How Often Do Cats Pee in 24 Hours? Keep an Extra Eye Out For Changes

As a cat parent, it’s totally normal to be very particular and inquisitive with every tiny detail about your cat’s health. And it is way better than not caring about these things at all. As trivial or strange as it may seem, knowing how often do cats pee can help you monitor your furry friend’s health and check if you should be concerned about a potential issue.

Your cat’s toilet habits or how often he goes to the litter box can tell you if something is off. If all of a sudden, you notice your cat urinates more or less frequently, or if he is sitting inside his litter box for a long time without seeing a trace of urine, then, you may need to take your cat to the vet immediately.

Read on to find out more about cat urine and how it can tell the difference between a healthy cat and a sick one.

Cat Pee 101

What is Cat Urine?

Urine is a concentrated form of metabolic waste and contains sodium chloride, other electrolytes, other detoxified compounds, urea, creatine, and uric acid. Its distinctive yellow color is due to urobilinogen. In layman’s terms, urine is a body waste filled with excess water and substances that the body no longer needs.

These excess substances are sent by the kidneys to the bladders through the ureters. The bladder serves as the storage of these excess fluids and substances. Once it is full, it will eliminate these wastes from the body as urine through the urethra.

Why Do Cats Urinate?

Generally, cats pee because they need to remove the excess wastes that are stored in their bladders. Also, female cats, as well as neutered and spayed cats pee to mark their territory. However, for unneutered male cats, another notable function of cat urine marking is to let female cats know that they are available.

How Does a Normal Cat Pee Look Like?

Normal cat urine should be clean and pale yellow. The color of healthy urine is typically described as “golden” or “straw-colored,” and it shouldn't be murky or difficult to see through. Changes in color (dark brown urine or light), cloudiness, or particle matter (floating debris) are most frequently related to bladder infections or kidney disorders.

What Does Strong Urine Odor Mean?

A sick cat usually has pee with a strong and stinky smell. Cat urine with an intense smell can be caused by tumors, inflammation of the bladder, urinary tract infections, hormonal disorders, and more. In particular, the latter is true of male felines. It's advisable to bring your pet in for a checkup at the vet.

How Much Should Your Cat Urinate?

Along with how frequently your cat uses the litter box, you should also pay attention to how much urine it produces each time because this could be a very important indicator. You should take your cat to the vet if the amount and frequency of its urination increase, especially if this continues for many days. Urination that suddenly increases could be a sign of feline diabetes.

On the other hand, if your cat pees more frequently than normal but only produces a small amount of urine each time, it is obviously in distress. Although it is not a medical emergency like the circumstance when the cat is completely unable to urinate, it is nonetheless quite dangerous.

The most typical reasons are kidney stones, kidney sand, or even an infection or inflammation of the urinary system (often known as a UTI). The cat has to be evaluated as quickly as possible by a veterinarian.

One way to help you monitor the quantity of your cat’s urine is by checking your cat’s litter box for clumps. You can tell how much your cat is urinating at once because the clumping litter bunches up when your cat urinates.

The typical cat weighs 10 pounds and will produce clumps of cat litter the size of a tennis ball or fist. Your cat is peeing more often if you notice that the clumps of cat litter have gotten bigger. The most typical medical ailment that this could indicate is kidney disease.

How Often Do Cats Pee?

The amount of water your cat drinks or his water intake has a big impact on how often your cat uses the litter box. Cats on wet food diets are more hydrated and urinate frequently, thus the amount of moisture in their food also has an effect. Additionally, on particularly hot or humid days, your cat might pass urine less frequently than usual.

The frequency of a cat's urination can also depend on its health. Cats with diabetes or kidney disease will probably urinate more frequently. Your cat's frequency of bathroom visits may also be influenced by liver and bladder ailments.

Cats who urinate less frequently than usual may have a urinary blockage. This is especially true for noisy male cats, that are obviously having a hard time urinating. When you notice this, get your cat to the nearest veterinarian immediately to avoid a fatal outcome from this.

How frequently a cat urinates might also have a behavioral cause, especially if they're suddenly using the litter box less frequently than before.

Additionally, your cat can quit using the box if you don't clean it frequently enough or if the box is too small. Less urination may also occur in older or injured cats who have trouble getting into the litter box.

Fortunately, there is a litter box out there for every type of cat and cat owner. You can try a box with a low wall if your fur baby has trouble entering it. Try a self-cleaning litter box if you require assistance with cleanup.

Moreover, if you have multiple cats at home, it’s best if you can provide one litter box per cat plus one extra. So, if you have three cats, consider getting four litter boxes for them. By doing this, you can prevent one cat from controlling access to the litter box, which can scare other cats from using it.

How Many Times Should Your Cat Pee in a Day?

While cats typically urinate 2-4 times per day, your cat may urinate more or less frequently, and that's okay. How often should cats urinate, then? They should urinate however frequently they typically do! It's worth asking the vet to perform a checkup if they start to go less frequently or more frequently.

