My Experience With Blockages and PU Surgery

[ursulalynn]

Visited him after work today and feeling optimistic. His belly was very bruised but it looked far less bad than I had expected.
He was full of beans and acting a purring, goofy maniac - so happy to see him so happy!
He HATES his E collar so, so much though.
They said he's right where he ought to be at this point.
He will be at the vet a while longer. I'd rather him be there where he's being watched than at my house all alone while I am at work!
When he does get home, I imagine I'll have to keep him seperate from his brother for a while? I know they both will hate it - they are joined at the hip - but it seems from other experiences I've read here that the recovery time for this surgery is quite long....

 

[ursulalynn]

Also, is there clumping litter that isn't dusty clay? Right now the boys use Good Mews pellets, but I imagine something that tells me how much he's peeing by clumping will be much better during his recovery!

 

[momofmaxwell]

Hi Ursulalynn.

I'm sure you miss your boy very much.I do have a group that I belong to that deals with all flutd symptoms etc.They do use some natural products that you'll never hear of from a vet.Soothing to the urethra etc.Also diets and about 35 yrs of experience.Super compassionate group.Here is there link if you need them or want to ask about your other babe.Hugs.C. That with Columbine suggestions I think your boy will have a speedy recovery. Being blocked is not a funny situation at all.Lethal without intervention.This is a very high volume site.So many kitties having it.

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FLUTD/info

 

[Columbine]

I don't think you'll need to worry too much about keeping him separate from hus brother once the stitches are out. If in doubt, ask the vet for advice.

There are low dust clumping litters out there, and there are also alternatives to clay-based clumping litter. I've never tried any of them though, so I can't make any suggestions.
http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/cat-litter-reviews[article="22318"][/article][article="31189"][/article]
[thread="248958"][/thread]

 

[ursulalynn]

He's home and healing!
Quite a bit of blood when he urinates but the vet advised that's to be expected for a few more days.
Mostly napping and purring. Even getting used to the cone, I think!
Finger crossed!

 

[biko]

Thank you so much for sharing your story.  It is 5 years since your post and our Kitty Roo has beein blocked 4 times since April, It's October.  He is home with us tonight with a catheter stitched in and we go to the surgeon tomorrow to consult about the surgery so he won't have another catheter  Holy Cow, this is s difficult.  I wonder how your boy is doing now.  I hope we make the right decision.  Thanks again.  All the best to you.

 

[ursulalynn]

B biko
Oh no! I'm sorry! Are you considering the PU surgery?
It's been about two weeks since my boy had his. He is finally healed up and back to his old shenanigans, but it was a long road. I am happy that I had the surgery done for him.
Although he will be more prone to get urinary tract infections, as long as I keep him on his special diet he won't block again. Considering the hours that my boyfriend and I work, he is home alone a lot, and I can't bear the thought of him having a blockage when no one was home to take him to the hospital!
It was a long recovery, and my boy is terrible with cones, so it was pretty stressful. I made the bathroom his recovery room and stayed the night with him in there the first couple nights, in a sleeping bag.
His new diet isn't terribly complicated. A special wet food for his condition. I mix it with a little water and plain chicken stock to encourage him to drink more water.
Every situation is different, but my boy seems much more comfortable now.
Let is know what you decide and how your fella does!!! I am here if you need anything.
Good luck!

 

[crazykittymama]

Glad your kitty is doing well, ursulalynn. My Baxter just had the same situation. He's 2 and blocked for the first time last week but there were zero stones, zero crystals zero bacteria...just a really narrow urethra and lots of mucous plugging it up. He was cathed and flushed but immediately reblocked so we decided to move forward with the surgery because there was no doubt this would happen again and they already had a tougher time cathing him the second time around and we were worried about too much scarring. 

I was quite nervous, never having been through a serious surgery with any of my babies (plenty of other medical issues before, but not this one). He came home the day after surgery a week ago today and I've had a few nervous moments but he's doing great. 

For others considering this or looking ahead to it, I'll share the concerns I've had and how we've handled them. He was sent home with clavamox and it gave him terrible diarrhea. We switched to baytril and still, diarrhea. So, we put him on metronidazole and after a day on that, he couldn't poop at all. Discontinued that. Constipation is common after diarrhea and is normal after surgery, so not a big worry there. We took him off all antibiotics since his cultures were all negative and I only apply neosporin to the surgical site. 

