I am extremely worried about my cat. I saw blood in his urine and he goes to the litter-box all the time. I’ve already called a vet and made an appointment for 1 o’clock today.
The doctor said that I need to leave my cat with him for 3 hours, as he will get full anesthesia in order for the doctor to check his bladder.
I’m worried sick. Is anesthesia really necessary in this case?

Sorry to hear about your cat, Sagitta. Trust in the vet, as I am sure he would not anaesthetise your cat unless it was completely necessary. Hoping for a happy outcome.

All the best for your cat. And yes, it is better to have full anesthesia to avoid more stress for the cat.

Sounds like a urinary tract infection (keeping in mind I'm not a vet and have never seen your cat). I imagine the anesthesia is necessary if they have to examine your cats urinary tract. Cats aren't exactly known to be cooperative (yes, we have one) with the poking and prodding. I imagine trying to perform a test on a cat's private bits without anesthesia would be a) difficult if not impossible, stressful for the cat, stressful for the vet, etc. Kitty will be a bit groggy afterwards but will be ok.

Hi Saggita, yes anethesia is necesary as they need to puncture the bladder to retrieve an sterile (as in not contaminated by outside sources) sample of urine.
Hopefully it is just an infection that can be treated with antibiotics. best wishes sweetie!

Really hope your cat is ok. I'm no expert but this seems to be a common problem with cats, especially elderly ones. Hopefully a course of antibiotics will sort the problem for now. All the best and cuddles for your cat.

Hope you're cat feels better, keep us posted and let us know.

Our kitty had the same issue, found out it was a Kidney problem. She is on medication every day for the rest of her life BUT doing very well and is a super happy cat.

Hope all will be well for the cat and you.

Thank you all for your support. It means a lot and you really helped me to calm down. My cat had never been ill before so I completely freaked out.
He is very groggy now. We’ll have to go back next week for some more tests, but he probably has the urinary tract infection, as phdoofus pointed out. It’s supposed to be common among mature (he’s 7), overweight cats.
The vet turned out to be wonderful. When I’m stressed I lose my German skills, but fortunately his English was excellent.
The vet was anti-dry food as not good for cats in general, and he suggested that we should take both of our cats off it immediately. That was quite surprising, but I’m going to put my trust in him.

That's good news and figers crossed for the test results. Do you feed him just dry food, or both wet and dry at the moment? I ask, as I feed my cat both but have been thinking about taking her off dry for a while and, given the advice of your vet, I will do so now (she is 6 years old).

Wet in the mornings, dry in the evenings.

So happy for you. What's the cat's name by the way?

We are not completely out of the woods. The doctor still doesn't know the cause of his bleeding.
The cat's name is Kito.

My daughter( whose a vet) has been telling me for ages to stop giving Billy dry food as it brings kidneys problems (she can tell me all she wants but if he wont eat anything else) and she doesnt have to listen to him crying if he doesnt get what he wants

My cat (RIP Butler) would never touch dry food. Infact he would only eat Whiskas in Jelly (any flavour) but no other brand!

Hmm I was told by my vet to only give them dry food because wet food makes their teeth fall out. Go figure. I think cats are pretty adaptable and would take a stab at guessing the kidney issue only arises if the cat doesn't drink enough water?

Kidney issues arise for a number of reason, my vet said. All I know is that my kitty started drinking excessive amounts of water, using her litter tray all the time and losing weight.

Outcome from various bio chem test = kidney failure. She is now supposed to be on a KD diet of special low phosorus food but she refuses to eat it so the only option is dry KD biscuits and white fish. I'd rather let her have a happy shorter life than a starved stressful long life :-(

My cat had blood in his urine and it turned out to be from a bladder crystal. He had an operation, and the vet showed it to me. It was sharp and cutting him when he urinated. This happened when he was 6 (we did have to switch his food to low mineral as that was what the crystal was from)

all the best for your cat.

My cat had blood in her urine but it went away after a few days. It came back off and on but since we bought the water fountain she has had no problems!