Bladder stones in senior cats: symptoms, types, treatment and prevention

Bladder stones in senior cats almost never look like the dramatic illness they actually are. A cat with stones grinding against her bladder wall may simply visit the litter box more often than usual, sit a little longer than she used to, leave a faint pink smudge on the litter that gets buried before anyone sees it, or stop using the box at all and start choosing a soft blanket or a corner of the rug instead. The cat is otherwise herself — eating her dinner, settling on the couch, greeting the door — and so the changes get attributed to a litter brand, a new household stressor, or simple stubbornness in old age. By the time anyone connects the dots, the stones have often been quietly at work for months.

Bladder stones — also called uroliths or cystic calculi — are mineral concretions that form inside the bladder when something tips the chemistry of the urine and dissolved minerals begin to crystallize, clump together, and grow. They can be a single smooth nugget or a bladder full of sandy grit. They can be silent for years or trigger an emergency overnight. And in male cats especially, a stone or a sandy mineral plug can travel into the urethra — the long, pencil-thin tube that carries urine from the bladder to the outside — and get stuck there, blocking urine completely. That moment is one of the few true emergencies in feline medicine. A blocked male cat can die within 24 to 48 hours without intervention, and the warning signs are easy to mistake for constipation or a behavior problem.

This guide walks through what bladder stones in senior cats actually are, why the disease behaves so differently in cats than in dogs, the main types and how each one forms, the easy-to-miss warning signs in older cats, how veterinarians diagnose and remove them, the special problem of urethral obstruction in male cats, and the long-term water, diet, litter box, and stress strategies that meaningfully reduce the chance of recurrence.

What bladder stones actually are

Healthy cat urine is a concentrated chemical solution — water, urea, salts, and dissolved minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and phosphate. Most of the time those minerals stay in solution and pass harmlessly out of the body. But cats, more than most species, produce remarkably concentrated urine. Their wild ancestors evolved in dry environments, and the feline kidney is exceptionally good at squeezing water back out of urine before it leaves the body. That efficiency is helpful in the desert and unhelpful in a modern living room, because concentrated urine is exactly the kind of urine that nudges dissolved minerals out of solution and into crystals.

When urine becomes too concentrated, when its pH drifts too far in one direction, or when a metabolic disease floods it with a particular substance, microscopic crystals begin to form. Crystals attach to one another, to small bits of cellular debris, and sometimes to a hair-thin nidus of protein, and over weeks to months they grow into stones. Stones in the bladder cause harm in three main ways. They irritate the bladder wall, producing chronic inflammation, microscopic bleeding, and the kind of low-grade discomfort that drives a cat to visit the box more often and produce less each time. They create a haven for bacteria in cats whose stones are infection-related, since the rough surface of a stone shelters bacteria from antibiotics. And in male cats, they can physically block the flow of urine by lodging in the narrow urethra.

Senior cats face a stack of extra risk factors for stones. Many older cats are mildly to moderately dehydrated because of reduced thirst drive, painful arthritis that makes the trip to the water bowl harder, or early chronic kidney disease. Some have been on dry food for a lifetime, which produces more concentrated urine than wet food. Some have other diseases — hyperthyroidism, diabetes, chronic urinary tract infection — that change urine chemistry. And many simply have had more years for slow-growing stones to develop. The end result is that bladder stones, while less common in cats than in dogs overall, are diagnosed often in the senior cat population, and they are particularly dangerous when they appear in older male cats whose urethras are already narrow.

Why bladder stones in cats are different from dogs

It is tempting to think of feline bladder stones as a smaller version of the canine disease, but the two play out differently in ways that matter.

First, the mix of stone types is different. In dogs, struvite stones are usually driven by infection. In cats, struvite stones are often sterile — they form without any bacteria involved, driven instead by diet and urine pH alone. That single fact changes the treatment plan: a cat with struvite stones often does not need antibiotics, and dissolution diets in cats work even when the urine culture is completely clean.

Second, calcium oxalate has been rising sharply in cats over the last several decades. Through the 1980s and into the early 1990s, struvite dominated; today, calcium oxalate and struvite roughly share the lead, and in older cats calcium oxalate is often the more common of the two. Older theories blamed the shift on aggressive struvite-prevention diets that over-acidified the urine; the truth is more complicated, but the upshot is that any modern stone diagnosis in a senior cat needs to be confirmed with stone analysis before assuming a type.

