Urinary Blockage

Hello,  I am new to this site.  My 3 1/2 male cat was partially blocked 5 days ago.  He went to the emergency vet, stayed overnight, they had him on a catheter, his urine had crystals 4+, high concentration & protein, some blood cells.  They sent him home with Prazosin & Clavamox and Royal Canin SO.  He has not been well, he was on the meds for days then they switched to Phenoxybenzamine & diazepam.  He continues to go to the box continually, pees on himself and all over the floor.  He is eating the dry but doesn't like the wet.  I was wondering how long this problem will last.  He is confined to a blocked off room to watch him.  Is this normal to keep having this problem at day 5?  Why is he peeing SO much??He was on grain free Natures Variety and Wellness wet.  He has a brother and my husband wants him on the Royal Canin to avoid this issue but I read about kidney problems, diabetes, etc.  Any advice would be great.  thanks Michelle

Why was he taken off the prazosin? Is one of the medications he is on now a pain killer? He should be peeing a lot of times,a little but , in the box. Have you asked the vet about him peeing all over? I assume so but of not do because that part is not normal medications need to probably be adjusted.The relaxer he is on , I assume,the diazepam ,may be too strong and relaxing him too much.
As for food He really needs to be on wet food and a lot of water. I would suggest finding one he likes first. With my experience I am beginning to think that the moisture in what they eat is more important then what they eat. I might be wrong but I pushed the water with mine putting waterbowls all over the house and he is doing well.

Sorry I didn't proof that before I pressed reply....I think most of it makes sense.

I went through that 2 years ago...my cat was completely blocked, was treated and then a month later blocked again.  I switched ALL the cats to a homemade all meat diet with LOTS of extra water.  I haven't had any health problems with any of them since.  I agree with the other poster that water in the diet is a huge issue...now I would never feed a cat dry food.  For a healthy cat, I think ANY canned food is preferable to dried, but for a cat with health issues I wouldn't feed anything but raw, homemade food.  Your poor kitty probably needs to recover from A. His health issue and B. Being catheterized at the vet.  

I was dealing with the emergency vet who gave me the Prazosin, my vet did not think it was working at helping controlling his urine so she wanted him on the phenoxybenzamine(I think it is a similar drug, she said she gets better results with this??) and the diazepam.  He has been on these 2 meds for 1 day now and he is still going to the box soooo often but right now it seems like he is leaking less. I just wonder if all this is normal for this problem.  thanks

Yes that is normal he will go 25 times to the litter box and pee only a teaspoon at a time.

thanks, I am hoping with these new meds he is leaking less, still going to the box all the time.  Does the medicine make them urinate this often?? 

Yes because it relaxes everything. Because there is a lot of swelling it's necessary to keep the urethra relaxed and the bladder relaxed so fluid could pass through the opening from the bladder down the urethra. When the swelling goes down and there's less pain the peeing returns to normal.

thanks, that is good to know.  I hope the phenoxbenzamine and diazepam help him with pain as well?? I know he is in pain but he is acting so much better than he was. 

For food, the vet only wants him on medicated food, he will eat the Royal SO dry but wont touch the wet.  From what I have read, wet is so important that I am assuming even at this stage I should keep trying wet food, he likes Wellness select grain free.  I keep trying new wet food to make sure he is getting enough water.  He also likes chicken baby food and I add water.   Ohh this is so hard for the poor boy.  Thanks again for the help.

My cat leaked for over a week after his catheter was removed. It was annoying, but I wasn't too worried. I was just happy pee was coming out, rather than being stuck inside! I've read dozens of threads on here regarding this same issue & I haven't read one where the cat didn't regain their ability to pee normally. It just takes time & depends a lot on the individual factors in each cat. 

Hi.  I'm sorry your guy is having to go through this.  Just so you know, the phenoxybenzamine is used to relax the urethra, the diazepam is basically valium, and serves as a muscle relaxant and pain med.  My cat seemed to be better served with the phenoxybenzamine over the Prazosin, and the vet gave him Buprenex for his pain. 

When the bladder and urethra is irritated/inflamed from a blockage - for whatever reason - the cat will try to pee constantly because any urine in the bladder will further the irritation.  Once the inflammation is resolved, the constant need to pee will reside.  It can take a few weeks. 

As to food, it's so hard.  My two boys ate the same food all their life.  One had cystitis and blockage was a constant issue, one never even thought about it.  I believe the one (who has now passed) was just more prone to those type problems.  But I did try to make it better through food.  We started out with dry, went to wet, to grain free wet, to better grain free wet, and finally to home cooked and select wet cans.  I never fed the prescription foods.  I'm not a vet nor a biochemist, but I believe that carbs were a big trigger food for my cat, which created the inflammation in his bladder.  His last couple years he ate very little carbs, and he peed much better than he had in years. 

So if you look at the Wellness Select, or any canned food with tasty gravy, the food may say Grain-Free, but that does not mean Carb free.  By default, any dry food is about 30% carb on a dry matter basis.  Your Wellness Select is probably about 15%.  Dr. Pierson on her site catinfo.org suggests no more than 10% carbs, preferably closer to 5%.  You can look at her site and see food options and their DMB for carbs.  Her list is a couple years old now and not everything available now is listed, but you can get a good idea.  I don't know your price point, but if you were feeding Wellness Select, you can also afford Hound & Gatos, some of the Merrick, Nature's Logic, or NV Instinct, all of which have fewer carbs than Wellness Select.  For less expensive food, the Fancy Feast Classic (non-gravy version) also has less carbs.  Now, your cat has to eat the food.  My cat wouldn't go near most of those brands.  That's why I started home cooking.  That's a whole other topic better served in the Raw and Cooked Foods forum.  The two canned foods I feed (purchased online) are ZiwiPeak and Lifes Abundance Natural Instinct. 

Other trigger foods might be fish.  Another thing to consider is the oils in some of the foods.  Sunflower seed oil, found in Weruva, Soulistic, and Wellness Select, is known to be the seed oil highest in Omega-6, which can be highly inflammatory.  It may take some time to figure out what food best serves your cat. 

In my (non-vet layman's) opinion, the Royal Canin SO is not the ideal food to feed your cat for long term health, but it's probably a good idea for the current while.  Then with your vet's blessing, you might start to introduce higher meat content, lower carb content wet foods to see what your cat enjoys. 

My cat is back to peeing normally! The stream is a little more narrow but he pees normal sized amounts doesn't leak and always goes in the litter box. It just took about a full 3 weeks for him to pee normal amounts but He didn't have any leakage. You all may want to talk to the vet about the leakage issue. My cats blockage was in late October.

this information is very helpful, I have printed out the food listing info and will go over that.  I will try some of the foods you mentioned.  I would like my cats to have premium food as well, they are just fussy.  I want to avoid his brother from having this problem as well. 

My cat is doing a lot better.  He wanted out of the room we had him in so we are just watching for any leakage, it seems better.

Hello,  I have been trying to get my cats to eat some of the good wet cat foods that have been posted on here, but they are just not that in to them, I try one after another. My cat that had the urinary problem is doing great.  He is eating the Royal so and his brother has no problem and is in love with the Royal so dry.  I really want to find a wet they like.  I do boil up chicken and they love the chicken water and drink up about 3 tablespoons a day and eat the chicken as a treat.  They also like gerber chicken baby food, I add about a tablespoon water to that as well.  How much water should they be getting to avoid problems.  They do drink water out of the bowl as well.  Any suggestions for that well like wet cat food would be great lol.  thanks Michelle

Here's a good article on water:  http://www.thecatsite.com/a/tips-to-increase-your-cat-s-water-intake