Urinary Blockage

Hello all,

Our cat Gatsby has been diagnosed with FLUTD. He had his first blockage 6/26/15 and his second 7/18/15 (this weekend), we brought him home yesterday 7/20/15 and he is already blocked again. I feel that the second blockage may not have been entirely resolved before bringing him home. The vet is now recommending the surgery to chop off his man parts because she is considering this his third blockage (in 3 weeks!). Our vet told us that he has the worst case of crystal formation that she's ever seen. Apparently he is just creating a large amount of crystals very quickly. We did not put him on the prescribed Hills c/d diet after the first blockage and tried to increase his wet food intake (he prefers dry). Obviously we are definitely putting him on the prescribed diet now. What we have to consider is do we go ahead with the surgery? or do we try the c/d diet first? We haven't been able to have him home long enough to really get him started on the new diet yet. The vet has given him antibiotics, fluid, and pain meds in the clinic. She has sent home pain meds for us to give him as well. Has anyone been sent home with anti-inflammatory meds to help? Could he be swollen from the catheter insertion over the weekend accelerating the blockage? We are looking for any input concerning our options and any experience people have had. We are at a loss and so worried about our boy.

How old is he? how long have you had him?

I do have a cat who has dealt with FLUTD and know how hard that is to manage, and he's also been blocked in the past, but it doesn't sound like my experience is really very comparable to yours since removing any parts was not really mentioned by my vet. My cat also didn't reblock quite as quickly as yours though at one point he had blocked 3 times in a little over a month and I remember how frustrating and scary that was too.  In your situation I am honestly not sure what I would do, but my best advice to you is to talk to your vet about your options and make sure all your questions are answered.  I would definitely listen closely to your vet's advice and probably in the end do what they recommend. I always ask my vet what they would do if it were their cat and find that is generally some of the most helpful information for me to have.

Good luck dealing with this and let us know how it goes. Again, I really do know how hard this can be to manage and deal with and my thoughts are with you.

He is 3 years old and we've had him since he was a kitten.

The vet is recommending surgery and we are leaning towards that at this point. Ideally we'd be able to get him home and on the diet but he is just blocking up so fast we don't think that's an option.

Thanks for the thoughts and advice. I think we will end up going with the vet's advice. It's very poor timing as we have a pre-planned trip coming up that will overlap with his recovery time but we'll do what we need to in order to get our boy healthy.

I pm'ed you earlier in case you didn't see it.  Prayers for you and Gatsby.

I hope your kitty is feeling better. I had a cat who blocked twice in a week also, but not a 3rd time. He hasn't needed PU surgery yet, so I can't say much on that. Was the food you were given Hills C/D or S/D? S/D is what you need right now, it works to dissolve crystals. That is usually given for about a month & then you switch over to C/D. I'd double check that 1st. 

The food isn't a 100% cure. My cat has done well on it, but he only had crystals. My dad's cat tried S/D for a month, but it didn't dissolve her stones, so she had to operate. Generally, they give you antibiotics, pain medicine & anti-spasm medicine. An anti-inflammatory would be good too. They definitely do help. I could see a large difference in my cat's demeanor when it ran out too soon. He definitely could be swollen from the catheter insertion. It's not a fun process & that is why they give antibiotics in case any bacteria got up in there.

But having him eat all wet food right now is imperative. I understand a picky cat b/c mine was addicted to dry also. But increasing the water intake with wet food & then mixing water into it will really help.