6 Factors That Affect a Cat’s Urine Output

You must keep an eye on your cat for a few days to a few weeks to determine his average number of trips to the litterbox. Remember that there will be days when your cat will urinate one time more or one time less than what is considered to be normal. This average number of times may change depending on several circumstances, such as:

Water Consumption

This is most likely the key element affecting your cat's urination pattern. Cats will urinate more when they drink more water or consume more water through their food. Make sure your cat drinks enough water every day (unless it is on a diet that doesn't require it, like wet food only with additional water or frozen/thawed raw food).

Make sure that your cat has access to fresh water every day. You can use a cat water fountain to encourage your cat to drink more since it keeps the water fresh, and cats are also more attracted to flowing water.

Age

The pattern of urination in cats is determined by their metabolism. Due to their rapid digestion of food and higher calorie expenditure, kittens have a faster metabolism than adults. Additionally, it causes them to urinate more frequently.

As a cat matures, its metabolism begins to slow down, and digestion also slows down. Senior cats have a slower metabolism than younger cats, which also causes them to urinate less frequently.

Food Intake

The food you give your cat should contain liquids. For this reason, it's crucial to alternate meals of dry food and wet food.

So, if your cat is eating wet food more often, he is also getting more water. Hence, you can expect him to urinate more frequently.

On the other hand, if your cat eats dry food more often, you can also expect your cat urinate less often, especially if he doesn’t drink enough water, too.

Stress

Cats under stress may urinate less frequently or, on the other hand, more frequently than usual. For instance, if the litter box is located in a high-traffic area of your home, your cat can be stressed when it urinates.

As a result, it might wait until the area is less busy to use the litter box or simply avoid it as much as possible, which would cause it to urinate less overall. When they are afraid or in discomfort, some cats urinate.

Also, as mentioned earlier, for cat owners with many cats at home, it is important to give enough litter boxes to accommodate all of their cats. If a multi cat household has four felines at home, then, there should be five litter boxes situated in areas with less traffic.

Medication

Certain medications may alter your cat's urine pattern. In order for you to be prepared, your doctor should always inform you of any potential adverse effects before prescribing a prescription for your cat.

Medical Issues

Certain ailments, whether acute or chronic, will have an impact on your cat's urination process. For instance, felines with kidney disease and diabetes will produce more urine and they will urinate much more frequently than usual. Feline house soiling is also another common behavior that can be caused by an underlying medical condition.

It's crucial to take your cat to the doctor as soon as you notice any changes in the manner that your cat pees because doing so can stop an acute problem from developing into a chronic one.

Medical Problems and Cat Urine

Some of the more typical ailments that can cause your cat to have lesser or more frequent urination, or to produce greater or lesser amounts of urine include:

Acute or Chronic Kidney Disease

Depending on the primary cause of the kidney illness, whether the condition is acute or chronic, and how much of each kidney is functioning well, kidney disease can have varying impacts on urine production.

Urethral Blockage or Feline Urethral Obstruction

Diet is one of the common causes of feline urethral obstruction. It is also caused by the accumulation of mucus, pus, blood clots, small stones, or crystals that travel from the kidneys down to the urethra. The presence of these can hinder urination, which can be fatal if not managed on time.

Urethral blockage tends to occur more frequently in male cats since their plumbing is a little more intricate than in female cats.

Although the exact origin is unknown, viral infections or nutrition may play a significant role. Less frequently, the obstruction can be caused by trauma, malignancy, or scarring. Veterinarians once thought early neutering was to blame, but that has since been disproven.

Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) or Feline Interstitial Cystitis

When a female uses the litter box frequently and strains or screams out in pain, it is typically a urinary tract infection (UTI) or feline interstitial cystitis. This is not to argue that only females can get these problems; rather, females tend to experience them more frequently.

You may or may not notice the presence of red urine, which indicates the presence of blood in your cat's urine. Also, because they connect the box with pain, they occasionally won't use it at all.

Possible Dehydration

If your cat uses the litter box rarely and only leaves a small amount of urine, this typically indicates that the kidneys are only producing a small amount of urine. Dehydration is typically the culprit, and, as in people, it can occur in warm conditions. Kidney abnormalities, low blood pressure, trauma, or liver issues might also be to blame.

Diabetes

Just as in humans, two of the common symptoms of diabetes are polyuria, or frequent urination, and polydipsia, or the feeling of extreme thirst leading your cat to drink more frequently. Hence, if you notice these two clinical signs, you may want to take your cat to the vet for proper assessment and diagnosis.

Cancer

Certain urinary tract malignancies may cause your cat to have difficulty peeing.

Thyroid Disorders

Thyroid problems, such as Hyperthyroidism can cause your cat to urinate more frequently.

Conclusion

How often do cats pee? Well, as mentioned earlier, there are several factors that come into play. However, on average, cats should pee 2 to 4 times per day.

Additionally, aside from the frequency of your cat’s urination, you also need to monitor the quantity of his urine, as well as its color, and smell.

Knowing these basic things about your cat’s urine and elimination pattern can help you track his health, identify the presence of potential health issues, and prevent the progression of an underlying acute serious medical condition from becoming chronic.