How Do I Treat My Cat That Is Peeing Blood
The treatment of your cats peeing blood in urine condition varies from cat to cat. Besides, it also depends on the root cause of the condition. For example, lets say your vet runs a few tests and diagnoses your cat with a bacterial urinary tract infection. They would treat the condition with pain killers and antibiotics certainly.
However, if your cat is peeing blood in urine secondary to psychological stress, you would have to spend time with your cat, make it feel happy, take it outside for playtime and much more. Furthermore, as a responsible cat owner, you must ensure that your cat drinks water on time and never gets dehydrated. Besides, it would help if you also were careful about your cats dietary lifestyle.
As mentioned earlier, crystalluria and stones may also be the culprit. Usually, the stones pass through urine. However, if they do not go away, your vet would recommend surgical removal of the stones.
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What Are The Signs Of Flutd
Typical signs in cats with FLUTD are those of inflammation and irritation of the lower urinary tract. The common clinical signs are:
- Increased frequency of urination called pollakiuria
- Difficulty in urinating or dysuria. Affected cats often spend a long time straining in the litter box while passing only small quantities of urine. Some cat owners confuse this with constipation or difficulty passing feces.
- The presence of bloody urine called hematuria.
- Foul smelling or cloudy urine.
- Urinating in unusual places.
- Excessive grooming or licking of the genital region..
- Complete urinary tract obstruction resulting in the inability to urinate. These cats usually strain to urinate persistently without producing any urine.
With a urinary tract obstruction, it is important to seek immediate veterinary care because blockage to the flow of urine can be a life-threatening complication if untreated.
When To See A Vet
These at-home treatments and remedies may be effective for clearing up minor infections, but more serious infections need to be treated by a professional animal doctor.
If your cat is experiencing mild or moderate symptoms, you can try these remedies to relieve their symptoms. If their symptoms show no sign of improvement in a few days, talk to a veterinarian. If your cat seems to be in pain or is unable to pass urine, see a vet immediately. This could be a sign of urethral obstruction, which can be fatal if not treated within 24 to 48 hours.
A vet may be able to prescribe antibiotics to target the harmful bacteria. Be sure to give your cat the full dose of prescribed antibiotics to prevent the UTI from returning or becoming resistant to treatment.
Even if youre pursuing professional treatment, these remedies can be effectively used alongside antibiotics to strengthen the bladder and balance your cats pH levels. Some can also be used as a daily supplement to prevent the UTI from coming back. Remember to check the urine pH prior to starting some of the remedies to make sure you don’t make the problem worse.
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Treatment For Urinary Tract Disease
Treating blood in your cats urine should address the underlying cause of the haematuria. For cats with a urethral blockage, treatment is urgent and involves catheterization.
The exact treatment your cat undergoes will depend on their symptoms and final diagnosis. For the most common cause- cystitis- theres no specific treatment. Instead, symptoms are controlled using anti-inflammatories.
Herbal supplements are available that may help the bladder lining, but most of these have little clinical evidence to back their use. Since FIC is associated with stress, calming supplements may also be of use.
Of course, if your cat is suffering from another type of urinary tract disease, treatment might differ. Cats with infections, for instance, will need antibiotics, as well as treatment for the underlying cause. Cats with urinary stones may need a special diet to help reduce the crystals in the urine, and these stones may need to be removed surgically.
Cats with a blocked urethra will need unblocking urgently- by passing a urinary catheter under general anaesthetic. And cats with bladder tumours may have chemotherapy or surgery as an option- although whether this is appropriate for your cat is a decision for you and the veterinary surgeon to make together.
There is some new evidence that suggests that water supplements may increase hydration in cats too- so thats something to look out for in the future.
Treating Your Cats Condition
So, how are some of these problems treated?
- Feline Idiopathic Cystitis is treated on an outpatient basis, with fluids under the skin to help hydrate and flush out the bladder, pain medication, and canned food.
- Feline Urethral Obstruction is treated with sedation, unblocking , aggressive IV fluids, pain control, and appropriate monitoring and supportive care .
- Urinary tract infections are often treated with a short course of antibiotics and pain medication.
When in doubt, if you notice your cat peeing blood or blood from the rear, get to a vet right away to keep your cat safe and pain-free. If youre worried youll miss some of the subtler signs of Feline Idiopathic Cystitis , you may want to try a WiFi-enabled litter box to track your cats litter box habits from your phone.
Check out the video below: These pet parents didnt know their cat was peeing blood until their app alerted them that the Litter-Robot was cycling every 10 minutes.