He had been peeing only once a day, but a good amount and I was told that was fine. But then he stopped peeing and went all yesterday and most of the day before without peeing. After more than 24 hours, I got really worried. My vet said that he'd be fine over night and that if he hadn't peed within 48 hours of his last pee, she needed to see him. At no time was he ever trying to go or straining, he was just making zero effort to visit the box. I was prepared to take him in this morning but he finally peed AND pooped at about 5:30AM and then peed again about 9AM. He's been eating a lot of a/d, which has helped move things along. But his intake the day before had been down, which likely resulted in him not having to pee yet. 

So now that he's peeing and pooping again, things seem to be going fine. He gets his stitches out next Thursday and I'm staying in a guest room with him until then to closely watch over him. I crate him at night with the cone but during the day, I let him have as much off cone time as possible and watch over him VERY CLOSELY to ensure he doesn't touch the incision site. He's been pretty good and he's even letting me get a few hours of sleep at night. I wake up a few time though because he doesn't want to use the box in his crate and probably having the cone on doesn't help either so I usually let him out halfway through the night to see if he needs to eat or use the box. 

I think we're through the worst of it and he's healing really well - his incision site looks fantastic and he had a REALLY GREAT surgeon so I'm thankful for that. If we can make it through these last six days, he should hopefully be released back to having full run of the house and his little sister can't wait because she misses him like crazy. They paw each other under the door and it's so sweet and sad at the same time. 

Most vets/surgeons have a "3 time rule" where they'll only do a PU after 3 blockages (at least here in the US) and if the blockage is in any way diet related, then I agree with that rule but in my case, it was solely a matter of his anatomy and just idiopathic cystitis that I caught SUPER early and it couldn't be attributed to stress or anything that we could change externally. So, for us the surgery was the only thing that made sense to prevent further issues. I'm still switching him to a urinary diet just for best practice because PU kitties do have I believe a 25% higher risk for UTIs and while that's just a trip to the vet and not the ER, I'd still like to avoid it and take as many precautions as possible. I'm also putting him on cosequin. 

I've heard both horror stories and rousing success stories about this surgery and I think a lot depends on the quality of care and just whether or not complications arise and the genesis of the problem. I do realize and stress the importance of after care and if you cannot keep a close eye at ALL TIMES then he needs to be wearing the cone because they can have those sutures ripped out in less than three minutes and that's not something anyone wants.

 

[lulu4ever]

Here is Lulu's story. Lulu is around 4 years old, I adopted him when he was around 2 from Petsmart. He is really the sweetest most gentle cat even for his large size. Around August of this year, I noticed Lulu going in and out of the litterbox. He was straining quite a bit. I took him to the vet. I was given clavomox and treated for a bacterial infection. At home I have a pH tester and tested a sample of his urine and noticed his pH was really elevated (7.8). The clavomox was not helping but the vet assured me he wasn't blocked and he didn't observe any crystals. Lulu's symptoms do not improve and I take him back to the vet multiple times. The vet thought I was crazy. He switched the antibiotic to marobofloxcin. This was on the Thursday before Labor day weekend. During this time I managed what Lulu ate, and made sure he cut back on the dry kibble. He had plenty of water and I would feed him canned food multiple times a day.  After the switch to marbofloxcin, I noticed he was getting worse. I tried calling my vet on Saturday Sept. 5th and they do not bother to call me back. Lulu's condition was getting worse. I realized that at 3 pm that day was the last time he managed to get some urine out. I couldn't sleep all night as I waited for a vet to open on Sunday.

I took Lulu to a new vet Sunday Sept. 6th at 6 am in the morning. The doctor felt his bladder and said it was small. He said he wasn't even sure if he was blocked or had any type of obstruction. He decided it would be best to try to run a catheter and to observe him. We agreed and he said he would call later. Somehow my phone wasn't able to receive his call that day, so I called first thing on Labor day morning. The doctor told me, that Lulu was in fact blocked yesterday. That it was extremely difficult to get the catheter in but he was able to get it in. However, he said Lulu had already clogged the catheter with so many crystals. The first vet told me their weren't any crystals. They were going to have to re-catheter him and wait 48 hours to pull it out. For the next 48 hours he didn't clog the catheter and we waited for them to pull it out and observe him for 24 hours. They remove the catheter but he's unable to urinate on his own. On Thursday morning they tell me they re-cath him and to consider the PU surgery.

