What Are Some Other Signs Of Abnormalities
There are other things to look for in cats urine as well that may be signs of an issue:
- Blood. If you notice blood or a dark-colored-stained trail from the litter box across the floor, notify your veterinarian as soon as you can. Blood in the urine can sign a urinary tract infection , bladder stones, or blood clots. These conditions can cause inflammation and infection and could lead to the obstruction of the urethra, causing a potentially life-threatening inability to urinate. A urethral blockage can occur in just a few hours and must be treated medically as soon as possible.
- Colorless urine: Other changes to look out for are colorless pee. Pale, watery urine that is clear and colorless often indicates dilute urine, a possible sign of kidney disease or diabetes. If you notice a color or consistency change in your cats urine, contact your veterinarian.
- Urinating out of the box: Felines with UTI or renal disease will often time pee outside the litterbox. If your family friend is constantly urinating outside of the box, or next to it, consider contacting your veterinarian.
Bringing The Cat Into Your House
This is why we require a seven-day isolation period, which sounds far more foreboding than it is. Keep the new kitten or cat in a bathroom or spare room, separate from your other cats. Even if you dont have other cats, if the kitty should break with a cold, you dont want the rest of your house contaminated. The bathroom works great because youre in there a lot on, well your own business which involves significant sit-down time. Plenty of opportunity to socialize with the kitty and love it up!
Why seven days? Because most cold and flu viruses have a 3-6 day incubation period. So, if your cat or kitten doesnt show signs of illness with seven days, its probably free of anything it would have picked up at the shelter, and you can allow it to start mingling with the rest of the household.
Prevention Of Peeing Often
A healthy diet and regular exercise is the first step in preventing frequent urination conditions. Cats are carnivores and need higher amounts of protein in their diets. Increasing protein and reducing carbohydrates will help your cat keep his sugar levels down as well as his weight. Additionally, make sure your cat has access to clean water and a clean litter box. Poor litter box maintenance can lead to a higher risk of bacterial infections.
A healthy diet and exercise will go a long way for your cats health. Obesity is a contributing factor in many conditions where frequent urination is a symptom. By providing clean water, nutritious food, a clean litter box, and plenty of playtime, you can reduce the risk of frequent urination problems. Additionally, you should make regular annual visits to your veterinarian for well-cat check-ups, especially as your cat ages.
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Possible Urinary Tract Infection Or Feline Interstitial Cystitis
When a female goes to the box frequently and strains or cries out in pain its usually a Urinary tract infection or Feline interstitial cystitis. This is not to say that only females can get these disorders, theyre just more common in females. The cat may or may not leave bloody urine in the box. Sometimes they wont go to the box at all because they associate the box with pain. Your cat may urinate just a very small amount five or sex times a day. Your vet will take a urine sample to check for infection and do some bloodwork to check for kidney disease/failure, or diabetes. X-rays or an ultra-sound will be performed to check for trauma of the urinary tract or cancer.
How To Scoop A Litter Box
Do you remember playing with a pail, sieve, and shovel at the beach or in the sandbox when you were a kid? Scooping out the litter box is much the same as sieving out items from the sand, but in this case the buried treasure is clumps of urine and feces. The real treasure, though, is a clean litter box in about the same amount of time it takes to brush your teeth .
Giving the litter box a scoop is easy and takes only a few minutes. Heres the basic process for how:
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Normal Amounts Of Feline Urination
How often your cat should urinate depends on several factors, such ashow much they drink throughout the course of their day or if they are on a dry cat food or wet cat food only diet. For a general range, though, your cat should urinate between three to five times a day.
Since there are so many factors that can cause the amount of urination to vary, it is a good idea to keep an idea on your cat to figure out what its normal routine is. Once you have this down, it will be much easier to figure out when your cat is going less or more than usual.
How Often Do Kittens Pee
Unlike adult cats, kittens will urinate every time its stimulated. Take note that kittens younger than three weeks old need their mamas help to stimulate elimination. Mother cats do this by licking the kittens rear.
After every meal, the kitten needs to be stimulated. It has to urinate every time its stimulated, on which the frequency relies on how often the kitten feeds from its mother cat.
Once the kitty reaches three weeks old, it can regulate its bladder independently and will urinate up to four times a day.