Third, cats are extraordinary at hiding pain. A dog with a sore bladder visibly strains and hunches and asks to go out more often. A cat tips quietly into different patterns — a few extra litter box visits, a missed jump, a longer-than-usual grooming session of the belly. Owners often only realize how unwell their cat was in hindsight, after treatment, when she returns to herself.

Fourth, and most critically, the male cat's urethra is dramatically narrower than the male dog's. A stone, a clump of crystals, or a soft sandy plug of mucus and mineral can lodge in the urethra and stop urine flow completely. Urethral obstruction is far more common, far more sudden, and far more dangerous in cats than in dogs, and it is one of the few situations in feline medicine where hours genuinely separate recovery from death.

The main types of bladder stones in cats

The chemistry of the stone determines almost everything about treatment and prevention, which is why your veterinarian will almost always send any removed stone to a specialty lab for analysis. Knowing the type guides the diet, the medications, the follow-up plan, and the realistic expectations for recurrence.

Struvite stones

Struvite is a crystal of magnesium ammonium phosphate, and in cats it commonly forms in sterile urine — meaning no infection is involved. Diet, urine pH (alkaline urine favors struvite), and urine concentration are the main drivers. Struvite stones in cats are often diagnosed in middle-aged females and in younger to middle-aged cats overall, but they certainly occur in seniors as well. The good news is that most struvite stones in cats can be dissolved medically with a prescription struvite-dissolution diet that produces acidic, dilute urine; stones often shrink visibly within weeks and dissolve completely within one to two months. Antibiotics are only added if a urine culture turns up an actual infection.

Calcium oxalate stones

Calcium oxalate is the most common stone type in older cats today and unfortunately the one that cannot be dissolved with diet — once a calcium oxalate stone has formed, it has to come out mechanically. Risk factors include older age, overly acidic urine, low water intake, certain diets, and metabolic conditions that raise urinary calcium, including hyperthyroidism and idiopathic hypercalcemia. Breeds with a known predisposition include Persian, Himalayan, Burmese, Ragdoll, and Scottish Fold, although any cat can develop oxalate stones. After surgical removal, the focus shifts entirely to prevention through diet and water intake, because the recurrence rate without management is high.

Less common stone types

A smaller percentage of stones in cats are urate (often in cats with portosystemic shunts or liver disease), cystine (in cats with inherited cystinuria), calcium phosphate, dried solidified blood stones, or true mixed stones. Each type has its own underlying cause and its own prevention plan, which is one more reason stone analysis is essential rather than optional.

Urethral plugs: stone-like but different

In male cats especially, the urethra is sometimes blocked not by a true stone but by a urethral plug — a soft, toothpaste-like mass of mineral crystals, mucus, protein, and cellular debris that forms in the urethra itself rather than starting in the bladder. Plugs are most often associated with feline idiopathic cystitis and the broader umbrella of feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD). They are not the same as bladder stones, but from the cat's point of view, and the owner's, the result is identical: urine cannot leave the body and the situation is an emergency. Plugs and stones often coexist in the same cat, and the treatment of the blockage looks the same in either case.

The signs of bladder stones in senior cats

Bladder stones can produce symptoms that are subtle, intermittent, easily blamed on aging or stress, or — in the case of urethral obstruction — quietly catastrophic. Knowing the full pattern helps you spot the problem early.

Frequent trips to the litter box with small volumes

A cat with bladder stones often visits the litter box more often than usual but produces only a small clump each time. Chronic bladder irritation makes the bladder feel full long before it actually is, so the cat keeps going back. This pattern is easy to confuse with constipation, since the cat may sit in the box for long stretches and produce little. Watching what is actually in the litter — small urine clumps rather than feces, or no production at all — helps tell the two apart.

Straining and long litter box sits

A cat who postures in the box and stays hunched for an unusually long time, sometimes producing only a few drops or nothing at all, is straining. Some cats vocalize quietly while straining, or look back at their hindquarters. This is one of the most reliable signs of urinary trouble in a cat, and it deserves prompt veterinary evaluation rather than a wait-and-see approach — particularly in male cats.

Blood in the urine

Pink, rust-tinted, or frankly red urine is one of the more striking signs of bladder stones, but it is also intermittent and easy to miss in clumping litter. Owners sometimes find a single pink-stained clump in the morning and weeks of normal-appearing litter before the next episode. Pulling a clump apart occasionally to check the color is a reasonable habit in a stone-prone cat.

