Male Cat Urinary Blockage

Having worked at an animal hospital i cannot emphasize enough the importance of recognizing the symptoms promptly and reporting to a veterinarian as soon as possible.
Male cat urinary blockage. Urinary blockages also called urinary obstructions are usually caused by plugs of proteinaceous sludge crystals and or small stones that become lodged within a cat s urethra the tube leading from the urinary bladder to the outside of the body. The urethra in a male cat which is the tube that urine flows through to the outside of the body is very narrow and can get obstructed easily. Urinary blockage is almost exclusively a problem reserved for male cats and occurs when the urethra becomes obstructed. All owners of male cats should be educated about this potentially fatal condition known as urinary blockage.
If your male cat has urinary blockage it means their urethra the tube that drains urine from the bladder to the penis and out of the body is blocked by inflammatory material. Signs that your male cat can t pee. The obstruction may be due to inflammation or compression on the urethra or simply a blockage treatment is available and the prognosis of this issue will depend on the severity of the obstruction. It occurs more commonly in neutered male cats but it can also happen to cats that are not neutered.
With a partial blockage an affected cat may seem uncomfortable or in pain and spend excess time repeatedly going in and out of the litter box an owner may notice urinary accidents around the house or find small puddles of urine sometimes bloody in the litter box or unusual places. Assess your cat s risk factors. Urinary tract infections affect both male and female cats while urinary blockages effect primarily male cats. Issues can also be caused by seemingly no reason at all called feline idiopathic urinary tract disease.
Urinary blockage is a painful and life threatening condition that typically affects male cats. Being a male cat. However there are some other risk factors that could increase your cat s risk of getting this veterinary problem. Urinary blockages in male cats.
Obstructions are often the result of plugs of inflammatory material mucus crystals small stones called calculi that have formed in the kidneys and have passed down into the bladder see urinary stones the cause of the inflammatory materials and stone formation it. Above all only male cats get complete urinary tract blockages. Urinary tract obstruction occurs mostly in male cats but dogs. All risk factors include.
Male cats are at higher risk for urinary blockage especially those that are overweight. Neutered males have very narrow urethras which explains why these cats have by far the. Cats who have anxiety or high stress are also more at risk for getting a urinary blockage. The urethra is the tube that drains urine from the bladder out of the.
If your cat is straining to urinate and producing little or no urine each time it may be suffering from a urinary tract obstruction. Simple urinary tract infections can be treated with one or two visits to the veterinarian.