Urinary Tract Infections In Cats
While cats often have urinary tract issues, our kitty companions are more prone to urinary tract disease than infections. Cats that do develop urinary tract infections are typically 10 years of age or older and often suffer from endocrine diseases, including hyperthyroidism and diabetes mellitus.
If your feline companion is displaying symptoms of a urinary tract infection and is diagnosed with cystitis, your veterinarian will prescribe and antibacterial to help battle your cats UTI.
The most common symptoms of urinary tract infection in cats include reduced amounts of urine, straining to urinate, pain or discomfort when urinating, not urinating at all, urinating around the house , and passing urine tinged with blood .
These symptoms may be caused by a urinary tract infection, but there are also numerous feline lower urinary tract diseases that may cause your cat to display the symptoms of UTI listed above.
Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease
In this case, crystals tend to form in the urine and cause complications. There are two forms of crystals: struvite crystals and calcium oxalate. These crystals may aggregate and turn into stones that may be painful to pass. Such stones may form in the male cat’s urethra and form a plug that may cause a urinary blockage, which may become potentially fatal within a few days or hours. When this happens, because the blockage prevents the cat from urinating, he will become poisoned from its own toxins .
The following are key symptoms of FLUTD in cats:
- Painful urination
- Urinating out of the litter box
Symptoms of the blockage progressing in male cats:
- Vomiting
- Lethargy
- Shock
- Death if left untreated once toxins overwhelm the body, poisoning the cat to death
In this case, prompt treatment is what can make the difference between life or death. Upon seeing the vet, an obstructed cat will exhibit a large, hard bladder. The vet at this point will insert a catheter to unblock the cat. At this point, the cat will urinate abundantly. He may be kept at the hospital for a few days until he’s peeing normally and given intravenous fluids in the meantime.
What Do I Do If My Dog Is Urinating Blood
If your dog is urinating blood, the first thing to do is to contact your veterinarian immediately and make an appointment, or go to an emergency vet if your general veterinarian is closed.
During the appointment, your veterinarian will attempt to diagnose your dogs condition and may conduct a urinalysis, a urine culture, take an X-ray, or ultrasound your dogs bladder and kidneys. It is important to make an appointment or take your pet to an emergency animal hospital within 24 hours after noticing signs so that your dogs condition can be diagnosed and treated appropriately.
While at the veterinarian, its important to give a thorough history of your dogs health, including a history of signs and symptoms. This information can give your veterinarian clues as to the cause of blood in your dogs urine, and help with a diagnosis and treatment as well.
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Blood In The Litter Box
First, its hard to differentiate if what youve noticed is bloody urine or feces or vomit. When in doubt, take a few pictures with your smartphone, and then suck some up or worst case, wipe it up on a clean white paper towel and fold it into a plastic Ziploc bagand bring it to your veterinarian. Gross as it sounds, we veterinarians want to see it and can often determine the source.
Earlier this month, one of my friends reached out. They have a WiFi-enabled, self-cleaning Litter-Robot 3 Connect, and noticed this on the smartphone app:
This app shows the number of trips that their cat was making to the automatic litter box. You can see that this cat typically averages 2-3 visits to the Litter Robot per day. Then all of a sudden in a 2-day period, this poor kitty was visiting the litter box 14-16X/day. Woah! Cats normally visit the litter box 1-4X/day. If you see that many trips to the litter box, something is medically wrong, and a visit to the veteven the ER vet in the middle of the nightis a MUST.
Causes Of Blood In Cat Urine
Your cats urinary system starts at the kidneys. Urine produced here moves through the ureters and is stored in the bladder until it is voided through the urethra and into the tray.
Things can go wrong with any part of this system to cause blood in your cats urine. The most common problems occur in the lower urinary tract and form a spectrum of diseases called Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease or FLUTD.
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What To Do If Your Dog Has Bloody Urine In Highland And Westville In
The first thing to do, naturally, is to call the veterinarian in Highland and Westville, IN. It is impossible to say without professional medical knowledge and testing what could be causing blood in a dogs urine. It is easy to guess that it could be a common urinary tract infection, but there is no way to say for sure unless a doctor is able to examine the dog and give a proper diagnosis.
Signs of a UTI in dogs include:
- Frequent urination
- Visible or audible pain during urination
- Dripping urine uncontrollably
- A struggle to urinate
- Licking of the genitals
Even if it is just a UTI, a dog with any infection will need medical attention. UTIs that are not professionally seen to can result in a bad infection of the kidneys, and worsen until it becomes life threatening. Dogs with any infection should be taken to a vet and more than likely given antibiotics to help the body fight the infection.
And of course it could be that what appears to be a UTI is in fact something much more serious. Not that a UTI isnt serious, because it is. But a UTI is quite different than potential bladder cancer. If you see any signs of blood in your dogs urine or any behavior indicating pain or difficulty with urination, take them to the vets office, or to an emergency vet if your dog needs immediate care.
