Common Kitty Ailments

At Cat Lover's Advice Australia, we are often asked about the following common kitty ailments some of which can be easily alleviated without dragging kitty off to see the vet. Nevertheless, a vet trip is imperative in some instances.

Stress

Kitties are the ultimate creatures of habit! They are happy with routine to stay just as it is.

Changes can be very stressful for cats particularly if they’ve had a long run of nothing much changing. Common significant changes that are likely to stress your kitty:

A new member in the house be it human or animal
Building projects
Moving house
New, noisy neighbours

Other smaller changes can be stressful for more sensitive kitties:

Change of diet
Moving furniture around
Change of type of kitty litter
Change of litter tray location

If your kitty is stressed, they can develop health problems such as UTIs and acne or they may resort to territory marking to create a sense of security.

To help kitty through heir stress, we recommend CBD oil which can be purchased through our partner Bitola Organics who generously give us 10% discount with the code "petlovers".

Acne (Black Stuff on Kitty's Chin)

Does your kitty have black stuff stuck around their chin like this kitty? That’s cat acne (follicular keratinisation). Possible causes include: stress, eating / drinking from plastic bowls, poor grooming, excessive oil and keratin production, poor immune system, food allergies, hormone imbalances, bacteria in unclean food / water dishes.

Don’t panic!! And… before taking kitty on a stressful trip to the vet consider whether you need to make any of these changes: switch to metal to ceramic food and water bowls plus keeping the food and water bowls spotlessly clean. You can also try dabbing the area with a cotton-ball soaked in lukewarm water – no rubbing as that can make the problem worse. Also no picking at it even though you want to help kitty to look their most amazing best.

Michu also has a water fountain plus ceramic bowls for helping your kitty avoid developing acne. To claim your 10% discount storewide at Michu, just enter our code PETLOVERSADVICE at checkout.

Inapproriate Urination / Pooping

This has to be one of the most unpleasant aspects of cat-loving : (

To be in a position to remedy the situation, it’s best to try to find the cause. The typical causes are stress, territory marking (probably related to stress), urinary tract infection (UTI) and not being happy with litter tray arrangements.

Please refer to our section on stress and our section on litter plus we have some notes on urinary tract infections.

Territory Marking

Territory marking is a common complaint from pawrents.

Often it presents in the easy to manage manner of kitty rubbing their cheek on your furniture / doorways / kitchen cupboards and leaving behind a black / brown sticky substance. This is very easily removed with a wet paper towel and a little rubbing.

Unfortunately, it also presents as inappropriate pooping and urination which could include spraying. It’s important to note that any cat can spray regardless of age, gender or desexing status.

The main reasons your kitty may not be using their litter tray are a UTI which you can read about here and stress which is covered here in depth.

Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)

Kitty gotta go but nothing coming out? Kitty peeing in inappropriate places? It could be a UTI unfortunately : (

Any cat can develop a UTI however they’re more common in kitties that are fed a lot of dry food and / or don’t have a lot of physical activity. Click here to find out more about healthy feeding.

Without wanting to alarm you, UTIs can be very dangerous in male cats and need to be managed by a vet as soon as possible. Please call you vet to discuss the level of urgency.

Any of the following can be signs of a UTI:

Inability to urinate
Loss of bladder control
Urinating small amounts
Urinating more than usual or in inappropriate settings
Avoidance or fear of litter box
Strong ammonia odor in urine

Hard or distended abdomen
Cloudy or bloody urine
Drinking more water than usual
Excessive licking of genital area
Lethargy
Vomiting

Did you know that male cats can undergo gender reassignment surgery to minimise their risks of repeatedly developing UTIs?

Blocked Anal Gland

Does your kitty have the grossest, indescribable stink around their back end that lingers wherever they’ve been? And they leave the stink on everything they touch including you? It could be a blocked anal gland and it probably needs to be cleared out by your vet.

Once it’s cleared out, you can usually keep it clear by adding around a quarter of a teaspoon of process bran to each of their meals – best to mix it with your usual wet / raw food. When introducing this new substance to your kitty, go slowly, slowly, building up over about a week so they don’t go on a hunger strike over you adding vegetable matter to their food.

You can buy unprocessed bran cheaply at most supermarkets in the cereal aisle.

Cat Lovers' Advice