Objective View - Peeing Issues

Hey All,

I'm very much over sensitive about watching for the signs of urinary blockage (due to what happened with one of our cats).   I am almost sure I am over-reacting here but I wanted to get an objective 3rd party opinion.

Junior (~2 year old male) was in the litter box the other day with hesitant peeing (short bursts).  A couple days before that we had noticed his eyes were a bit glossy and his third eyelid was red but not significantly.  The redness/glossiness mostly went away but with this peeing in bursts I am worried it might be pain or something else.  Volume is normal, not taking an excessive amount of time, energy level is pretty normal for him (on the high end overall). 

I guess my real question is at what point is it considered "hesitation" (get to vet ASAP) vs simply a shy bladder or something not worth a $200+ vet visit?

Personally if I had a male cat with a peeing problem I would take him to a vet asap. You could ring the vet first with the symptoms but I'm almost definitely sure they will say the same. 

YOU know your cat better than anyone here.  If you suspect something is wrong, then see a Vet.  Is he normally bladder shy?  If not, then I would certainly be thinking about taking him in.  it's tough, though, when you've been through a blockage once, not to over react    But, again, you know what to look for...it is really happening, or is it in your mind?  You need to sit down and really think about it.  Is he urinating or not, bottom line?  I think it would be pretty unusual for two different cats in the same household to have a blockage, but I guess it wouldn't be unheard of.

I know what you mean. It makes you more weary of pee problems of all the male cats. I would try to put out more water bowls and I would watch to see if the interrupted stream continues. I think if he's peeing he's not blocked and he's emptying his bladder this is the main objective. I had a cat with a blockage whose gone now and find myself still listening to the male cat I have now. He will have a very heavy stream one day and a "milking the cow" stream a few days later. He's ok. I would check to make sure there's no blood in the urine because he could have an infection. I'd also check the penile opening often if they have crystals that have been causing blockages you might see them there as they have passed. If he's acting normal and still peeing that's good but vet is always good if you can afford it but sometimes it's a
Luxury i know.

hexiesfriend said:

I know what you mean. It makes you more weary of pee problems of all the male cats. I would try to put out more water bowls and I would watch to see if the interrupted stream continues. I think if he's peeing he's not blocked and he's emptying his bladder this is the main objective. I had a cat with a blockage whose gone now and find myself still listening to the male cat I have now. He will have a very heavy stream one day and a "milking the cow" stream a few days later. He's ok. I would check to make sure there's no blood in the urine because he could have an infection. I'd also check the penile opening often if they have crystals that have been causing blockages you might see them there as they have passed. If he's acting normal and still peeing that's good but vet is always good if you can afford it but sometimes it's a
Luxury i know.

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Tracking his urination is problematic.  With 5 cats we actually have to catch them in the act.  Two of them aren't shy but the other three tend to go to whatever box is furthest away from onlookers.  Luckily I watched him again today and he was just fine.  I'm thinking it was a mild infection of some sort that cleared up on its own.

Vet is a luxury at the moment for sure, it's just been one vet bill after another with pre-planned bills (dentistry) all the way out to May.  I've actually been setting up a home lab to do some of the diagnostic testing myself.  After a $75 cytology bill for ear mite testing on 1 cat 1 time I had to do something.  Cytology is trivial to do if you know where the resources are/educate yourself and with 5 cats it could have amounted to hundreds upon hundreds to confirm/reconfirm whether or not the infestation had been killed. 

im in the same boat with multiples and unfortunately you have to follow them around. It's good it's back to normal