Urinating outside the litter box

A senior cat who suddenly starts peeing on the bath mat, the laundry pile, a cool tile floor, or a bed is almost always trying to tell you something — and a medical cause needs to be ruled out before any behavioral assumption is made. Cats often associate the box with discomfort once urinating starts to hurt, and they go looking for surfaces where it might hurt less. Stones, urinary infections, cystitis, and arthritis-driven box avoidance all show up this way. Imaging the bladder is part of the workup whenever house-soiling is new.

Recurrent or difficult-to-treat urinary infections

Senior cats are much more likely than younger cats to have true urinary tract infections, often in the setting of chronic kidney disease, diabetes, or hyperthyroidism. If a cat has had several courses of antibiotics for what seems like the same UTI, or if cultures keep growing the same organism back, bladder stones are high on the list of explanations. The rough surface of a stone shelters bacteria from antibiotics, and the infection relapses as soon as the course ends.

Excessive genital grooming

Cats with chronic urinary discomfort often groom the genital area more than usual. It can be subtle — a few extra licks here and there — or pronounced enough to cause hair loss or skin irritation. In male cats, overgrooming around the penis can be a warning sign of urethral inflammation, plug formation, or an early stone trying to pass.

Quieter, less playful, more withdrawn

Chronic bladder pain in a cat rarely produces obvious distress. Instead, the cat sleeps a bit more, plays a bit less, misses a jump she would have made a month ago, withdraws to a quieter spot in the house, and generally fades into a slightly more subdued version of herself. Owners often only realize how much their cat had been holding back once treatment lets her return to herself.

Strong-smelling or cloudy urine

Urine that has changed in color, odor, or clarity may signal infection, crystals, or bleeding. Some owners notice a particularly strong ammonia smell when struvite or infection is present, or visible sediment in the clump.

Urethral obstruction: the real emergency

Most of the time, bladder stones produce a slow, frustrating, but not immediately life-threatening picture. The terrifying exception — and it is genuinely terrifying — is when a stone, a clump of crystals, or a urethral plug moves into the urethra of a male cat and gets stuck. The male feline urethra is roughly the diameter of a thin pencil lead; even a small obstruction blocks it completely.

A urethral obstruction is a true emergency. When urine cannot leave the body, pressure builds backward through the urinary system, the kidneys begin to fail within hours, potassium climbs in the blood to dangerous levels, and the heart can begin to misfire. Cats with complete obstruction can develop a fatal heart rhythm within roughly 24 to 48 hours of becoming blocked. Bladder rupture — which spills urine into the abdomen — is also a real risk if the bladder becomes severely overdistended. Many obstructed cats go from "straining a little" in the morning to critically ill by evening, and from critically ill to dying overnight.

Seek emergency veterinary care immediately — same day, ideally same hour — if your cat:

• Has been visiting the litter box repeatedly without producing any urine, or only small drops
• Cries, growls, or shows obvious pain while posturing to urinate
• Has a hard, painful, or visibly distended belly
• Licks the genital area excessively, especially with no urine production
• Vomits along with the straining or repeated litter box visits
• Becomes lethargic, weak, hides, or collapses
• Has gone more than 12 hours without producing any urine you have observed

Do not wait for morning. Do not assume it is constipation. A male cat who is straining and producing nothing belongs in a veterinary hospital that same hour, even if it means an overnight emergency clinic. Female cats can obstruct too, but it is rare because the female urethra is wider and shorter than the male's, allowing most stones to pass through.

How bladder stones are diagnosed

The workup for suspected bladder stones in a senior cat is methodical and almost always combines physical exam, urinalysis, imaging, and bloodwork. Each piece of information shapes the treatment plan that follows.

Physical examination

A careful exam includes gently palpating the abdomen for a full or painful bladder, examining the genital area, and assessing overall hydration and demeanor. Large bladder stones can sometimes be felt as gritty firmness in a moderately full bladder; an obstructed cat will often have a hard, painful, overdistended bladder that does not empty when pressure is gently applied. The exam alone never confirms a stone, but it shapes how urgently the rest of the workup needs to move.

