FLUTD in Cats: What the Owner Manual Says!

Have you had a warning light flash on the car’s dashboard?

It’s alarming. You look up the symbol in the vehicle manual: It says “Engine management system warning.” You phone the garage. The engineer sucks his teeth: “Could be simple, could be complicated…we need to take a look and run diagnostics.”

Blood in Urine

Well, blood in the litter box is a lot like that warning light.

Bloody urine (haematuria) is a sign, rather than a diagnosis in its own right. Most pet parents jump to the conclusion the cat has a bladder infection, but actually this is relatively uncommon in a normal, healthy cat.

Anything that causes the bladder lining to become inflamed will show up as bloody urine. Some examples include:

  • Infection
  • Crystals in the urine
  • Bladder stones
  • Nerve driven inflammation of the bladder lining (usually related to stress)
  • Bladder polyps
  • Bladder cancer (which is, thankfully, rare)

“Bloody urine is a sign rather than a diagnosis in its own right. Most pet parents jump to the conclusion the cat has a bladder infection but this is a rarity…”

Some problems are more serious than others, whilst the symptoms remain the same. Common symptoms of feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD) include:

  • Repeated squatting
  • Blood stained urine
  • Smaller puddles than usual
  • Licking a lot under the tail
  • Listlessness and distress
  • Squatting outside the tray

What should you Do?

Phone Dr Tash or Dr Chris right away!

Not only is FLUTD painful but some cases have potentially life-threatening complications. This is especially true for male cats.

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