A blocked urethra in a cat can cause acute kidney failure within just days, so rapid relief of the blockage is critical. Urethral plugs or urethral stones are usually removed under an anaesthetic, as the condition is painful for the cat, and attempting to remove the blockage in a conscious cat would risk significant damage to the urethra. After the blockage is relieved, there can be quite severe inflammation of the urethra which may cause swelling and also spasm of the urethral muscles.
This can make urination difficult for several days afterwards, and so some cats may need to be hospitalised for a period of time to monitor their progress. Depending on the severity, some cats will also need intravenous fluid therapy, and some may need a urinary catheter placed for a few days. Drugs to relieve pain, swelling and spasm are important. To help prevent urethral plugs recurring, your vet will probably recommend feeding your cat a wet tinned, sachet diet rather than a dry diet to encourage greater water intake and more frequent urination.
Struvite magnesium ammonium phosphate crystals are often present in the urethral plug and while these do not cause the obstruction, they may contribute to it. Your vet may therefore recommend using a special diet that will reduce the risk of these crystals forming which may further reduce the risk of recurrence.
It is also thought that many cats with urethral blockage may have underlying idiopathic cystitis FIC and so treatment recommendations for this disease should also be considered. If a urethral stricture develops, these can be difficult to manage, as surgery is usually needed to correct the problem.
The success of surgery will usually depend on the severity of the stricture and its location. Management of FIC is more complex, as the underlying causes are not fully understood. Several management options appear to be important though, including increasing the water intake of affected cats and reducing environmental stress — these are explained more fully elsewhere — see information on FIC.
Fortunately, bladder tumours are rare in cats. Transitional cell carcinoma is the most common tumour seen and occurs mainly in older cats. Often by the time clinical signs develop the disease is quite advanced and surgical removal of the tumour is rarely possible. Chemotherapy may be helpful in reducing the size of the tumour and improving quality of life for the cat, and in a number of cases using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs NSAIDs such as piroxicam or meloxicam appears to be very helpful.
These drugs are usually very well tolerated and as well as relieving inflammation can have an anti-cancer effect in some tumours. Transitional cell carcinoma appears to be one of the tumours that often responds to NSAID therapy, and sometimes marked improvement can be seen although these drugs cannot cure the disease and it will eventually recur. All our advice is freely accessible to everyone, wherever you are in the world.
However, as a charity, we need your support to enable us to keep delivering high quality and up to date information for everyone. Please consider making a contribution, big or small, to keep our content free, accurate and relevant. Your purchase directly supports the leading global cat welfare charity, International Cat Care. They provide cat owners, veterinary professionals and those who live and work with cats the resources, support, and advice they need to better care for cats.
We use cookies to improve our website to make sure you have a better browsing experience. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy. Click Yes to help us continue to make these improvements. Our Other Sites Close. Our Other Sites. The legacy of this great resource continues in the online and mobile app versions today. This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.
Common Veterinary Topics. Videos Figures Images Quizzes. Kidney and Urinary Tract Disorders of Cats. Test your knowledge. Calcium, in its ionic form, plays a key role in the function of many body systems.
Precise control of calcium ion concentrations in extracellular fluids is regulated by several hormones. Distal urethral response was greater compared with proximal and middle urethral and bladder response.
In the open-abdomen bladder, proximal and middle urethral responses were similarly decreased and distal urethral response was unchanged compared with the closed-abdomen bladder. Bladder and urethral responses were positively correlated to sneeze strength. No urine leakage was observed, regardless of the strength of sneeze. In cats urethral closure mechanisms are partly passive in the proximal and middle urethra and involve an active component in the distal urethra that is believed to result from EUS and possibly LA contractions.
0コメント