I decide to opt and have the surgery but the board certified surgeon only comes into the office on Thursday's, so Lulu will have to wait until next Thursday in the hospital. I visit him as much as I can, but this vet office is about 25 miles away. They call me on Monday to let me know he's scheduled for the surgery Sept. 17th but he pulled out the catheter on his own. They won't re-cath him because he's able to go a little on his own. Financially it is draining, but I know the surgery is to save his life. He is truly my best friend. The surgery cost $2000.

On Thursday the surgeon calls me to let me know everything went well and the surgery is really successful in most cases. Lulu finally gets discharged 11 days after being admitted and my vet bill was $4000. Half for the PU surgery and the rest on medical care. The surgery site looks very swollen, bruised and red, but he is in good spirits. He has a soft cone that he wears to protect the site from trauma and doesn't really mind wearing it. On Saturday the surgery site looks almost 100% better, there is no redness and swelling. I was completely amazed how happy and quick of a recovery he seems to be having. He is eating, playing, hopping around and is able to urinate large amounts.

This goes well up until about the 4th day after he is released. I realize his urine puddles in the litter box are getting smaller and smaller. I call the vet back and take him in. The vet suggested we try orboflaxcin cause he may have a bladder infection. I give him a course for about 12 days, and there really was no improvement. I call and speak to my vet and we decide to get a urine culture done on October 12th . Five days later, the results are in and there are no bacterial infections. My vet decides that maybe some bacteria are hard to culture and to try clavomox on Oct. 19th. If that doesn't improve he suggest we try steroids. I was a little hesitant to pick up the clavomox right away, since I was trying natural remedies like cranberries and making his canned food really soupy. Nothing seemed to be improving, so I picked up the clavomox on Nov. 2nd. I started right away giving it to him and observed for any improvements. He didn't improve.

He started dribbling urine, and would go in and out of the litter box constantly. Those signs to me pointed that he was having another obstruction. I called the  vet Nov. 4th to make an appointment. They sounded extremely worried. I take him to the first available appointment. The doctor he always see's was off yesterday so we met with a new doctor. He started palpating his bladder and said his bladder was full and he could not express it and that he may potentially be blocked even after having the surgery. There were two options, try to catheterize him or put him down. They said he could potentially have stricture in the urethra and the Dr. would not be able to tell if its a crystal blockage or stricture unless he catheterized him. I opted to go for the catheter and said goodbye to my big guy. The vet was going to call me in a few hours for an update.

About an hour later I receive a call from the vet. It is in fact stricture formation and that he had bad news. He wasn't able to pass the catheter and the only other option is for him to be transferred to an emergency clinic for exploratory surgery or he was to be put down. He said, its not just one stricture that had formed, but Lulu's entire urethal passage was all scar tissue. These months have been draining. I couldn't sleep, focus or do anything without always monitoring Lulu and his urine output. I felt so bad for him, that hes been through so much. I tried my best for him, I did everything I could. I decided to put him to sleep and I did so last night. I got to say goodbye to him and hold him  while he was put down.

I do recommend the surgery to people even though my outcome was no successful. I feel a big part of me is missing, and I'm in shock but I know he is doing so much better now. I'll always love you big guy. Mommy misses you.

 

[frankie-boy]

The above post resonates with me so much. It is basically the exact situation that has led me to take the decision to put my beloved Frankie to rest. He had 3 blockages over approximately 12 months. He was also diagnosed with cystitis. The blockages occurred despite being on a premium wet food diet from Lilys Kitchen.

We opted for the PU surgery and it cost about £2500. It went well, but after a week or two of being home, he began to dribble urine. Straining, and clearly in discomfort. He would do it all around the house(which was the least of my worries) but he would also constantly go to the tray and try to pass urine, only being able to do very small amounts at a time. The vet advised a revision surgery which we went through with. He came home, like his old self. Very happy and active, even managing to kill a poor little sparrow in our garden!

