Friday, January 09, 2009

Do You Know If Your Cat Has A Feline Bladder Infection?

cat bladder infection

Has your cat ever been blindsided by a feline bladder infection?  Don't let this happen to your kitty.If you need to know more about cat bladder infection, you'll find answers to your questions in this article.

Your Cat's Urinary Tract

Your cat's urinary tract includes his kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra.  The kidneys are constantly filtering waste products out of your cat's blood.  These waste products are carried out of the kidneys into the bladder by the ureters, tubes that run between your cat's kidneys and his bladder.

The bladder is a muscular little bag that holds the urine until it leaves the body.  The urine passes out of the body through the urethra.

This system usually works with no problems, but sometimes trouble arises in the form of a bladder infection.

Cat Bladder Infection Symptoms

It may be hard to believe, but the bladder is a sterile environment, so bacteria aren't normally found there.  However, if bacteria find a way in, they can cause a bladder infection in your cat.

  • Symptoms of a feline bladder infection include:
  • Urinating outside the litter box
  • Straining to urinate or having trouble passing urine
  • Crying out in pain when trying to urinate
  • Bloody urine
  • Drinking a lot of water


Inflammation in the bladder is what causes these symptoms, not the infection itself.It's possible for your cat to have a bladder infection with no inflammation if he's being given anti-inflamatory drugs like cortisone.

Be aware that if your cat can't urinate at all, this is a blockage, which is a veterinary emergency.  Get your cat to the vet as soon as possible.

How Your Vet Treats Cat Bladder Infection

Your vet will probably prescribe antibiotics to clear up the infection.  Tests ordered may include a urinalysis to check for white blood cells and crystals in the urine, and a urine culture to identify which bacteria is causing the problem.  The results of the urine culture can help determine which is the best antibiotic to use.

Tips For Preventing Cat Urinary Problems

There are several ways to prevent your cat from getting a bladder infection in the first place. 

First, try to feed your cat canned food.If your cat eats only dry food, he may be more susceptible to a bladder infection.  Cats are meant to get most of their water from their food, and moisture levels are much too low in dry cat food.

Second, your cat must have access to lots of pure, clean water at all times.  You may want to give him filtered water to be sure he's not being exposed to any contaminants in his water.

Natural Remedies For Pets Are Helpful In Preventing Cat Bladder Infection

People have been using herbal and homeopathic remedies for bladder problems for centuries."Are these remedies available for cats?" is the question many cat owners are asking. 

The answer is yes.It's necessary to use a remedy that's been formulated especially for pets.  The remedy should include the herbs uva ursi and barberry, along with the homeopathic remedies Cantharis and Staphysagris.  These ingredients have a proven track record for treating bladder problems.

You'll also want to find a remedy that's safe enough to give your cat every day to prevent cat urinary problems.  It needs to be easy to administer, too.  You won't use it for long if you have to force your cat to take a pill every day.  Be sure you purchase your remedies only from a company with a good reputation that stands behind its products.

Now it's time for you to put these tips into action so your cat won't suffer from feline bladder infection.

Feline Bladder Infections Can Be Prevented

Let's face it.  Until your cat is one of the lucky ones who comes down with a cat bladder infection, you probably don't even think about feline bladder infections.  But they can be prevented, with a little care on your part.  Here's how.

Does Your Cat Drink Enough Water?

It comes as a shock to many cat owners to find out that their cats are chronically dehydrated.  Cats don't always drink a lot of water.  This is because your cat's ancestors lived in the desert, where there's not much water around.Ideally, cats get most of the water they require from what they eat. 

Did you know that a mouse is more than 90% water?  A cat in the wild who is living on the animals he catches and eats gets most of his water from what he eats.  This isn't true of our domestic house cats.  Dry commercial cat food contains about eight percent water.  So if your cat's diet consists exclusively of dry food, he could be heading for trouble in the form of cat urinary problems.

If your cat is dehydrated, it causes his urine to be extremely concentrated.  This puts him at a much higher risk of developing cat bladder stones and cat bladder infections.

The best thing you can do is to feed your cat a good quality canned food.  Most canned cat food has a moisture content around 75 percent.  The problem is that many cats are addicted to dry food, so it can be very difficult to get them to eat canned food.  But with patience and persistence, it can be done.

Clean fresh drinking water is a necessity for your cat.Your cat will appreciate filtered drinking water that's free of contaminants.  Change your cat's water several times a day so it's appealing to him.  You wouldn't drink bad-tasting water with stuff floating in it, and your cat won't either.