They should be seen by a doctor within 24 hours of visible blood.
How Do I Know If My Cat Is Dehydrated
According to PetMD, the classical way to check if your cat is dehydrated is through a skin check. If you take a pinch of skin over the cats shoulders and pull up gently, the skin should snap back into place when released. As the cat gets more dehydrated, the skin goes back in place more and more slowly.
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What Are The Causes Of Flutd
Urolithiasis
One possible cause of FLUTD is the formation of urinary stones, also called uroliths, in the bladder and/or urethra. These are collections of minerals that form in the urinary tract of cats. X-rays or ultrasound are usually needed to diagnose urinary stones. The most commonly seen uroliths are calcium oxalate and struvite . While a special, stone-dissolving diet can be prescribed to dissolve struvite stones, calcium oxalate stones need to be removed surgically. If the diet fails, or if the stones form again, then surgery may also be necessary for struvite stones. In female cats, it may also be possible for a veterinarian to help a cat pass stones by flushing its bladder with sterile fluids or remove small stones directly from the bladder using a cystoscope when the cat is under anesthesia. A veterinarian may then recommend medication or dietary changes after surgery to help prevent recurrence.
Urinary infection
Infection of your cats urinary tract with bacteria, fungi, parasites or possibly even viruses can cause signs of FLUTD. Although bacterial infections are more common than fungal, parasitic or viral infections, they are still relatively uncommon in cats. If an infection is found, your veterinarian will probably look for another disease or problem that may have put your cat at risk of infection. For example, uroliths and diabetes can increase the risk of urinary tract infection.
Urethral obstruction
Feline idiopathic cystitis
Other causes
Everything You Need To Know About Urinary Tract Problems In Cats
Jul 1, 2018 | Cats, Emergency Situations
FLUTD or feline lower urinary tract disease is a common cause for many feline emergency veterinary visits. This condition comes in two forms the obstructed and non obstructed forms. In some cases the unobstructed form can progress into the obstructed forma life threatening, emergency condition.
The causes of FLUTD are many and varied. They include trauma, urinary stones, a mucus plug, UTI, underlying kidney disease, and it can have no discernible cause whatsoever. Cats are mysterious! No matter how it happened, the result is inflammation of the urinary tract. Why is that bad? If your kitty cant pee, it will buildup urine, distending its bladder. This can lead to electrolyte abnormalities that poison its blood. The bladder itself rupture from the buildup of urine that has no way to escape.
Common signs that your cat is in urinary distress include:
- Blood in the urine
- Meowing while attempting to urinate
- Expressing pain if you touch its abdomen
- Many owners also notice their cat straining to defecate
- Some cats excessively groom their nether regions, or drag them across the floor.
As we stated at the outset, the most frustrating thing about FLUTD is the difficulty in figuring out its causes. If you notice any of the signs of FLUTD in your kitties, please dont try to figure out whyTake them to a veterinarian immediately. Prompt treatment can save your cats life.
For more information, contact our team at VETSS!
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How Are Bladder Stones Diagnosed
Inflammatory diseases of the bladder are common in cats, and produce the same signs as bladder stones. Therefore, we do not assume a cat has bladder stones based only on these clinical signs.
Some bladder stones can be palpated or felt with the fingers through the abdominal wall. However, failure to feel bladder stones does not rule them out because many are too small to be detected this way.
Most bladder stones are visible on radiographs , or by an ultrasound exam of the bladder. These diagnostic imaging techniques should be performed on cats that show signs of abdominal pain or have repeated bouts of blood in the urine or straining.
“Most bladder stones are visible on radiographs , or by an ultrasound exam of the bladder.”
Some types of bladder stones are radiolucent, meaning they cannot be seen on a normal radiographs. This is because their mineral makeup does not reflect X-ray beams. They can be detected by an ultrasound examination, or with contrast radiographs a specialized technique that uses dye or contrast material to outline the stones within the bladder.
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Causes of Blood in the Urine in Dogs.
Bladder or Kidney Infection – Blood in your dog’s urine may be caused by a bladder infection or kidney infection, or infection of the prostate or urethra.
Urinary Tract Infection – A key symptom of Urinary tract infection is Blood in the Urine.
Could It Be a UTI? In the vast majority of cases, blood in a dog’s urine also commonly known as hematuria is a telltale sign of a urinary tract infection. It’s incredibly common for dogs to get these, and it happens more often in female dogs than males.
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Cat Urinary Tract Infection
Cat urinary tract infections are rare compared to the occurrence of UTIs in dogs, nonetheless older cats often experience a host of other urinary tract issues that cause similar symptoms. Today our vets in Somerset County NJ share the symptoms, causes and treatments for urinary tract infections and diseases in cats.
