Urinary Blockage

One of our 4 cats seems to be suffering from crystals in his urine. He has had to be rushed to the vets twice. Once on Christmas morning - he was catherized immediately and was there til Dec 27. That cost us $125.00. Then two weeks later he was throwing up and not urinating. Although he was on Amox and urine acidifier. Then he went in on Jan 10 again he was catherized immediately. He was kept until Jan 12. That visit cost us $85.00. This time he is on a different pill. We've changed their food now to a low ash dry, I've been giving all 4 of them canned food at supper. We've added salt to their food to get them to drink more water. Plus we have three bowls of water out that are changed every morning and every evening. And I've gotten on the kids to clean the litter boxes every morning and evening. Is there anything else I can do? I'm worried that he will get another one. He is only 2 and he is now under-weight - he was only 7-8lbs before. His hips are boney now He seems to be drinking and eating well. Although on Friday he went to the bathroom in the laundry basket. I'm not sure if he went in there to be defiant or if that is his way of telling us he's getting sick again? He only threw up once since he's been home and that was on Friday as well.
HELP! Anyone have anything to add?????? What else can I do??????

I would recommend cutting the dry food out entirely and relying entirely on canned food. Dry food can be given in small amounts as a treat but it's very dehydrating.

Adding salt to food will not help because it causes the body to hang on to extra water to dilute the sodium in the blood. What you want is for the urine to be dilute, not the blood, so excess salt is only likely to make things worse.

In addition, talk to the vet about the possibility of a prescription food if there are crystals present.

Filtered water can help, if you aren't already using it. Some people even use distilled water. I'm not sure the extra salt is a good idea; did your vet OK that?
I would try to get him to eat as much wet food as possible, (preferably one with no fish) and add extra water or broth to it. You can also offer him watered-down chicken broth to encourage him to drink more.

I do not have first hand experience but i did do some research just now. The more water intake (from the food) the better because it helps to dilute the urine. Staying away from fish in the food is because it has been proven that fish can actually cause more crystals to form. Did your vet determine what type of crystals were found in the urine? Struvite being the most popular. Different crystals are treated with different medications and food. All the articles I read concerning the crystals unfortunately don't have a definite cause nor were their medical treatments a definite fix. Reoccurences are actually to be expected. But diet change is highly recommended. A surgical procedure called perineal urethrostomy is sometimes considered. Also there is an antibiotic called amitriptylline that seems to be popular for this problem. Also it was suggested by many vets to seek the opinion of an internal medicine specialist that is more familar with these types of cases. You could probably find one at a university veterinary hospital near you. You could ask your vet for a referral. But overall it sounds like your vet has done what seems to be the norm for treating these cases. However a specialist may be able to help more. I hope this helps. Please keep us posted and good luck

The vet is the one that told us to put salt on their food to get them to drink more water. But I'm thinking I'll go with popular suggestion - the wet food....although I'm not sure I'll take the dry food away but just give them wet in the am and wet in the pm as well. See one boy doesn't really care for the wet but he eats a bit of it. Thanks keep the suggestions coming. As to the huge expense of a specialist I dont' think we can do that financially (

Originally Posted by puppycat

I do not have first hand experience but i did do some research just now. The more water intake (from the food) the better because it helps to dilute the urine. Staying away from fish in the food is because it has been proven that fish can actually cause more crystals to form. Did your vet determine what type of crystals were found in the urine? Struvite being the most popular. Different crystals are treated with different medications and food. All the articles I read concerning the crystals unfortunately don't have a definite cause nor were their medical treatments a definite fix. Reoccurences are actually to be expected. But diet change is highly recommended. A surgical procedure called perineal urethrostomy is sometimes considered. Also there is an antibiotic called amitriptylline that seems to be popular for this problem. Also it was suggested by many vets to seek the opinion of an internal medicine specialist that is more familar with these types of cases. You could probably find one at a university veterinary hospital near you. You could ask your vet for a referral. But overall it sounds like your vet has done what seems to be the norm for treating these cases. However a specialist may be able to help more. I hope this helps. Please keep us posted and good luck

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Amitriptyline (brand name Elavil) is actually an antidepressant, not an antibiotic. It is useful for non-obstructive urinary disease (e.g. symptoms of bloody urine and frequent urinary urges) but not for blockages.