Avoid Cat Bladder Infection with Natural Remedies For Pets

Humans have been using herbs to treat and prevent bladder infections for centuries.In many parts of the world, these herbal treatments are still being used every day. 

Homeopathic remedies have also been proven to be safe and effective in treating bladder infections in people, with no side effects.

Wouldn't it be great if there were herbal and homeopathic remedies for cats that would prevent cat urinary problems?You should ensure that such a product is formulated only for pets, not people.  It would have to be safe enough to give your cat every day, along with being effective for preventing feline bladder infections.  Most importantly, it needs to be in a form that's easy to administer.  Trying to give a cat a pill is not fun, either for you or your cat.

You'll want to purchase this remedy only from a reputable manufacturer who has years of experience in formulating natural remedies for pets.You'll want to be sure that this company has a good reputation for producing safe and effective products.

Do your kitty a favor.  Prevent the pain and stress of feline bladder infections by using a safe and effective natural remedy for cats.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Cat Breeds

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Cat Breeds

Some of the different cat breeds are given below:

Asian Cat:

There are five varieties of Asian cats: Asian Shaded (Burmilla), Asian Smoke, Asian Tabby, Asian Self, and Tiffanie, and are identical to European Burmese. This breed was developed in the UK in the 1960s. They are the product of accidental mating of Burmese and non-pedigree cats and also an accidental mating between a Chinchilla Persian and a lilac Burmese which developed varieties like Burmilla, Tabbies, Smoke and Tiffanie. These varieties are now classified as Asian cats.

Bengal Cat:

Bengal cat is a result of crossing a domestic cat with a wild cat to get the wild cat markings on a domestic cat. The first generation of these Bengal cats are always on demand as they have a distinct patter of a leopard on them. Their body is long and muscular. They have large and horizontally aligned spots and sport background colours ranging from golden, orange to ivory. The first deliberate cross took place in 1963. These cats usually have good temperament but sometimes they may not and it is definitely difficult to take care of them if they are not patient.

British Shorthair:

The British Shorthair cat medium, well built cat with a short, dense coat, which is usually blue. It is an extremely friendly cat and also is independent and alert. The British Shorthair was in the spotlight for some time until the Persian cats took over.

Burmese:

Burmese cats are famous for their ability to adapt well with their masters and are credited for their temperament. They are affectionate and love being groomed by their owners. This loyal medium-sized breed compact and muscular and has bright yellow or golden eyes. The coat colours come in champagne, sable, blue and platinum. They are one of the quietest breed of cats.

 

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Common Questions And Answers About Cat Urinary Infection Treatment

feline bladder infections

Do you have unanswered questions about the cat urinary infection treatment your vet provides?Many cat owners don't understand the treatment for cat urinary tract infecitons, and they still have questions that haven't been answered.You'll find the answers to your questions in this article.

Are Feline Bladder Infections Contagious?

The short answer is no.  Cat urinary tract infections can't be passed from one cat to another or from a cat to a person.

What's The Difference Between Feline Bladder Infections And Cat Urinary Tract Infections?

People get really confused about this, and for good reason, since the terms are used interchangeably.  However, to answer the question, a cat bladder infection really only affects his bladder.  A feline urinary tract infection (also called a UTI) can affect any part of your cat's urinary tract.  This includes his kidneys, his ureters (the tubes that carry urine from his kidney to his bladder), his bladder, and his urethra (the tube that carries urine out of his body).  

Usually, when someone is talking about a UTI, they really mean a feline bladder infection.

What's The Difference Between A Urinalysis And A Urine Culture?

Your vet may want to perform both of these tests.  Many cat owners don't understand exactly what they are, and what they're for.

Usually a urinalysis is done first.  Your vet looks at the sample to see if the urine is cloudy or bloody.  Cloudy urine is due to the presence of white blood cells, which indicate an infection.  If the urine is bloody, there's obviously a problem.  Your vet may see that crystals are present, which indicate cat bladder stones.  The urine is also checked for protein.  

Based on the results from the urinalysis, your vet may want to do a urine culture.

A urine culture involves separating out the bacteria found in the urine sample from your cat.  These bacteria are then grown in the lab.  This test gives your vet some important information, namely, how many bacteria are present, what kind of bacteria it is, and which antibiotic will kill it.  

It takes at least a couple of days to do this test, as the bacteria need time to grow.

My Cat Doesn't Really Need All Those Antibiotics, Does He?

The good thing about antibiotics is that the cat urinary problems go away quickly.However, the infection isn't completely gone.  Many cat owners make the mistake of not giving their cats the antibiotics for the entire ten or fourteen days.If you stop giving your cat the antibiotics too early, there is a good chance the infection will come back.  

