Cat Training » feline lower urinary tract disease

Don’t Let Your Kitty Be The Next Victim Of Cat Urinary Tract Infection

CatTraining — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:06:31 +0000

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.

Why Your Cat Has Feline Incontinence

CatTraining — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:03:30 +0000

Is feline incontinence becoming a problem for your cat? You need to realize that incontinence in cats, or dribbling and leaking of urine, and inappropriate urination are two different things.

Often an incontinent pet is unaware that she has a problem. Inappropriate urination, on the other hand, is when a cat is purposely urinating in places other than her litter box. This may be a behavior issue, but it can also be cause by feline lower urinary tract disease.

It’s important to know the difference between the two because incontinence in cats can be a sign of serious health issues for your feline friend.

Ten Reasons For Feline Incontinence

1. Usually the simplest reason is feline lower urinary tract disease. One of the symptoms of a feline bladder infection is needing to urinate often. Sometimes your kitty may not be able to make it to the litter box in time.

2. Your ca’t bladder may be scarred due to repeated feline urinary problems. She needs to urinate frequently because her bladder can’t expand to hold urine.

3. Cat bladder stones can cause a partial blockage of your cat’s urethra, making it impossible for her to empty her bladder completely. As her bladder fills with urine, the pressure can force some urine around the blockage. If you suspect a blocked cat, get her to the vet as soon as possible, as this can be fatal within a day or two.

4. A weak urinary sphincter is often the reason for an incontinent cat. This is more common in older spayed female dogs, but it does occasionally happen in spayed cats, too, especially if they’re heavy. This type of incontinence, called hormone-responsive incontinence, can develop years after she’s been spayed.

5. Feline diabetes can cause an incontinent cat. A diabetic cat is drinking lots more water than normal because the disease makes her very thirsty in an effort to flush the excess sugar out of her body. Because of this she’ll need to urinate more, too. She may have trouble making it to her litter box before she has an accident.

6. Cats with feline leukemia sometimes become incontinent, too. This can happen in both males and females.

7. As a cat ages, the urinary sphincter can weaken. Your cat may develop other problems as she gets older, such as diabetes, which cause her body to produce more urine than normal. Combine a very full bladder with a weak urinary sphincter, and it’s easy to see why urinary incontinence in cats is the result.

8. A neurological problem with the nerves in her bladder can cause her to be unable to hold her urine.

9. Bladder tumors can be another factor.

10. Sometimes an older cat starts getting forgetful, or is in the early stages of senility, which can lead to litter box problems.

Natural Feline Urinary Support

If your furball is having cat urinary problems, it’s important to take her to the vet for a check-up to rule out anything serious. Most cases of inappropriate urination are due to feline lower urinary tract disease, which can be a frustrating condition to deal with.

The most important thing you can do is to feed your cat a high-quality canned food. Cats are meant to get most of their water from their food, so feeding a cat dry food all the time is an invitation to disaster in the form of cat urinary problems.

You may want to consider giving your kitty one of the many natural remedies for cats that are available for feline urinary support. Herbs and homeopathic remedies have a long history of success in humans, and they’re very effective for urinary problems in pets, too. Just click on any link to learn more.

How You Can Use Holistic Cat Care To Prevent Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease

CatTraining — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 06:26:18 +0000

Have you ever wondered if holistic cat care would help with feline lower urinary tract disease, or FLUTD? Many cat owners who have had a long and frustrating battle with feline cystitis wonder if natural feline urinary support would help.

What Is Holistic Cat Care?

Holistic cat care involves looking at your kitty as a whole, as an alternative to focusing on her kidneys and bladder when she has cat urinary problems.Instead of just treating the symptoms of FLUTD, a holistic practitioner will want to know about your cat’s diet, stress in her life, and any underlying problems.it’s acceptable to use natural remedies for pets, too.

Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease And Your Cat’s Diet

Many cat owners don’t realize that there’s a direct link between their cat’s diet and feline lower urinary tract disease. Ads on tv and in magazines tell us repeatedly how great dry food is for our cats. It has all the nutrients your cats needs, yes. But that’s not the whole truth.

