dysuria or difficulty urinating is a symptom that can indicate a serious or very serious pathology to the cat owner. Difficulty urinating is usually accompanied by a decrease in the volume of urine excreted or the complete absence of it (anuria). Both are a real emergency situation, because the kidney's filtering function stops when urine is not passed. Kidneys that don't work mean kidney failure, a really compromised situation for the cat's life. So, at the slightest suspicion of dysuria or anuria, it is necessary to take the cat to the vet.
In this article on our site we will explain both how to identify dysuria and the causes that can cause the cat to not be able to urinate. Read on and find out how to describe to the vet each of the symptoms that your feline presents.
How is dysuria identified in cats?
It is not easy to know if the cat urinates a lot or urinates little, because the amount of urine produced is never measured directly. Therefore, it is necessary for the owner to be very attentive to any change in the elimination behavior (urination) of the cat. The details to take into account to detect dysuria or anuria would be:
- If the frequency of visits to the litter box by the cat increases.
- If the time the cat spends in the litter box increases, as does the meowing, because the cat feels pain when trying to urinate.
- If the sand doesn't stain as quickly as it used to. Abnormal colors can also be observed in the sand (hematuria, that is, bloody color).
- If the cat begins to urinate outside the litter box, but the urination position is crouched (it is not marking territory). This is because the cat associates pain with the litter box.
- If the posterior third begins to have spots. Because the animal spends more time in the litter box, it is more susceptible to staining. In addition, it can begin to be observed that the cat's self-cleaning behavior is less.
What causes dysuria?
Difficulty urinating in cats is associated with pathologies of the lower urinary tract, mainly:
- Urinary calculi They can be made up of different minerals, although struvite crystals (magnesium ammonium phosphate) are very common in cats. Although the cause that can give rise to the calculation can be varied, it is closely associated with a poor intake of water, a food with a small amount of water in its composition, a high content of magnesium in the diet and alkaline urine.
- Urinary infections. Infectious cystitis and urethritis usually cause inflammation and a narrowing of the urinary tract, causing difficulty in urination in the feline.
- External or internal masses that press on the bladder and urethra. Tumors in both females and males, or inflammation of the prostate (rare in cats).
- Inflammation of the penis in cats. Mainly due to the presence of hairs that coil around it.
- Traumatic There may be a rupture of the urinary bladder. Urine continues to be produced, but is not evacuated to the outside. This is a very dangerous situation for the cat, as it runs the risk of acute peritonitis due to the presence of urine in the abdominal cavity.
What should be done?
The owner must be aware that anuria is a potential situation of death for the animal in 48-72 hours, due to the fact that acute renal failure is generated and it can go into uremic coma in a short time, due to the accumulation of toxins in the body. The more time that passes between the appearance of dysuria or anuria and the visit to the veterinarian, the worse the prognosis for the animal. Therefore, as soon as you identify that the cat cannot urinate, you should go to a specialist to examine it and determine both the cause and the treatment.
