Discover Ten Causes Of Feline Incontinence

Are you worried that feline incontinence is a problem for your cat? You need to realize that incontinence in cats and inappropriate urination are two different things. An incontinent cat is not able to control her urine. She dribbles urine, or leaves wet spots where she's been sleeping. Often an incontinent pet is unaware that she has a problem.

Inappropriate urination, on the other hand, is when a cat is purposely urinating in places other than her litter box. This may be a behavior issue, but it can also be cause by feline lower urinary tract disease.

It's important to know the difference between the two because incontinence in cats can be a sign of serious health issues for your feline friend.


Ten Reasons For Feline Incontinence

Usually the simplest reason is feline lower urinary tract disease. One of the symptoms of a feline bladder infection is needing to urinate often. It may be that your cat just isn't able to make it to the litter box in time.


If your cat has had repeated feline urinary problems, her bladder may be scarred. This prevents her bladder from expanding to hold urine, which leads to very frequent urination.

• Cat bladder stones can cause a partial blockage of your cat's urethra, making it impossible for her to empty her bladder completely. As her bladder fills with urine, the pressure can force some urine around the blockage. If you suspect a blocked cat, get her to the vet as soon as possible, as this can be fatal within a day or two.
• A weak urinary sphincter also causes an incontinent cat. This is more common in older spayed female dogs, but it does occasionally happen in spayed cats, too, especially if they're heavy. This type of incontinence, called hormone-responsive incontinence, can develop years after she's been spayed.

• Feline diabetes can cause an incontinent cat. A diabetic cat is drinking lots more water than normal because the disease makes her very thirsty in an effort to flush the excess sugar out of her body. Of course, this makes her urinate more, too. She may have trouble making it to her litter box before she has an accident.

• Cats with feline leukemia sometimes become incontinent, too. This can happen in both males and females.
• As a cat ages, the urinary sphincter can weaken. Your cat may develop other problems as she gets older, such as diabetes, which cause her body to produce more urine than normal. Combine a very full bladder with a weak urinary sphincter, and it's easy to see why urinary incontinence in cats is the result.
• Your cat may have some kind of neurological problem with the nerves in her bladder that cause her to be unable to hold her urine.
• Bladder tumors can be another factor.
• An older cat may be getting forgetful, or in the early stages of senility, which can lead to litter box problems.

Natural Feline Urinary Support

If your furball is having cat urinary problems, it's important to take her to the vet for a check-up to rule out anything serious. Most cases of inappropriate urination are due to feline lower urinary tract disease, which can be a frustrating condition to deal with.

The most important thing you can do is to feed your cat a high-quality canned food. Cats are meant to get most of their water from their food, so feeding a cat dry food all the time is an invitation to disaster in the form of cat urinary problems.

You may want to consider giving your cat one of the many natural remedies for pets that are available for feline urinary support. Herbs and homeopathic remedies have a long history of success in humans, and they're very effective for pets, too. Look for a remedy that's produced by a long-standing company with a sterling reputation for producing high-quality herbal remedies for pets.

In conclusion, if your cat is showing signs of feline incontinence, you need to take steps now to help her now.

Darlene Norris has combined her long-time interest in natural healing with her experience working at a vet clinic to bring you her new website, Natural Pet Urinary Health. Learn more about solving the problem of feline incontinence, and find feline urinary support information at http://NaturalPetUrinaryHealth.com

Sphere: Related Content

Maintaining Cat Urinary Tract Health

By Tess Thompson

Feline urinary infection occurs much more frequently than cat owners would like to believe. Most of the times, the condition is idiopathic in nature, meaning that the infection has no known cause. And therefore symptoms like urinating out of the litter pan are usually assigned to behavioral causes like stress.

In fact, urinary tract infection in cats is more likely to be physiological in nature. It is part of a number of urinary problems including obstruction in the urinary passage and bladder inflammation commonly known as Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease. It can be extremely painful to the cat as it strains to urinate but is unable to. Cat owners can be of great help if they know the reasons behind the condition and make sure that they follow some basic rules of caring for the pet.

To understand your pet better, you must understand that there is a natural reason why cats do not consume a lot of water. The evolution factor plays an important role in how animals meet their needs for maintaining life. Cats originated in desert areas and derived most of their requirement of water from food. The prey they hunted gave them enough water to sustain life. And this is the manner in which cats developed a natural aversion to drinking water separately on their own. Lack of water intake is, therefore, one of the major reasons behind the increased incidence of feline urinary tract infection.

While specific treatment depends upon the lab reports of urinalysis and other imaging investigations, you can try to prevent the condition by keeping the health of your cat’s urinary tract in proper condition.

Water is of utmost importance.

• Mix extra water if you are feeding your cat with dry cat food. You may want to add other fluids like chicken froth.
• Keep more water bowls around the house. Use bigger water bowls so that the cat’s whiskers do not touch the sides.
• If you can, try a free flowing water drinking fountain. Cats find this attractive and curiosity may encourage them to drink water.
• Wash water bowls with clean water daily. If you are using detergents make sure there is no residue as the chemical in it can be harmful.
• Avoid feeding foods that have high magnesium content like pork, beef, heart and oily fish.
• Prefer natural foods over prescription diets. Consult your veterinarian as to what you should feed so that the urine that is produced has the correct pH level.
• Add a tablespoon of vinegar to water daily. Vinegar will keep the urine pH slightly acidic and prevent formation of bladder stones, which often lead to urinary infections.
  
  
  

Sphere: Related Content