Bathroom Behavior

My 3-year-old tabby boy Andy has been acting oddly.

We have a decent sized litterbox in a special bathroom for our inside babies to use. We use clumpable, scoopable, mult-cat litter [my 2 boys use this box].We haven't really had any problems with it. The litterbox is kept clean and the cats use it regularly. Eating and drinking is normal as well.

Twice now in the past month Andy has gotten into my bed when I was laying reading/watching tv and squatted to pee RIGHT in front of me. I caught him the first time and took him to the litterbox and he wouldn't go, and admittedly it was the day to change the litter so that might have been the problem - SO I THOUGHT. So after it was clean [I did it then] he went fine and everything was good.

Well this morning I was laying in bed and he came in and climbed up and squatted RIGHT in front of me again and after a little dribble I realized he was doing it so I took him to the litterbox again. The litterbox had just been completely cleaned with new litter etc the day before, but I sprinkled some litter out of the jug on top anyway and he went. He's been acting normal so far today since then.

Due to remodeling I hadn't slept in my room for probably 6 months and about a month ago I started again and he comes in and out as he pleases and usually sleeps in there on the bed when I'm in bed but over the past week or two he's done this twice now.

His eating and #2 bathroom habits haven't changed nor has any of his other behavior.

Could this be a medical issue or is something going on behavioral. Help?

Originally Posted by A&As Mommy

Could this be a medical issue or is something going on behavioral. Help?

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It could be either. The only way to narrow it down is to make sure it's not a medical problem first.

What you can do in the meantime, though, is add more litter boxes to the household. It could be that he doesn't want to pee and poop in the same box, it that the one you have is just getting messy too quickly for him.

I was reading the post made about inappropriate peeing and I wondered, one of our indoor/outdoor cats that is mostly outside, was in my room for the first time EVER, over the past month 2 times, and on my bed. Could this have anything to do with Andy wanting to pee up there?

We will have to take him to the vet if he does it again [though we really have no money to pay for it], but I wanted to see if anyone knew if it could be behaviorial before I took him. <3

I think this needs moved to health section. :x

My cat was playing and napping and when he got up to go to the bathroom and he was in there for awhile so I thought that he was pooping. I waited til he came out and went in and there was just a small pee place and it had red/blood in it. He went back in a bit ago and was in there awhile again but just a little place of pee.

We live out in the middle of nowhere so I can't get him to the vet til Monday. Will he be okay til then? Is this a UTI?

I'm so upset.

It sounds like a blockage (crystals), which requires immediate veterinary care. Please don't wait till Monday, but get him to a vet ASAP.

There's no vet anywhere around here on the weekends? The closest vet hospital is over an hour away also. Is there anything I can do?

Call the hospital, don't wait until Monday! Here's some information on FLUTD:
Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease Note the warning at the bottom of the page:

* If your cat is a young adult with lower urinary symptoms…

It is especially important to note that lower urinary symptoms in the male cat
can indicate a urinary blockage which is an emergency situation.
If you are not sure if your cat is able to express urine,
assume that an emergency could be present and call your veterinarian’s office at once.

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I agree with Tricia, your kitty needs to go to the vet ASAP, I had a cat block earlier this year and it is indeed life-threatening, not to mention extremely painful for the cat. He absolutely cannot wait til Monday

Yes, please take him to the vet immediately. Call around to see if there is an emergency vet on call in your area. Usually even if a vet's office is closed they will have an emergency contact on their voicemail.

Here's another article on FLUTD

If a cat is prone to this disorder, it will usually show some signs of the disease when it reaches 3 years of age, although urinary tract blockage can occur at almost any age. Both male and female cats are at risk of developing FLUTD; however, males have a greater likelihood of developing a life-threatening obstruction simply because the male urethra is smaller in size than that of the female and can become plugged with crystals more easily. If such an obstruction occurs, urine can back flow back into the kidneys resulting in death from acute renal failure and/or severe damage to urinary bladder. At the very least, toxins can build up in the bloodstream leading to serious systemic illness.

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This is a very serious situation, and definitely not something you can treat at home or wait another day or two to have treated.

I agree with that your kitty needs to see a vet ASAP. Blockage truly is an emergency situation for a male cat. I've never experienced urinary issues with my boy, but when my youngest female was straining and had blood in her urine last year, my vet had me bring her in right away.

If money is an issue, you might ask the vet about a payment plan or try Care Credit http://www.carecredit.com/

Sending many vibes for you and your sweet boy.

Can you call your local vet and see if there is an answering service or if he can be paged? The cost could be cheaper than the emergency vet. Just a thought.

I agree with the others that he really needs to be seen ASAP.

Good luck and please let us know how you make out.

