preventive measures are important:

1. Avoid overcooling your cat. The pet should not lie in a damp place, on concrete; if he wants to soak up the sun, it is better to do this on a warm blanket.
2. Timely vaccination will lead to fewer diseases, which means fewer microorganisms will enter the cat’s body.
3. A well-designed diet for an animal helps to avoid recurrences of inflammatory conditions in the animal’s genitourinary function. It is necessary to completely exclude all prohibited foods. Even once using a prohibited product can cause a relapse.
4. Drinking plenty of fluid helps flush out your pet's bladder. Moreover, the water must be fresh and clean, and always be freely available to the animal.
5. There is a special dry food available for sale for cats with disorders of the genitourinary system.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to completely cure urolithiasis in a cat. A caring owner should surround the pet with attention, regular preventive examinations, constant use of medications and a balanced diet. Such measures will help the cat lead a normal life.