Dr. Mike: Hello! I’m Dr. Mike. Today we are going to talk about Feline
Lower Urinary Tract Disease. This is a very common disease
especially in male or overweight cats. It is very important to
recognize the signs of this disease as it can be serious requiring an
emergency care and possibly, surgery.
Dr. Alyssa Mourning: FLUTD stands for Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease. And it’s a
disease that can affect our cat population, usually the younger cats
who are anywhere between six months to about five years or so. It
is something where the kidneys are working and are producing
urine and making the urine go into the bladder, but the bladder is
not able to evacuate itself. So, the urine backs up into the urinary
bladder and is not able to get out to the outside. And it’s
predominantly male cats with this particular disease. Overweight
cats tend to be more effective than our lean cats but the young
male cats are the ones who are most affected.
The clinical signs they fail often notice, our cats are going to the
little box more frequently than normal. So several times not only
producing any urine, a lot of times a cat will also vomit and not
want to eat. They will sometimes show signs of discomfort, as well
just as the urine is accumulating within the bladder and unable to
be passed.
If an owner notices the clinical signs, this disease needs to be seen
by veterinarian immediately. It is life threatening.
Typical diagnostics that your veterinarian may recommend starts
with the urinalysis and a blood panel to evaluate kidney function as
well. Knowing that the cats typically do not have Urinary Tract
Infection associated with the FLUTD is it’s kind of up in the air, as
far as if they will recommend a urinary culture as well. Other test
that maybe recommended includes abdominal ultrasound. X-rays
are important, however, for animals who are showing clinical signs
for the first time that’s not always indicated.
Treatments associated with this disease for cats that are having the
mild symptoms often require a little bit of fluid therapy. So if you
present to your veterinarian, they may recommend fluids
underneath the skin. Sometimes, they will profilactically treat with
antibiotics but most importantly its pain control and monitoring
your animal to make sure that they are not going to fully obstruct.
Many times dietary therapy is indicated as well depending on what
we see on the urinalysis but the most important thing with dietary
therapy is canned food at least initially.
If the cat obstruct completely, meaning that they are unable to pass
any urine at all, the veterinarian will recommend most of the time
to go ahead and place an IV catheter. Sedate your cat and actually
place a urinary catheter to relieve the obstruction. Most of the time
it’s not a stone where this is not a surgical procedure, it’s a medical
management situation where a few days on IV Fluids and medical
therapy removing catheter and sending home for at home care is
usually what’s indicated.
There are preventive measures in as much as depending on the
urinalysis results that your veterinarian will go over with you.
There are sometimes are crystals that are there that require dietary
therapy. Sometimes fluids are indicated; sometimes other
medications are indicated as well, depending on the individual case
that presented for the Feline Urinary Tract Disease.
Dr. Mike: There you have it. Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease can be a
potentially fatal disease. I would like to reiterate a very important
point that Dr. Mourning discussed. That is, make sure your pet
drinks more water.
To recap, canned food is a way of getting more water into your
pet’s diet. I often send my patients home on a very specific diet. I
pick the diet based on the results of their lab test and their
individual needs. Your veterinarian may discuss with you the
importance of pH of the urine if there are crystals, or if there is an
infection present. There are many over the counter diets that claim
to be urinary diet and many of them can be very beneficial.
However, you need to talk to your veterinarian first to see if they
think your dietary change is necessary and which diet your pet
should have. Remember, if your recognize any of the signs that we
discussed, call your veterinarian immediately. Don’t wait.
I hope this information has been helpful. Thank you for watching.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services