by Frank Will

Created on: November 25, 2009   Last Updated: November 27, 2009

Lack of urination in cats, also referred to as Anuria, can cause your pet to suddenly start to vomit and as the situation increases in severity, it can also cause your pet to collapse. This condition is often confused with a urinary obstruction such as kidney stones, but it is entirely different as stones do not stop your cat from urinating. They may slow down the urination, but not stop it.

If the lack of urination in your cat has developed suddenly, it is the first and only sign you may have that your pet's kidneys are failing. In fact, it is estimated that once Anuria has been diagnosed and if your cat does not start to urinate again within six hours, they may have very little chance of surviving.

Lack of urination is a condition where your cat's kidneys have almost completely stopped the production of urine. Kidney stones or bladder stones may slow down and severely retard the flow, but this is an entirely different situation and is much more serious. However, it is still somewhat confusing, as the key term to help in understanding it is the terminology almost completely stopped.

There is a medical term called Oliguria, which is a decreased production of urine and it has several potential causes that can result in your cat's kidneys suddenly stopping the flow of urine. If your cat is healthy they will produce at least one or two milliliters of urine per kilogram of their body weight every hour. If they do not produce this amount, they are considered to have Oliguria. Once this occurs, they have lost their ability to produce urine; and thus the term almost completely.

Symptoms:

There are several symptoms that will quickly surface with the lack of urination, and the first symptom will be dehydration. Dehydration is often assumed to be a condition that has to develop over a period of time, but that is a misconception, as it can and often does happen very rapidly. Once the dehydration occurs, your cat may also start to vomit excessively which is making this condition even worse.

The next series of symptoms will be a very sudden weakness that is often followed by a partial or a complete collapse of your pet. The lack of urination by your pet may be something that you do not notice at first, but the symptoms of dehydration are very noticeable and easy to spot. There is a simple skin elasticity test that you can perform that will confirm dehydration, and if there is no apparent cause, the chances are very high that your cat has Anuria.

The test is done on a scale

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