Urinary Tract blockage.... again....?

[magphoenix]

Hi there,

In January this year, my oldest feline, Lewis (15) went outdoors as usual, however when he came back he was behaving very oddly. He became very sick and was trying to go toilet, but nothing was happening for him. After a trip to the vets, they deduced he had a blocked urinary tract, and suggested changing his dry food, giving him more wet food, as well as prescribing medications.

Three days and a bill of £1500+ later, Lewis was put to sleep.

We had three cats. Lewis, Bella, who is 6, and Peanut who is 3.


Bella and Peanut are still with us.
However, today, Peanut came home after being outside and is showing all the same symptoms as Lewis! We changed food brands after what happened with Lewis, so surely it can't be that? Honestly we are so upset and frightened that another of our cats is going to be put down. The cats always have a good supply of water, too.

The thought has crossed our mind that someone somewhere nearby might be trying to hard our pets with some sort of edible.

Thing is we can't take him to the vets as we still owe them for Lewis, and haven't paid it all off.

We just don't know what to do, or why this is happening again.

Any advice/thoughts would be really really appreciated.

 

[abyeb]

Is there another vet you can take Peanut to? Urinary tract blockages are very dangerous for male cats, even if they have been neutered. What are his symptoms like when he is trying to urinate? If he is straining without producing urine, sitting in a hunched position, or yowling when he is trying to go, these are sins that he does have a blockage and needs veterinary treatment. There really is nothing you can do for him at home, but urinary blockages can cause kidney failure within 24 hours, so I urge you to take him to a vet ASAP. The obstruction will need to be surgically removed. Also, while I don't think that obstructions are related to going outside (I'll attach an article that explains the cause of urinary blockage) http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1+2142&aid=3601
You really should keep your cats inside. Outdoor cats can be infected with FeLV, FIV, FIP, heart worm, be hit by cats, get into fights with other cats (or dogs, wolves, foxes), or be poisoned or shot at. Also, you might want to consider looking in to getting pet insurance, in case of any other unexpected medical emergencies.

 

[catmomwi]

I feel your pain, believe me.  I used to do cat rescue/re-homing, but then I started to see more and more boys in the shelters I worked with who had been surrendered due to urinary issues... and changed my focus slightly and worked on finding homes for those kitties.

Due to family health issues, I got away from it for a few years.  In January of last year, our almost 6y old Maine Coon mix developed a blockage.  4am I called the ER pager for the vet.  I had to be at the hospital at 6am for my own surgery.  A friend took my son and the cat to the clinic and I got a neighbor to drop me at the hospital on their way to work.  I was home by 2pm, having already spoken to the vet from the hospital, and knew it was bad and that he felt we needed to consider P U or euthanasia.  Kitty had surgery 2 days later (after staying there with catheter and meds to stablize enough to operate), and came home 2 days after surgery because he would not eat until we got to the clinic each day to visit him.  Through donations and assistance and my own money, I had paid over half of the high bill off by that point, the vet allowed me to make payments on the rest (about $860) which took me a few months.  I also changed all the boys over to the expen$ive food recommended by the vet.  4 cats on it was costing me about $130 a month!

Just yesterday, my son's cat who will be 6 the end of the month blocked.  He was urinating at midnight (son works 2nd shift and changed the box after he got home - this cat must be first in to pee in it when he does this), zero output by noon despite a full bladder.  The previous vet was out of town, so I called a vet in a nearby town I had used years ago when actively rescuing - they had us bring the cat right in.  There was scarring and strictures in the urethra (possibly from passing crystals undetected for a while), so getting a catheter in was a challenge.  I asked if either of the 3 vet/owners of the clinic performed PU.  The 2 I had worked with in the past both do, the new partner does not.  My son told me to take charge and get his cat taken care of - so I told the vet we were prepared to have the surgery if that is what it came to.  We even went so far as to sign surgical releases while there, since we do not live in the town - so if there is an opening on the surgery schedule or the need to do it becomes emergent, there is no waiting to get it done.  Yes, it is drastic, but if this is the cat's first experience with having a catheter and it was that scarred and difficult, a second episode may not give us options - if they cannot get a catheter in at all!