Urinalysis and culture

Urinalysis evaluates the urine's concentration, pH, presence of crystals, blood, white blood cells, bacteria, and protein. The crystal type seen on the slide can hint at — but not definitively prove — the stone type. A urine culture is typically run as well, particularly in older cats and any cat with a history of infection, since both stones and concurrent infections need to be addressed.

Bloodwork

Complete blood count and chemistry panels assess kidney function, identify metabolic causes of stones (such as elevated calcium pointing to hypercalcemia or hyperthyroidism), and check for the dangerous electrolyte changes that occur with urethral obstruction. In a blocked cat, potassium and kidney values can be wildly abnormal and require urgent correction before anything else is attempted.

X-rays

Plain abdominal radiographs are excellent at finding most bladder stones in cats, because struvite and calcium oxalate stones are dense enough to show up clearly. Counting and measuring stones on X-ray also helps the surgical team plan the procedure. Some stone types — urate, cystine, certain dried-blood stones — may not appear on plain X-rays, which is one reason additional imaging is sometimes needed.

Ultrasound

Bladder ultrasound finds essentially all bladder stones regardless of their X-ray density, evaluates the bladder wall for thickness or tumors, and can sometimes identify stones lodged in the upper urethra. In older cats, ultrasound also gives valuable information about the kidneys, which often have their own age-related changes worth tracking. Ultrasound and X-rays are often used together rather than as alternatives.

Stone analysis

Once a stone has been removed, the single most important next step is sending it to a specialty laboratory for quantitative mineral analysis. Crystal types in the urine can be misleading — surface crystals are not always the same as the deeper layers of the stone — and the prevention plan depends entirely on knowing what you are actually preventing. Skipping stone analysis is one of the most common reasons preventive plans fail and stones quickly come back.

Treatment options

Treatment of bladder stones in cats falls into two broad categories: dissolving the stones with diet or removing them mechanically. The choice depends on stone type, cat stability, and clinical situation. A cat with a urethral obstruction is a special case in which the immediate priority is restoring the ability to urinate, and longer-term decisions follow.

Medical dissolution

For confirmed struvite stones, medical dissolution is often the preferred first-line approach. The cat is started on a prescription struvite-dissolution diet that produces acidic, dilute urine designed to reverse struvite crystallization. Stones are followed with serial imaging — usually X-rays every two to four weeks — and most feline struvite stones shrink visibly within weeks and dissolve completely within one to two months. Antibiotics are added only if a culture confirms infection. Dissolution does not work for calcium oxalate, cystine, calcium phosphate, or many mixed stones, which is why stone identification matters so much before committing to a dissolution plan.

Dissolution requires careful follow-up and strict diet compliance. The cat must eat the prescription diet exclusively — no other foods, no treats outside the prescribed range, and ideally wet food to maximize water intake. If the stone has not shrunk meaningfully on the expected timeline, the diagnosis is reconsidered and surgery may be needed.

Cystotomy: surgical removal

Cystotomy — surgical opening of the bladder to remove stones — is the most common treatment for stones in cats that cannot be dissolved or that have caused obstruction. Under general anesthesia, the bladder is opened, all stones are removed, the bladder is flushed thoroughly to dislodge any small fragments, the urethra is checked to ensure it is clear, and the bladder is sutured closed. Most cats go home within one or two days and recover quickly. The single most common reason for early recurrence after cystotomy is that small stones or sandy debris were missed at surgery, which is why post-operative X-rays before discharge — done after the bladder is closed and refilled — are now considered standard of care.

Voiding urohydropropulsion and cystoscopy

Very small stones in some cats — particularly females, whose urethras are wider — may be removed less invasively. Voiding urohydropropulsion uses careful positioning, sedation, and squeezing of a full bladder to expel small stones through the urethra. Cystoscopy uses a small fiberoptic scope passed up the urethra to see and retrieve stones with a basket. These options are limited by stone and patient size, but when they apply, they spare the cat a full surgical procedure.

Treating an obstructed cat

A male cat in urethral obstruction is handled as a stabilization-and-decompression emergency. Intravenous fluids are started immediately, blood is drawn to check kidney values and potassium, and the heart is monitored. Once the cat is stable enough for sedation or anesthesia, the urethra is unblocked — most often by passing a urinary catheter and using fluid pressure to flush the plug or stone backward into the bladder, where any remaining stones can later be removed surgically. A catheter typically stays in place for one to several days while the bladder recovers, fluids continue, and the urine clears. For cats who block repeatedly despite all best efforts, a surgical procedure called perineal urethrostomy — which permanently widens the urethral opening — can be life-saving.