In the wild, cats don’t drink much water, for the simple reason that they’re meant to get most of their water from their food. All people and animals are over 90% water. A cat who eats mice and other prey animals will almost completely satisfy her water requirements.

It’s a different story for our kitties. We want to do the best for them, so we feed them what we have been told is the best possible diet. But dry cat food has a moisture content of less than 10%. This is good for a long storage life, but it’s not so good for your cat’s health. A cat who eats only dry food is probably a chronically dehydrated cat, since it’s hard for her to drink enough water to make up the difference between what’s in her diet, and what her body needs.

Did you know that kidney failure is the leading cause of death in older cats?This is often due to a lifetime of chronicdehydration.

It’s also been proven that the best way to prevent FLUTD is to increase the amount of water going through your cat. A more than adequate water intake flushes impurities out of your cat’s body and his urinary system. Be sure your kitty always has access to plenty of clean fresh water.

Cat Stress Is Linked To Feline Cystitis

Most of us would think that our cats lead a charmed life.Just laying around and sleeping all day sounds like a rough life, doesn’t it?

Well, maybe not. Cats face a lot more stress than most of us realize. Just being an indoor cat is a stress on an animal that’s meant to be outside hunting, and slinking around in the dark. Add a lack of exercise, too much of the wrong food, not enough water, annoyances from other cats and pets, and just being cooped up inside, and you can see that maybe life isn’t quite as easy as you thought for your furball.

Feline interstitial cystitis has been linked to cat stress. If your vet can’t find any reason for your cat’s bladder inflammation, maybe you should be looking for hidden stress in your cat’s life.

Natural Feline Urinary Support

You may be interested in one of the many natural remedies for pets available now. You should look for one that contains the herbs uva ursi and barberry, along with the homeopathic remedies Cantharis and Staphysagris.By providing natural feline urinary support, these remedies work together to keep your cat’s urinary system healthy.

Your goal now? To use holistic cat care to keep your cat healthy and to prevent feline cystitis.

Visit Natural Pet Urinary Health to learn more about holistic cat care, and to find the best place to buy herbal pet remedies.

Discover Ten Causes Of Feline Incontinence

CatTraining — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 06:26:17 +0000

Are you worried that feline incontinence is a problem for your cat? You need to realize that incontinence in cats and inappropriate urination are two different things. An incontinent cat is not able to control her urine. She dribbles urine, or leaves wet spots where she’s been sleeping.

It’s important to know the difference between the two because incontinence in cats can be a sign of serious health issues for your feline friend.

Ten Reasons For Feline Incontinence

Usually the simplest reason is feline lower urinary tract disease. One of the symptoms of a feline bladder infection is needing to urinate often. Your kitty may not be able to make it to the litter box in time.
If your cat has had repeated feline urinary problems, her bladder may be scarred. This keeps her bladder from expanding to hold urine, so she may have trouble holding it.
Cat bladder stones can cause a partial blockage of your cat’s urethra, making it impossible for her to empty her bladder completely. As her bladder fills with urine, the pressure can force some urine around the blockage. If you suspect a blocked cat, get her to the vet as soon as possible, as this can be fatal within a day or two.
An incontinent cat is often caused when she has a weak urinary sphincter. This is more common in older spayed female dogs, but it does occasionally happen in spayed cats, too, especially if they’re heavy. This type of incontinence, called hormone-responsive incontinence, can develop years after she’s been spayed.
Feline diabetes can cause an incontinent cat. A diabetic cat is drinking lots more water than normal because the disease makes her very thirsty in an effort to flush the excess sugar out of her body. Of course, she’ll need to urinate more, too. She may have trouble making it to her litter box before she has an accident.
Cats with feline leukemia sometimes become incontinent, too. This can happen in both males and females.
As a cat ages, the urinary sphincter can weaken. Your cat may develop other problems as she gets older, such as diabetes, which cause her body to produce more urine than normal. Combine a very full bladder with a weak urinary sphincter, and it’s easy to see why urinary incontinence in cats is the result.
Due to a neurological problem with the nerves in her bladder, she may be unable to hold her urine.
Bladder tumors can be another factor.
LItter box problems can result when an aging cat becomes forgetful or enters the early stages of senility.

