Is sticky cat pee normal?

[axl]

So, I am NOT a cat person, but having moved in with my BF and his 2 dearly loved kitties, I’m getting a crash course in cat issues. The neurotic male has recently begun peeing on the floor, usually when the litter box is a little dirty but also if we leave him alone too long. (I have 2 jobs and BF is on the road for work) I’m just wondering if it’s normal for cat urine to be so sticky? Or is this a sign of another problem like diabetes?

He’s on Ovaban and Prednisone because he licks and scratches until he’s bald with sores everywhere without them. He’s been to the allergist and dermatologist, no allergies, no underlying skin issues. It’s all mental. I think it’s an abandonment/loneliness behavior because for years (before I came along) my BF would be gone days on end for work and the cats wouldn’t get any attention, just someone came by to feed them & change the litter. So I don’t know if the drugs have anything to do with the urine or not.

[Emryss]

Having had two diabetic cats, that would be my first guess. I diagnosed my first one when the ants attacked the litter box. Have him in for a check-up, anyway. A cat not using the box usually means a sick cat.

[saje]

Cat pee is pretty thick, almost sticky. A vet visit wouldn’t be a bad idea just to rule out a UTI or a metabolic issue, but yes, wiping up cat pee is not like wiping up water or even dog pee, IME.

[mvp]

I don’t think sticky or viscous pee is normal. Peeing outside the litterbox is not either… even for a neurotic cat with opinions about sanitation and neglectful parenting. (Peeing in illegal places is one of the ways that cats register complaints with Management.)

I’d bet UTI first-- given his behavior and pee that seems to thick. IME, thick pee might mean raging UTI. Those hurt like hell, by the way. While your bet is checking out his urine sample, he/she can check the sugar content of the urine.

Give him the benefit of the doubt with a check up. No amount of “training” will make a difference if he has a physical cause.

Now if you can just get him to pee in a cup…

[wendy]

those are some pretty weird drugs to put a cat on long-term for a “mental” issue.

[axl]

How DO I get him to pee in a cup?

And yes, I’m well aware that he’s complaining to the Management, because he only ever pees in the box or DIRECTLY in front of it. Never anywhere that could be accidental. I’m quite convinced that part is just him expressing his irritation at whatever ruffled his fur.

[axl]

[QUOTE=wendy;6103209]
those are some pretty weird drugs to put a cat on long-term for a “mental” issue.[/QUOTE]

I agree. He was on them when I first met my BF. I don’t like the idea of him being on steroids for life, so I convinced BF to take him to my vet, get new tests done, etc. We switched him to Prozac but it didn’t work. After consultation with vet, we switched back to what does work. It seems like he MUST have some underlying physical issue to me, but they can’t find anything. My vet thinks he had a skin problem that has resolved but not until he’d become obsessive, so now whenever he’s bored/lonely/irritable or whatever he rips out his fur, etc. Which makes sense to me except I don’t understand why the steroids curb that behavior if it is just mental? There must be something the vets can’t find.

[Zebra_Dun]

My vet was once able to obtain a urine sample by extracting urine from the bladder via a needle to the abdomen. I could not watch. My guess is a UTI or perhaps urinary tract crystals…hence the sticky urine. A cat having pain while urinating will often urinate outside the box as it associates the box WITH the pain.

I had a neutered female once that was a hair-puller-spitter-outer. She was born feral, seemed to us to have adjusted to living the non-feral life…I think her hair-pulling was part neurotic behavior and part her way of coping with not feeling well. I lost her at 5 to FIP.