We have a cat who is rising 17 years old - bit stiff in the joints, but otherwise seems well. However, her urine is really strong smelling. I know cat pee is never the nicest smell in the world, but we just can't seem to keep litter trays from smelling - we're now on the crystal cat litter, as otherwise we'd be emptying the entire thing out every day. For a while, the crystal seemed to work really well, but even that seems to be smelly very quickly now.

She goes to the vet twice a year for Program injections, and they've never raised any issues with her health, even though to me she seems very thin. Unfortunately, she's my husband's cat, so he tends to take her to the vet when he is on his late shift, so I don't usually go. Should we make a special appointment and ask the vet to do blood tests for ??kidney function?? Is there anything they can do about it even if this were the case? Is this just something that happens as they get older and we'll have to live with it?

Any clues, folks?

M.

I gather from what I hear at work that kidney problems are common in elderly cats but can be successfully managed, so I'd suggest taking the vet a urine sample and getting them to run blood tests would be a good idea.

Thanks Jan, that's really helpful.

Now ... the million dollar question ... hard enough with dogs, but how on earth do you go about getting a urine sample from a CAT?!?!

M.

The smart answer is :with difficulty! :D Actually there's a type of cat-litter stuff that doesn't absorb - the urine goes right through and you use a syringe to get it out of the litter tray - it's supposed to be effective. I don't think it can be got from the shops though; I think you'd need to ask the vet where to get it from.

Oh yes, Jan - here: http://www.spatrek.co.uk/stockists.aspx. I shall phone the vet about it and see if they have some.

Many thanks,
M.

Try an empty litter tray with a plastic bag in, most cats love peeing on plastic. If it turns out to be totally impossible, the vet can actually draw urine out straight from the bladder with a syringe. It sounds awful, but it actually ISN'T, the cat does not need any sedation and one of mine that suffered from recurrent cystitis has had it done a few times and he never reacted more than to any other injection. It needs a full bladder though.

Gold star for Marianne, the plastic bag in the litter tray worked perfectly!

Thank you.

M.

I'll remember that tip to pass on to clients at work. Cheap and effective! :)

Great! :D Let us know the results.

Gaaah - fully accept that this is as much about my husband's incompetence as the vet's (although my vet would have written it all down for me!), but all fairly inconclusive. Apparently "nothing seriously wrong, but does have some renal issues that may be helped by a special diet".

Don't know why I didn't sign the cat up with my vet when we got together (12 years ago LOL!) and take over responsibility for taking her. Ah well, at least we know there's nothing that needs medication, will look at diets - if anyone has any recommendations, they'd be much appreciated.

Thanks,
M.

Okay, now if there was ANY signs if impaired renal function, then some action needs to be taken NOW, because like I said this only shows up in bloods and urine once there quarters of the function is already gone. Hills K/D dry is a good kidney diet (only from vets), the good thing about it is that cats usually LOVE it, whereas the canned version they hate. :) Fortekor tablets as I think I mentioned before can do a lot of good as well once there are further symptoms.

The food they've given us a sample of is a Royal Canin one. They've given us dry and wet food - haven't tried the dry yet, but can confidently say there's no way in the world she'll lower herself to eat the wet. :rolleyes:

M.

Yes like JG says it could be kidney problems, it really is the most common problem. However a problem is that blood samples will only show up anything once three quarters or more of the kidney function is already gone.(Usually by the time blood samples show a problem, 70 to 80 % of the kidney function is gone.)  So you could have a cat with just 50 % kidney function but the blood test would show up as normal. If your vet has an ultrasound scanner, it would be a good idea to scan the kidneys. Also though often the kidneys either shrivel and go small and hard, or enlarge in size (depending on what kidney disease it is) and most vets would be able to feel this, so the very first step would be for a vet to simply check the cat out and feel the kidneys -it's not very difficult.

There is a great relatively new drug called Fortekor which helps increase blood flow to the kidneys and it can improve the quality of life for a cat with kidney problems a lot.  It's usually only a small dose of half a small tablet a day (unless the cat is very large) and shows an improvement within about a week. Well worth asking about if a problem is found. An old cat of mine was given another 18 months of life thanks to Fortekor, and it was good quality time, where he felt really well.

Of course, it could also simply be a urinary infection, or a case of the cat not drinking enough for whatever reason, so that the urine is too concentrated and therefore smells more.

Good luck!

I think Marianne should have her own Cats Q&A headed section!  ;)  

My 13 year old cat is on Fortekor 1 small tablet a day. He had lost a lot of weight and was drinking excessively.

See quite an improvement in him in 1 month.

Thanks folks. She's well enough, although she sleeps a lot, but I guess that's to be expected really. Only other thing to comment on is that she is very vocal of late, which I believe can be an indicator of some issues.

She doesn't seem all that keen on drinking from her bowl - prefers to drink from the shower tray. Will get her booked in for next week and investigate some of the methods for urine collection in the meantime!

M.

Being vocal can be slight confusion in old age, it's very common. :)

M,

I'd guess kidneys too. Good luck trying to get a sample..

Have you got a Costco card?
I use the litter perfect stuff from there it's ace.
Clumping and it's got baking soda and stuff so it's not as smelly..

excessive vocalisation can also be an indication of hyperthyroidism, especially if she is loosing weight aslo. i would advise a blood test rather thatn a urina sample as a urine sample can only show certain abnormalities that would need to be follwed by a blood test anyway, if nothing comes up on a urine sample as i said it may be there are other problems which cant be diognosed in this way.
my oldest is 15 and has 6monthly blood tests as often by the time there are symptoms in kidney and liver problems it can be difficult to treat as effectively. but a blood test will pick these up.regarding her age, my mums cat was diognosed with kidney failure and a heart mumer at 16,but lived very happily until she was 23!
i hope she is ok.

Yes, that was what I'd read claraclogs. Of course, she may also just be going a bit deaf, I find the dogs get louder and louder as they get older.

My vet has the non-absorbing litter, so I shall send hubby along next week armed with a sample and for the vet to take a blood test. Did ask him to do this last time she went, but by the time he's 5 minutes out the door, I'm lucky he remembers he's actually got the cat with him, never mind extras LOL. ;)

M.