Anyone NOT have a male cat block yet?

I have never had a cat block but have had a few with FLUTD in years past. All of my six eat a raw/grain free canned diet. I honestly believe that is the best diet to ward off the dreaded urinary issues that so many cats suffer with. Sending you mega vibes for your cat.

Thanks - the vibes seem to be helping... Wolfie is doing much better today. No more bloody pee.

Andrya said:

l'm 50 years old and have had cats my entire life - mostly neutered males, but also a couple of females. l've never had a cat with a blockage or crystals or a UTI.
My parents always fed canned food and cooked meat, and in adulthood, my own cats were fed mostly canned with an offering of dry on the side. l switched to raw last year, with the rare cooked meat and canned as a treat. No more kibble. 

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Once I run out of this prescription can food for Wolfie I am going to migrate to raw food. I got some chicken thighs - hopefully he will adapt without too much trouble. From what I read, raw is good for their teeth too - especially chicken necks and feet. And no More milk either unfortunately, that was his favorite.

Gus is about 9 we think, and he's never had any blockages or urinary issues. He was free fed dry until a about a year ago, now he's strictly on canned with a tiny bit of raw occasionally. I never see him drink, but i usually add 1/2 a can of water to his food each meal, so i dont thinks hes at all dehydrated. He was neutered before we adopted him around 3ish months.

I have two 15 1/2 year old brothers. Diet started as dry, moved to Fancy Feast, moved on to Wellness, now we do raw. One brother has had cystitis for more years than I can remember, straining to pee, blocked a few times requiring medical intervention, kidney stones, lots of blood in the urine,...now has cancer throughout the bladder but primarily at the crucial trigone area. Three months ago he had surgery that placed a stent in his urethra to open the passage to pee. They think it started with a weak bladder wall that becamed inflamed over time. His brother has NO bladder problems, when he goes into the litter box it's like someone opens the dam.

Certainly diet can have an impact, but I also think it's the luck of the draw (or unluck in this case). I wish you all the best.

LCat4 said:

I have two 15 1/2 year old brothers. Diet started as dry, moved to Fancy Feast, moved on to Wellness, now we do raw. One brother has had cystitis for more years than I can remember, straining to pee, blocked a few times requiring medical intervention, kidney stones, lots of blood in the urine,...now has cancer throughout the bladder but primarily at the crucial trigone area. Three months ago he had surgery that placed a stent in his urethra to open the passage to pee. They think it started with a weak bladder wall that becamed inflamed over time. His brother has NO bladder problems, when he goes into the litter box it's like someone opens the dam.

Certainly diet can have an impact, but I also think it's the luck of the draw (or unluck in this case). I wish you all the best.

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Great post - thanks.   That is the first time I have heard of the stent procedure - must be fairly new.  All the medical related info I have seen only talks about removing the urethra in male cats that continuously block.

It is new for cats. The problem is everything is so small in the cat anatomy, the medical equipment wasn't able to support the procedure. That is changing with advancements in technology. It was not an inexpensive procedure, but was his only hope. His blockage is not at the end of the penis, so the PU surgery would not have helped. They went in laparoscopically into the bladder. They can't remove the cancer, too delicate of an area, so they basically squished it to the sides (like plaque in an artery) and put the stent in. He takes non-steroidal anti-inflammatories to help control future growth of the cancer. He went through a period of incontinence, but that has gone away. He seems good, comfortable, and for the first time in years, peeing well.

Wow, that's fantastic. Truly happy it was a successful procedure. It does seem a variety of factors are involved in flutd but for the most part it looks like a dry food only diet is a major contributor. Thanks again and hope your boys continue to do well.

over 30 years we've had 9 cats.  6 males.  No blockages past or present.  We tend to feed them various dry food and usually fancy feast canned 2 to 3 times a day.  Most of them drink water daily.

We have 6 male cats and have, thankfully, never had any blockages.  Three are seniors, two are close to 3 years old, and one is an 8 month old.  They eat premium, grain-free canned(mostly Natural Balance venison) as well as an increasing amount of raw.  

I have 3 male cats currently. 2 are about 5 years old, 1 is about 3 years old. They've never had a blockage and God willing they never will... They are all neutered, I feed them natural food made in the USA without by-products, both wet food and kibble. I try not to feed them a ton of fish but they do eat it. They are indoor cats but go out occasionally with me. They eat cat grass.  No idea if this is helpful info or not!
 

Just an update on my cat that blocked a few weeks ago.....  he is doing fine and seems totally back to normal.  He`s a big ragamuffin - about 19 pounds and no more bloody pee.   He will be eating canned food from now on and eventually raw if I can get him to switch.

The turning point came after my vet started him on Cerenia.   This is a recently added pill for cats and it is great for reducing inflammation - especially in bladders.  If your cat has bloody pee, ask your vet about this.  It is fairly inexpensive especially online.   It originally was developed for anti-nausea in dogs but they discovered this off-label use for cats.

My cat Andy is 8 years old, for years he had problems plugging. I tried everything, all kinds of food. I figure out, it’s the food; it needs to be low on Magnesium. I told the vet and he started eating a diabetic food because it was the only one low Magnesium (and low fat, not fish because of his seizures). Then I tried Pro Plan Urinary Tract Formula and it works, it’s been like a year and no plugging. There are other urinary formulas out there but they weren’t low enough for my cat. The Pro Plan is perfect.

Thanks for the info Cande!   Yes, I agree largest contributor to this problem is the diet (one can see just from this thread that cats that never blocked were on a healthy diet and plenty fluids.)   Yes dry food is low cost and convenient, but in the end is not worth it from the suffering and large vet bills.  Thanks for the tip on Pro Plan.  I have studied all the canned foods on the great site catinfo.org   I also saw that Pro Plan was one of the best foods due to the higher protein content and lower carbohydrate.  It is more profitable for pet food companiues to load the food with carbs rather than meat-based protein.  Carbs are very bad for cats - this why we see so many obese cats today.   Some people think fat cats are cute - but It is very sad really.

Other thing I would mention to anyone learning about this urinary blocking issue is it is very important to keep the litter box clean and usable for the cat.   Cats will try to avoid a dirty litter box - especially if it is shared by multiple cats.   This means they will either pee outside the litter box or worse yet will hold the urine in their bladder longer while waiting for a place to go.   When they hold the urine longer it becomes more concentrated and inflames the bladder wall and also will enable crystal formation.   This is another major contributor to the blocking problem.

So feed cats high moisture content food (canned or raw - not just kibble)  and also keep the litter fresh as is possible (good for your nose too!).  Both these contribute to less concentrated urine and better flow.