Male Cat Question?

We have only ever had female cats through many years, but I’ve been wondering how often the blockage with crystals actually occur in males? I know through first hand accounts with a couple of friends that did have it happen with fairly young males (around age 4). Also does male urine of neutered males still have a stronger odor than females? Thanks.

Hi. I have only had one male cat and that was years and years and years ago. He never had a problem. But, I have seen many incidences on this site about it. I also don't know about the urine smell being stronger in a neutered male cat as opposed to a female. I would think not. So, if you have any concern about him having a urinary issue it is better to be safe than sorry, and have his urine analyzed for a possible urinary issue.

kysa said:

but I’ve been wondering how often the blockage with crystals actually occur in males? I know through first hand accounts with a couple of friends that did have it happen with fairly young males (around age 4). Also does male urine of neutered males still have a stronger odor than females?

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If your cat is fed on a wet diet, chances of UTI is much less. there are more prone if they are on dry and drink little or no water.

My boy just had his episode of UTI just a few months back and he was around three years old. UTI can occur not only from diet but one of the contributing factor is stress related. Examples are changes in the home, additional people, favorite persons they miss and etc.....etc.

A neutered cat's urine has not much smell or maybe no smell at all. My boy is neutered when he was 7 months old and when friends come visit, I always ask them if they smell urine in the house? I ask because we are occupants of the house and we are used to the scents so we can't really smell it sometimes. Their answer is no, there is no smell at all and his litter box is right smack between the hall and kitchen.

The only time the smell of urine that gets stronger is that if they hold their urine for a long time and doesn't pee frequently. Also I think it's not very good for them to hold their urine for a long time. I know kittens cannot hold their urine because their bladder muscles are not fully developed and when they are adults, they can hold their urine for a longer period.

I do not have a female cat so I cannot compare it and give you an answer.

I have two males and two females.
Everyone grew up on kibble.
When Tommy turned 7 he developed problems that year. We moved him and Stewart to canned, then commercial raw, then homemade raw. He still had a few more issues and then we did surgery. I think the catheters were beginning to scar his urethra, and he was having cystitis flares and just couldn't pass the muck.
Now Tommy is turning 10 and Stewart has reached 7, and no far we've been okay for 2 years.
That summer I put the ladies on combo feeding. Neither of them likes raw, and the one with the fewest teeth prefers kibble? I have a split dish in their feeder I keep low carb kibble in one half and wet food in the other. We also have a filtered water fountain in the house. We have since they were kittens. Tommy used to drink a ton, and it wasn't enough to dilute the kibble he was eating.

Mingo had one episode with crystals, but no blockage, and since then I've been mixing a little water in his wet food because he doesn't drink much water, only from the toilet. I watch out for him licking his genitals more than usual, and then give him more water. That licking is a sure sign he's sore from crystals. He's 5 years old.

I have one male and one female, and don't think his urine is worse than hers, but then I use Fresh Step litter, and you can't smell anything from it anyway.

I have 2 boys. They are 4 and 6 and no blockages so far. They’ve been on raw and high quality canned.

Since I was a kid, I don't recall any of our males having any urinary issues. They were fed a mixture of wet and dry food and had a bowl of water at all times.

I work with ten people. Two of which have had makes that blocked. My male 14 months eats some dry and mostly wet/raw.

GalaxyGirl said:

I work with ten people. Two of which have had makes that blocked. My male 14 months eats some dry and mostly wet/raw.

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Also mo strong urine.

DreamerRose said:

Mingo had one episode with crystals, but no blockage, and since then I've been mixing a little water in his wet food because he doesn't drink much water, only from the toilet. I watch out for him licking his genitals more than usual, and then give him more water. That licking is a sure sign he's sore from crystals. He's 5 years old.

I have one male and one female, and don't think his urine is worse than hers, but then I use Fresh Step litter, and you can't smell anything from it anyway.

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That’s not how litter works. If your cat has bad smelling urine or poop you can still smell it even with scented litter.

