What can I do until tomorrow??? help

Onyx my cat is having trouble urinating. He is a neutered male 1 yr old that i found as a baby in the street. I am Rosarito right now and all 3 vets here are closed for Sunday. Doing a web search i find that this is very serious. One vet site suggested amytriptiline (sp?) this is a cut/paste of it --> Currently, when cats do not respond well to antibiotics it is common practice to try various anti-inflammatory medications to attempt to relieve the clinical signs of discomfort. Amitriptyline (Elavil Rx) is used for this due to side effects of its normal use as an anti-anxiety medication that are beneficial to the lower urinary tract<-----
But it doesn't say how much. Anyone have any ideas or can he wait till the morning when the vets will be in? I do not want him to die, or to be suffering - he cries so pitifully when he tries to urinate.
Esther Medina
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It is extremely dangerous to try and guess medication amount and using drugs NOT prescribed by a vet that has actually seen the animal. I don't know how long it has been since your kitty has urinated, but the only thing you can do is to get him in first thing in the morning to be seen. The vet will then examine him and prescribe an antibiotic if he has a UTI or other medications. Please let the professional in real life handle this, and not some website off the internet. Good luck!

Thanks, that is what i am going to do. My boyfriend is taking that medication for other problems to his back. so when i read that, i was wondering. I guess you get kind of desparate when you kitty is crying. I was crying myself as i drove back from trying the 3 vets who were all closed.
I just hope he makes it till tomorrow. He urinated yesterday, there was a large clump of the litter but not today. He also vomited when he tried to eat. right now he has buried himself under the blanket and yeowls when i talk to him.

Esther

Are there any after-hours emergency vets you could take your kitty to?

Unfortunately there are no after hour vets here. Rosarito is in Northern Baja in Mexico.

Thank you for not expirimenting on kitty. Give kitty a nice dark spot to lay down in and just hang in there until morning. Please let the board know what the vet says, as many come here with similiar problems with their cats and not many follow through with posting the results. Good luck!

Your cat could have urinary crystals (bladder stones),which cause a blockage so the cat can't urinate. If so, it is a medical emergency. Amitriptyline (Elavil Rx) would *definately* not be the treatment for that. The cat would likely need to be catheterized to let the urine out. Sometimes surgery is necessary to remove the stone(s) if it (they) is (are) very large. The second link has pictures of how large the stones can get. See http://www.cfainc.org/health/urinary-obstructions.html, http://www.lbah.com/Canine/urolithiasis.htm , http://www.vetcentric.com/reference/...ness&MODE=full

Do get your cat to the vet as soon as possible! Literally as soon as they are open! And it is so good that you did not give your cat a medication prescibed to someone else. That is very dangerous to do, especially if it were to be a human dose used on a cat, let alone possibly being the wrong medicine.

Maybe the problem is something else, but it likely is urinary crystals. I will pray for your cat.

I just went through this 4 weeks ago!!! ASAP get your cat to the vet. They are most likely going to have to catherize him to empty his bladder and also don't be surprised if the kidney is enlarged.

My cat was fine Sunday, fine Monday morning and by Monday night he was peeing a smaller amount, but still peeing - but he was also seemingly straining to poop, which he hadn't done in 2 days, so we called our vet who said to give him Vaseline... turns out a UTI will make them strain like that. He was sluggish, howled if we came near him and bit me when I touched him. Then he started throwing up. He much preferred curling up in our bathtub. I put a towel down for him in there and he didn't want to leave that spot. The vet said cats for some reason do prefer the bathtub floor when they have FLUTD.

When we got him to the vet on Tuesday morning - he was near death - it really hit rapidly and the vet said that it is common for a cat to rapidly go down hill. He was at the vets for 5 days - catherized for 4 days, they will do x-rays, antibiotics and most likely fluid IV's because cats dehydrate very quickly.

4 weeks later, my Siamese is starting to pee 1/2 dollar sized amounts now, and we finally found a food that he adores so he has gained a lot of the weight he lost.

