My cat needs an operation for urinary blockage

hoppy

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Hi there. I'm new to this. I have 3 cats. One is diabetic who gets insulin injection twice a day and now my small male cat has urinary track blockage and I have been told that he needs an operation to remove his penis has anyone had experience of this and does it work
 

sugarcatmom

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Hi there. I'm new to this. I have 3 cats. One is diabetic who gets insulin injection twice a day and now my small male cat has urinary track blockage and I have been told that he needs an operation to remove his penis has anyone had experience of this and does it work
Is he still blocked? What other things have the vets tried? What do your cats eat?
 

catapault

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It's not something radical and new. I had a cat who had this operation decades and decades ago. It worked great!

He would block repeatedly and usually on a holiday - Thanksgiving, Christmas - you get the picture. He was getting really debilitated. I had to bring him home with an indwelling catheter, keep him caged, and build him up for the surgery.Feed him in the morning, dinnertime, evening. I'd dash home from work, feed him, back to work, repeat.

As I said, the surgery works very well. The urethral opening is larger so they usually don't block. They retain bladder control. No pain once healed from the surgery.
 

Good luck to you and your sad little furry boy.
 

otto

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Hi there. I'm new to this. I have 3 cats. One is diabetic who gets insulin injection twice a day and now my small male cat has urinary track blockage and I have been told that he needs an operation to remove his penis has anyone had experience of this and does it work
Hello and welcome to TCS. I am sorry to hear about your kitty's blockage. But I wonder what else has been tried, to prevent another blockage, before jumping into PU (perineal urethrostomy) surgery?

Perhaps getting a second opinion before allowing the surgery might be a good idea. Is he home now? Is he peeing okay now? What are you feeding him?
 

orientalslave

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A friend has a cat this worked really well for.  He looks rather 'female' now and hi nickname is now 'Ginger Nobits'.  It needs to be done by a very skilled surgeon and aftercare needs to be meticulous - the cat cannot be allowed to damage the surgeons work.
 

ldg

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As the others have said, the surgery does work. But has anything else been tried yet? It's usually a "surgery of last resort," after other things have been tried. The problem is caused by diet, and can be resolved by diet. Our vet only considers the surgery after a cat has blocked repeatedly. Things that need to be tried first are a change in diet (to an all wet diet, low carb, high protein, or a prescription diet that targets a neutral urine pH), increased water intake, sub-q fluids given at home to flush him out during the diet change, etc.

What type of crystals did he have? Struvite? Or calcium oxalate?
 
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hoppy

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Hi there everyone. Thanks for all the info yous gave me. My poor wee cat has been to two different vets. Been put on special food and had 3 serious blockages where he had to be catheterised. You can tell he is not a happy chappy and always in pain. Both vets and me think this is the last resort and the best way to go. What do you all think. Am I doing the right thing. Will the operation to remove his penis work. It just seems very extreme but don't think there is anything left to try
 

blueyedgirl5946

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When he was on the special diet, what was he eating. I had this problem with two cats. They both were prescribed veterinary food only. When a cat is on this type of diet, they can only have that food and nothing else. Did your cat only eat the prescribed food. Another thing that helped my cats is giving them only filtered water. I hope you find a solution.
 

sugarcatmom

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Been put on special food and had 3 serious blockages where he had to be catheterised. 
What is the food, and is it wet or dry? 

I know of a few cats that repeatedly blocked on the prescription urinary kibble, but when switched to a completely wet diet with extra water added, did fine. I personally would explore all options before resorting to such drastic surgery. Yes, it does work (had a cat that underwent a PU 17 yrs ago), but I also think some vets opt for the procedure prematurely. 
 

orientalslave

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Hi there everyone. Thanks for all the info yous gave me. My poor wee cat has been to two different vets. Been put on special food and had 3 serious blockages where he had to be catheterised. You can tell he is not a happy chappy and always in pain. Both vets and me think this is the last resort and the best way to go. What do you all think. Am I doing the right thing. Will the operation to remove his penis work. It just seems very extreme but don't think there is anything left to try
My friend's cat was in a similar position - he had been catheterised several times the year it was done and she watched him like a hawk for the first sign of blockage.  It worked brilliantly.  The post-operative period was hard - he hated his collar but it HAD to stay on - but once he had healed enough to lose the collar he was and is a very happy cat.

His operation was done at Glasgow Vet School - in other words by the best.  It was expensive but well worth while.
 

maewkaew

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Just wanted to say I had the same experience as sugarcatmom. My cat blocked a few times, and even on the special prescription food he still had crystals. Once I switched him to a diet of all wet, grain free, low carb food ( not prescription) and even added a little extra warm water mixed into his canned or raw food just to make sure he had plenty of water flowing through to keep his bladder "flushed out", he never again had problems like that for the rest of his life. On Dr Lisa Pierson's site there is an article about feline urinary tract health that explains about why the appropriate diet is so important. http://www.catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth

So I would say, if you have not tried that sort of a diet, I personally would want to consider trying that first before having such a drastic surgery. But some cats might have developed so much scar tissue from the catheterizations that there is still no choice. and if that is the case, I think the surgery usually is successful, and i would just try to make sure to have it done by a good surgeon. And if you do get that surgery done, it would still be a good idea to put him on a wet, low carb / high meat protein diet.

Good luck. Whatever happens, I hope things work out fine for your cat.
 
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