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Cat Not Peeing At All
It’s completely abnormal for a cat to not urinate at all, and this condition is life-threatening. The best-case scenario is that your kitty has an obstruction in her urinary tract.
If nothing’s blocking the flow of urine, your kitty is probably quite ill. When her body isn’t producing any urine, that’s called anuria. Most often this condition is a symptom of acute kidney failure, which stems from kidney disease, congestive heart failure, ingestion of toxic substances or one of numerous other very serious causes. If your kitty stops peeing altogether, she needs emergency veterinary care.
Always check with your veterinarian before changing your pets diet, medication, or physical activity routines. This information is not a substitute for a vets opinion.
General Cleaning: Wear Protection
At first glance a cat litter tray looks quite innocuous. But naturally it will be covered in bacteria that are harmful to both you and your cat. We would recommend wearing gloves and a face mask either when you are clearing your cats deposits or cleaning the entire tray. These will afford some protection against the fumes given off by what the cat has left, and against the bacteria that will become airborne when you collect up the soiled litter.
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How Often Do Cats Pee At Night
Depending on the amount of water it drank before bedtime, cats may pee once or twice during the night. Some kitties will not pee throughout the night, especially if they established a habit of using the litter box only during the day.
Nevertheless, its best to place multiple litter boxes all over your house. This will let the kitty urinate whenever it needs to go. learn here how to find cat pee
Why Is My Cat Peeing So Much
As more and more cats live exclusively indoors more and more are also using the litter box. One of the best things about a litter box is that it allows you to be more aware of your cats urine habits. You may notice, for example, that youre cleaning the box more often.
If there is more urine in the litter box, it can sometimes be a bit difficult to tell if a cat is peeing larger volumes or just more often however, its important to differentiate increased frequency from increased volume, since they indicate completely different potential problems and point to different locations in the urinary system. There are conditions that cause increased frequency of small amounts of urine, conditions that result in large volumes of urine and conditions that cause increased attempts to urinate. You may need to keep a close eye on your cat to know for sure.
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A Few Important Warnings About Cat Poop
Regardless of which rule of thumb you choose to follow, watch out for these warning signs.
- Blood in the stool is an exception if you see blood in your cats stool, even once, you should have them and their stool evaluated by your veterinarian.
- If you notice your cat straining to pass a bowel movement, be sure its that they are straining to defecate rather than straining to urinate. Constipation is uncomfortable, urinary obstruction is rapidly fatal!
- Never, never, never attempt to give your cat an enema at home! Not only is it likely to end with your arms and face scratched beyond recognition , it may also kill your cat. Inappropriately administered enemas can cause rectal tears and phosphate-containing enemas and others can cause severe, life-threatening dehydration and electrolyte abnormalities. If your cat is constipated… take them to the vet!
- If your cat is straining in the litter box and you notice that it’s because he has a string, dental floss, or other “linear” material hanging out of his rectum, don’t just jump right in and try pulling it out without first reading our “Cats and String – To Pull or Not to Pull?” article.
If your cat is eliminating outside the litter box that’s a whole other ball of proverbial wax. There are many potential reasons for such a change in behavior, and you should work with your veterinarian to try and figure out why your cat has taken up this new habit.
Below are some simple things you can check and address on your own, too.
Side Effect Of Certain Drugs
Like humans, cats sometimes need the assistance of medications in order to recover from diseases. Despite the fact that cat-specific drugs rarely give the felines difficulty, they could still cause a couple of changes in daily habits including urination. Hence, if your fluffy is drinking and peeing more than usual, one of the first things you must consider is if it’s on medication. In case your kitty is receiving some drugs to treat health issues, increased thirst and rises in frequency of urination might be side effects.
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How Often Should I Change Cat Litter 3 Things To Consider
Cats, like any other pet, require a lot of care and are a big responsibility. You will need to feed them, play with them, and change their litter box. Unlike dogs, your cat wont go out for walks, and more and more people are keeping their cats indoors to protect them, which means you will need to provide your cat with a clean litter box that they can use. If this is your first pet, one of the most common questions mos owners have is how often you will need to change the litter box. The answer depends on several factors that we are going to go over right now. Keep reading while we discuss litter type, frequency, number of cats, and more to help you provide an adequate bathroom environment for your cat, so it doesnt break housetraining.
