Help... Nervous Wreck About Cat's Urinary Blockage Recovery

This is my first post to this forum.... My baby Spencer, a 6 year old domestic shorthair, neutered, just came home on Sunday from a 6 day stay at the vet 24h emergency hospital. He suddenly started vomiting bile, being lethargic and not eating on Dec. 23. Long story short, he had a urinary blockage and was put on catether and IV, his bladder was flushed out several times.
I wanted the vet to do the PU operation, but because it was Spencer's first blockage (at 6 yrs old) and because he recuperated very well at the vet's, they advised me to take him home and that hopefully with a change of diet (he had been on Whiskas all his life... I know. That will never happen again.) hopefully he will not block again.
He has 2 antibiotics, meds to help with penis spasms and meds to help contract his bladder to take. He was also put on Royal Canin urinary SO food (it was recommended that I feed him only canned food for 3 weeks).
I am a wreck and I follow him around everywhere. Since coming home he has being peeing regularly, lots of small amounts the size of a tablespoon, and pooping as week. I called the vet yesterday and they told me peeing lots of smaller amounts is normal, also his poop is kinda runny but they said its normal as well.
He ate yesterday but this morning he refused to eat. His behaviour is normal (except for not eating) and he has been drinking and going to the litter box. Please if anyone has had a cat that recovered from a blockage like that, could you share your recovery experience. I keep wondering what is normal or not, worrying that he is in pain or will block again and even wondering if I did well saving him, or if that was just selfish on my part - maybe it was his time to go? He was comatose when I brought him to the emergency.
That cat is my love and I appreciate any advice.

Amy

Of course you did the right thing saving him! There is no reason to kill a cat - especially such a young one - for a completely preventable problem! Think of it this way - do we let people die when they have kidney stones? No, and they're controlled/prevented after surgery with diet. :heart2:

No, the problem was simply that you didn't notice he wasn't peeing - or was uncomfortable peeing - early enough. And with the holidays and family gatherings, stress, etc. going on, probably at any other time you would have noticed sooner there was a problem.

I have three males that blocked when they were younger, and they needed to be catheterized and flushed out. One blocked numerous times. We did use the prescription food to stabilize them, but when I learned more about feline nutrition, I switched them all to a grain-free, high protein canned food only diet, and we never had any further problems. :cross:

Do you know what kind of crystals he had? If not, you can call the vet to find out if they were oxalate or struvite. Struvite is most common. It is the result of a urine pH that is too alkaline. They can be dissolved by diet, and a proper diet will maintain a proper pH. Oxalate cyrstals can be prevented by diet, but existing stones/crystals cannot be dissolved by diet (the only option is flushing and/or surgery). A urine pH that is too high (usually caused by too many carbohydrates in the diet) results in struvite stones; a urine pH that is too low (usually caused by urine acidifiers added to food) results in calcium oxalate stones. The mineral content of foods also plays a role. But you don't need to drive yourself crazy figuring out how to balance all of this information:

Cats are obligate carnivores, and do best on a high protein, low carb diet (no grains as well). The protein should be meat based, as meat is high in the amino acid methionine, which is naturally acidifying. (Think of it this way: cats cohabitating with humans hunted the little critters that ate the grains. The cats didn't eat the grain stores. ). You can learn more about an appropriate diet here: http://www.catinfo.org . There's also a wealth of information on commercial foods, to help you figure out what you might want to use after he stabilizes on the prescription food.

If your kitty will let you put a urine pH test strip in his urine stream when he's peeing, you can keep track of his urine pH - this will alert you to any brewing problem before it happens. He should have a urine pH of 6.0 - 6.5.

I'd say most of us have had a male cat block, or experienced FLUTD in one (or more) of our cats in some way. It's quite common because of the plethora of species-inappropriate foods. These events are usually wake-up calls to learn about what we should be feeding our kitties. :rub:

Many vibes for you and your boy!

Hi! Thank you so much for your reply makes me feel much better.
And good news, Spencer actually ate some of his prescription food this morning while I wasn't looking (hubby saw him eat).

He had struvite crystals. They also did 2 radios (a few days apart) to check for kidney stones and didnt see any - so the vet is pretty confident the crystals did not develop into stones.

You are right I never before paid attention to his litter habits - I clean it everyday but because I have 2 other (female) cats, I didn't notice if he was going less or more often. I have been controlling his peeing & poop since his return by keeping him in one room most of the time (our guest room, which is "his room" anyway).

I am still very nervous and luckily I will be able to extend the holidays by staying home from work tomorrow! Hopefully he will be eating bigger portions by Thursday, which is what worries me the most right now.

I will never forget this Christmas, rushing in my slippers with a comatose cat covered in vomit to the vet emergency. My poor baby he's been so brave through it all and I just hope he'll be ok from here on.

Thanks again for sharing your experience it does give me hope!

