Hi all! My 8-yr old boy Shelby became blocked at the beginning of September. I brought him to the ER vet, he was catheterized for 24 hours, I brought him home, and after about a week he was back to normal. The blockage wasn't related to any crystals, rather it was a mucous plug. Fast forward to almost 2 months later, last Thurs. I saw him straining up against a wall. When I went to pick him up, he cried out, so I immediately rushed him back to the ER vet. They said he was blocked again, and catheterized him. I had them do a full ultrasound, in which they found a ton of "sand" in his bladder, but the urine itself was crystal free. A culture they took grew nothing, so it's not bacterial. I brought him home with Prazocin (sp) to relax the urethra, Buprenex for the pain, and some samples of both Hill's CD, Hills CD stress, and Royal Canin SO food. My concern is I brought him home on Saturday...it is now Wed. and he is still constantly straining in the litter box, leaving behind little drips and drops each time, but no solid stream pees. I'm unsure whether this is residual irritation of the urethra from the catheter, or he's going to block again. For those who have been through this, how long did it take for your kitty to return to "normal"? I brought him to his regular vet for a re-check the other day, and she upped the Prazocin (sp), saying it's "the key" to keeping him from re-blocking. I just can't bear to see him in this much pain. When he's in the box peeing his little drops, he growls sometimes. The vet showed me how to look at his penis to check its color (pink is good, purplish blue means blockage), and so far it's pink, but he's obviously struggling. Is it time to consider the PU surgery, or do I give him a little more time to recover from the catheter?