It's not scented. It has Febreeze in it, and it DOES eliminate odors. If you haven't tried it, don't knock it.

Scented litters/added chemicals/whatever you'd like to call it, have always bothered me. If your cat is able to successfully bury, then you wouldn't usually be smelling it. If it does, then it either needs scooped or changed. The only issue we have ever had is that no matter what we use or what we feed her; Yue has always been able to clear a room when she empties her bowels.
We use unscented paper pellets now, and our house doesn't smell like anything as long as we've kept on top of the boxes.

GalaxyGirl said:

That’s not how litter works. If your cat has bad smelling urine or poop you can still smell it even with scented litter.

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Not always. If I have a tomcat in the house (when taking in a stray; they aren't toms for long! ), the only litter that prevents the entire house from smelling like tomcat pee is Fresh Step non-clumping with carbon. Even if he uses the litterbox neatly and covers. So the litter does make a difference.

I have a lot of cats and I've never had any urinary issues with a male, thankfully (hope I haven't jinxed myself by saying that!). But they are on all-canned now. So hopefully that prevents it. I do have a couple females who are prone to interstitial cystitis and canned food keeps them comfortable.

Males actually aren't anymore prone to crystals then females, it's just the male anatomy makes it harder to pass crystals making them more prone to blockage if they do get them. Not all males are equal either, some have a narrower urethra then others, making them more prone to block even with smaller crystals. That is why it's so important to make sure males especially have at least some wet food and drink plenty of water. Ideally that way the excess minerals are peed out before they have a chance to form into crystals.

I currently have 3 males, ages 5, 11, and 13, and none have every had any urinary issues so far. I do feed them mostly dry food but they do get a meal of wet food as well. I also have water in several areas of the house, bowls, fountain, and taps I leave on drip.

Once a male is neutered the pee doesn't smell any different then a female (to humans anyway ). It's the musk (not sure if that's the right word for it) produced from their scent glands in intact males that makes their pee so horrible smelling. Once you neuter them the testosterone is no long there telling the scent glands to produce the stinky liquid.

I've got one male and one female cat. Both have been fixed.

Crystals/blockages: My male cat had crystals a couple years ago that required emergency vet care (symptoms presented late at night, and I didn't want to chance waiting until morning). He gets wet food every day now, and I haven't had an issue since.

Pee smell: I've not noticed any difference in urine smell between two fixed cats of different genders. I also clean the litter twice a day, so there isn't any issue of there being too much urine just lying around.

amethyst said:

Males actually aren't anymore prone to crystals then females, it's just the male anatomy makes it harder to pass crystals making them more prone to blockage if they do get them. Not all males are equal either, some have a narrower urethra then others, making them more prone to block even with smaller crystals. That is why it's so important to make sure males especially have at least some wet food and drink plenty of water. Ideally that way the excess minerals are peed out before they have a chance to form into crystals.

I currently have 3 males, ages 5, 11, and 13, and none have every had any urinary issues so far. I do feed them mostly dry food but they do get a meal of wet food as well. I also have water in several areas of the house, bowls, fountain, and taps I leave on drip.

Once a male is neutered the pee doesn't smell any different then a female (to humans anyway ). It's the musk (not sure if that's the right word for it) produced from their scent glands in intact males that makes their pee so horrible smelling. Once you neuter them the testosterone is no long there telling the scent glands to produce the stinky liquid.

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I just know way too many people who’s male blocked for me to not feed wet. I’m overly worried because it’s painful and expansive. So when I got my kittens I made sure to expand their pallets. that way they don’t get fixed on a texture or food. Cats man. XD

It's not just blockages either. My one Male can't tolerate any dry. When I used to give him a little bit he had frequent urination issues. No blockages or Crystal's. But he was obviously uncomfortable. We went home with only pain medication but I stopped with the dry all together and he immediately got better on canned with extra water mixed in. No more urinary issues now on canned and raw.