I agree with the others - especially considering the difficulty your kitty is having when urinating and the presence of blood.

Although money may be tight for you, in addition to the risk to your kitty's health and general discomfort, the cost might be so much more expensive if you delay in getting treatment.

A call to the Vet sooner rather than later definitely seems to be in order.

I hope you get some answers for kitty soon, he must be feeling desperate.

I called the after hours number I found for our local vet and the guy called me back. He explained that it could be one of three things [UTI, blockage, kidney/bladder stones]. He said that as long as the cat is eating and drinking and passing some amount of urine, that it would be okay to keep an eye on him and take him in first thing Monday to be checked out. He said, however, if he stops eating and drinking, and completely stops passing urine because of it, to take him to the emergency vet hospital right away. He gave me the number of 2 places [both about an hour+ away] and said that if he stops eating/drinking/peeing, to call and then take him.

I asked him how long after he stops eating and drinking and hasn't ate/drank again. He said he's talking about if it's been like a day without food/water/using the bathroom. So I am going to monitor him and hope that he will be okay.

My mom picked up some food for Urinary Tract Health and he was just eating some of it. Hopefully he will be okay. If he stops eating for a lengthier period of time, I will take him to the emergency vet no matter how much it costs.

Thanks everyone for the support. I hope this doctor [retired] is right in what he's told me and that everything will be okay for my little Andy.

If your cat is moving off and peeing small amounts and then doing the same thing over and over, it is quite likely it is a UTI. But if you are remodeling and the cat is upset over the new smells and sounds and changes in the environment, the cat can easily become stressed. This stress unfortunately can lead to UTI as well.

Normally, when a cat is peeing on soft objects, it is stress related. I know that in the wintertime, when I take the summer covers off the bed and put the winter ones on, several of my cats get upset at this change, and begin peeing on the bed to bring back the smell they are used to. It is sort of like overpowering an alien with pee. I have learned over the years to stop rushing the cats to the vet, and instead, when I change something in the house, it gets a thorough dosing of feliway spray. The evidence of blood in the urine can be caused by so many factors as well. I hope your cat will be okay.

Cats can go downhill very fast if they are blocked, and a day is an awfully long time to be in pain. My vets recommend getting a cat in at the very first sign of trouble, especially if the cat is straining in the litterbox and/or there is blood.

The urinary diet only works over a number of weeks or months, so it will bring Andy no immediate relief.

Have you called either of the emergency vet hospitals for an opinion?

I haven't called the emergency hospital. The doctor that I talked to, also called another doctor [who is out of town] to see about an antibiotic [which they ultimately decided wouldn't be good until he's diagnosed], but that vet also said as long as he is eating/drinking/peeing, that things should be okay til Monday.

If he stops eating and drinking for some time before then I will def. take him to the emergency vet hospital but those doctors seemed sure that he would be okay if I kept an eye on him and stuff.

I am really worried but he has been eating and drinking and jut peed again. There is not blood in it everytime and it's only a small amount. While I am worried it is not feasible to just rush over an hour away if the problem can be treated on Monday. These are hard times and I love my cat and AM WILLING to pay for any problem that needs fixed but it would terrible to take him and pay for all of that money to find out he would have been okay til Monday.

I know that may seem selfish or insensitive, but without disclosing our full financial situation, we seriously have little to no cash at this point. At the first sign that anything is worse [as the doctor advised me], I will take him to the ER.

Thank you to those who have supported me!

for Andy, and please keep a very close eye on the amount of urine he's passing.

Sorry to have to say this, but blockage, stones, or UTI, have NOTHING to do with eating and drinking. With these situations you can't go by eating and drinking.

Also, whatever the reason for a cat passing very small amounts of bloody or even normal looking urine, the reason, if not a partial blockage, is a tremendous amount of pain and inflammation. The pain alone must be alleviated without delay. Even with immediate treatment and proper medications, just from a severe UTI, a cat can be very sick for as long as a week and may need to be hospitalized for the first few days. (Happened to one of my cats a few years ago.)

A complete blockage can happen out of the blue, the cat feeling all right and eliminating normally the day before. With a blockage there is straining, many trips to the litter box. The cat can even pass a tiny amount of bloody urine.

A very severe UTI causes the exact same symptoms. Without a VET examining the cat there is NO way to tell which situation one is dealing with.

A blockage can be fatal, causing death in 24 hours.

There is NO home treatment for a UTI, crystals. or a partial or complete blockage.

Please don't wait, get your kitty to an ER vet NOW. Without delay. Please!
Your kitty desperately needs help.

I'm afraid I agree with the others. He is likley in some pain already. Monday is a long time for him to suffer. A male blocked dies within 24 hours, and it is extremely unpleasant death. I am sorry to sound so frank, but, I would not wait.