Natural Feline Urinary Support

You may want to consider giving your cat one of the many natural remedies for pets that are available for feline urinary support. Herbs and homeopathic remedies have a long history of success in humans, and they’re very effective for pets, too. Look for a remedy that’s produced by a long-standing company with a sterling reputation for producing high-quality herbal remedies for pets.

In conclusion, if your cat is showing signs of feline incontinence, you need to take steps now to help her.

Visit Natural Pet Urinary Health to learn more about solving the problem of feline incontinence.

Will Your Cat Be A Victim Of Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease?

CatTraining — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:55:02 +0000

Are you concerned about feline lower urinary tract disease? All cat owners should be aware of cat urinary health issues to prevent their cats from becoming victims of this common feline problem.

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

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 feline should be using his litter box on several occasions during the 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 feline lower urinary tract disease, 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 a bladder infection, 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 cat has a feline bladder 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.Your vet may need to catheterize your kitty if he has a urinary blockage.

Can FLUTD Be Prevented?

You can prevent your cat from becoming a statistic by taking these easy steps.

First, feed your cat a high-quality canned food.A cat in the wild doesn’t drink much water because he’s meant to get his water from his 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 tract infection symptoms.

Canned cat food has a moisture level of about 75%, which is much closer to a cat’s natural diet.If your kitty has always been fed dry food, he may not appreciate a change in his diet. Cats are notoriously resistant to change, but with patience, time, and persistence, you can switch him over to canned food.

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

Consider giving your feline friend a natural cat uti remedy that supports bladder health. Look for a remedy that’s made especially for cats.Choose a a company with a long-standing reputation for producing only the best-quality pet remedies.

Don’t let your cat become a victim of FLUTD. Start taking steps now to protect your cat from feline lower urinary tract disease.

Visit Natural Pet Urinary Health to learn how you can prevent feline lower urinary tract disease, and to find the best place to buy herbal pet remedies.

How The Vet Treats Urinary Blockage In Cats

CatTraining — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:35:14 +0000

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 because the urethra in females is much shorter and broader than it is 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.A few days of hospitalization will be necessary for your cat if the catheter needs to be stitched in place.Any bladder stones that are present may be flushed out with fluid to remove them.

Your feline friend will need to be given fluids, by IV or injections under the skin, so he won’t get dehydrated. 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.Your cat’s urinary opening can be enlarged to prevent recurring blockages by means of an operation called a feline perineal urethrostomy.

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

Prevent a blockage by working to keep your cat from developing cat bladder stones in the first place. Cats with very concentrated urine are more prone to developing stones.

If you feed your cat canned food instead of dry, you can avoid this problem. 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.You’ll want to purchase them only from a company with a good reputation for manufacturing high-quality products for pets.

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

Darlene Norris has combined her long-time interest in natural healing with her experience working at a vet clinic to bring you her new website, Natural Pet Urinary Health. Here you can discover how herbal and homeopathic remedies can help prevent and treat feline bladder infection that can lead to urinary blockage in cats. Find the best place to buy these remedies at http://naturalpeturinaryhealth.com

Save Your Cat’s Life With Emergency Treatment for Urinary Blockage in Cats

CatTraining — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 04:27:29 +0000

feline lower urinary tract disease

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.Don’t delay emergency veterinary treatment for this life-threatening complication, as your cat can die within 36 hours.

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.If your cat’s bladder is normal, it will be soft and small when it’s empty. A cat with a urinary blockage will have a hard bladder about the size of a peach.You can imagine how much this hurts your cat.

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.Stones ranging in size from grains of sand to pea gravel are formed when minerals in the urine crystallize. 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.

If urinary toxins build up in your cat’s system, the result can be vomiting and loss of appetite, along with heart rhythm irregularities. Your cat will probably be dehydrated too.Fluids may be given 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 formation of mineral crystals can be avoided by feeding a diet lower in magnesium.To prevent another blockage from happening, he’ll need to eat this special food for the rest of his life.

It’s also important to make sure he has plenty of fresh clean 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.