Episode 9: Understanding Cat Behavior: Inappropriate Urination Explained

In this episode of Ted the Vet, Dr. Ted Burghardt discusses the common issue of inappropriate urination in cats, exploring both medical and behavioral causes. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the underlying reasons for this behavior, including urinary tract infections, stress-related conditions, and the impact of environmental changes. The episode also highlights the significance of open-mindedness in diagnosing feline health issues and offers solutions such as pheromone therapy to help manage behavioral problems.

Takeaways

• Cats are naturally inclined to use the litter box.
• Inappropriate urination can be due to medical or behavioral issues.
• Common medical causes include urinary tract infections and bladder stones.
• Stress can lead to feline idiopathic cystitis, causing bladder inflammation.
• Behavioral issues may arise from changes in the household environment.
• Pheromone products can help calm cats and encourage litter box use.
• Urinary obstruction is an emergency situation requiring immediate care.
• Open-mindedness is crucial when diagnosing feline health problems.
• Regular veterinary check-ups can help identify underlying issues early.
• Understanding your cat's behavior is key to effective pet care.

Resource:

Feliway Diffuser: https://us.feliway.com/

Transcript

Ted The Vet (00:02.252)
Welcome to Ted the Vet podcast where pet owners are empowered with insightful tips and advice to give the best care to their furry companion. Hi, I'm Dr. Ted Burkhart, owner of Companion Pet Care in Encinitas, California. Today I want to talk about cats and litter box activity, or rather when they stop using the litter box and start going other places in the house. This is what is referred to as inappropriate urination.

Some of the ideas here could be pertinent to dogs and other animals too, but this episode focuses on cats specifically. To start, cats are amazing in the sense that even as little kittens, they come pre-trained to use the litter box. They just know without training that that is where they should go to the bathroom. But I do see many cases where the cat patient

whether young or old, is presented to me for peeing outside a litter box. It can lead to a smelly, messy situation and can add stress to the household. So why do cats do this? This inappropriate activity can be categorized into a few different ways which we will investigate. The main categories we want to rule out include a medical reason on one hand or a behavioral issue on the other.

So let's start with some medical reasons why cats pee outside the litter box. A very common one that you might already be guessing is the presence of a urinary tract infection or UTI. Signs of a UTI can include not only peeing outside the litter box, but drinking an excessive amount of water, and they typically urinate frequently and in small amounts.

So a lot of times they may go in and out of the litter box frequently. And because they drink so much water, the urine is usually dilute and clear, but that's not always the case. And sometimes UTIs can present with concentrated and foul smelling urine, sometimes even with blood, which is called hematuria. And if we see blood, it's a symptom that we need to investigate what's going on with the urinary tract.

Ted The Vet (02:24.77)
For testing, it's important to check the urine with a urinalysis test or a UA and also a urine culture. The urinalysis UA tells us basics about the urine, including how concentrated it is, the pH, if there are any obvious bacteria, and also tells us if there are any crystals in the urine. A culture gives us different information. It's performed at the lab.

where urine is placed on the culture plate, kind of like a petri dish, and it's allowed to grow. With this technique, the bacteria can be harvested and identified. A couple of common bacterial urinary tract infections are E. coli bacteria and Proteus bacteria. The lab will also test different antibiotics against these bacteria to identify which antibiotic is the most effective.

to treat the bacterial infection. And this is great because it eliminates the guessing game of trying to pick an antibiotic to treat the infection. Another medical reason for cats having inappropriate urination could be crystals or larger stones that develop in the bladder. These can form for a variety of reasons, ranging from diet to metabolic disease and even liver shunts.

