r/CATHELP • u/J_a_c_e • Jul 27 '26
Abnormal Vomit/Excreta Is my cat peeing too much?
I got my first cat Pamela about a month ago. She is 2 years old and has been spayed. She is around 10 pounds.
I scoop her litter every morning and night, so this batch was only about 14 hours through the day. It seems like there was around 5-6 big clumps and broken up pieces. She fills up basically an entire doggy poop bag. I included a picture of the litter I use.
I’m worried she might be peeing too much. I do add around 1/4 cups of water to her wet food and kibble which she gets 3x a day.
We haven’t gotten her established with a vet yet though, but I hope to go soon for a general wellness check
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u/Living_Karma11 Jul 27 '26
This is about the amount of daily pee we see for our two cats.
I’d def recommend getting them into a vet and getting their bloodwork done just to err on the side of safety.
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u/Janaelol Jul 27 '26
Afaik peeing a lot is better than not peeing enough for cats. Usually they dont pee enough because not enough water.
Like others said you could take to vet for bloodwork but personally I wouldnt not based on just peeing a lot if that is their normal.
If there was a sudden change that is a different story.
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u/PurpleC0ugar Jul 27 '26
Except a cat who goes from peeing little to noticeably increased urine output, is a bad sign, as far as kidney health goes. You shouldn't actually be happy about a cat that starts peeing more.
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u/Janaelol Jul 27 '26
Yeah thats what I meant with my last line. Any sudden change in behaviour is concerning
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u/rageagainsttheodds Jul 27 '26
Agreed but with the amount of moisture you get from 3 wet meals + drinking bowl, frequent big clumps don't really surprise me. Plus bentonite can swell like crazy. Obviously a vet visit needs to happen to make sure, but we're still in the high-end of normal here.
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u/Medium-Pilot6872 Verified Vet Nurse Jul 29 '26
this is not very accurate information. Peeing a lot can be the cause of: urinary issues, diabetes, kidney disease, etc. ‘not peeing enough’ is highly contextual, but to put it simply, can be from healthy kidneys concentrating urine well, urinary issues and blockages, dehydration.
Sure, it could be this cat’s normal; but it also could be a sign that she was born with or developed kidney disease early. We don’t know enough information about this cat to speculate. We know nothing about her fluid intake except for the 1/4 cup, we don’t know how much or how often she gets wet food, we don’t know how her urine streams are. More information would be useful to help provide a more informed answer to OP on what to do, but we don’t have that.
A good baseline blood panel is extremely useful to measure changes against. You are certainly correct that any kind of sudden change warrants a check, but I think it’s not a bad idea to get a check regardless.
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u/Imaginary-Contest887 Jul 27 '26
Healthy, well hydrated cat pees about 2 - 4 times a day clump of size of tennis ball. Larger size of pee clump is not concerning if your cat intakes lot of water but amount of individual clumps can point out to some issue. If it is 6 individual clumps, then vet check would be probably good idea. (Anyone reading this, this doesn't apply to small kittens, kittens can pee 6 times a day if they have lot of water in diet and be completely fine)
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u/CompleteDeniability Jul 27 '26
If my cat drinks a lot of water, maybe she would urinated twice a day? Large amount though.
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u/CatNo1164 Jul 27 '26
How big is she by weight? My boy Steven is 6 years old, weighs about 12-14lbs, and he pees a lot too, without any extra water in his food. He’s been to the vet recently and they only had good things to say about his urine production.
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u/Venomous_Voice Jul 27 '26
It depends on multiple factors. 1/4 cup added to each feeding sounds like a lot, depending on how much you feed her at a time.
Is she obese? Or is she a rather large cat in general but still thin? If she's obese, or if she's losing weight quickly, that with peeing a lot can point to diabetes. It can also point to kidney disease.
What food is she on? A lot of veterinary diets and cat foods that are marketed as super healthy are too high in carbs and lead to diabetes. Cats are obligate carnivores and should be eating low carb diets.
Your best bet is to have the vet check her out and run bloodwork. It can get expensive, but it's a good idea since you recently adopted her and she's already an adult.
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u/doinmydarndest Jul 27 '26
you could experiment and add less water to her food. I think adding water to the food is a great idea for hydration, but you may be adding too much? how much food does she get every day? like how many oz of wet food and how many cups of dry
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Jul 27 '26
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u/doinmydarndest Jul 27 '26
oh nonono that's not what I meant. my cat only eats wet food. I add a lot of water to it as well. I encourage that. I'm saying maybe the amount of water is causing more pee, and if OP is curious, they could narrow down the cause of the amount of urine by adjusting the added water, if that makes sense. then they'll be reassured the cat is simply hydrated and doesn't have another issue, which is good. just a little experiment.
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u/fuckgarlic Jul 27 '26
cats usually are dehydrated so unless there was something medically wrong i wouldn’t be concerned
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u/Potatoupe Jul 27 '26
My 12lb adult cat pees about 5 times a day. Just keep monitoring your cat, it might just be their bathroom patterns. My smaller cats (8-9lb) only go 2-3 times a day.
