How Long Can A Cat Go Without Urinating?

My 1 year old kitty had a double knee surgery on Tuesday. He had no food Monday night but had access to his water dish. The evening of the surgery the vet said he peed once overnight. I brought him home Wednesday and he urinated as soon as I got him home and that night in his bed again. Since the last urination he has not drank any water but did eat about 1/2 can of wet food/tuna which has a lot of water in it. The vet was made aware this morning of his lack of appetite so he is going to start a appetite stimulate tonight. My question is, since it has been over 24 hours since he last eliminated, should I be concerned? I’ve tried setting him in his litter box and manually expressing his bladder with no luck. I know he hasn’t been drinking a lot of water but I still feel like he should have peed again by now! Should I start giving him water witha syringe Incase he is severely dehydrated?

I'd contact the vet. But are you sure he hasn't peed somewhere outside of his box?

Yes I’m sure. He has to stay in a puppy kennel and the floor is covered with puppy pads so I’d see it. I mentioned it to the vet this morning and they said they were more concerned about him not eating, since cats can die very quickly from this. He did just drink a little more water, so fingers crossed he pees here very shortly.

I’m assuming that there is no issue with eliminating, since he has already gone twice he should be able to pee again. I’m hoping it’s just from the lack of fluids, which has been increased here in the last 2 hours.

I'm not a vet but if he eats wet food I would only feed that and stay away from dry. It sounds like a good sign that he is drinking some. Of course, he needs to eat so if he will only eat dry at this point, at least he will be eating. Just keep the vet informed.

Thanks so much for the reply. If he doesn’t not pee overnight then we will be going back to the vet in the morning!

Courtforshort27 said:

My question is, since it has been over 24 hours since he last eliminated, should I be concerned?

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An adult cat can withhold their urge to pee longer putting all medical issues aside. If he is not going in and out of the litter box crying and straining trying to pee, then it's a little safe.

It could be due to his medications or sometimes it's stress after returning from the vet, they might not pee or poop and will hang on till he's much settled down.
And also if he has not been eating regularly after the vet's visit, likely elimination will be less frequent if not non for the moment.

My boy is an adult cat now, he's 3 1/2 years old and he holds his pee very much longer than he was a kitten and he's on wet food all the way. Most days, he pees a very large amount and only twice a day. And just this morning at 5am, he peed and that was almost 1 1/2 days after his last pee.

So, if I were you, I'll monitor if he's for a little while longer, keeping mind that there's no abnormality in his pee except for a stronger ammonia smell as he has held back for a day. As long as no blood, no crying and no straining and no marble sized pee clumps.

Give him more fluid and hopefully he can't contain it and will make him pee.

Do keep us posted.

I woke up this morning to A LOT of pee in the litter box! I am so surprised he was able to get himself to the box and use it (he hasn’t since his surgery) so I’m very happy.

Very good! It helps to releave your mind!