FLUTD More Than Just a Bladder Disease

The term feline lower urinary tract disease (fLutD) describes a collection of conditions that can affect the bladder and/or urethra of cats. unfortunately, since the urinary tract can respond to insult in only a limited numbers of ways, the clinical signs are rarely indicative of a particular disease. fLutD is seen far more commonly in younger cats than in older ones (figure 1). While there are many conditions that can result in signs of fLutD the conditions that are most likely to occur vary considerably with the age of the cat. in younger cats the vast majority of cases (55-69%) are idiopathic (figure 2). in contrast, idiopathic fLutD is rarely seen in older cats (unless it is a cat that first developed the condition earlier life). older cats are far more likely to develop bacterial cystitis, urolithiasis or neoplasia. […]