What is "gravity"

ruth

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I took my 9 year old cat, who has gotten blocked in the past, to the vet because I thought he was again blocked. Turned out he wasn't; he was just holding his pee. He does this a lot, and refuses to use the box. I have to let him out to pee. Anyway, the vet did a urinalysis, and told me he has a very high gravity level and should be put on Hills Kidney prescription diet. Anyone know what a high gravity level is? Did this come from him holding in his pee too long? I have 2 other cats-females-and I wonder if that prevents him from using the box. I put out extra boxes, but he won't use them. Probably because the females will eventually pee in them.

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badhabit

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Specific gravity is an measure of how well the urine is being concentrated by the kidneys. The normal range of specific gravity is 1.010 to 1.060 and anything lower than that indicates a problem with the kidneys. Although, I believe if the urine sample was one of that he was holding for a long period of time this could give a high specific gravity. If he is holding his urine in a lot the vet could just be putting him on the diet as a precaution since it sounds as though he's prone to kidney disease.
 
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