The presence of blood in the cat’s urine is a sign that our cat has some urinary tract problem. We recognize the symptoms and causes of this problem.
Even a drop of blood in your cat’s urine indicates that something is wrong. The presence of blood in the cat’s urine, which in medicine is called hematuria, can indicate the presence of serious illness in the cat.
Hematuria can present with bright red or darker blood, this symptom is associated with other symptoms such as:
- Dysuria: the cat gets into position to urinate, but cannot.
- Stranguria: the cat has pain when urinating and complains.
- Polyuria: the cat urinates often.
- Periuria: the cat urinates in unusual places in the house
In addition to these symptoms, it could happen that the cat often licks its genitals as it feels pain and burning. In case the problem is more serious, there is also the presence of the following symptoms:
- Fever
- Vomiting of the cat
- Apathy
- Mental confusion
- Refusal of water and food
Blood in the cat’s urine: causes
The main causes that lead to the presence of traces of blood in the cat’s urine are the following:
- Stones in the bladder: even cats like humans can suffer from stones, in fact the latter can be found directly in the cat’s bladder. Urinary stones can be formed from oxalates or struvite. The latter are made up of magnesium, phosphates and ammonia, substances that are eliminated by the cat through the urine. Those from oxalates are formed from calcium. If the cat drinks little or there are a lot of these substances in his body, the latter can stick to the bladder and scratch the walls.
- Bacterial Infections: The bladder is the organ most exposed to external and internal bacteria in the cat’s body. In fact, the urethra is in contact with the floor, the litter. In the intestine, and therefore also in the faeces, there are many bacteria that if they come into contact with the urethra they can go back to the bladder causing an infection.
- Urethral plug: The urethral plug occurs when something gets stuck in the urethra, a tube that allows urine to escape from the bladder to the outside. It occurs more often in male cats as they have shorter urethra than that of females.
- Trauma: In case of trauma to the pelvic bones or urinary tract, there may be blood in the urine.
- Medication Intake: If your cat is taking medication and you notice hematuria, contact your veterinarian.
- Bladder tumors: Not very common in cats, but possible, especially in older animals.
- Parasites: Dioctophyma renal and Capillaria plica are parasites that can occupy the urinary tract of the cat.
- Cystitis: Cystitis in cats is a common urinary tract infection especially in long-haired cats.
Diagnosis and remedies
If there is blood in the cat’s urine, the first thing to do is take the cat to the vet to find out the source of the problem.
Then the veterinarian will perform the following tests:
– Urinalysis
– Blood sampling
– X- ray of the abdomen
– Ultrasound of the bladder
After having ascertained the cause of the presence of blood in the cat’s urine, the vet can prescribe the right treatment. In the case of stones, the specialist will prescribe a diet low in magnesium, drugs that make the urine more acidic and bladder washes to remove the stones.
If there are larger stones in the bladder or stones that are blocked and cannot come out, surgery can be done. As for infections, the vet will prescribe antibiotics and anti- inflammatories to relieve pain.
How to prevent urinary disorders
Just a few tricks are enough to prevent urinary disorders in cats, they are:
– increase the number of litter boxes in the house
– reduce sources of stress in cats
– stimulate the cat to do activities
– stimulate the cat to drink more, always leaving him fresh and clean water
– integrate wet food with dry food
– choose foods low in magnesium
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