Please Describe your cat's recovery process after diagnosed with Urinary Obstruction

Hi all, this may seem like another long post regarding the frequently discussed topic - Urinary Obstruction. So far i'm having a hard time find any detailed description regarding the recover process and I am hoping people can chime in on their experience and advice.

My cat Boo was recently diagnosed with Urinary Obstruction. He was admitted to the VCA of Woodbury on Long Island, NY and stayed there for 1.5 days. The doctor inserted a catheter into Boo and eventually the urine came out and I was told her was doing really well. I admitted Boo to the hospital early AM Sunday morning and brought him back that Monday afternoon. The doctor prescribed Buprenorphine for pain relieve and Prazocin capsules to decrease urethral spasm. Also we were told to feed him Royal Canin SO diet to try and dissolve crystals in the urine.

The moment Boo came home after his first diagnosis was to run to the litter box and there was pee!!!!! I couldn't be happier! However the next day he began to urinate very little and frequently visited the litter box. We were so worried when he started growling (and you can tell from the sound that he's in pain) and thought that he might be blocked again. I took him to the doctor again on Tuesday to double check on Boo's condition. I wasn't sure if the problem with Boo having trouble urinating lied with a new blockage in the bladder or simply he wasn't drinking enough water. After the examination the doctor said he was doing fine, gave him an IV and sent us home.

Boo seemed to be doing well for the next 5-6 days until I saw blood with urine on my couch for the first time and I was freaking out! I called the hospital seeking advise and was told by the doctor that this is a normal process as the SO is slowly dissolving the crystals in the bladder which could cause irritation which could cause bleeding. Thankfully the bleeding was not very frequent...........

It has been 2 weeks now since his first diagnosis. We took Boo to see his regular clinic doctor at the LIC Animal Clinic, NY for a check up and to update Boo's records. Our doctor at the clinic did the check up, felt his penis and told us that the urine felt very sandy. She said that sometime bacteria can creep its way into the bladder during the catheter insertion which can cause crystal formations. The doc suggested that Boo also take antibiotics while continuing his medication as well as giving him SD instead of SO.

We were told that it could take a few month to see the problem fade away. In the mean time we are closely monitoring him (so lack of sleep right now). One thing we noticed is that his feces are very hard probably due to lack of water and he has not been drinking water. We had to add water into his food and sometime use a syringe to give him water.

Boo just had a intense growling session today and it was so sad to see him in pain but we were told this would happen and should just continue to watch him, give him meds regularly, and take good care of him.

Oy so worried!

I would love to hear from anyone their experience taking care of cats with the same problem.

Cheers and thanks for reading.

Di

I just brought my cat Marvel home from the same procedure so I don't have much to tell you about experience, but you might be able to help me actually! My cat has been on the antibiotics a day and a half now but he has no appetite and isn't really drinking anything. He is also only urinating small amounts at a time and sleeping a ton. Was this something you saw in your cat? 

I have never had a blocked kitty but have 2 kitties who have bladder issues.  My first recommendation is to read this site:  http://catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth it is written by a veterinarian and has excellent information about it.  For my kitties what I have done is gone to a canned food only diet with additional 1-2 tablespoons of water added to their food.  I give them both Cosequin which helps with bladder inflammation.  The key to preventing future issues is to increase the water in the diet, more water in = more water out which keeps the bladder flushed so the crystals don't have a chance to settle.  I do not have either of my kitties on a prescription diet, and have been issue free for 4 years up until this past month with of them who is having other issues as well.

I suppose that your vets must have felt the bladder on the return visit and it was not full/blocked etc.

Before playing around with foods, do you have the lab results back re the type of crystal? SO is supposed to give a perfect pH so that neither type of crystal can grow. But from what I gather, there is no way to dissolve oxalate crystals (which they now think are more common) although there is a food to dissolve struvite crystals - I could be wrong but I thought the SO food cannot dissolve either type of crystal but just stops them being able to develop in the first place. When my cat Duncan blocked a year ago, we put in a catheter to get him flowing again. All seemed good. The vet told me to use a struvite dissolving food - and that made matters worse as his stones turned out to be oxalate (that vet had not tested the stones and I assumed that he had) so we grew new stones. Duncan blocked a few times, then I had to have the surgery to turn his urethra into that of a "girl" cat.  

You might want to get a vet to show you how to feel the bladder. When my cat was reblocking, I picked up on it right away as I knew how to feel the bladder - and it felt like a giant hard plum instead of feeling more soft and less full.

• MarveltheCat, Sorry to hear about your cat I'll update the progress frequently.
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• One thing to note that cprcheetah  said was so vital is hydration. We've been adding water to his canned food and also using a syringe to force some water down (few drops at a time so you don't gag your cat). 

   Scarlett 001, I went through the diagnosis and no where on the paper where it describes the type of crystal. i will call the hospital and ask in a bit.

   Somehting I forgot to mention is that we bought so much canned SO and SD that we asked the clinic doctor if it was ok to mix them and she gave the go...... thoughts on that?

Our cat has been growling all night and is now under the couch which isn't his usual place. No urine yet..... i'm debating if i should take him to the hospital again or its just part of his recovery process.......

Bills are adding up and what sucks is that we got Boo PetPlan insurance and it doesn't cover pre existing conditions. Still better to have it than not. Anything related to health are just so expensive especially when living on long island.

If you cannot afford a full vet appointment, you can perhaps ask your vet clinic if the vet technician can take him to the back and feel his bladder for you - any vet tech should be able to feel a blocked bladder so you know if you have an emergency on your hands or not. I took Toffee in one evening when he was peeing small amounts and I got concerned and the vet tech checked his bladder for me, she probably had a quick word with the vet, and they sent me on my way with no charge for doing this. Of course, if it is blocked, you'd have to see the vet or it might not be a blocked bladder but something else, in which case they may still want you to see the vet.

Boo seems to be doing a lot better now #1 and #2 are improving. We've been adding more water into the food and into the syringe mixed with medicine. At least no more growling. Now we need to make sure he doesn't pee on his own bed......

Boo is doing well. We have been giving him meds as well as keeping the place really clean and stress free. His usual behavior is coming back like jumping off the bed and going nuts at night, waking me up early in the morning 'cause he is hungry. He still has not drink much water but we've been adding water to his food every day. He is eating but does not have the appetite like he used to. There is always left over in his bowl. We took him to our clinic two days ago and the doctor suggested an abdominal ultrasound to check his stomach. We are not sure if we need it especially the ultrasound is $375......... I am financially crippled at this point and in a dilemma whether to  take him to the ultrasound or not.