But again, after a week and a half, he began to dribble urine. We tried many medicines to reduce inflammation during the recovery period, and we also tried steroids to reduce the chances of stricture, but it didn't help. The dribble was due to stricture formation and it came to the point where it was clear he was in alot of discomfort. He wasn't his old self. Although he had an appetite, i found him constantly in and out of the litter box, sometimes making high pitched noises when trying to urinate and quite often hiding away in our garage.

I want everyone to know that all of us here want the best for our cats. Making the decision to put your cat to sleep is one of the hardest things you'll ever do but we do it for them. So they can have a dignified end to their life.

I don't know really what i'm saying. Sorry. I just wanted to share my story.

 

[momofklaus]

Hi Everyone!

First i just want to thank all of you for sharing your stories.  They have brought me knowledge and some peace with what's currently going on with my cat Klaus.

The day after Thanksgiving, we came home to a blocked cat.  We took Klaus in to the 24 hour vet hospital where they determined they were going to keep him over night and insert a catheter to hopefully unblock him and send him home.  When they removed the catheter, he re-blocked and they did it again.  We were hoping and praying he would unblock after this attempt, but he didn't.  The next morning he went in for PU surgery.

His recovery process has been very shaky.  They had to keep him 5 days after the surgery because his vitals were not up to standard to let him come home.  He had low blood pressure and wasn't eating/drinking.  He was however able to produce a healthy stream of urine.  With some love and prayers, his vitals became normal and he was sent home.

We have had him home for the past week (so happy).  The recovery process at home has been emotionally challenging and I'm left full of questions.  The second day after he came home and we stopped the pain meds, he started eating and drinking like a champ (he probably was starving!).  Now we are on to the fifth day and he isn't eating and drinking as much and he is soooo sleepy.  The cat sleeps long and hard.  He is still producing urine and going at least once a day.  I don't know if I'm being too paranoid or if this is something to worry about?  He's been through hell so I don't want to be too forceful or hard on him to eat/drink.

Any advise?  Any similar stories?

Thanks so much!!!

-Alexa (aka Klaus's mom)

 

[frankie-boy]

 
Hi Everyone!

First i just want to thank all of you for sharing your stories.  They have brought me knowledge and some peace with what's currently going on with my cat Klaus.

The day after Thanksgiving, we came home to a blocked cat.  We took Klaus in to the 24 hour vet hospital where they determined they were going to keep him over night and insert a catheter to hopefully unblock him and send him home.  When they removed the catheter, he re-blocked and they did it again.  We were hoping and praying he would unblock after this attempt, but he didn't.  The next morning he went in for PU surgery.

His recovery process has been very shaky.  They had to keep him 5 days after the surgery because his vitals were not up to standard to let him come home.  He had low blood pressure and wasn't eating/drinking.  He was however able to produce a healthy stream of urine.  With some love and prayers, his vitals became normal and he was sent home.

We have had him home for the past week (so happy).  The recovery process at home has been emotionally challenging and I'm left full of questions.  The second day after he came home and we stopped the pain meds, he started eating and drinking like a champ (he probably was starving!).  Now we are on to the fifth day and he isn't eating and drinking as much and he is soooo sleepy.  The cat sleeps long and hard.  He is still producing urine and going at least once a day.  I don't know if I'm being too paranoid or if this is something to worry about?  He's been through hell so I don't want to be too forceful or hard on him to eat/drink.

Any advise?  Any similar stories?

Thanks so much!!!

-Alexa (aka Klaus's mom)

Hi,

First, it sounds to me like you have stopped the meds way to soon after a PU surgery. He is likely to be very sore for quite a while following the surgery, and i would absolutely double check with the vet to make sure you should take him off whatever pain meds/anti inflammatory he is on!

Don't worry about him being lethargic. Frankie was like this for at least 5-6 days before he got back to normal. During that time he didn't eat very much by himself and we had to encourage him loads by putting a couple of treats in his food! 

Is he on a wet food diet?