Your cat will have to go on a restricted diet - mine is on Hills Science Diet C/D which is low ash, low magnesium and added sodium to make him drink more. It isn't cheap ($10.50 for a 4 lb bag and stores cannot sell it because it is prescription only), but he loves the food, so in the long run it is well worth it!!

We had to do 2 weeks of amoxycillan for him - he hated the pills but eventually stopped fighting so badly.

Then the one thing we were not warned about - 2 weeks later he stopped peeing again. A mucus plug had worked its way from his bladder into his urethra and blocked him up again. The vet was able to remove it though, thus saving his life!

Thank you all for your comments and help with Onyx. I took him this morning and the vet catherized him. At first it didn't want to go through but it did finally. He had a large swelling (bladder) which wasn't there yesterday. So the doc made sure he was emptied and gave him meds and iv. I am keeping a close watch on him to make sure he continues to pee okay.
Again thanks to everyone

Esther Medina
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I want to thank everyone again I didn't expect this many responses. However after about 2 hrs at home he really wasn't moving much and was so listless. I figured this was too long a time for him to remain like this since the procedure. I immediatley took him back to the vet. The dr took his temp and it was way high and then as the vet was checking him, little Onyx just passed away. I am so sad. I can't stop crying. When he did the catheter, blood was coming out at first then urine. But this was something that happens if the blockage has scraped the urethra said the dr. He noticed that the bladder was once again full and hard and it hadn't been that long since he was catheterized. I don't know how this happened so quickly. He was fine day before yesterday. Or so I thought
Esther :-(

I am so very sorry about your loss of Onyx. It's obvious that you loved him very much and you were doing everything you could to help him. My thoughts are with you.

I am so sorry your cat died. Cats are very good at hiding pain and illness, so while this condition was building up before one day ago,it likely would have not been easy for anyone to know what was going on.

Oh Esther, I am so sorry for your loss. You did the best you could for Onyx and he could not have asked for anything better. galensgranny is correct, cats have learned over generations to survive by masking pain and when they finally do start acting off, it is sometimes just to late. I pray your heart heals soon.

I'm sorry for the loss of Onyx. It's obvious that you did all you could. I'm glad he led his last hours with someone that cared for him.

That is so sad! I wish things had turned out differently, but one thing to remember is that you did all you could!! FLUTD hits fast and hits HARD!!

Esther. I'm reading this with tears in my eyes. I'm SO sorry this happened. Just when you thought everything was OK. The strain was probably too much for poor little Onyx.

Just remember the good times you guys had together . . .

I'm so sorry about Onyx. You did everything you could, and like the others have said, they are very good at hiding health problems.

We have a forum here specifically for helping people through the loss of a pet, Crossing the Bridge. Please read the sticky at the top, "The Rainbow Bridge." It has helped countless people deal with this great loss.

Our hearts are all going out to you.

Ester, I'm am so sorry for the loss of your precious Onyx. I lost one of my cats from a urinary blockage 2 years ago on August 2. He had surgery to remove many bladder stones but he lost a lot of blood, went into shock and never recovered. Tippy was my first cat and I still miss him terribly. I think it's important for all cat owners to recognize the symtoms of a blockage because it needs to be treated immediately! He was in and out of the litter box constantly and I thought he was constipated. I just didn't know that it was one symtom of a blockage.

To everyone,

I am so grateful for your responses. I am still crying but i know it get less hurtfull as time goes on. Sometimes i think he is okay and not feeling pain anymore and other times i feel i failed him. Yet i know that it is the way life is and we just have to keep living.
Again Thank You to Everyone
Love,
Esther Medina
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Dear Esther, please accept my condolences.I read of your dilemma to late and I`m so sorry that Onyx passed away. I am crying for you because I know of the panic you were feeling and I know of the pain and heart break that you are experiencing now.Please feel free to talk about your beloved pet and do not try to keep your feelings to yourself. The grieving process can be long and by trying to hide your pain, you will only lengthen it.You will never be able to replace Onyx, but I promise that you will find another special pet when you are ready. And you will be able to love them just as much. My heart and my prayers are with you. I hope that you can someday take comfort in knowing that even strangers care and by posting your message, you may have helped save many people and pets from the anguish that you`re feeling! God Bless You!!! Wendy