A perineal urethrostomy (p/u) is an option for repeated blockages but only as a last resort.

At this point the longer he goes without re-blocking, the better the long-term odds.

well of course all the suggestions that were mentioned in those sites were to be discussed with your vet

Sending you some vibes!!!!
P/U was the only thing that worked for Lucky. He had 3 blockages in too short of a period. *knock on wood* he has been great since.

Originally Posted by crazyforinfo

Sending you some vibes!!!!
P/U was the only thing that worked for Lucky. He had 3 blockages in too short of a period. *knock on wood* he has been great since.

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Thanks for the VIBES - as many as we can get. I just wanted to say thanks to you all for you advice. It is muchly appreciated. We will impliment the wet food today after work. and I'm going to buy a couple of cans of Broth to add to their water. I'll certainly keep you all posted.

P.S. Lucky looks like my 4 yr old Mandarine Orange

I had a similar problem not to long ago, and everything is great now. It took two different medications to find something that worked for him. Don't give up, it will get better you just need to find what works.

Hang in there, Laurie

Suggest you stop adding the salt and instead invest in several pet fountains. Drinkwell makes a good one. Pet fountains are appealing to cats and entices them to drink more. Not to mention, you can keep better track of how much they are drinking.

One more question - does it matter what KIND of wet food? Whiskas? or should it be a certain name brand

Choose a good quality brand. I feed Pro Plan and they really like it.

L.

Originally Posted by furry4fury

The vet is the one that told us to put salt on their food to get them to drink more water. But I'm thinking I'll go with popular suggestion - the wet food....although I'm not sure I'll take the dry food away but just give them wet in the am and wet in the pm as well. See one boy doesn't really care for the wet but he eats a bit of it. Thanks keep the suggestions coming. As to the huge expense of a specialist I dont' think we can do that financially (

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Adding table salt to a cat's diet probably isn't the best way to get him to drink more because a fine balance of sodium has to maintained in the blood. However, the Royal Canin Urinary SO dry food actually has small amounts of sodium chloride (salt) in the food to promote increased water uptake. If your vet recommends a prescription food, I recommend the Urinary SO as a maintenence food.

Since your cat has had severe reoccurance in the past few weeks, I strongly suggest putting him on an exclusively canned diet. A lot of cats on wet diets won't necessarily drink more water (from a bowl or fountain) because the moisture content in canned food is so high.

I agree with a food that contains magnesium content of approx 0.02%, however, you might have a hard time finding that in a non-RX food.

OK people, I went to the pet store on my way home, they only had Eagle Pack (i think that is what it is I know for sure its Eagle something) I did check the magnesium it's .025% and the first ingredients were chicken and I think I got Duck - no fish. I also went and bought Beef and Chicken broth - Now my question is, on the Broth containers it says refrigerate after opening....so how long do I leave it out and what ratio would I use - 1/2 c broth to 1 c water? I couldn't find one of those spout thingys - well they had one but it was HUGE and wouldn't have worked for us. I'm going to go to the city this week sometime and see what I can find. My only concern with that is the one with the issues likes to play in the water - he just might have more fun with MORE water... Have I said thanks sOOOOOOOOO much everyone for all your help. It is greatly appreciated
Denise

If it was me I won't add the broth to the water. Add the broth to the wet food instead. Then you know that it has all been eaten and not worry about spoiling.

It's funny I never worried about Simon not getting enough water when he was having problems. I just made sure his water was changed daily, he has it in two locations. And then increased his wet food. For him that did the trick.

Laurie