Cat Seems to have a hard time Peeing...

How is The kitty doing? If he is still not peeing well, call the vet to fit him in as an emergency! Usually you can drop the kitty in at morning time and they will work on him whenever they have a break, no appointment needed.... This is an emergency....

I worked and have been out a lot for the past couple of days, so I haven't actually seen him pee... but his pee amount has been bigger (I can tell the difference between Levi and my other cat's pee because Levi covers his and the other one doesn't), definitely gonna get to the bottom of this.

Seeing the vet in less than 10 hours... this is Levi's most recent pee, which is really unusual... 

Anyone seen this before??? I didn't watch him as he peed, just caught it when he was done... so I don't know if he was walking while peeing or what. And the pee was just on the very surface of the litter.

I have to agree, that is not very much pee at all. The small amount is consistent with cystitis, where you have a feeling of urgency but then you can't pee very much when you do go, and it hurts too. Or per the other posters, he could have crystals and blockage which is extremely serious and can be fatal.

When you take him to the vet they should do a blood test and may also get a urine sample which should help with the diagnosis. It is so wonderful that you are doing this for your kitty because these illnesses are very treatable, but if your cat has a urinary tract infection or crystals and they are not tended to, your cat will not recover. And his symptoms do seem to point to that, so you are very wise to do the vet visit.

The shape you mean? Yeah.... Bugsy pees like that.... He pees horizontally, so it shows like that in the litter.... I can't see the color well on my phone- is there blood in there? Or its just my impression? I should add though, bugsys's pee goes deep in the litter.... He pees like a firetruck

Oh also, I have to tell you, the fact that your cat was pushing the litter outside the box like that, a friend of mine had a cat that did the EXACT same thing and it was diagnosed as a urinary tract infection. Your cat is experiencing pain when going to the bathroom in the box and for whatever reason they move litter outside the box like that. I fostered kittens who had fecal parasites and they did the same thing. The next step is that they stop going inside the box altogether and will use the litter outside the box because they come to associate the box with their pain. 

Thanks for your replies. There was no blood in the box, at least not visible. Sounds like we have some idea of what's going on here... does anyone know the range of price for medication to treat blockage or UTI?

Your kitty isn't blocked.... He is peeing..... He might have crystals, if not treated (with a prescription diet, which the cost will be for the test and diet), he might become blocked.... And then you can expect on the thousands or death. This is the case for struvite. For oxalate I think you need surgery, but more often than not, struvite is the case.
UTI is not expensive to treat... I would choose Baytril instead of clavamox (as antibiotics) then get buprenex for pain in both cases - again, avoid metacam/meloxicam at all cost.
Some vets will say it's no problem.... But it can kill a cat quickly.... Some cats are ok on it, some aren't.
Imho it's excellent news you are seeing SOME pee... You might have some time there.... You should do fine with diet :cross:

I know this is a cat site but hear me out please.  Our Sashi - Shih-Tzu - was Dx'd with struvite crystals last year, and we needed to do emergency surgery.  The cost was outrageous however I did see pamphlets regarding pet insurance.  I do not know much about it however after reading the pamphlet it seemed as though it works like health insurance for you and I.  The monthly out lay is very minimal and procedures/tests/medications are covered.  Sashi recovered fine by the way.  She is on a prescription diet and doing wonderful. The vet also told us that if Sashi drank more water crystals would not be as likely in the future.  Table scraps were also mentioned as a potential source of crystal formation.  Hope this help.

Arlo, fyi, table scraps are a myth.... It Depends.... Raw meat, cooked (unseasoned) meat are examples of wonderful and healthy snacks for your kitty.
Pet insurance will cover you only when the issue is not pre existent... Not the case for the op. The op can, however, apply for carecredit and use it immediately.
Water intake, yes, is essential... A wet only diet will go a long way.... That, prescription, or better yet, moving the kitty to a raw diet afterwards.....

Hi Arlo, thank you for your advice. I did look into pet insurance, but like Carolina said... if I get the insurance policy after the problem, the problem is not covered. I will still look into getting insurance for both my cats for the future as I was quoted for $23 a month per cat.

Carolina, what is carecredit about??? I'll look into it, thanks.

Yeah i think it is a urinary tract infection, based on what you describe. I haven't dealt with crystals but either illness merits a visit to the vet and the requisite testing. Good luck!

Alright, back from the vet. She's running a urinalysis and will have the results tomorrow. However, she's sure that it's crystals and/or bacteria so we're already treating Levi for that. She gave him a shot of antibiotics and put him on Prescription Diet C/D for bladder health. The x-rays were not necessary, and won't be unless the results from the urinalysis prove otherwise or if there is no progress made in the next two weeks. So far everything is looking good. She gave me a complimentary exam, the total amount of the visit was $131, less than half of what I was expecting it to be. Thank you guys so much for your help and advice, I will keep you posted as he progresses.

Excellent that you went to the vet.... If it is crystals, this vet trip saved his life :nod:

JB68711 said:

Alright, back from the vet. She's running a urinalysis and will have the results tomorrow. However, she's sure that it's crystals and/or bacteria so we're already treating Levi for that. She gave him a shot of antibiotics and put him on Prescription Diet C/D for bladder health. The x-rays were not necessary, and won't be unless the results from the urinalysis prove otherwise or if there is no progress made in the next two weeks. So far everything is looking good. She gave me a complimentary exam, the total amount of the visit was $131, less than half of what I was expecting it to be. Thank you guys so much for your help and advice, I will keep you posted as he progresses.

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Been watching this from a distance.  So glad you got the financial end taken care of and got him to the vet.  If it turns out to be crystals you just saved him probably.  And yes, please keep the updates coming if you can. 

I thought so Carolina...I am a nursing student and have taken all the patho phys classes, physiology, several biology and bio chem classes and there is not mention of food contributing to any crystal or stone formation in the human...in fact since they form in the kidney i found it hard to believe when the vet told us about table scraps...thank you for reassuring me on that.

Arlo Haarsma said:

I thought so Carolina...I am a nursing student and have taken all the patho phys classes, physiology, several biology and bio chem classes and there is not mention of food contributing to any crystal or stone formation in the human...in fact since they form in the kidney i found it hard to believe when the vet told us about table scraps...thank you for reassuring me on that.

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Except...  Cats are not humans.  They are subtly different in many ways, plus table scraps are not a balanced diet. 

OrientalSlave said:

Except...  Cats are not humans.  They are subtly different in many ways, plus table scraps are not a balanced diet. 

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you want to make sure that it is not more than 15% of the balanced diet...... Otherwise you need start balancing....
In any event, frankly, I have my doubts today if table scraps are worst than kibbles..... :dk:

Carolina said:

you want to make sure that it is not more than 15% of the balanced diet...... Otherwise you need start balancing....
In any event, frankly, I have my doubts today if table scraps are worst than kibbles.....

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I will respectfully disagree with this Carolina.  Table scraps can not possibly provide the nutrition of a nutritionally sound premium kibble.  From your statement I'm reading that you think a cat on an all kibble diet would be just as well off eating a diet of table scraps. 

as an obligate carnivore would a cat not be able to live completely nutritionally sound on meat forever?  If that is so than the only nutrients we would have to really worry about getting into the cat would be the nutrients found in meat.  Cats must be able to make the rest of the nutrients from other substrates and metabolites.  So I guess a kitty power-bar is not needed nor is a kitty Centrum