Cover photo by Cong H on Unsplash
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Does Your Cat Have Blood In Its Urine 5 Reasons Why And When It Is An Emergency
Blood in your cats 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:
Why Is My Cat Peeing Blood
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If you have ever seen your cat peeing blood, you know just how alarming it can be. While it isn’t something one ever hopes to witness, blood in cat urine is actually quite common. Hematuria, the scientific name for having blood in the urine, can be caused by abnormalities in the urinary tract or even disease processes elsewhere in the body that can affect the urinary tract or kidneys.
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Bloody Urine Warrants A Trip To The Veterinarian
If you notice blood in your pets urine, a trip to the veterinarian is needed. Your veterinarian will want to know how frequently your pet is urinating. Is it more or less than usual? Is your pet straining when trying to urinate? What is the volume of urine producedlarge amounts or just small drops here and there? Do you see drops of blood at the beginning or end of urination, or is the urine bloody throughout? Any chance your pet got into rat bait? Has there been any change in your pets water consumption or appetite, and what food is your pet eating? If you have a male cat that is trying to urinate and is not producing urine, this is an emergency situation and warrants immediate veterinary attention because he could be blockedobstruction of the urethra. In the case of dogs, your veterinarian also will want to know if your pet has been spayed or neutered. A dog that is not spayed may appear to have blood in her urine because she is in heat. Unneutered male dogs can develop benign prostatic hyperplasia an enlarged prostate. while neutered male dogs are at a slightly higher risk of prostate cancer, both of which can contribute to urinary issues.
How To Treat A Cat With Blood In Its Urine
This article was co-authored by Pippa Elliott, MRCVS. Dr. Elliott, BVMS, MRCVS is a veterinarian with over 30 years of experience in veterinary surgery and companion animal practice. She graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1987 with a degree in veterinary medicine and surgery. She has worked at the same animal clinic in her hometown for over 20 years. This article has been viewed 17,403 times.
Cats can have blood in their urine due to health issues like a urinary tract infection or urinary tract disease. If you notice a cat has blood in its urine, take it to the vet right away. Blood in a cats urine is usually a sign of a serious medical condition. The vet can then diagnose the issue and prescribe the necessary treatment. There are also steps you can take to prevent blood in a cats urine in the future.
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Causes Of Blood In Your Cats Urine
These underlying illnesses and conditions are likely to cause hematuria:
- Stress. This is one of the foremost causes of blood in your cats urine. After a cat undergoes a period of stress, they are likely to develop illnesses involving the bladder and urinary tract.
- A bladder infection or urinary tract infection. Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease is when any condition or bacterial infection affects the bladder or urethra of cats.
- Pandora Syndrome. Cats suffer from Pandora Syndrome more often than they suffer from UTIs. It is a general term used to describe bladder hormone abnormalities, obesity, and inflammation in the bladder.
- Crystals, bladder stones, and tumors. When bladder stones, crystals, or tumors rub against the bladder wall, they can irritate the tissue and cause bleeding. Its important to note that tumors can also bleed on their own.
- Urethral obstruction. This is when there is a blockage in the tube that carries urine from the bladder out of the body. Urethral obstruction makes it very difficult for the cat to empty the bladder and can be life-threatening. If cats cant excrete waste and toxins, their kidneys may shut down.
Urethral obstructions can be life-threatening. They can lead to kidney failure and even death within a matter of days. Get your cat to the vet immediately if theyre unable to urinate.
If you suspect that your cat has ingested poison, call the ASPCA Animal Poison Control 426-4435 immediately.
Can I See Blood In My Cats Urine
Hematuria is the term used in the medical world to mention blood in the urine. You may or may not see the blood. If you can see the blood in urine, it would refer to as gross hematuria, while if you cannot detect blood in urine, you would want to use the term microscopic hematuria.
You must keep in mind that even if you cannot see the blood directly with your naked eyes in your cats urine, it does not exclude that something is wrong with your kitty! Where gross bleeding is evident, you would not have to look for the signs of urinary tract related issues in your cat. However, if you observe the signs but there is no bleeding, you must think about microscopic hematuria.
There are multiple reasons why your cat is peeing blood in its urine however, before getting your hands on the causes, you must know the crucial signs that may help you catch your cats ill urinary health as early as possible.
If you have observed that your cats urine color keeps changing from the past few days or weeks, it would be best to look for the other signs and symptoms in your little friend as well.
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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.
Is A Cat Peeing Blood An Emergency
A cat peeing blood is urgent, but not an emergency- as long as they remain well in themselves. It can be dangerous if left untreated and its probably painful, so they should see the vet within 24 hours. However, if your cat stops urinating and starts straining at any point, this should be seen as an emergency.
