# How often does a cat urinate?



## nocturne123 (Apr 16, 2005)

My foster only urinated once in the litterbox the first 36 hours she's been with me. I am a bit concerned because my dogs definitely do their business more often than that. Could it be stress-related? She's eating fine and more outgoing now.


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## emrldsky (Aug 31, 2004)

Are you sure she hasn't gone outside of the litterbox somewhere? Cats can be sneaky creatures and it's not always obvious if they've eliminated outside of their box.


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## Meowmie (Jun 4, 2005)

Normal is two to five times a day.

I agree, you should look around to find out whether she is using another location.

When under stress, afraid, etc, some cats "hold" it, so if you can't be sure what is going on, whether she is going anywhere or not, have the vet do a quick check to see if her bladder is full or not. 
In a situation like this kitty will be seen right away. 

Can she be stressed because of the dogs, afraid of the dogs, etc? 
Can a dog possibly be bothering her when she is trying to use the litter box?


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## nocturne123 (Apr 16, 2005)

I can't find where else she did her business.

I confined her in the bathroom today when I was at work, and she still didn't urinate that much. I didn't seen any blood in the litterbox. She's eating fine (in fact... she insists on being fed before anyone else and keeps going after dog food) and is following me around.

She has the worst smelling poop, but I don't smell any urine. She used to live with 2 small dogs, and our first meeting went well. She ignored my dogs and was happy exploring my place. That's why I decided to foster her. She did hide for the first 24 hours after she came, so obviously she's stressed by the new environment.

I'll watch her water intake. Any suggestion to encourage her drink more? I do have a drinkwell pet fountain, and she's being fed on canned food.


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## Meowmie (Jun 4, 2005)

> I confined her in the bathroom today when I was at work, and she still didn't urinate that much


Are you using clumping litter? If so, the number of clumps and the size of the clumps tell you what's going on.
You know there is a problem if you find a number of tiny clumps and not one that is good, normal size. 
(It's more difficult to tell what's really going on with ordinary clay litter.) 

Can you describe what exactly are you finding in the litter box and what kind of litter you are using? 

How much canned food is she eating per day?
Is she eating any dry food?


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## nocturne123 (Apr 16, 2005)

Now i am very worried. I am using World's best litter. It was a bigger clump last night, and today it's a number of tiny clumps.

The poop is nicely formed though. She ate about 3/4 of the 5.5oz felidae today. She had evo dry yesterday. I got different brands of canned food here because I wanted to find out which one she likes the best.

I called the rescue, and he told me to keep an eye on her. If I found her straining to go to the bathroom, they will be here tomorrow and take her to the vet.


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## Meowmie (Jun 4, 2005)

A number of tiny clumps means there is a problem. Please get her to the vet, and make sure they do a complete urinalysis from a sterile sample.
Starting out with a sterile sample is extremely important. 
If you think she won't get proper veterinary attention if the rescue handles this, take her to your own vet. If such a problem is mishandled, bigger problems follow.
Also, do not accept medication without a complete urinalysis and a urine culture because not all problems come from a bacterial infection and when they don't, antibiotics are useless. 
In the meantime please feed no dry food, not even Evo.
Do not feed canned that contains corn and wheat.
And for the time being feed no fish-based canned food either. 
These are some of the very basic precautions you can take in this situation.


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## nocturne123 (Apr 16, 2005)

thanks for the advice. I was panicking last night, but I found a good size of clump this morning and another one when I got back from work. I've not found tiny clumps since. I could be paranoid last night and tried to pick up tiny clumps I didn't clean up from her first urination.

I'll keep feeding canned food with some water added for the next few days. Can I safely assume that if she had uti or kidney problem, the symptoms would be more persistant?

Another question: how long does it take to get urinalysis result? One of my dogs did have uti once, and the vet gave me antibiotics right away. We didn't get the result of urinalysis until few days later. I can't imagine what's gonna happen to him if he had to wait for the result to be treated.


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## Meowmie (Jun 4, 2005)

> I was panicking last night, but I found a good size of clump this morning and another one when I got back from work. I've not found tiny clumps since. I could be paranoid last night and tried to pick up tiny clumps I didn't clean up from her first urination.


Maybe so but based on this "It was a bigger clump last night, and today it's a number of tiny clumps" it's impossible to be sure.
Temporary bladder irriation can also cause tiny clumps and if one doesn't actually see how many trips a cat takes to the litter box there is really nothing to go on. (Temporary bladder irritation clears up on its own within 24 hours and it doesn't come back unless the same irritating food causes another episode.) 

It takes a couple of days for test results to come back. The problem is that some vets prescribe an antibiotic without doing a urinalysis and other tests. If a cat doesn't actually have a UTI this approach is absolutely, totally useless. So we (the clients) have to make sure that medication is prescribed based on test results. 

If you are finding good size clumps now then it's reasonable to assume that everything is all right, at least for the time being. 
A problem caused by crystals or a UTI would not clear up on its own within 24 hours. That only happens with food allergy.


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