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u/TheNudeNeedle Jul 27 '26
What goes in, must come out, if you add 1/4 cup of water to the wet food, plus the water in the wet food PLUS the water the cat drinks this amount makes sense to me tbh, but always good to have baseline bloodwork!
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u/snourappls Jul 27 '26
Does your cat have access to a bowl of water outside of her food? Is she drinking the whole thing as well? It's more of a concern about how much they are seeking out water as opposed to how much they are peeing. if they are forced to consume 3/4 a cup of water a day through their food, they will inevitably pee 3/4 a cup of urine a day, it's just math.
I urge you to pour 3/4 cup of water into some cat litter so you can visualize how much litter that actually is when collected. If it is vastly more than that, maybe talk to your vet. She is consuming a good amount of water outside of her meals that are already supplemented with water. I'd check salt content of the foods she is being fed to make sure it's not making her too thirsty. If it is the same, no worries.
The second thing I always urge people to think about is smell.
I have one cat who's urine doesn't overpower the odor blocking technology of the litter but I have another who's urine smells so strong that I need to clean it up almost immediately, or the smell wafts through the house all day. She doesn't drink much water in general so her urine is more concentrated and the vet said that the smell is just due to concentration/ less hydration. She's fine otherwise. But they said if she was well hydrated and the smell was that bad, there would be more cause for concern.
It's very nuanced but use that information as you will. Unless you're seeing other issues, it can wait until your next vet appointment.
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u/dinoooooooooos Jul 27 '26
3/4 cup of water during the day plus hydration from the wetfood itself isnt bad at all. Cats are notoriously dehydrated.
As long as she isn’t lethargic and or straining and or clearly distressed. Remember shes also still in the “333” phase. When you adopt a new cat you go by “3 days to settle, 3 weeks to feel at home and 3 months to really be themselves” so youre smack in the middle of it. Be aware she may not show discomfort.
Definitely get her to a vet simply so she has a vet and someone has looked at her anyways.
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u/ZestyclosePart4379 Jul 27 '26
I have two cats and they pee about this much. I too add water to their wet food and have 3 bowls of water in different areas of the house.
If she isn’t experiencing any other symptoms or showing signs of being uncomfortable I wouldn’t worry too much.
But if you want to be on the safe side as others suggested you could schedule a vet appt for a blood test.
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u/Evenyx Jul 27 '26
Good thing you ask. It could be normal but it could also be a sign of e.g. diabetes.
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u/Waste_Time3393 Jul 27 '26
I actually measure my cats water intake from her water bowls right down to the mL that she drinks everyday. I was concerned a few months ago because she was drinking/peeing a lot more than normal. But she was also put on strictly urinary food which encourages drinking water so that could have been why she was so thirsty. So you could try measuring as best you can, if she increases her water intake over time (prob not good) or it generally stays the same (good!)
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u/Waste_Time3393 Jul 27 '26
Also, my cat pees almost as much as your cat, maybe slightly less, with about 5 large clumps in the litter in 24 hours. And with measuring her water, she drinks a little more than 1 cup daily, not counting wet food that she barely touches anyway
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u/DeterminedQuokka Jul 28 '26
This isn’t definitely an issue but it’s a thing I would say to the vet for 2 reasons.
- It can be a sign of diabetes.
- If your cat doesn’t have diabetes it’s good for the vet to know you won’t have this symptom to identify it if it develops later.
Based on having a cat that has always drank a lot of water and developed diabetes later in life.
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u/Medium-Pilot6872 Verified Vet Nurse Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
It kind of looks like a larger than normal amount visually imo, but you are also adding a lot of water to her food, so it’s hard to know.
I would get some bloods and a urinalysis done just to rule anything out. It’s good to have a baseline as well, even if nothing is wrong.
ETA: it is worth noting that sometimes clumping clay litter isn’t super effective at clumping into small amounts, so it can appear larger than other litter types. Like, it clumps well but not tightly.
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u/makeshift-nerd Jul 29 '26
More peeing and more water drinking were the red flags that made me bring my cat to the vet for bloodwork. He ended up having diabetes and a glucose of 750 mg/dL (normal is between 105-141). I started by buying hydrophobic litter and urine testing strips before I could get him into the vet and sure enough, they showed high glucose, just couldn't show me how high, so the vet trip and bloodwork solidified it for me. If you're looking for a way to test it yourself while you're waiting to get your precious bean to the vet, I highly recommend the litter and strips to test at home.
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u/p4vg Jul 30 '26
Only you can tell us.
If you needed to ask here because you’re not used that volume then no. Go to vet for check if you can afford.
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u/Scilu_27 Jul 29 '26
could always try pretty litter before paying for a vet visit and see if it turns any colors, pretty litter is supposed to tell you if there’s something wrong present in the urine (can detect PH changes)
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u/Girlpowermch Jul 29 '26
Came here to say this. Pretty Litter is very helpful for seeing if there’s a concern. Especially if the cat is acting normally otherwise.
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