spunky has urinary blockage...now needs to take in more fluid...need some help

Spunky, one of five rescues we have at the house, developed a urinary blockage.  The story is this: Spunky has always been our heavy drinker and used to pee once or twice a day, these really big pees,  and no problems in the 3 years we have had him.

But he has acne on his chin so the vet said to remove all the plastic bowls and replace them with glass....yep, the next day Spunky stood at the litter box for 5 minutes and produced nothing!  Off to the vet for a catheter and three day stay to clear the blockage.  The vet said he has a very small penis and had a hard time inserting the catheter.  He said if this occurs again he will have to "make him a girl" which I assume  means removing the penis.
picture shows Spunky (blk & wh) with dolly in their usual sleeping position

Now he is home with orders to eat wet food.  Spunky has always had dry and shows no interest in wet food of any type.

We have tried water plus dry warmed in microwave

dry with chicken broth warmed

canned cat food chicken

raw ground chicken

we have 4 water bowels, some glass and brought back his old plastic as well.

he refuses to do anything but taste the wet, seems to drink water, but pees are only about the size of 1/2 a golf ball and he spends a few minutes at the box generating that.

Any suggestions for wet food sources or tricks that work would be appreciated

It may take a while but it is possible to get to at least 1/2 wet food every little bit helps.

http://www.catinfo.org/#Transitioning_Dry_Food_Addicts_to_Canned_Food_   is a good article with tips.  It will still take patience and you will end up throwing out a lot of canned food.

I would be careful adding liquid to dry food because of bacteria.  Only leave it out for 15 or 20 minutes after it's been moistened because of bacteria.  Bacteria is actually more of an issue with wet food than dry.  That's why most of the recalls are for kibble.  You could try adding a little water to the wet to increase the water he is getting once you get him to starting eating some wet.

Have you tried any of the transition tips on www.catinfo.org? A lot of kibble addicts take a while to transition to wet. For kibble addicts, I think one of the best tips is to crush (finely grind) the kible to sprinkle on top of the wet food. It may take a lot of kibble at first. You gradually decrease the kibble and increase th wet over time. Also, if he's been used to free feeding, getting him on scheduled meals may help him eat more in one sitting. Good luck. It can be done, even for the most stubborn of kibble addicts.

I was going to direct you to the same two sites that have already been provided.

Having transitioned an adult domesticated feral to wet food from her dearly loved dry, I tell you it takes patience and perserverance.  I somewhat tried for a year, but it was when I was starting to feed raw to my other cats that I got serious with this one.  Rad Cat Turkey (commercial raw) is what finally did the trick.  Apparently she finally recognized something other than dry as actual food.  I no longer feed Rad Cat, I do home prepared raw and cooked meals with an occassional canned food thrown in, and she has no problems licking her plate clean.  I wish you luck!

With respect to the blockage, after a cat has blocked, the bladder may still have inflamation and the urethra is certainly irritated from the catheter.  It takes a bit of time for the inflammation to subside and resulting pain to go away.  You should then seem some improvement in your cat's ability to pee.  Hopefully this blockage is a one time thing from all the stress of being at the vets and having the familiar bowls and plates disappear.

As you are choosing new wet food, please be aware that just because something is "grain-free", it does not mean it is carb free.  At one point, I thought I was choosing correctly, but some of those cans advertised as grain-free have delicious gravy that is chock full of carbs.  You can look on that same catinfo.org site for a commercial food guide.  She has provided the carb percentages as well as other info.  You want high meat, low carbs, and very little fish.

I wish you and your kitty the best!

I'm so sorry Spunky is having these issues right now .  Maybe this article will help you with getting him to at least DRINK more, while you are working on getting him to eat wet food.  http://www.thecatsite.com/a/tips-to-increase-your-cat-s-water-intake.  All these changes at one time can be very stressful on a cat, which can, in turn, CAUSE urinary issues.  Have you tried using his favorite kibble as a topper for canned food?  You could crush some of the kibble and sprinkle it on top of a canned food.  Most cats love Fancy Feast canned food, and if you be sure to buy the CLASSICS variety of Fancy Feast, those are low carb, so are a decent cat food .  My pickiest of cats likes the Liver and Chicken Feast (CLASSIC), and they have at least 4 flavors that do not contain fish.  Plus they are very reasonably priced.  If you are not in the U.S., I think they may be called "Gourmet" vs "Classic" , but just look at the ingredients to make sure there is nothing listed like wheat, corn, soy, rice...that sort of thing of you want low carb, which is definitely best.

Now, when I transitioned my cats from kibble to canned, I used Soulistic, as it was the only thing we all could agree on that everyone liked .  It's Petco's brand.  The ones packed "in Gelee" are low carb, and instead of being pate style, they are more shredded or chunks.  Most are fishy, however.  They do have Aromatic Chicken and another one that is Chicken and Pumpkin.   Since mine now LIKE pate, I have to take these and toss them into my Magic Bullet with more water to turn them into pate so they will eat them

thanks to all...good articles and info

we are trying baby food with temptations treats crushed on top...he ate it fine

so the next step will be water added and gradual inclusion of a wet cat food

my hope is 40% canned wet as a goal

and limit the contact with our UPS cat...the new baby delivered from a UPS truck...the truck opened its' doors for the package and out popped Dolly (our name).  The driver said it is fairly common but I know they are required to check their trucks after every stop to prevent such.  Anyway my wife scooped her up saying we will adopt her out....but I knew she had already found a home!  This has been 2 months and she is causing turmoil among "the family" biting necks, jumping on them while they sleep, etc.  Nobody really likes her as yet...I think it will end up as a tolerance thing.  So this probably contributed to poor spunky"s problem.  He is the most easy going of the 5 but also the most like an adhd child.