Page 181 - Problem-Based Feline Medicine

PART 4

Cat with urinary tract signs

11. The cat straining to urinate

Lucio John Filippich

KEY SIGNS
● Straining to urinate.
● Excessive time spent in the litter box.
● Urination in inappropriate places.

MECHANISM?
● Straining in cats during micturition is due to increased urethral outflow resistance and/or
lower urinary tract inflammation or pain.
● Hematuria associated with difficult or painful urination indicates lower urinary tract bleeding.
● Cats straining to urinate may also spend excessive time in the litter box or have inappropriate
urination which needs to be differentiated from constipation, and behavioral causes of inappropriate
urination.

WHERE?
● Lower urinary tract (urinary bladder, urethra and prostate gland).
WHAT?
● Although several lower urinary tract diseases can cause cats to strain, most are idiopathic, fol-
lowed by urolithiasis and bacterial cystitis/urethritis.

173