Treating underlying causes

For cats with metabolic stone causes — hypercalcemia, hyperthyroidism, kidney disease, chronic infection — addressing the underlying problem is essential to lasting prevention. Hormonal management, thyroid treatment, kidney-friendly nutrition, and culture-guided antibiotic courses are tailored to each cat's individual picture. Stones rarely appear out of nowhere; they almost always sit on top of a particular cat's particular chemistry, and that chemistry is what prevention has to address.

Preventing recurrence

The honest reality is that without targeted prevention, bladder stones in cats often come back. Calcium oxalate stones in particular have a high recurrence rate, and even dissolved struvite stones can reform if the conditions that produced them remain unchanged. The encouraging counterpart is that thoughtful prevention dramatically reduces the chance of going through the whole ordeal again.

Water, water, water

Diluting the urine is the single most powerful tool for preventing every stone type in cats. Senior cats are often subtly dehydrated, and persuading them to drink more is one of the highest-yield interventions in feline urinary medicine. Try several of the following at once: switch as much of the diet as possible to canned food, add warm water to wet or dry food, offer multiple fresh water bowls around the house in quiet locations away from food and litter boxes, try a pet water fountain to take advantage of cats' preference for moving water, offer wide low-edge bowls that do not touch whiskers, and consider plain unflavored water at different temperatures to see what your individual cat prefers. The goal is pale yellow urine and a cat who urinates several solid clumps a day rather than one or two large ones.

Therapeutic prescription diets

Therapeutic prescription diets are the cornerstone of stone prevention in cats. Each stone type has its own preventive diet, designed to alter urine pH, mineral content, and protein composition so that the conditions for that specific stone type to re-form become less favorable. Diets are not interchangeable: a struvite-prevention diet is not appropriate for a calcium oxalate cat, and vice versa. After a confirmed stone analysis, the veterinarian recommends the specific therapeutic diet that fits, and that diet usually becomes a lifelong commitment — including no off-diet treats, no random table scraps, and careful attention to any food the cat might find on her own. Wet versions of these diets are almost always preferred over dry, because of the water content.

Multiple clean, inviting litter boxes

Urine that sits in the bladder for hours at a time concentrates and gives crystals more time to aggregate. A cat who hesitates to use the box — because it is dirty, because it is in a noisy spot, because it is shared with a cat she does not get along with, or because climbing into a tall-sided box hurts her arthritic joints — will hold urine longer. The standard rule is one litter box per cat plus one, scooped daily, in quiet, low-traffic locations, with at least one box on every floor of the home. For senior cats, switch to lower-sided boxes that an arthritic cat can step into without pain.

Stress reduction

Stress is a real driver of feline urinary disease, particularly cystitis and plug formation. Predictable feeding schedules, vertical space, hiding places, quiet retreats, gentle and slow introductions of new pets or visitors, and the use of synthetic feline facial pheromone diffusers can all reduce the stress load on a sensitive cat. For cats with strong stress-driven urinary disease, your veterinarian may also discuss supplements or medications.

Aggressive treatment of urinary infections

In senior cats — unlike young adults — true urinary tract infections are common, especially in cats with chronic kidney disease, diabetes, or hyperthyroidism. Treating those infections to completion with culture-guided antibiotics, then rechecking the urine after the course is finished, helps prevent recurrent struvite stones and protects the rest of the urinary tract.

Monitoring imaging and urinalysis

Many cats with a stone history benefit from periodic surveillance imaging — typically X-rays or ultrasound at three to six month intervals for the first year or two after stone removal, then less frequently if no recurrence is seen. A periodic urinalysis checks whether the urine pH and concentration are in the target range for that cat's stone type, whether crystals are reappearing, and whether infection is brewing. Catching a small, asymptomatic recurrent stone early often allows medical management or a much less invasive intervention than waiting for a crisis.

Weight management

Overweight cats are at higher risk for several stone types and for the broader picture of feline lower urinary tract disease. Working with the veterinarian to keep a senior cat at lean body condition is a quiet but real piece of the prevention plan, and it pays dividends well beyond the urinary tract.

