male cat sticky urine

[babybellaboy]

My male cat or 3 years has recenlty stating screaming when he pees and his urine is sticky. He struggles to pee. His ex ray does NOT show crystals or anything wrong. Any ideas? He is fed mailnly Friskies indoor dry and very small amounts each day of wet food.

[Piparskeggr]

If I recall (this having been 16 years ago)  about 3 tablespoons per quart before the smell changed enough...

@fanachan - most of our girls over the years have liked tomato sauce (especially if there was some Parmesan left also), Cerridwen never did.

Hmmm...

[fanachan]

Really sounds to me like a urinary track infection or crystals in his urethra. Is there blood in his urine? Is he neutered, if so, at what age? Does he try to pee all over the place?

Lots of times crystals do NOT show up in x-rays. In my experiences, the cat does have to have bladder stones or large (or allot of) the sand or crystals to have difficulty urinating. If you can, try to palpate the abdomen and see if you can feel his bladder. If you can, and its large, this is a medical emergency. Not only is your cat in allot of pain, but he can die in a short period of time.

If its only a bladder infection and he is not a finicky eater, you might try letting him lick your plate after you have spaghetti or lick your bowl after tomato soup. This will acidify his urine and lower the chances of a recurrence. I would recommend doing this to everyone with cats, especially male cats since the urethra is smaller than females, as a precautionary measure.

Good Luck

[opus88]

Pip I've recently read about apple cider vinegar (acv) for crystals....tell me did this work for her? how much were you able to add without her detecting a smell and refusing to drink?

[Piparskeggr]

One of our spayed females (Cerridwen 12/84 - 05/00) had crystals when back in '92 or '93.

Vet suggested putting a little cider vinegar in her drinking water, as well as changing to a food formulated for urinary tract problems, which we did.  (Everybody liked the new food, so it was less of a hassle at meal times.)

We found she had a problem when she started peeing in the porcelain sink in the bathroom, got enough of a urine sample so the vet could test and make sure.  This needs to be done for your cat.

[opus88]

OMG poor baby, you have obviously seen a Vet if xrays were done, usually all it takes is a urine test to determine was a URINE TEST done?....this sure as heck sounds like crystals to me!!!! and some of them must be blocking his urethra to be causing soooo much PAIN.
if his urine is being blocked...(struggles to pee) his bladder is in danger of bursting.
I really think he needs another Vet check and maybe a new Vet.!!!

the stickiness could well be a sign of diabetes as it is with us humans...again a urine test would tell you more.

the first thing you can do to help him is get him OFF of any dry food!!!
this is most important especially for MALES....wet food only, if he doesn't have crystals already he soon will otherwise.

Please get this kitty to a Vet he is suffering.asap.