Urinary blockage recovery

Hi There,

Hopefully someone is still monitoring this thread. My 5yr old male cat, Milo, just went through urethera unblock himself. we didn't know what was happening and waited too long but luckily not long enough that the urethra burst. No surgery was required but the vet did have to use a cathedar. This was last Wednesday. He was at the vet for a new nights... his renal level were very high... we dropped him back at the vet on Sunday because he was dribbling pee everywhere and not eating. the vet sent him home the next day, confirmed he was not blocked and prescribed a muscle relaxant, pain meds, and anti biotics. Today is now Thursday, and he is still not eating.. tries to pee all the time but only a little comes out and there a bit of blood in it.. uses his litter but has been peeing around the house as well.

We have dry and wet canned food that vet recommended .

At this point is this just normal and we should just be more diligent in force feeding him or could something else be wrong? The vet things maybe this is all mental now because of the stress Milo went through by being out of his element and at the vet for so long.

Any piece of mind would be helpful.

Thank you

Hi, and welcome to TCS I'm sorry it's not for a happier reason

You absolutely need to be looking at force feeding if he won't eat enough on his own. It can take as little as 48hrs without food for a cat to develop hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease), and you REALLY don't want to add that to his problems!

Start by trying to hand-feed him. Sometimes a little extra encouragement to start eating is all that's needed. A trick I often use is to smear a tiny bit of food on a cat's tongue - just enough to give them a taste to stimulate the desire to eat. If that and hand feeding won't work, then you'll need to look at syringe feeding.

Talk to your vet about this, but for right now I'd consider offering a little of his usual wet food, or mixing the prescription wet with the regular wet - just in case it's the food itself he's objecting to. You could also ask for a different flavour/brand of prescription food to see if that makes a difference. If he continues to reject the prescription food - even when he's feeling better - then you could discuss using a DL-methionine (the primary active ingredient in prescription urinary foods) supplement with your vet as an alternative, but this is NOT something to try without a vet's input as dosage is crucial.

The best thing you can do for him long term is to get him onto an all-wet, low carb diet, preferably with extra water added to each meal. This will naturally keep his urine at the right ph, as well as keeping him well hydrated. Hydration and urine acidity level are crucial, as the more dilute the urine, the lower the chances of crystals forming in the first place, and urine of the right acidity will in itself discourage new crystals from forming.

The peeing around the house is almost certainly stress and pain related. Try adding some more boxes in different places around the house, to make it easier for him to get to the box in time. I'd always far rather scoop a box than clean the floor There may also be a little litterbox aversion at this stage - when cats have urinary problems, they'll often associated the location (rather than the act of peeing) with the pain, and so will go elsewhere in the hopes that the pain will stop. Changing the experience by a location change can help break that cycle.

I really hope Milo feels better soon :cross:
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ALso, if he doesn't use any of the new litter boxes, you might try putting down "puppy pads" in place of your old litter boxes for awhile, and see if he uses them.  He probably DOES associate those boxes with extreme pain.  It may take some time to bring him back to using them.  You may need to get some Cat Attract litter to use in them, ONCE he's back on track with his urination and not just dribbling

for your little guy