Lower Urinary Tract Causes
The lower urinary tract includes the bladder and the urethra and allows urine to exit the body.
Causes for blood in the lower UT in dogs include the following:
Bladder Stones
Bladder stones are crystals that form in the bladder and can cause inflammation, bleeding, and potential urethral blockages. These stones form for a variety of reasons, including diet, genetics, or chronic infections.
Bladder Infection
A lower urinary tract infection is by far the most common cause of blood in dog urine. It can be caused by several things, ranging from skin allergies, urethra anatomy of and hormone-related incontinence in spayed females
Bladder Cancer
The symptoms of bladder cancer in dogs are similar to UTIs and can cause accidents in the house, blood in the urine, or difficulty urinating.
Prostate Problems
Intact male dogs tend to have a higher incidence of prostate problems, and prostate enlargement or infections can cause blood in the urine.
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Stress Reduction And Dietary Change Can Help Your Cat
May 6, 2014
Are your feline patients trying to tell you something?
When they visit the clinic with their owners, who bring them in with complaints about their pets’ irritable moods and poor litter box habits, the cats may be presenting with a one of several medical conditions associated with feline lower urinary tract disease, or FLUTD, says Jacqueline Neilson, DVM, Dipl. ACVB, of Animal Behavior Clinic LLC in Portland, Ore.
“FLUTD is a catch-all term to describe any disorder affecting the urinary bladder or urethra,” she explains. “It’s quite common. In fact, for years some kind of lower urinary tract disease sign has been the most common medical reason policy holders of pet insurance take their cat to the vet.”
Dru Forrester, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVIM, associate director, scientific affairs and technical information services for Hill?s Pet Nutrition in Topeka, Kan., adds that for veterinarians, the signs associated with FLUTD can be linked to a number of underlying issuesand that makes pinpointing the cause and treating it a challenge.
“No matter the cause, they often have the same signs, and that’s the frustrating part about ,” Dr. Forrester says. “Any disease that affects the lower urinary tract typically causes the same four or five clinical signs.”
The Common Signs
Owners with cats suffering from FLUTD will often bring their pets in when they begin acting inappropriately.
Causes of FLUTD
Your Cat Has Crystals Or Bladder Stones In The Bladder
These little deposits of minerals and organic matter start as crystals and turn into stones.
There are a variety of things that can cause these deposits, including:
- Your cats diet
- Urine pH changes
- Bladder infections
Bladder stones are on the move. They can scrape, inflame and irritate your cats bladder, which is painful for your cat.
These crystals and stones also run the risk of blocking your cats urethra, so your cat cant urinate.
This can become a very serious issue quickly.
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What Are The Causes Of Uti In Cats
Essentially, urinary tract infections in cats occur when bacteria reaches the bladder by traveling through the urethra of the cat. This is fairly uncommon and UTI in cats might be caused by an underlying disorder, such as Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease . UTI in cats should be treated by a veterinary professional. They can lead to bladder stones, kidney failure, and additional health disorders.
What Should I Do If My Cat Has Been Exposed To One Of These Elements
If your cat has already consumed medications for humans, swallowed some sort of cleaning material, or has been exposed to another toxic element, you should call a veterinarian immediately. He/She will know what to do. There are times when your vet would guide you or prescribe you certain antidotes, other times where you must rush your cat to the hospital for proper medical care.
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What Is The Average Number Of Times A Cat Urinates
It is essential to observe and know your cats pattern and observe their use of thelitter box. Cats usually use the litter box from two to three times a day on average. For some cats, it is perfectly reasonable to urinate even four or five times a day, while for others, this could signal a problem. However, more than five times a day can usually be a bad sign, and veterinary checkup is required.
Video Answer: How To Make Dog Uti Home Remedy
For many dogs, blood in the urine could be caused by a urinary tract infection, or in male dogs, a benign prostate problem. Typically when there is blood in your dog’s urine, this is due to inflammation or infection in the urinary tract which could include the upper or lower urinary tract.
In dogs, the system works the same but the blood types are different.
Other DEA blood types include 1.2, 1.3, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7, all of which can be positive or negative.
Unlike humans, dogs do not have naturally-occurring antibodies of the opposing blood types in their bodies before a transfusion.
that the immune status of the dog having the problem is compromised by the stress, potentially allowing secondary opportunistic microbes to cause complications in such stressed pets. Mild symptoms can include fever, frequent urination and increased or decreased appetite. The one time passing of streaks of blood in dog urine during travel, separation or grief are not of major concern, but, it represents weakened physiology and immune status of body. Young puppies are more likely to show these …
But a UTI is quite different than potential bladder cancer. If you see any signs of blood in your dog’s urine or any behavior indicating pain or difficulty with urination, take them to the vet’s office, or to an emergency vet if your dog needs immediate care.
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