Need help understanding urinary issues

[Jzicke]

Hello to all of you lovelies,

I have a 2.5 year old male cat that is experiencing a urinary block of some kind. We rushed him to the emergency vet and an ultrasound revealed no crystals. He did have slightly elevated phosphorus levels, but nothing too bad. He was also a little dehydrated, but again, not too bad and they did not inject fluids.

We were given some medicine and some urinary food, which of course he wants nothing to do with. Since being home, he has tried to urinate a couple times, but no luck.

I'm not sure what the issue is, as I'm more familiar with crystals causing the block. I'm also not sure what I should do as we've already been to the emergency vet and that didn't appear to do much.

I was not told what the possible issue is, just to do the medicine and if he doesn't pee on his own by tomorrow to bring him back in for a catheter and monitoring.

Obviously I'm following what the vet said, but I was hoping to try and get some more information and a better understanding of what is going on. Anyone familiar with this scenario? Anything I can do? Is the ER vet a bad vet and I should take him somewhere else?

The poor guy just seems to be in pain, and my husband is losing his mind while we keep an eye on him. I'm completely in the dark on this, so anything at all would really help.

Thank you in advance

 

[BlackCatOp]

Has he passed any urine?? If no urine has been passed that’s typically a medical emergency. Did they mention his potassium level?? And what meds where prescribed?

But to answer your question.
Male cats can become block by crystals, mucus, or cells. So just because there was not any crystals does not mean he’s not blocked. Mucus and cells are typically the result of inflammation of the bladder (cystitis) where inflammatory cells can obstruct the urethra.

 

[Jzicke]

Has he passed any urine?? If no urine has been passed that’s typically a medical emergency. Did they mention his potassium level?? And what meds where prescribed?

But to answer your question.
Male cats can become block by crystals, mucus, or cells. So just because there was not any crystals does not mean he’s not blocked. Mucus and cells are typically the result of inflammation of the bladder (cystitis) where inflammatory cells can obstruct the urethra.

Things have changed since I posted. He's actually bleeding from his urethra a bit, and there is some urine mixed in, but he is not peeing on his own, just kind of leaking when he's laid down.

I called a bunch of ER vets, no one will take him as he is not critical.

His meds are: buprenorphine and prazosin suspension. Told they were a pain reliever and an antispasmodic.

The previous ER vet did manage to squeeze some urine out when he was sedated, so he didn't have a total blockage before, but was still unable to urinate.

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. This is a medical emergency if he is only leaking a small amount of bloody urine. Call the emergency vet and tell them you have a blocked cat. That is an emergency as it is life threatening. The longer he is blocked the more damage to the kidneys.

If he is urinating, but only small amounts, then he isn’t blocked but at high risk to become blocked.

You can’t see crystals on a radiograph. Only a urinalysis. He can have what we call sludge, a mix of crystal type debri mixed with mucus etc that can block and unblock in the urethra.


Any of this is very painful and I hope they prescribed you pain medication for him. If they did and it’s buprenex, great! If they prescribed Metacam, I wouldn’t use it.

He should also have an antispasmodic ( a cat med) for urethral spasms.

He should see a vet tonight, then in the morning get him established with hopefully a cat only vet that understands cats better.

 

[silent meowlook]

Just saw what your meds are for him. Have you been giving them? How often are you giving the buprenex?

A blocked cat is extremely critical, I can’t believe they would say he isn’t.

 

[BlackCatOp]

I hope you found a place to take your boy. Its crazy to think ERs are telling people not to come. FWIW, if you just show up at an ER vet they have to see you.

Sending wishes for a speedy recovery

 

[Jzicke]

I hope you found a place to take your boy. Its crazy to think ERs are telling people not to come. FWIW, if you just show up at an ER vet they have to see you.

Sending wishes for a speedy recovery

No, they don't have to see us, unfortunately. Most of them still have closed lobbies so you have to call when you arrive. They all warned that we could show up, but if not deemed critical, and he doesn't look critical, just grumpy and in a bit or pain, we'd be stuck waiting in the parking lot for hours. A lot warned they were looking at 14 hour waits last night.
It's almost 6am here, we were going to start calling around again here soon since it's morning and more 'normal' hours to see what we can do. I do have an appointment with my regular vet at 2:20pm, if all else fails. Just would really like to avoid having him wait longer than necessary.

 

[Jzicke]

We just got to another ER vet willing to see him. Hopefully they'll be able to do something for him.

 

[fionasmom]

Please let us know what happens. Definitely agree this was an emergency.

 

[Jzicke]

He ended up having a stone stuck right at the end of his urethra. The vet managed to dissolve it very quickly and got him urinating. The problem now is that there is a lot of blood in his urine, so he's under observation to make sure he's fine. The plan for right now is 24 hours, but possibly up to 48 if he isn't healing as expected. The hope is the stone made some minor cuts on the way out and it will sort itself out. They're taking more blood labs to be safe, but probably won't hear back on that until tomorrow.

He should be fine. Now it is just a matter of how long they want him on IV fluids and antibiotics where they can keep an eye on him.

 

[fionasmom]

Fiona had surgery to remove bladder stones after a number of infections; female cats are not at as great a risk for blockages. Get as much information as you can about his condition and prognosis.