A more serious problem is that of antibiotic resistance.  More and more disease-causing bacteria are becoming resistant to common antibiotics.  One of the reasons is that people are not finishing up all the antibiotics, which encourages the bacteria which aren't killed right away to keep growing.  So you can see that it's very important to finish the antibiotic treatment, no matter how much your cat resists it.

Natural Remedies For Pets Can Help

You may be interested in learning more about herbal pet remedies.  These remedies are safe and effective, and can be given every day to prevent cat urinary problems.You should buy them only from a reputable company that's known for manufacturing the best quality products for pets.

Now that you're armed with this information, you can understand cat urinary infection treatment better.

Darlene Norris has combined her long-time interest in natural healing with her experience working at a vet clinic to bring you her new website, Natural Pet Urinary Health.  Here you can discover how herbal and homeopathic remedies can help prevent and treat feline bladder infection.  Find the best place to buy these remedies at http://naturalpeturinaryhealth.com

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Do You Know How Urinary Blockage In Cats Is Treated?

Just imagine if your feline friend developed a cat urinary blockage.  This condition is a serious complication of feline lower urinary tract disease, also known as FLUTD.  It's often caused by cat bladder stones blocking the urethra so your male cat can't pass any urine.

Why Does This Happen To Male Cats?

A cat blockage is rarely seen in female cats.This is due to females having a urethra that is much shorter and wider than in males.  Although this puts females at greater risk for cat bladder infections, this does protect them somewhat from a feline urinary blockage. 

Because male cats have a much smaller urinary opening than females do, it doesn't take a very big feline bladder stone to cause urinary blockage in cats.

How Your Vet Treats A Urinary Blockage In Cats

If your cat is unable to pass any urine, or can pass very little, this is an emergency.  Your cat's kidneys stop functioning when the urine has no place to go, which allows toxins to build up in the body very quickly.  This toxin build-up causes death within a few days if it's not treated.

Your vet will insert a catheter to allow the urine to drain out of the bladder.A few days of hospitalization will be necessary for your cat if the catheter needs to be stitched in place.Flushing out your cat's bladder with fluid may be done to get rid of any bladder stones that are there. 

To keep him from becoming dehydrated, your feline friend will need to be given fluids, either by IV or under the skin.  He'll also be assessed for any problems related to the toxic build-up in his system.

Most cats can go home after a few days.  But you'll need to feed your cat a special diet for the rest of his life to prevent bladder stones from forming again.

What If The Blockage Happens Again?

If your cat continues to have problems with a cat urinary blockage, surgery may be the next step.Your cat's urinary opening can be enlarged to prevent recurring blockages by means of an operation called a feline perineal urethrostomy. 

This operation only prevents cat blockage, not FLUTD.  A cat who has had this operation is more likely to develop feline bladder infection and bladder stones.  He should have urine cultures done three or four times a year to be sure he's not suffering from a feline lower urinary tract infection.

Prevent Cat Bladder Stones

If you can keep cat bladder stones from developing in the first place, your cat won't get this condition.  Cats with very concentrated urine are more prone to developing stones. 

If you feed your cat canned food instead of dry, you can avoid this problem.  Cats are meant to get most of their water from the food they eat.  A high quality canned food has a moisture content closer to what a cat in the wild would eat.Chronic dehydration is a result of feeding your cat only dry food.

Be sure your cat always has access to plenty of clean, fresh drinking water.

Herbal and homeopathic remedies for cats are now available.  These remedies are especially formulated to treat and prevent cat urinary problems.Buy them only from a reputable company that's known for providing high-quality pet products.

Now that you have this information, you can take steps to protect your kitty from ever experiencing a cat urinary blockage.

Darlene Norris has combined her long-time interest in natural healing with her experience working at a vet clinic to bring you her new website, Natural Pet Urinary Health.  Here you can discover how herbal and homeopathic remedies can help prevent and treat feline bladder infection that can lead to urinary blockage in cats.  Find the best place to buy these remedies at http://naturalpeturinaryhealth.com

Monday, January 05, 2009

Dog Anxiety and Clomipramine

Pet separation anxiety disorder is a traumatic and tough to deal with problem for dogs and their people, as can obsessive-compulsive grooming or spraying is cats who are under this stress and their subjects. What exactly do the two conditions have in common, you ask? You’ll see presently just particularly what it is that links the mentioned disorders and what really they look to as possible cures and ways to fix the situation. One definitely doesn’t want to allow a continuous pattern of destructive behavior to go on and lead to issues both for your little friends and you.

