Litter Box Usage

[LionsMomma]

I've had Lion for over a year now and I've never noticed any change in his behavior until recently. He used to sleep most of the day and use the litter box maybe a total of, maybe 3 times. (My cat's a lazy butt, his nickname is Garfield) But recently he's been in and out of his litter box 5-6 times in a total of maybe 20-30 minutes. He's still eating and drinking normally but he's not really actually using the litter box every time he goes in it. It's starting to worry me. I'm gonna be honest and say that he still doesn't have a vet yet, my husband has been picky about it and won't settle on someone. I know I should have gotten one right off the bat but when we got him he was up to date on his shots and everything.


I don't know what to do. Can someone help me?

[Traci]

Any time a cat is frequenting the litterbox and not able to produce urine is a veterinary emergency, your kitty could have a urinary tract infection, or be developing urinary crystals or developing a blockage, blockages are fatal in a matter of hours to cats, since the cannot void urine and the urine becomes toxic in their system. If you haven't noticed stools, he could also be constipated

DO NOT WAIT, get your kitty to an emergency vet RIGHT THIS MINUTE. It could be that a urinary tract infection is present and can be treated with antibiotics, but an exam, vitals, urinalysis is imperative RIGHT NOW to rule out UTI/infection/blockage!!

[LionsMomma]

Took him into an Emergency Vet and sure enough, he had crystals. No blockage, thank god. He's going on a special diet and he's got a med that he's gotta take but he'll be ok. Guess "momma" intution works on cats too.

[Tambrey]

good thing you got him in...those can be very painful....if you look them up online you can see what the buggers look like

I had a male cat many years ago suffered with crystals...once...got him on the special diet and he was good to go for many years afterwards...

thanks for getting him in and coming to let us know how things went for him!

(got pics)...we LOVE to see pics over in Debbie's Cloud!!

[Cindy]

We had a cat come into the shelter on a Friday. Monday morning early he seemed fine but Monday late morning he was down and making a horrible yowling noise, the poor guy was in such pain!

My manager rushed him to the vet where they found it was a blockage. It was too late, he died under anesthetic as they attempted to clear the blockage.

This is the kind of thing you cannot wait on! The elderly man who had turned in the cat said AFTERWARD that he thought something had been wrong with the cat. He never told us about it and he never took him to the vet.

Very glad to hear Lion (Garfield) is OK!

[Traci]

I'm sorry, Cindy, how tragic for this poor little one, my heart goes out to him.....

[LionsMomma]

My husband got panicky last night over Lion, so once again we were back in the ER and while we were there a couple came in that had their house burn down. They lost a few of the cats but they had two with them, one in each of their arms. I felt bad for the woman cause she was so upset. You could litterally smell the smoke on the one she was holding. I hope both of them made it through ok

[Traci]

Oh how sad and tragic

What prompted the emergency visit with Lion this time? What did the vet determine?

[Cindy]

I'm sorry, Cindy, how tragic for this poor little one, my heart goes out to him.....

Actually he was a very BIG tiger cat, Rocky was his name.

Hope Lion is OK!