I know these clinics in my area will work with owners on high emergency bills - many in this area will NOT.  It never hurts to ask.  It never hurts to be honest and up-front.  My son dealt with debilitating PTSD, anxiety and depression in his teens, and these two cats were all that could pull him from the darkest corners of his personal hell several times along the way.  To explain that to the vets seems to put into perspective for them just how important these kitties are to us.  While my son does not like that part of his past brought up, I told him that being transparent in the situation can help the vet get on the same page with us.

Not sure why our kitties had these issues and the other 2 did not (one is older female, other is litter mate to the one who blocked yesterday), but the vet is now recommending all canned diet for the boys of "any low-protein, low-ash" food their picky selves will eat.  The litter mate was given a free check and labs today to see if there are indications that he may also be harboring crystals and his results were fine.  We would like to keep it that way.  The female kitty will be finishing up the pricey prescription dry food by herself, then going to a wet diet as well (because if the boys get it and she does not, she is going to be cranky).

Call other vet clinics, call the one you were just at - there are options and choices but they won't fall into your lap.  The money is a hurdle, but with some diligence on your part it is manageable and a mountain easily climbed.  Been there, done that, climbing the mountain again.

 

[magphoenix]

Hey, thanks for your replies.

So earlier tonight we took him to the vets, they tried to drain his bladder but after two attempts he was very distressed and couldn't breathe. The vet advised us that the quality of life for Peanut wouldn't be good if he operated (£2000) and that it could reoccur. We were adamant that we would pay it somehow. Vet informed us that Peanut was in no state to have anaesthesia and the humane thing would be to euthanise him.

It was a very hard decision to make. We're just so drained. Now we only have one kitty left.

 

[cancankant]

​I am so sorry to hear about your Peanut. I had two cats that went through UTI problems and subsequently blocked. Both were males. The second time my Momo kitty blocked, we took him to our regular vet and they did a PU surgery (which I have been told is removing most of the penis - sounds horrible honestly), but it saved our cat's life. He lived for an additional 7 years and was PTS only because he got an oral cancer.

I currently have one 9 year old cat that blocked once and has not blocked every again. He would not eat the special diet food, so we switched to canned food and haven't had problem since.

However, I just adopted another male cat (4 years old) and he likely has bladder stones. I just found out today, and I am hoping that he will not block. We are going the route of the prescription food, but I had a pretty bad experience with another brand where I think the food actually caused my cat to block! Our male kitties can very easily get UTIs and other urinary problems. I love my cats, but I think I'm done with male cats once the three I have are gone.

 

[DLGJ]

We have a male cat, Benjy, who is 4 years old and who was fine for the first few years and then suddenly could not pee. Since the first occurrence we have taken him back almost every 8 weeks to have his bladder drained and to be unblocked. He is on a dry diet of Urinary care cat food, various ones, but will not eat any of the wet foods. He has 2 drinking fountains which he drinks from happily yet this morning, yet again, we had to take him as an emergency to the 'out of hours' vets. He has had his bladder drained and a half centimetre 'plug' of mucus removed. He has been on Metacam since the middle of January and also Cystophan for many months. We have now been told that he has a build up of scar tissue which might be causing discomfort and causing the blockage. My husband has a similar condition - build up of scar tissue due to a motorbike accident years ago - and know the pain it causes. HE has to self catheterise every 10 days or so. I cannot believe that undergoing surgery every 8 weeks is good for our cat - neither physically or emotionally - so we are now facing a dilemma. Do we put him through surgery again or not?