Dog Separation Anxiety

Separation anxiety for canines can be quite a bothersome problem. Dogs are quite socially focused animals and rely deeply on the theory of the pack in all social relationships. As pet owners, people become the top dogs in the pack and become as the leader. Usually in today’s busy world, those pack alpha dogs wander away and abandon the dogs at home by themselves for much of the day. Canine separation anxiety shows up by means of several quite apparent and increasingly troubling symptoms. Starting off with barking, salivating, and hyperventilation, they will quickly progress into deeper stages of inappropriate defecation and urination, eating furniture, and tries to escape so as to locate the pack on their own. This will obviously fail and cause noticably more stress for the poor pet.

Obsessive Compulsive Grooming Disorder

Anxiety concerns for cats are quite completely different. Cats are more independent of their people, yet social relationship issues can still arise. Cats get rather territorial or aggressive, so cats might have problems both when moving from a familiar home to a new, unfamiliar location, or anxiousness because of aggressive felines either in the neighborhood or the house. Feline anxiety can also be seen in obsessive compulsive grooming behaviors, where the cat cleans themselves so much and actually turns out to clean off patches of their own fur!

Clomipramine

Clomipramine generic is a partial cure to just these kinds of concerns. The same way with people and their anxiety disorders, animals may get treated with medicines for the exact types of disorders. In a nutshell, this is pet prozac. Medications in the vein of Clomipramine can help take the edge off from your pet’s stress, giving you time and breathing space to resolve the specific underlying concerns. Effects of Clomipramine may include drowsiness, dizziness, dehydration, weakness, constipation or loss of appetite, so you will want to be careful that your pet gets lots of water and you watch them closely for a bit. They clearly can’t tell you in plain English if they’re unwell. Clomipramine canine are happy and healthy friends!

 

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Save Your Cat's Life With Emergency Treatment for Urinary Blockage in Cats

cat urinary blockage

This is a scary thought.  If your male cat has had FLUTD, or Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease, he's at risk for developing a cat urinary blockage.Your cat can die within 36 hours if he doesn't receive immediate veterinary treatment for this life-threatening problem. 

What Are the Signs Of Urinary Blockage In Cats?

It can be hard for cat owners to tell if a cat urinary blockage is present.  The symptoms are pretty much the same as for a feline urinary tract infection:  straining, not able to pass much or any urine, crying in the litter box, urinating in places other than the litter box. 

Your vet will diagnose this by feeling your cat's belly for a distended bladder.An empty feline bladder is normally soft and small.  A cat with a urinary blockage will have a hard bladder about the size of a peach.You can understand how painful this is for your kitty.

It's also dangerous.  When a cat can't empty his bladder, his kidneys stop filtering waste products out of the blood and making urine because it can't go anywhere.  When this happens, toxins start building up in your cat's body, which will kill him within a few days.

What Causes A Cat Urinary Blockage?

Bladder stones are the culprit.  These stones form from minerals present in your cat's urine.Stones ranging in size from grains of sand to pea gravel are formed when minerals in the urine crystallize.  Your cat may have only one stone, or he could have dozens. 

A male cat has a very long, narrow urethra (the tube that carries urine from the bladder outside the body).  If he has even a few tiny cat bladder stones, it's very easy for him to develop a urinary blockage.

How Is A Urinary Blockage In Cats Treated?

Your vet may be able to get the blockage out by putting pressure on your cat's bladder.This sometimes works, but usually your cat needs to have a catheter inserted. 

Urinary toxins building up in your cat's system can cause loss of appetite, vomiting, and irregularities in his heart rhythm.  Your cat will probably be dehydrated too.He may be given fluids by IV, or under his skin. 

Your cat may need to stay at the animal hospital for several days, until the catheter can be removed. 

Home Treatment

When you bring your cat home, you'll need to feed him a special diet.The formation of mineral crystals can be avoided by feeding a diet lower in magnesium.  He'll have to eat this diet for the rest of his life to prevent another blockage from occurring.

Lots of clean fresh water should always be available to him.  The more water he drinks, the more dilute his urine will be.  This helps to prevent cat bladder stone formation.

Homeopathic and herbal remedies are now available for cat urinary problems.  Probably the best way to prevent this problem in the first place, or to keep it from happening again, is to put your cat on one of these remedies.

Take action now to prevent a urinary blockage in cats from happening to your feline friend.

Darlene Norris has combined her long-time interest in natural healing with her experience working at a vet clinic to bring you her new website, Natural Pet Urinary Health.  Here you can discover how herbal and homeopathic remedies can help prevent and treat feline bladder infection that can lead to urinary blockage in cats.  Find the best place to buy these remedies at http://naturalpeturinaryhealth.com