eHow launches Android app: Get the best of eHow on the go.
Summary: One of the most painful medical problems for cats is when they can't urinate due to a blockage in their system. Learn more about urinary track obstructions and its symptoms in this free pet care video from a practicing veterinarian.
Tracy Carreiro is a graduate of Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. She has been a practicing veterinarian for nearly 20 years. Growing up on a dairy farm, she grew to...read more
"One of the most serious emergencies that can happen with your cat is a urinary tract obstruction. And what that means is that the cat is unable to pass any urine because there is some kind of a blockage in the system which won't let urine pass. It's much more common in males than in females, although it does happen in females. So I wanted to just show you the difference. This balloon illustrates about the normal size of a cat's urinary bladder. So think about your normal eight to ten pound cat, this is how big their bladder would be before they decided they needed to pee. In a cat who has a urinary obstruction, the urinary bladder can become as big as this and it's extremely painful for the cat. They're very tender around their abdomen and they will continue to try to squat and try to urinate, sometimes little drops will come out and they'll do it all over the house. They make a very unusual cry, that's a painful cry, and you will be aware, most often, that something is seriously wrong."
eHow Article: Cat Urinary Track Obstruction