Cat / Puspin - Answered 1340 days ago
My cat is acting the same as usual. He is eating, sleeping, drinking water, and urinating like he usually do. However, it's been almost 2 weeks since we started to notice a little bit of blood from his urine. We suspected that this is a case of UTI so we change his diet to cat food (urinary) and even bought him cranberry juice. He's still acting like his usual self, but I noticed that he's been urinating frequently with short time intervals and there's still blood on his pee. I'm worried that this is not just a simple case of UTI. There's no near veterinary clinics here, and I'm wondering what should I do to help him? Please help. Thank you.
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Patricia
Philippines
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Mikmik
Puspin, 3 years old castrated male
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Hi Patrecia, well you have a genuine concern I can see, let me put it in this way. Blood in your cat’s urine is never normal and always needs to be assessed as soon as possible. If your cat is urinating normally, you do not need to rush into an emergency clinic. However, cats that are not passing urine, straining to pee, peeing only small amounts of urine or yeowling in the litterbox need to be seen by a veterinarian immediately. Here are the top five reasons for a cat to be urinating blood: WHAT CAUSES BLOOD IN A CAT’S URINE? The most common reason for cats to have blood in their urine is a condition known as feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD). Other names for this syndrome are feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC) and feline urologic syndrome (FUS). The exact reason cats are affected by FLUTD is not fully understood. Current thoughts are that stress and obesity can play a role in the expression of the disease. Deficiencies in the “glue” of the bladder wall, viruses and other biological elements are other theories. Older thoughts were the ash content of food or the pH of the urine caused this illness. Bladder stones will also cause blood in cat urine. You may also see the other signs such as straining and yeowling when peeing. Urinary tract infections, which are uncommon in young, healthy cats. In older cats, urinary tract infections become more common especially in females because of their anatomy. Cancer of the bladder, which is also uncommon. Cats with this disease can show a variety of symptoms including blood in their urine. In very young cats, anatomical abnormalities of their urinary tract can sometimes lead to blood in their urine. WHAT TO DO IF YOUR CAT HAS BLOOD IN THEIR URINE? Call your veterinarian and make an appointment. This is not something that should be handled with home remedies. If your cat cannot urinate it can cause renal failure and death within days. Your veterinarian may want to take run a number of tests to screen for a number of cat illnesses. These can include blood and urine samples, urine cultures, viral testing for the common cat viruses feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), or perform exams on your cat including taking x-rays or an abdominal ultrasound. Use the veterinary diet your veterinarian has advised you to use if your cat has FLUTD. People have a tendency to stop the recommended diet once their cat is feeling better, but studies have shown veterinary diets reduce relapses by over 80%. The most common cause of a relapse is changing a food to another diet. Regular pet store “urinary tract” diets are not appropriate for these cats. Increasing water intake in the form of canned food (see why in our recent blog post about the best wet cat food), using water fountains, adding a couple of drops of tuna juice to the water, using filtered water, or using large, clear water bowls, are some of the ways to increase your cats water consumption. If your cat has blood in his urine, call your veterinarian and make an appointment. The sooner you do, the sooner he will be feeling better. With best regards
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