What Does It Mean If A Cat Pees Less Or Isnt Urinating At All
A cat suddenly urinating less or straining to pee is not a good sign and generally requires medical attention. What could cause a cat to stop urinating?The main cause is the formation of a urethral plug that can lead to a urethral blockage.
The blockage makes it impossible for the urine to leave the bladder, which can make your cat sick, and even die in a worst case scenario if left untreated. As you can imagine, this can be very painful and your cat will become very distressed.
Straining to pee common causes:
- Bladder inflammation
- Bladder stones and urethral plugs
- Bladder infections
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The Benefits Of Prescription Food
Often a change to prescription food will get your cat back on track and promote normal kidney and urinary health. Your vet will prescribe it and you can get it from the animal clinic or pet stores.
It may be temporary, or your cat may need to remain on it for life. Your pets life can be extended sometimes by many years. Some prescription food is low in protein and phosphorus to slow the progression of chronic kidney disease.
There are special foods that will treat diabetes and often keep your cat from needing insulin therapy. The same is true of thyroid disorders, as there are foods that can minimize the need for thyroid medications. Diet plays a big part in urinary blockages due to crystals . There are a variety of cat foods that will lessen the chances of this from happening again or prevent it from happening in the first place.
A decade or two ago kidney and urinary tract disorders often resulted in a pets life cut tragically short. Today with innovative diagnoses and treatments our cats can live normal healthy lives even with chronic kidney decease or urinary tract disorders, as well as, diabetes and thyroid disorders. However, careful observation of what is normal for your cat and picking up on any deviations of the norm will keep beginning problems from becoming emergencies and keep emergencies from turning tragic!
Final Thoughts About How Often Should My Cat Pee
While theres no one-size-fits-all when it comes to how often a feline pees, there are some guidelines that will help you know if your beloved kitty is healthy. By paying close attention to your cats toilet habits, you will quickly notice when something goes wrong and will be able to get vet care fast.
Remember that how often cats pee is just one indicator of feline health. The smell, color, and amount of cat urine can also tell you a lot about your kittys state of health.
So, no matter how uncomfortable it makes you, asking how often a cat should pee is really just good cat parenting!
Please Note: This How Often do Cats Pee post contains affiliate links. That means if you click through on most of the links and end up making a purchase I will receive a small commission. This will not affect the price that you pay. I wanted to make sure that you were aware of this.
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Is Your Cats Pee More Pungent Than Usual
Normal cat pee will have a slightly pungent and acidic scent that is fairly bearable . If youve begun noticing that your cats pee is stinking up the house more so than usual, its possible that your cat might have a bladder infection or cystitis. In male cats, if the odour of urine has changed drastically, it could be a sign of tumours and hormonal disorders.
What you can do: Likewise, its best to take your cat to the vet to get it checked immediately. Just in case.
When To Worry About Constipation In Kittens
If your kitten hasnt pooped for 48 hours this should worry you enough to take it to a vet. If it has been in 24 hours, keep a close eye on its behavior and comfort.
If your kitten is in obvious pain, there is no harm in paying your vet a visit.
However, you shouldnt worry or automatically assume your kitten is constipated if it defecates fewer times one day than it did the day before.
The number of times a kitten poops can vary from one to six times a day and this can vary from kitten to kitten. Age is a relevant factor.
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What Does It Mean If A Cat Urinates Fewer Times
If the change is small and it spans out over a short period of time , then you should look into the factors listed above on the list. It is most likely not something serious, but be sure to mention it to your vet the next time you take your cat for a checkup.
To give you an example, lets say your cat urinates 4 times a day normally. If the cat urinates only 3 times a day for 2-3 days, but then goes back to 4 times and maintains this frequency, then you have nothing to worry about.
On the other hand, if the pattern of 3 persists for a week, then you should take your cat to the vet, just to be on the safe side. If the pattern persists for two weeks or even longer, then it is that more important that your doctor runs some tests to see if your cat is in good health.
Moreover, if the pattern of 3 shifts to 2 times a day from the regular 4, then your cat might be in distress. The usual suspect is kidney disease, but there are plenty of other issues that could be causing the changes.