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Urinary Stones Or Crystals
Cats can develop mineral crystals or stones in their urinary systems, which adversely affect their bladders, urethras, and kidneys. Not only are urinary stones irritating and painful, but they can also cause life-threatening blockages as well. Urinary stones will sometimes dissolve or pass with the proper dietary changes and medications, but cases involving large stones may need surgical intervention.
Blood In Cat Urine Appropriate Treatments
After a diagnosis has been made treatment will start as soon as possible. This will prevent any serious complications. Untreated kidney stones can obstruct the bladder and cause it to rupture. And blood clotting diseases can cause a massive blood loss in a very short space of time.
Depending on the condition for blood in your cats urine, you might give them anti-biotics to treat any infection. If your cat is dehydrated intravenous fluids will be administered. Cats that are on steroid medication will be gradually weaned off them. Results that confirm kidney stones or tumours may require your cat to undergo surgery.
Special diets or urinary dissolver can dissolve stones, and treatment for bleeding disorders caused by toxins may include the administration of Vitamin K. Conditions that disrupt the normal formation of blood clots may also require surgery.
Your cat may require rest, pain relief, and sometimes surgery if they have suffered traumatic injuries. Chemotherapy, radiation, or palliative therapy are treatments for cancer of the urinary tract.
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Getting Your Cat To The Vet For Diagnosis
If you suspect that your cat is urinating blood, do not take matters into your own hands. Take your cat to the vet so they can determine whether or not your cat is experiencing hematuria. Your vet will likely consider some of the following tests to diagnose the underlying cause of the bleeding:
- Your cats history. The first thing your vet will do is take a look at your cats medical history to see if there are any repeated issues causing the blood while peeing.
- Physical exam. Your vet will feel for any inflammation around your cats genitalia.
- Bloodwork. The veterinarian will be able to detect whether or not your cats organs are functioning.
- Urine culture, urine sample, or urinalysis. These are tests that a vet uses to identify bacteria that may be causing a UTI.
- Ultrasound and x-rays. Ultrasounds can detect bladder stones and inflammation.
Blood In Cat Urine: Signs To Look For
While hematuria may be as obvious as blood or blood clots in the urine, it may not always be so visible. Most instances of hematuria are actually diagnosed at the microscopic level on what appears to be normal-colored urine in these cases, there’s only a small amount of blood. Hematuria may cause urine to turn pink or red.
According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, some of the other signs you may see along with a change in the urine’s color include:
- Increased drinking
- Vocalizing when in the litter box
- Going in and out of the litter box repeatedly
- Urinary accidents outside of the litter box
- Inability to urinate altogether
- Bruising on the skin in the form of obvious bruises or small dots
- Bleeding from abnormal locations, such as the nose, gums, eyes, ears or rectum, and bloody vomit or feces
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Diagnosing The Cause Of Blood In Cat Urine
Once youre at the veterinarian, a few tests are recommended. Ideally, the vet will start with a sterile urine sample collected by a cystocentesis to collect a urinalysis and culture if possible. Just to warn you, in my clinical experience, Im only able to get a urine sample about 30% of the time in cats with Feline Idiopathic Cystitis, because the bladder is so small secondary to inflammation if its that small, it may not be safe to obtain a sample.
Information About Urinary Tract Infections In Dogs And Cats
What is haematuria?
Haematuria is the medical term used to describe blood in the urine that occurs due to bleeding in the urinary system. When this happens the urine typically looks red and, occasionally, blood clots are seen. Sometimes bleeding can be on a microscopic level and the urine may appear normal. In these cases, blood may only be detected by laboratory analysis.
Are there other clinical signs that can be associated with haematuria?
Other clinical signs that may be present would include straining to urinate and squatting frequently to pass small amounts of urine. Straining to defecate can sometimes occur in male dogs with an enlarged prostate.
What can cause blood in the urine?
Causes Lower urinary tract bleeding
In cases where the lower urinary tract is involved other clinical signs typical of cystitis are normally seen.
Bladder inflammation of the bladder wall and subsequent bleeding can occur due to uroliths , polyps , infections and occasionally tumours. In the cat, there is a relatively common form of cystitis that without infection called feline lower urinary tract disease . FLUTD has been linked to stress and anxiety.
Prostate the most common causes of bleeding from the prostate in an unneutered dog are prostatitis and benign hyperplasia. Benign hyperplasia is an enlargement of the prostate as a consequence of testosterone stimulation. In a neutered dog cancer of the prostate must be considered.
Causes Upper urinary tract bleeding
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