What to avoid

• Assuming a straining cat is constipated. Especially in male cats, urinary obstruction looks almost identical to constipation from the outside. The default assumption in any straining cat should be urinary trouble until proven otherwise.
• Waiting overnight on a male cat who is straining without producing urine. Even a few hours can be the difference between a manageable problem and a life-threatening one.
• Trying to manage a urinary problem at home with cranberry, apple cider vinegar, or human urinary supplements. None of these are appropriate for cats, and several can be actively harmful.
• Switching diets between stone types without veterinary guidance. A struvite-prevention diet given to a calcium oxalate cat can make things worse, and vice versa.
• Skipping stone analysis after surgery. Without a confirmed stone type, the prevention plan is a guess.
• Punishing a cat for urinating outside the box. The cat is almost always telling you something is wrong, not misbehaving. A vet visit comes first.
• Letting water bowls go stale. Cats are picky about water, and fresh, clean water in multiple locations is one of the most underrated preventive tools.

When to See the Vet

Seek emergency veterinary care immediately if your cat — especially a male cat — shows any of the following:

• Repeated trips to the litter box with no urine production, or only a few drops
• Crying, growling, or obvious pain while trying to urinate
• A hard, painful, or visibly distended belly
• Vomiting along with straining or repeated box visits
• Excessive licking of the genital area, particularly with no urine being produced
• Sudden lethargy, weakness, hiding, or collapse
• More than 12 hours with no observed urine production

Schedule a prompt non-emergency exam — within the next day or two — if your senior cat shows any of these less acute signs:

• New or worsening trips to the litter box more often than usual
• Smaller urine clumps than normal
• Pink, rust-colored, or bloody clumps
• New urinating outside the litter box
• Recurrent or relapsing urinary infections
• Excessive grooming of the belly or genital area
• Subtle changes in activity, jumping, or social behavior in a cat who has had stones before

Caring for a senior cat with bladder stones

A stone diagnosis in a senior cat lands hard. There is the worry of surgery, the demand of a lifelong prescription diet, the constant vigilance for litter box changes, the very real fear of urethral obstruction in a male cat, and the underlying truth that a cat who once seemed fine has been quietly uncomfortable for longer than you realized. All of that is real, and you are allowed to feel it.

But the day-to-day picture for most treated cats is far better than the initial diagnosis suggests. The food bowl gets a different label on it. The water fountain runs in the corner. There are a few more clean, inviting litter boxes around the house than there used to be. There is a follow-up X-ray on the calendar twice a year. The cat herself, in most cases, goes back to being herself — often more quickly than owners expect, because the chronic low-grade discomfort they had mentally normalized finally lifts.

The harder part is the watching. Once a cat has had stones, you start to notice every long sit in the litter box, every slightly pink clump, every missed jump. That watchfulness can feel exhausting, but it is also exactly what catches recurrence early and exactly what gives a stone-prone cat the best possible long life. Most senior cats with a treated stone history go on to live the same amount of time, and to feel the same way day to day, as senior cats without one — provided the diet stays consistent, the water stays plentiful, the litter boxes stay clean, and the small signs that something might be off are taken seriously rather than waited out.

Send the stone for analysis. Choose the matched prescription diet and feed it cleanly. Make water easy and appealing — fountains, fresh bowls in multiple rooms, wet food as the foundation of the diet. Keep the litter boxes scooped, low-sided, and welcoming. Treat infections to completion with cultures, not guesses. Keep the surveillance imaging on the calendar. And if your male cat ever begins to strain in the box without producing urine — even for an hour, even on a Sunday, even when it feels like it could probably wait — go straight to the emergency room. The day you call early is the day this disease stays where it belongs: a chronic condition the household manages, not a crisis that takes your cat away.

This article provides general educational information about bladder stones in senior cats. It is not a substitute for individualized veterinary advice. Stone type, severity, surgical risk, and the right prevention plan all depend on the individual cat, and decisions about diet, medication, dissolution versus surgery, and follow-up frequency should always be guided by a veterinarian who can examine your cat and review imaging, urinalysis, culture, and stone analysis results. Never start, stop, or change a prescription diet or medication without veterinary guidance, and never give human medications for urinary symptoms. If your cat — especially a male cat — is straining to urinate with little or no production, has a hard or painful belly, is repeatedly vomiting, or becomes weak or unresponsive, seek emergency veterinary care immediately rather than waiting for a regular appointment. Urethral obstruction in cats is a true emergency, and rapid care saves lives.