Natural Pet Health

Have you ever wondered how your cat would tell you that she was suffering from a feline urinary tract infection? Here are 5 messages from your cat telling you she has this problem and tips on how to deal with a cat urinary tract infection.

You have experienced a urinary tract infection (UTI) sometime in your life. You had that burning, itchy nag down in your lower tract and remembered your Mother prescribing cranberry juice for you to drink. While cranberries helped relieve your distress, just what would your cat do if she had a similar infection?

Urinary tract infections respond very well to antibiotics. However, antibiotics tend to kill friendly bacteria along with the disease causing bacteria. Diminished friendly flora in the body can be a cause of other diseases that may be far more difficult to treat than urinary tract infection.

If you see the following signs in your cat, you should suspect prevalence of feline urinary infection.

-Â Â Â The urine has a bad smell.
-Â Â Â The cat is straining to urinate or cries while urinating.
-Â Â Â There is blood in urine.
-Â Â Â If it is urinating at odd places, often in small amounts.

Nearly the same antibiotics used to treat urinary tract infection in humans are the ones that are used to treat canine and feline urinary tract infection. Several natural remedies and herbs can also used to help boost the immune system and to resist such infections.

However, before any treatment starts, it is useful to get the condition duly diagnosed since the early signs of urinary tract infection in dogs and cats could be signs of some underlying endocrinal disorders like diabetes. It is also necessary to rule out the presence of bladder stones, identify the location of the infection and identify the location of the disease-causing- bacterium that responsible for it. This necessitates a urinalysis and a urine culture.

Urinary tract infections can be as troublesome for your pet as it is for you. UTI in puppies and adult dogs is marked by an extremely irritating symptom – urinating at odd places despite the dog having been toilet trained.

However, getting irritated and angry with your pet is not the solution since he is not to blame. In most cases you ailing dog may not even be aware of the dribbles as they pass out involuntarily.

Severe instances of canine and feline urinary infection are mostly caused due to bladder stones that block the urethral passage. Despite a full bladder the dog is unable to urinate even when he tries hard. The back pressure of the urine often forces urine around the blockage to leak out in small quantities at a time.

Abnormal cat behavior is usually associated with psychological stress as cats are highly emotional creatures and react to environmental changes very quickly. At the same time odd behaviors can also result from an underlying disorder or infection. For example, if your cat suddenly develops a dislike for her litter box and urinates at odd places, more likely than not it is the first sign of an infection in lower urinary tract.

High frequency and difficulty in urination are the most prominent signs of feline urinary infection. The cat feels the urge but is not able to empty the bladder and is able to pass out only small amounts at a time, usually accompanied with severe pain. It perceives the litter box to be the cause of discomfort and starts avoiding it.

Inappropriate urinary behavior in cats is normally associated with medical disorders like feline urinary infection. However, it is also true that many times it is a behavioral problem rather than a medical one.

It is only after ruling out medical causes after complete blood and urine tests that one can unequivocally state the real cause of inappropriate urinary behavior.

What we consider as abnormal may actually be appropriate when seen from the cat’s perspective. Owners train and expect their cat to always urinate in the litter box but cats, especially feral cats, are prone to mark their territory by spraying. This could be as frequent as 6 to 10 times a day.

Canine or feline urinary incontinence presages other ailments that could be worse and difficult to treat. There is a strong possibility of diabetes or other endocrinal disorder co-occurring with canine and feline urinary infection.

If the bacteria travel beyond the urethra or bladder, urinary tract infection in dogs also carries the risk of spreading to organs like the kidney and even the heart.

It is therefore extremely pertinent to understand how urinary tract infections can be prevented. Detection of symptoms at an early stage also helps since UTI is easily treatable with antibiotics. if the condition is attended to in time, critical damage to other organs can be avoided.

Early detection is possible if you keep a look out for the initial signs of urinary tract infection in dogs, which include:

It is generally suspected that over exposure to insecticide dips for removing fleas and ticks, sprays used in households and marshlands and other carcinogenic chemicals lead to occurrence of canine bladder cancer. These tend to cling to the walls of the bladder and urethra and lead to the development of cancerous cells.

Bladder cancer in dogs is a life threatening condition in most cases. This is because a large majority of canine bladder cancer is diagnosed as malignant tumor known as transitional cell carcinoma (TCC). It usually originates in the transitional epithelium linings of kidneys, bladder or ureters and is the most common type of bladder cancer found in dogs.

The symptoms associated with urinary tract infection in cats are only indicative of the prevalence of an infection. The symptoms do not provide any further information about the real cause of the infection and therefore are not helpful in dictating the specific medication that should be administered.

In some cases, however, the symptoms may indicate something more than an infection. Blood in the urine is a sign of a bladder tumor. Feline urinary incontinence indicates a blockage probably caused by a moving bladder stone. Both these symptoms and conditions can accompany urinary infection.

However a urinalysis is essential to understand the real cause of the feline urinary infection. It is essential to understand the specific bacterium causing the infection to be able to ensure effective treatment of urinary tract infection in cats. And this causes the need for a urine sample of the afflicted cat.