Lack of Urination in Cats
The most common early symptoms are dehydration followed by vomiting



Lack of urination in cats, also referred to as Anuria, can cause your pet to suddenly start to vomit and as the situation increases in severity, it can also cause your pet to collapse.

This condition is often confused with a urinary obstruction such as kidney stones, but it is entirely different as stones do not stop your cat from urinating.

They may slow down the urination, but not stop it.

If the lack of urination in your cat has developed suddenly, it is the first and only sign you may have that your pets kidneys are failing.

In fact, it is estimated that once Anuria has been diagnosed and if your cat does not start to urinate again within six hours, they may have very little chance of surviving.

WHAT IS LACK OF URINATION IN CATS ?

Lack of urination in cats is a condition where your cat’s kidneys have almost completely stopped the production of urine.

Kidney stones or bladder stones may slow down and severely retard the flow, but this is an entirely different situation and is much more serious.

Deep blue eyes in catsLack of urination in cats has several effective treatments

However, it is still somewhat confusing, as the key term to help in understanding it is the terminology almost completely stopped.

There is a medical term called Oliguria, which is a decreased production of urine.

It has several potential causes that can result in your cat’s kidneys to suddenly stop the flow of urine.

If your cat is healthy they will produce at least one or two milliliters of urine per kilogram of their body weight every hour.

If they do not produce this amount, they are considered to have Oliguria.

Once this occurs, they have lost their ability to produce urine; and thus the term almost completely.

THE SYMPTOMS WILL APPEAR VERY RAPIDLY

There are several symptoms that will quickly surface with the lack of urination in cats, and the first symptom will be dehydration.

Dehydration is often assumed to be a condition that has to develop over a period of time, but that is a misconception, as it can and often does happen very rapidly.

Once the dehydration occurs, your cat may also start to vomit excessively which is making this condition even worse.

The next series of symptoms of lack of urination in cats will be a very sudden weakness that is often followed by a partial or a complete collapse of your pet.

The lack of urination by your pet may be something that you do not notice at first, but the symptoms of dehydration are very noticeable and easy to spot.

There is a simple skin elasticity test that you can perform that will confirm dehydration, and if there is no apparent cause, the chances are very high that your cat has Anuria.

The test is done on a scale of five to twelve percent.

your cat is healthy and has no urination or hydration issues, when you pinch their skin it should immediately rebound back into place.

If they are at the five percent range, it still rebounds, but slightly slower.

If they are between six and nine percent, you will see a very noticeable difference in the rebounding as it is now much slower.

If this happens, immediately touch their gums for moisture. If they are dry, something is wrong.

If you cat is more than nine percent dehydrated, the skin will stay almost rigid and do nothing. Examine their gums again, but now pinch them.

should always have a pinkish tint and should return back to this color within one to two seconds. If they don’t and combined with the loss of elasticity, your cat is in an extremely serious situation.

KIDNEY FAILURE IS NOT THE ONLY CAUSE

Lack of urination in cats is almost always the result of an acute kidney failure, but it is not always associated with a kidney disease.

Dehydration is the second leading cause of acute failure, but toxicity from an accidental exposure to antifreeze as well as a drug reaction to a new drug or treatment can also be the cause.

Other possibilities include blood clots or infections.

Cats are naturally attacked to the smell of antifreeze as it has a very sweet smell and taste to them.

However, it has a very toxic agent called Ethylene glycol that is also found in rust removers and film processing solution.

If it is ingested by your cat, it is immediately metabolized by their liver.

Once it metabolizes, it can and does attack several of your cat’s organs and it is especially toxic to their kidney.

If this is the cause, you have between six to twelve hours before it will kill them and you will not see the signs of dehydration.

But you will see very rapid signs where it appears that your cat is in a drunken state.

Whatever the actual cause of the kidney failure is, they all have one thing in common; you have a very sick cat.

The actual underlying cause of the lack of urination in cats may be difficult to find by your veterinarian.

However, there are several very good and reliable tests that they can run including blood tests, ultrasound, or radio-graphs.

SEVERAL DIFFERENT TREATMENTS

There are severe different types of treatment for lack of urination in cats, and your veterinarian will usually use a urinary catheter first to accurately measure the urine production.

However, they will also be very cautious in administering intravenous fluids as it is very easy to over hydrate a cat with Anuria.

the reason for this is simple; if they cannot urinate all excess fluids goes immediately to their tissues.

The first form of treatment that your veterinarian may use is a drug called Mannitol which immediately increases the flow of blood to the kidneys.

However, there are other drugs that the medical community feels are much more effective.

Furosemide is considered to be more direct and it works by affecting the sodium and potassium exchanges within your cats kidney tubes and usually produces urine in thirty to sixty minutes.

However, this drug will not be used if the actual cause is a reaction to a recently given drug.

The most effective of all of the drugs may be Dopamine which dilates the blood vessels and as a result, induces the production of urine within thirty to sixty minutes as well.

It is usually given as a constant intravenous drip, and if this does not produce the flow of urine, your cat has virtually no chance of survival.

Summary

Lack of urination in cats is usually caused by dehydration or some type of toxicity, most commonly antifreeze which is very tempting to any cat.

However, if it is an acute kidney failure from a kidney disease, your pet’s outlook is very bleak at this stage.

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