{"id":7112,"date":"2019-05-08T10:00:41","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T15:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.diamondpet.wearewoodruff.xyz\/?p=7112"},"modified":"2024-09-09T17:10:24","modified_gmt":"2024-09-09T22:10:24","slug":"information-cat-urine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/blog\/health\/urinary\/information-cat-urine\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Your Cat\u2019s Urine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most indoor-cat owners deal with daily cleaning of at least one litter box. While some owners are disgusted by this \u201cnot-so-pleasant\u201d cat-care duty, the reality is that you can learn a lot about your cat’s health from the volume and odor of urine. (Insights into feline digestive health can also be gained from the quantity, color, consistency and smell of cat stools!<\/em>)<\/p>\n

In fact, there\u2019s a lot more to cat urine than meets the nose.<\/p>\n

Unique urine<\/h3>\n

Did you know that cat urine is about 95 percent water? That\u2019s right, water. And unless there\u2019s a urinary tract infection, there are no bacteria \u2014 except what\u2019s picked up from the surrounding skin and fur as your pet urinates.<\/p>\n

So what gives cat urine its distinctive odor? Normal cat urine will have a distinctive, pungent and acidic scent. A couple components contribute to feline urine odor.<\/p>\n

First, cat urine tends to be more concentrated than human urine \u2014 and even dog urine. Like other species\u2019 urine, cat urine contains urea, ammonia, uric acid and creatinine. These are natural waste products of protein breakdown. Bacteria in the environment break urea down into ammonia, so if you don\u2019t scoop the litter box daily, you may detect a strong ammonia smell.<\/p>\n

What makes cat urine different from human or dog urine is the presence of a sulfur-containing amino acid called felinine, which is unique to domestic cats and their close relatives (e.g., bobcats and lynx). Felinine itself is odorless, but it breaks down into highly volatile compounds with disgusting odors. While felinine is found in the urine of all pet cats, it\u2019s present at much higher concentrations in the urine of intact (unneutered) males.<\/p>\n

How to tell if your cat\u2019s urine is normal<\/h3>\n

Unless your cat is urinating outside of the litter box \u2014 which suggests a problem in and of itself \u2014 it\u2019ll be challenging for you to check the color and clarity of your cat\u2019s urine and possibly the odor. That\u2019s because today\u2019s litter and litter boxes do an excellent job of concealing sight and smell. Normal cat urine should be clear and pale yellow to amber in color. Any change in color \u2014 which you would notice if your cat urinates on the floor or in a sink \u2014 should be reported to your veterinarian.<\/p>\n

Probably the easiest at-home way for you to know if your cat\u2019s urine is normal<\/a> is by monitoring the frequency of urination. Most healthy adult indoor cats will urinate twice a day on average. But frequency is also affected by water intake, heat and humidity, cat food moisture level and the presence of health conditions such as kidney disease and bladder infections. You\u2019ll want to know your cat\u2019s<\/em> normal daily urination habits so that any change from normal can be spotted. And if your cat begins urinating more or less than usual, contact your veterinarian immediately.<\/p>\n

Many abnormal urine odors are associated with a health concern, such as bladder infection, cystitis (bladder inflammation), dehydration, diabetes or even tumors. If you smell something unusual in your cat\u2019s litter box, you should have your cat checked over by your veterinarian. An analysis of your cat\u2019s urine can tell your veterinarian a lot<\/em> more about your pet\u2019s health. We\u2019ll cover that topic in a future post.<\/p>\n

RELATED POST: Introducing New Diamond CARE Urinary Support Formula for Adult Cats<\/a><\/p>\n

RELATED POST: Know When It\u2019s Time to Call the Veterinarian<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most indoor-cat owners deal with daily cleaning of at least one litter box. While some owners are disgusted by this \u201cnot-so-pleasant\u201d cat-care duty, the reality is that you can learn a lot about your cat’s health from the volume and odor of urine. (Insights into feline digestive health can also be gained from the quantity, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7187,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Your Cat's Urine","_seopress_titles_desc":"Many abnormal urine odors are associated with a variety of different health concerns for your cat. Read up on what you can learn from your cat\u2019s urine here!","_seopress_robots_index":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,302],"tags":[100,305,304],"class_list":["post-7112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-urinary","tag-cat","tag-urinary-support","tag-urine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}