Bladder
Stones & Urinary Obstructions
Bladder
Stones & Urinary Obstructions:
A urolith
is stone-like object that can be found in the bladder and, less
commonly, in the kidney, of cats. Some studies have shown that up
to 13% of cats with lower urinary tract disease today have uroliths.
They can be present without causing any symptoms in the cat, but
they are very often associated with hematuria (blood in the urine),
pollakuria (increased frequency of urination) and dysuria (difficulty
passing urine). Many cats will attempt to urinate outside of their
litterbox. In some cases, uroliths can cause partial or total obstruction
of the urethra (the tube leading from the bladder outside the body),
so that little or no urine can pass.
Obstructions
are often emergency situations for the cat, causing great pain and
endangering its life. Owners may see their cat visiting the litterbox
frequently and straining and erroneously believe the cat is constipated.
Cats can have several types of uroliths, but the two most common
types are struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate or MAP) and calcium
oxalate. In the past, the most common urolith type was struvite.
However, in the last ten years, the number of calcium oxalate uroliths
has increased so that now the two types occur with almost equal
frequency. This is suspected to be due to changes in feline diet
formulations, for the acidic diets that discourage struvite uroliths
can actually encourage calcium oxalate uroliths to form in some
cats.
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