My cat is recovering from severe Urinary tract blockage, need advice!

Hello,

Our male ( neutered) cat, Primus, (age 3,5), disappeared a few days ago, only to reappear later, very ill. Our guess is that he got himself locked up, and at the same time got a blockage.
By the time he got home, he was 10% dehydrated. We took him to the vet as soon as possible, and he hooked him up to an IV fluid.

It appeared that he had had a urinary tract blockage, his bladder had distended a lot, possibly causing (or nearly) causing a kidney blocking. No need to say he was in very bad shape.

The next day he seemed to do a little better, and by the evening, the results of his blood test came in, and they were actualy quite good. Only his white blood cells were up, which means infection or allergy, but apparently he also picked up fleas on his time away.

Anyhow, the vet released him while he had a catheter (without a bag) in. We were to watch him closely and give him special recovery food.

We put him in a seperate room with pads and towels, and a bowl of wet food and water. He immediately started purring and eating and seemed very content to be home.

We checked on him after a while, and found that he had pulled out the catheter on his own. (this was at 10 in the evening).
we decided to let the night pass and call the vet in the morning.

That morning we noticed he had been able to pee, there was a small clump in his litterbox.

So, all good and well, we called the vet and he advised to keep close watch on him.

Now it's evening of the same day, and he hasn't gone to his litterbox yet, but i noticed he has leaked a little. On one site it says this may be because it hurts too much to pee regularly.

I tried feeling his belly to see is his bladder was distended, but i don't know where to feel exactly

Now i'm not sure what to do, wait? (we're to call the vet with updates thursday)
I don't know if this is normal or not.. the cat himself seems rather relaxed, he is sleeping a lot, but he just barely escaped death and is now on pain meds and antibiotics, so it's only normal, i think. He doesn't seem distressed otherwise.

Any advice? I'm still worried, it's been a stressful couple of days.

I wouldn't wait until Thursday, because the pain medication is going to mask any distress he's in and a blockage is really bad news. I'd try and talk to the vet or an ER vet this evening, if at all possible.

One thing that can happen when a catheter is taken out is that the cat's urethra can start to spasm, which is not only painful, but can cause him not to be able to pee again. You will want to call the vet sooner rather than later. He at least needs some medication to help with pain relief of a muscle relaxer to help him thru this time. If he stopped peeing again, he needs to see a vet NOW.

No, he does have pain meds, and he didn't stop peeing, he's dripping urine (slowly). I'm calling the vet in the morning, it's 9 pm now.
It looks like incontinence but not sure.

Update:

Called the vet this morning, they say he's temporary incontinent because his bladder is healing.
I need to keep an eye on him that he doesn't block up again.

If he stops leaking, this could either mean his bladder is healed and will soon pee again on his own, or he may have blocked again, then i need to take him in again immediately.

I hope it heals soon, but he seems to be doing fine otherwise.

for the former.

My Bonaparte has just been through this, with a catheter inserted, but he had a plastic collar to prevent him pulling it (he still managed to disturb it at one point). He leaked through the catheter for a couple of days, and again when the vet removed it, first blood spots then pink tinged pee . It was a bit scary, and I kept in touch with the vet, but he healed OK and gradually stopped leaking as he was able to pee normally again. Good luck.

If the cat is urinating, it is usually advised to at least temporarily go to an all wet food diet wetted down with extra water as much as the cat will tolerate.  This will help flush out the system, since urine PH rises with infection which can in turn promote growth of stones.  You can even ask your vet if a prescription wet diet would be in order, and just get five cans of that.  If the cat refuses wet, then dry prescriptions are available as well.

Moot now, but for future reference what I had read before in some medical articles is that they grab the cat at the very base of the tale if cooperative, reach with the other hand at the abdomen between the legs starting outmost, and then gently squeeze inward.   A very full bladder should illicit a pain response and feel a bit harder than the very soft tissue around it.    A complete blockage is potentially fatal within 36-48hrs, whereas a partial blockage (urinating in the bathtub or small clumps) requires veterinary consultation but is not an emergency.

Thanks for the reply and information.

He's been able to urinate on his own in the litterbox now, so he's improving lots. I'm going to keep on watching him closely until he's all better. We're keeping close contact with the vets aswell, they've been great!

We're also giving them only wet food now, and lots of water. We've also still got some liquid recovery food we got from the vet, which i'll probably keep giving him for the next day or so? He seems to love the taste and he can still use the nutrients.

I heard that there's special cat food for cats with urinary tract (or bladder) problems, so maybe we could give him that in the future, too.