Just search for "struvite" in the TCS search bar - you'll find bazillions of people that have had to manage this.

As Laurie said, many of us have had experience with a UTI or blockage and feel for you. Jamie had struvite crystals four years ago (at age 9), which we luckily caught before he was totally blocked. He was given antibiotics for a week or so and put on a urinary diet (various brands of wet and dry, because he refused to eat just the SO), which we stuck to for a year or so before replacing the canned urinary foods with regular grain-free. He wouldn't give up his dry food completely, so we stuck to the dry urinary brands until several months ago, when he switched almost completely to canned food. He never had a recurrence, but we monitor him very carefully.

If possible, I'd recommend not going back to dry food at all. for a full and uneventful recovery!

Thanks! I am indeed hoping to keep him on canned food for life. He seems to be yearning for his old food right now but with luck he will get used to the urinary prescription food soon.

My cat Muffin has a history of struvite crystals. He has had that problem since very young and has always eaten prescription food from the vet for it. For years he only at dry Hills. In May of last year he had some other medical problems and his diet was changed to wet Purina UR. I tried to switch him totally, but sometimes he holds out for the dry prescription and I give it to him. Another thing that you could do is put a filter on your kitchen sink to filter his drinking water, or else buy bottled water for him. I had two male cats with this problem. Both ate prescription food and both drank filtered water. Those two things solved their problem.

Thanks for the advice! I heard about the water thing and was thinking of getting a filter for the sink.
Right now Spencer has been eating small amounts, drinking, peeing small amounts as well and I give him his meds as directed. His behaviour is normal. My only concern is, he has been grooming and licking around his penis several times today - not constantly but definitely more often than normal. Should I be concerned about that? Is this a normal reaction to having had his catheter removed, or does it means he is getting blocked again.

It's been so long since our boys were catheterized, I don't remember how long they were... licking their wounds, so to speak. I'd just give the vet a ring tomorrow, for peace of mind. :nod:

I will, might even call them tonight since they are open 24 hrs. I suspect this may be due to him being on Buprenonorphine at the vet, they sent me home with 1 day's worth and he has therefore been off it since yesterday - maybe being off the painkillers is causing this.

Do call then. But if he's only been home 2 days and off pain meds for one day, I would think this is normal - he's probably sore. :heart2:

I have a 6 year old male cat who is just now going through the same process. Would you mind providing an update on Spencer's status now? And how long his recovery was?

As this thread is a year old, it is unlikely you will get a response. I suggest you start your own thread about your cat, giving more detail, and people will see it and respond. If you want to know more about Spencer and his recovery, then you could always PM Spencer's Mom.

My cat had a blockage two weeks ago and is home now the same as your cat the same crystals. He would not eat any prescription food at all and I tried all three, and wasn't doing well so I bought him Friskies canned special diet for urinary problems and he started eating that and really improved. I am still nervous about him peeing but he is going and peeing more than before, I am trying to mix in some prescription food with the Friskies, and he is eating it that way. Also he licked himself down there quite a bit but is doing it much less now. Hope everything goes alright for both of us good luck.

Hello everybody! I'm happy to say Spencer survived his urinary blockage and is healthier than ever. I just saw these new posts, sorry for the late reply... It was a though road and I had to syringe feed him for several weeks. But anyway any question just ask!

That is great to hear!! I am glad he did well.

Hi! I'm going thru this now. My cat is in the hospital. When you brought him home, did your cat have accidents or did he use the litter box? I'm nervous because I live in a small condo with a baby. Thanks

My cat used his old litter box and did not have any accidents, just  make sure you clean it daily, I am still doing that just to make sure he is peeing normally which he still is, and I have him only on canned food which is hard but I don't want it to happen again, good luck

Pamela McGarty said:

 
My cat used his old litter box and did not have any accidents, just  make sure you clean it daily, I am still doing that just to make sure he is peeing normally which he still is, and I have him only on canned food which is hard but I don't want it to happen again, good luck

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The canned food is really best. If he allows it you  could add a few teaspoons of extra water in it. The main thing is to keep water flowing through the kidneys and bladder. It helps to also keep the urine naturally dilute and slightly acidic when fed canned cat food, any kind but I find pate to be slightly lower in carbs than any in gravy/sauce.

Hi Spencer's mom,
Trying to get through this with my boy Ray. In the middle of feeling like a 'wreck' still.
It's Tuesday and he had his urethra done LAST Monday and then LAST Wednesday, so tomorrow will be a week. Took him home Friday. The vet thought I would be back on Saturday to put him down, she said he just wasn't recovering. He was leaking pee all over until a day ago, that seems to have stopped, but still blood in the urine. He will not eat. When you say 'syringe' fed your boy, can you explain? I've been giving my boy water and broth by syringe, but it's just not enough and he fights so violently everything, I have to wrap him to give him meds, it's a two person ordeal for the meds, etc. and even that is a struggle.
Thanks, Dawn