Urine of civvies vs. sugarcats

[Heather & Angel (GA)]

Okay, I have a weird question - whenever I would clean up Angel's urine from the floor, it would eventually stain the paper towels brown. I assumed this was specific to her urine because of the sugar, etc.

The other night, we had to take one of our civvies to the vet for her annual visit. She's a former stray that I trapped originally, so going to the vet isn't so cool with her, and she peed all over the place when we were trying to get her into the carrier. I noticed when we got home afterward that the paper towels I'd used to clean it up had turned brown in the trash.

Is this normal? Does normal cat pee turn brown like that? Believe it or not, I've never had to clean it up before, as they all use the litter box just fine.

 

[kate and lucky]

Hi,

new one on me.

Could check Civiies glucose levels?

 

[JJ & Gwyn [GA]]

Because of various health issues over the years, I was fairly familiar with Gwyn's urine. Urine can be dilute (lots of water, less other stuff) or concentrate (higher percentage of other stuff to water). The more dilute the urine, the more it looks like plain water; the more concentrated the urine, the more yellow or possibly brown it looks. (It may also change color like that if you don't clean it up quickly, as the water may evaporate and leave the 'other stuff' behind.)

With Gwyn, when I cleaned up dilute urine, it generally wouldn't stain the towels I used. If the urine was concentrated, or if she had a UTI or was fighting some other health issue, then the urine might stain the towels. The stains would become more apparent as the towel dried out, and sometimes approached a manila color. I should note that Gwyn had kidney problems and tended toward dilute urine, so I see no reason that some other cat's urine might not become a darker color. This would be particularly true if cleaned up with paper towels, due to way paper is manufactured.

Discolored urine can also be a sign of an underlying health issue but, since you've noticed this with two separate cats, I'm assuming that isn't the problem.


If you have urine in a towel or washcloth that you'd like to keep, throw it in the regular laundry with a cup of white vinegar; that'll get rid of any urine smell.

 

[Heather & Angel (GA)]

Discolored urine can also be a sign of an underlying health issue but, since you've noticed this with two separate cats, I'm assuming that isn't the problem.

Well, Angel had MANY health problems, so I was kind of seeing this the opposite way, that maybe the fact that I'm seeing it with Sasha is a sign that she has health problems I don't know about. The paper towels weren't brown when I first cleaned up the pee, they just turned brown over the next hour or two. I have noticed lately that someone has been making fairly large pee clumps in the litter box sometimes. My assumption would be that it's more likely my older civvie, who's 13, but I never see her drinking water. On the other hand, Sasha has always drunk water, ever since I brought her home several years ago. I was so worried at one point early on that I even tested her BG with Angel's glucometer, just in case Gad had seen fit to send another diabetic kitty my way - but her BG was only 64.

Maybe I SHOULD test her BG again, just in case that's it, but I was hoping to get an idea of whether this brown color is normal before I resort to ear pricking. I spoke briefly to the vet about the larger pee clumps the other night, and she also said that it's more likely the older kitty doing it, but she also mentioned that there are some cats who just have reduced kidney function from the start, and maybe Sasha is one of those. But like you said, usually reduced kidney function makes the urine more dilute, not more concentrated, so I'd think that it wouldn't be brown it that were the case.

 

[Phoebe_TiggyGA_NortonGA]

Hyperthyroid kitties also drink and pee a lot -- not to the extent of diabetics, but noticeably more than healthy cats.

That is one way I discovered Buster was HyperT. His regular blood panel was ok -- thyroid in normal range -- but he had so many symptoms of HyperT, i requested the T4/FreeT4 test and he was positive.

Now on Tapazole, he is doing well.

 

[Heather & Angel (GA)]

Hyperthyroid kitties also drink and pee a lot -- not to the extent of diabetics, but noticeably more than healthy cats.

That is one way I discovered Buster was HyperT. His regular blood panel was ok -- thyroid in normal range -- but he had so many symptoms of HyperT, i requested the T4/FreeT4 test and he was positive.

Now on Tapazole, he is doing well.

What other symptoms are typical of hyper-T? Sasha's weight was exactly the same at her recent visit as it was last year, which is a good sign that nothing's too far out of whack, I guess, but I just want to be sure I don't miss something.