One vet bill - from the 'out of hours' vets - was £1600. The other bills have been in the region of £300 per time. There does not seem to be a crystal issue so we have no idea why the problem suddenly occurred. We love him dearly but cannot afford to pay out sums of money like that every 2 months. I am resisting the urge to tot up the total cost in vets bills over the last 2 years but know it will be a huge amount of money. A decision will need to be made later today.

Will keeping him on Metacam for ever stop the problem or just give more time between episodes? I have no idea how our other two cats will cope if we have to have him out to sleep, his sibling Frankie is so close to him they hardly spend any time apart. The older cat Galaxy loves to play with him and will miss him; as he is not as close to Frankie as to Benjy.

Our vet is going to call us later to discuss the options. Some sort of surgery, possibly, to remove the scar tissue, but that has not helped my husband as it just re-forms. It all depends on realistic prognosis and cost, sadly.

 

[grandpa2390]

We have a male cat, Benjy, who is 4 years old and who was fine for the first few years and then suddenly could not pee. Since the first occurrence we have taken him back almost every 8 weeks to have his bladder drained and to be unblocked. He is on a dry diet of Urinary care cat food, various ones, but will not eat any of the wet foods. He has 2 drinking fountains which he drinks from happily yet this morning, yet again, we had to take him as an emergency to the 'out of hours' vets. He has had his bladder drained and a half centimetre 'plug' of mucus removed. He has been on Metacam since the middle of January and also Cystophan for many months. We have now been told that he has a build up of scar tissue which might be causing discomfort and causing the blockage. My husband has a similar condition - build up of scar tissue due to a motorbike accident years ago - and know the pain it causes. HE has to self catheterise every 10 days or so. I cannot believe that undergoing surgery every 8 weeks is good for our cat - neither physically or emotionally - so we are now facing a dilemma. Do we put him through surgery again or not?

One vet bill - from the 'out of hours' vets - was £1600. The other bills have been in the region of £300 per time. There does not seem to be a crystal issue so we have no idea why the problem suddenly occurred. We love him dearly but cannot afford to pay out sums of money like that every 2 months. I am resisting the urge to tot up the total cost in vets bills over the last 2 years but know it will be a huge amount of money. A decision will need to be made later today.

Will keeping him on Metacam for ever stop the problem or just give more time between episodes? I have no idea how our other two cats will cope if we have to have him out to sleep, his sibling Frankie is so close to him they hardly spend any time apart. The older cat Galaxy loves to play with him and will miss him; as he is not as close to Frankie as to Benjy.

Our vet is going to call us later to discuss the options. Some sort of surgery, possibly, to remove the scar tissue, but that has not helped my husband as it just re-forms. It all depends on realistic prognosis and cost, sadly.

how'd it go. i'm going through Urinary blockage issues with my cat except he reblocked after 2 days.
I can't afford another operation so soon, so they tried valium, and now steroids, and the final option will be euthanasia. Hopefully the steroids will work. If he can just live long enough for me to start my new job in January why must it have happened now?

 

[rogue22912]

I just went though all this back in September and October, with my Gotham. he became blocked near the end off September, so we took him to a vet and then kept him for 5 days with a catheter which added up to just over 600 dollars, that night when I brought him home he blocked again so it was off to the emergency vet where they kept him for 3 days with a catheter again and a surgery to go into his bladder and remove all the stones and gunk that was in there, that was close to 4,000 dollars.

Then two weeks after that he blocked again and it was back to emergency vets since I had already gone to work before he blocked and I got off after all the regular vets closed, I was so thankful that they didn't charge me anything that night. They got him unblocked and sent him home with me that night with the advice to get him in somewhere in the next two days to have the P/U surgery, Which I found a place that would do it for 700 dollars and he had the surgery and he made it out fine and he is back to being a cat again and he is so lovley and cuddly now and he will play fetch with me again.

Sure I am now in credit card debt up to my eyeballs now but to see how Gothams quality of life has changed it was worth it. as a side note Gotham is 4 years old so I hope he lives a good long time now