 

[momofklaus]

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Hi @frankie-boy ,

We got Klaus home on December 5^th and he was on Buprenorphine (pain meds) for 3 days.  During these three days Klaus would not eat so we were stuck syringe feeding him wet SO food twice a day.  I mixed in some water and a little toddler pedilite to hopefully have him stay hydrated since he wasn’t getting any fluids. 

When we went for a check up that following Monday, the vet advised us to stop the Buprenorphine and syringe feedings to see if that might help with his appetite and sure enough it did.  He was eating and drinking like a champ on his own for about 2-3 days.  Now he is sleepy all the time and not eating as much.

For his diet, the vet advised us on our discharge papers to continue his normal diet which is dry kibble (Natural Balance).  I put both his dry and some wet SO food in front of him and he always goes for the dry food.  The vets concern is that he just needs to eat.  They don’t like us doing forced syringe feedings.  Reading more about the recovery online, it seems everyone has their cats on wet food.  So I don’t know if this is right.  Like I said I am full of questions and doubt.  Just trying my best to get my kitty through this recovery successfully.  Thanks for any advise and tips you may have. 

PS: I just called my vet and left a message.  Hoping to hear from him soon maybe with some advice.

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[frankie-boy]

Hi,

From the little research i have done, the Bupernorphine is quite a strong sedative which probably explains why he wasn't eating, he was probably very very sleepy!

Your vets apprehension about syringe feeding is justified, but sometimes it is necessary if there is no other way!

You are right, as long he is eating something, that's the main thing, be it dry or wet, but in the long term, once your kitty overcomes this phase, you should look at  moving over to a primarily wet food diet. The moisture content of dry food is very low, and can contribute to blockages and poor urinary tract health in general.

Ask your vet whether he needs to be on an anti inflammatory, or alternative pain med when you get the chance, and don't be hesitant of getting the opinion of a second vet if you think you need one.

Remember, vets are used to being asked questions and you have every right to.

How much has he eaten today?

p.s I am not a vet and i'm only speaking from experience as a cat owner.

 

[momofklaus]

@frankie-boy  We just syringe fed him about 35 CC of wet food.  I mixed in some water and pedialyte to help with hydration.  I also called the vet this morning and he said to watch him today and call him tonight with an update.  With food in his stomach, he seems to have more energy.  He just had a little bit of fun with his scratching post. I'm hoping the syringe feeding will stimulate his appetite.  *fingers crossed*.  The positives from all this is his incision looks good (no redness, discharge, or swelling).  When he does pee, it is good amounts and no blood is present.

When i call tonight i will ask them about an anti-inflammatory.  Maybe one that isn't as strong as Bupernorphine.  Klaus has an appointment with the surgeon on Wednesday morning so I am hoping we can get by these next few days.  This has been such a stressful experience.  I have been so stressed out the past 2 weeks.  My in-laws are thankfully coming over today so I can get some christmas shopping done and clean the house.  

I'll keep you updated with any changes.  Thank you for replying to me .  It brings comfort speaking with someone who has gone through this too.  I am sorry your Frankie had complications from the surgery.  That must have been such a hard decision to put him down.  

  We were faced with putting Klaus down because I couldn't afford the surgery.  Thankfully one of the vets caring for Klaus made an anonymous donation and covered a large portion of it, so Klaus and I got really lucky.  

 

[frankie-boy]

 
@frankie-boy  We just syringe fed him about 35 CC of wet food.  I mixed in some water and pedialyte to help with hydration.  I also called the vet this morning and he said to watch him today and call him tonight with an update.  With food in his stomach, he seems to have more energy.  He just had a little bit of fun with his scratching post. I'm hoping the syringe feeding will stimulate his appetite.  *fingers crossed*.  The positives from all this is his incision looks good (no redness, discharge, or swelling).  When he does pee, it is good amounts and no blood is present.

When i call tonight i will ask them about an anti-inflammatory.  Maybe one that isn't as strong as Bupernorphine.  Klaus has an appointment with the surgeon on Wednesday morning so I am hoping we can get by these next few days.  This has been such a stressful experience.  I have been so stressed out the past 2 weeks.  My in-laws are thankfully coming over today so I can get some christmas shopping done and clean the house.  

