Help! My male cat can't pee!

This is an emergency.

Kitty cats are prone to lower urinary tract disease. As I mentioned before in the diet post, we haven't quite managed to get feline nutrition figured out. Whether the problem is more diet related or genetic remains to be seen. Regardless, inflammation or infection of the lower urinary tract in cats is fairly common. It is most commonly referred to as FUS (Feline Urologic Syndrome) or FLUTD (Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease).

In this post I want to specifically deal with the cat straining to urinate. In a female of any species, it's fairly hard to cause an obstruction of the urethra. It's shorter than the male and tends to flair out towards the end of the urethra. In the male, however, there's a lot more urethra to consider (in most species) and it tends to stay fairly consistent in diameter or actually get SMALLER towards the end. In dogs it has to go through a bone near the end of the penis (called the os penis).

Male cats are a little bit special in regard to the penile urethra. The urethra isn't that much longer than in the female, but the trick is that the urethra gets a bit smaller towards the end. This is important in cats because in cases of FUS the urinary bladder becomes so inflamed that bits of mucous, white cell debris, and usually some crystals or small stones are all formed as part of the inflammatory process. When you mix all that goo together, it can form a plug. When that plug travels down the urethra, it gets caught up towards the end (where it becomes smaller) and obstruct the urethra. Obstruction = BAD. BAD = Emergency.

So, the moral of the story is that ANY MALE CAT STRAINING TO URINATE MUST BE SEEN ON AN EMERGENCY BASIS. Not later, not tomorrow morning, not after work. NOW. Any animal straining to urinate should be seen quickly so we can properly identify the reason, rule out emergency causes and start treatments so the poor dears can feel better quickly.

AMH