Cat Training

Posts Tagged ‘cat urinary tract infection’

Are you concerned about cat urinary tract infection?  All cat owners should be aware of FLUTD, or feline lower urinary tract disease, to prevent their beloved companions from becoming victims of cat urinary problems.

What Cat Urinary Tract Infection Symptoms Should You Be Aware Of?

Sometimes the most obvious symptom is that your cat is urinating outside the litter box.  As wonderful as cats are, they don’t have advanced powers of reasoning.  If your cat is hurting every time he uses the litter pan, he thinks that somehow the litter pan is causing his pain.  In his little kitty mind, if he urinates someplace else, it won’t hurt when he goes.

Of course, we humans know it doesn’t work that way.  But if your cat suddenly stops using his litter box, it may not be a behavior issue.  It could be one of several cat urinary tract infection symptoms.

If you use clumping cat litter, be observant of the size of the clumps when you scoop or change his litter.  You should see a few large clumps.  A whole bunch of little clumps indicates that he can’t pass much urine at one time.  This is another symptom of cat urinary problems.

Bloody urine is another clue to watch for.  It’s a little harder to see in cats than it is in dogs.  However, if your cat is urinating outside his box, you may be more apt to notice it.

Be aware of your cat’s behavior in his litter box.  Is he crying out in pain when he tries to urinate?  Is he straining to pass urine?  Often cat owners mistake this for constipation.

Your kitty needs to be visiting his litter pan several times a day.  If he is urinating less and less, or stops completely, he may have a cat urinary blockage, which is a veterinary emergency.

Treatments For FLUTD

In order to treat a cat urinary tract infection, your vet will need to run several tests to find out what’s going on with your cat.  A urinalysis is necessary to determine if your cat has feline cystitis, or if he has feline bladder stones.  A cat urine culture will tell your vet which bacteria are causing the problem, and a sensitivity test indicates which antibiotic will work best.

If your pet has a cat urinary tract infection, antibiotics are the usual course of treatment.  Bladder stones in cats are a common problem, too.  Your cat may have to eat a special diet so the stones can dissolve.  If your cat is blocked, he may need to be catheterized.

Can Cat Urinary Problems Be Prevented?

Take these easy steps to keep your kitty from becoming a statistic.

First, feed your cat a high-quality canned food.Cats don’t seem to drink much water because they’re meant to get their water from their food.  When we take our cats out of a natural situation and feed them an unnatural diet of dry food with an extremely low moisture content, we’re setting them up for cat urinary problems.

Canned cat food has a moisture level of about 75%, which is much closer to a cat’s natural diet.Your cat may resist a change in his diet if he’s always been fed dry food.It takes with patience, time, and persistence to switch a cat over to canned food, since felines are notoriously resistant to change.

A steady supply of clean, fresh water is a must, too.

Consider giving your feline friend natural remedies for cats that support bladder health.  Look for a remedy that’s made especially for cats.You’ll want to choose a company with a long-standing reputation for producing high-quality pet remedies.

If your furry friend is already a victim of FLUTD, click on any link in this article to learn more about natural remedies for cats that can help treat and prevent this problem.