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Hello, I'm Dr. Mike. Today were 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
emergency care and possibly surgery. FLUTD stands for feline lower urinary tract
disease and its a disease that can affect our cat population, usually the younger cats
who are anywhere between about six months to about five years or so. It is something
where the kidneys are working and they're 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 to
the outside. Its predominately our male cats with this particular disease. Overweight cats
tend to be more effected than our lean cats, but the young male cats are the ones
that are most effected. Clinical signs that they'll often notice are cats that are going
to the litter box more frequently than normal, so several times, not really producing any
urine. A lot of times, cats will also vomit and
not want to eat. They will sometimes show signs of discomfort as well, just as the urine
is accumulating in the bladder, unable to be passed. If an owner notices the clinical
signs of this disease, this needs to be seen by a veterinarian immediately. It is life
threatening. Typical diagnostics that your veterinarian may recommend start with a
urinalysis, and a blood panel to evaluate kidney function as well. Knowing that the
cats typically do not have urinary tract infection
associated with FLUTD is up in the air as far
as if they will recommend a urinary culture as well. Other tests that may be
recommended include abdominal ultrasound. X-rays are important, however, for
animals who are showing clinical signs for the first time, it'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 prophyllactically 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. It a cat
obstructs completely, meaning they're 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, its 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 remove the catheter and then send it home
for at home care is usually what's indicated. There are preventative measures in as much
as depending on the urinalysis results that your veterinarian will go over with you. Sometimes
there 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. 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 pets diet. I often send my patients
home on a very specific diet. I picked the diet based on results of their lab tests 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 diets and many of them can be very beneficial.
However, you need to talk to your veterinarian first to see if they think a dietary change
is necessary and which diet your pet should have. Remember, if your recognize any of the
signs we discussed, call your veterinarian immediately. Don't wait. I hope this information
has been helpful. Thank you for watching.