Feline Urinary Problems — What Every Cat Owner Should Know

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.

What’s The Difference Between FUS And FLUTD?

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.

• Cystitis is an inflammation of your cat’s bladder.
• 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 kitty’s bladder is distended, that indicates a cat urinary blockage, and your vet may want to take x-rays or do an ultrasound to look for feline 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.

Because cats are supposed to get most of their water from their food, a kitty 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.

Natural remedies for cats that support bladder health in felines are readily available. Herbal extracts of barberry and uva ursi, along with the homeopathic remedies Cantharis and Staphysagria, are safe and effective for feline bladder problems. Not only are these natural treatments effective for bladder problems in people, but they have been proven to work just as well in cats.

Click on any link in this article to learn how natural remedies for cats can help to prevent and treat feline urinary problems.