I'll keep you updated with any changes.  Thank you for replying to me .  It brings comfort speaking with someone who has gone through this too.  I am sorry your Frankie had complications from the surgery.  That must have been such a hard decision to put him down.  

  We were faced with putting Klaus down because I couldn't afford the surgery.  Thankfully one of the vets caring for Klaus made an anonymous donation and covered a large portion of it, so Klaus and I got really lucky.  

WOW!

That is amazing regarding the donation! So cool! I'm glad you managed to give your cat hope with the surgery!

Also, glad to hear the surgery site is looking good! This is a good sign! 

I know! It is super stressful...something that most non pet owners will never understand.

Glad to hear he's managed to get some food in him and looks a little more alert..

Just out of curiosity, is it a struggle to get him taking food from a syringe?  

 

[frankie-boy]

Also, 

Just want to stress, don't worry too much if he is not eating as much as he used to before the surgery..it will take some time to get into the swing of things. Just be patient and he'll come around.

Look forward to hearing how it goes.

Once a day urine is fine as long as it's streaming out and not dripping in tiny drops.

 

[momofklaus]

Syringe feeding is a struggle.  I can usually only get about 30-35CC down in one sitting.  We wrap him up in a kitty burrito and get as much food in him as we can without him totally freaking out.  I brush him afterwards which helps calm him down.  He LOVES being brushed.

Currently, he is sleeping peacefully.  In another forum I am posting to, someone recommended Cerenia which helps with nausea.  I am going to ask the vet about it tonight to see if he will prescribe some.  I'll let you know how it goes!  :-)  He probably is feeling nauseous with the antibiotic.

 

[momofklaus]

After researching and thinking, I am fairly convinced it is the amoxicillin causing his loss of appetite (this is a side effect, too).  I really can't think of anything else that could be causing it.  It is the only medication he is currently taking.  I called the vet and waiting for a call back.  I will ask him if there is a anti-nausea medication Klaus can take while he is on amoxicillin.  He has about a week left of the amoxicillin.

The time line of his loss of appetite makes sense as well.  While he was on both amoxicillin and the pain meds, he wasn't eating/drinking on his own.  We were syringe feeding him twice daily with the amoxicillin.  After we stopped the pain meds and syringe feeding, he was doing well for a few days eating and drinking on his own.  The last few days he has lost his appetite and it is probably because we aren't syringe feeding with the amoxicillin.  I usually do the syringe feeding and throw the amoxicillin in right after to get it in his system with food.  With him eating on his own, his timing may be off and the amoxicillin is probably upsetting his little tummy.  I hope this makes since... It makes sense in my brain. LOL.

I am hoping the vet can help us out by giving us an anti-nausea medication or something that will help gain his appetite back.  As of right now, we have begun the syringe feeding again (ughhh).  It is so hard!  Today he does have a little more energy and acting like himself.  

 

[momofklaus]

Hi Everyone!

So last night wasn't a good night.  I took Klaus in to the vet because he still hasn't been eating and drinking and became very weak.  They pumped him with some fluids, gave him an injectable Cerenia, and ran a small blood panel along with a liver panel.  Good news is his blood work came back good.  Bad news is his liver is now inflamed and the doctors are very concerned.  They want to get a feeding tube installed and hospitalize him.

If it were a perfect world, I would say absolutely!  Get the feeding tube installed and watch him to make sure he's okay!  Unfortunately, my fiancé and I are strapped financially.  We have already spent close to $6,000 in the last two weeks alone for his hospitalization and PU surgery.  Last night was $400 alone.  I don't know if this is TMI, but I only have $20 in the bank right now after last night.  We are seriously financially drained.

He isn't doing any better this morning.  We went ahead and syringe fed him and gave him his antibiotic.  I took today off work because I am an emotional wreck.  The last two weeks are really catching up to me.  We have done everything in our power to give Klaus a good chance, but things keep going wrong.  We can't catch a break!  

I feel so horrible... I don't know what more we can do.  The vet feels so bad and said this is not typical and usually cats don't have these types of issues with this surgery.

I just wanted to thank everyone for their help and guidance.  We will probably be going in the next couple hours.  Please say a prayer to bring us comfort and maybe a glimmer of hope that we don't have to go through with putting him down.  

-Alexa