As crystals or stones bounce around in the bladder, they traumatize the bladder wall and can cause discomfort and can even cause blood in the urine, which we call hematuria. The most common stones that form in the bladder are visible on x-ray. So we can take an x-ray and see the stones in the bladder many times. Another thing to take into consideration is cancer.

in the urinary tract that can also cause cats to have abnormal urinary behavior. Usually this is in older patients. There are urine tests to identify cancer in the bladder and sometimes we can see cancer on ultrasound visually. So urinalysis, urine culture, x-rays, other urine tests and even abdominal ultrasounds

Ted The Vet (04:51.522)
can all be done to determine the medical cause of the cat peeing all over the house. But what if we do all these tests and it comes back normal and the cat is still having this behavior? It is possible that the symptoms may not be related to a medical issue. Did you know that for cats, the organ that is most affected by stress is the bladder? This is in contrast to the dog who

With dogs, they tend to have gastrointestinal issues when they're stressed. So for cats, there is a condition called feline idiopathic cystitis or sterile cystitis. This is a condition where the bladder gets inflamed, but there's no infection, there are no stones, there's no cancer. So we do all the tests and still come up with no abnormalities. Idiopathic cystitis

essentially means we don't know the exact mechanism of why the cat has this bladder inflammation and no infection, but usually it seems to happen around times of stress. And I see these cases when, for example, there's a new pet introduced in the house or the owner's been out of town or there are people visiting in the house. So when we think of stress and behavior, if a cat feels threatened,

or wants to demonstrate its alpha dominance, it may pee on anything, on a guest suitcase, on the carpet, or on clothes if there may be a smell that they want to overwrite. If a cat does pee in a certain spot and it's not cleaned up thoroughly, they may smell that spot and go back and keep marking on it again and again. Dogs will do the same thing.

So those are some differences between medical and behavioral inappropriate urination in cats. One medical situation involving the urinary tract that I want to make sure to mention is when cats become blocked and they're not able to pee. If an animal is not able to pee, it is an emergency situation and requires immediate attention. Usually it happens in male animals.

Ted The Vet (07:14.466)
because the male urethra tapers down and is typically more narrow at the end than the wider urethra of a female. And for example, a cluster of crystals or stones or sludge can get stuck in the urethra, effectively blocking urine from being able to pass and be eliminated. When cats get this type of urinary blockage, they're usually in very much distress.

The bladder is kind of like a balloon and it keeps filling up with urine and can't release the urine. So as the condition progresses, they become very uncomfortable. They start vocalizing. They can show signs of discomfort like straining in the litter box, crying, agitation, and going in and out of the litter box, but not producing urine. Urinary obstruction is very painful for the cat. And if left untreated, the bladder can rupture.

When a blocked cat, or as we call them a blocked tom, is brought into the hospital, emergency procedures are initiated to reverse the blockage, and sometimes surgery is performed to remove any stones and clear the urethra. So if your cat ever shows these symptoms, please take them immediately to the hospital. There was another inappropriate urination case I saw.

where the client told me that his cat had symptoms of a UTI because he was going in and out of the litter box very frequently. After discussing further, I found out that the client had recently bought a new mechanical litter box and it turned out that the cat did not have a medical issue. It was just so interested in the new litter box device and how it cleaned itself that he was going in and out to investigate how it worked.

So I found it really does help to stay open-minded when I work up these cases. In conclusion, depending on the situation, the treatment for inappropriate urination can vary significantly. On that note, for cats that have behavioral issues, I wanted to mention a pheromone product that can help calm cats. Pheromones travel in the air and they're kind of similar to aromatherapy candles.

Ted The Vet (09:40.312)
which can help ease and resolve some of the behavioral issues. Filaway is a brand that makes cat pheromones that I have recommended, and they make sprays as well as plug-in diffusers that you can put near the litter box, and it can help draw and attract the cat to the litter box area. This can sometimes help with inappropriate urination.

These pheromones do not affect humans and they're only detectable by cats. So they don't have any fragrance and you can't smell them. So that's a wrap for today on Ted the Vet podcast. Thanks for joining me and together we can take great care of your pets. To learn more about my veterinary hospital, you can head over to our website, companionpcvet.com and connect with us on Instagram at companionpetcare.

The links are also available in the show notes. If you enjoyed the episode, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your fellow animal lovers. I'm Dr. Ted Burkhart. Until next time.