Blocked Tom - Please Share a Message of Hope

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Zuni Monster

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Is the vet currently telling you to take him home and let him use his own litter box the regular vet you mentioned above? I have to be honest, the current treating vet sounds like she is in way over her head. Is there a more experienced vet at that clinic? And I agree re your assessment of the original vet. At the very least, imo, a wellness exam should always include a urinalysis, especially if the cat was peeing in the laundry basket. These behavioral changes are the only way they can “talk” to us to let us know something is wrong, i would change vets in a heartbeat if that is a possibility. I know you’re upset, and I am so sorry about the way this is going, If there is an emergency vet anywhere nearby, that’s where I would be taking him if he were mine. They are used to dire situations, this vet is not. He may still require surgery, but I don’t know that I would want her to do it. Praying for you and your boy.
I definitely am going to change my regular vet. I think she very much mishandled it when we brought the urine issues to her attention. The emergency vet thought the same, she said, "It's her job to capture his urine when you have him at the clinic." I was skeptical about taking him home, but it actually worked. Her thinking was the stress built up at the clinic on Tuesday and contributed to him getting blocked. What they did is they waited until I got to the clinic, removed his catheter and I put him in dog crate with his litter box and he actually peed in it on the way home.
 

fionasmom

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This is great news and I am so glad that it worked! Hopefully he is on the road to recovery. The first vet never should have ignored the fact that he was peeing in other places. When people post that here as a behavioral questions, they are usually advised to take the cat to the vet for a physical check first of all.
 
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Zuni Monster

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I wanted to provide an update. Simba's been through 48 hours without getting re-blocked. He's definitely urinating, but smaller amounts at a time. I'm wondering if that's because of the urethra being irritated from the catheter. We've got him on Prazosin and Gabapentin and he seems comfortable. He's not a huge fan of his food, Royal Canin SO, just eats a little at a time, but hoping that will change. So far, so good, just glad he's not re-blocked and hoping that he's turned a corner.
 

verna davies

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Thanks for the update, if he's peeing albeit a small amount then he's not blocked. Hopefully the amount will increase in the next day or so.
 

Uncled

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Hang in there! I have two male cats that have only eaten canned food since they were kittens, I too didn't know about kibble and urinary blockage in male cats until I found a web site explaining the merits of a wet food diet.
 

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Mine hated that food. He would not eat it. Wonder if there is a topper you can use on/in the food to make it more enticing? I use PureBites freeze-dried chicken, and Orijen freeze-dried treats. Maybe someone else will be able to suggest some toppers the’ve used for their kitties with crystals. I’m so glad he’s urinating, even if small amounts. Sweet little boy has really been through it and so has his mom.
 
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Zuni Monster

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Mine hated that food. He would not eat it. Wonder if there is a topper you can use on/in the food to make it more enticing? I use PureBites freeze-dried chicken, and Orijen freeze-dried treats. Maybe someone else will be able to suggest some toppers the’ve used for their kitties with crystals. I’m so glad he’s urinating, even if small amounts. Sweet little boy has really been through it and so has his mom.
Simba has always loved chicken. We bought some canned chicken, I wonder if it would be ok to mix that in. He's peeing all right, and I'm hoping that's a good sign -- we've now gotten through 48 hours which is great. I feel like if we could get through the next week, I'd feel a bit more optimistic.
 

maggiemay

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Simba has always loved chicken. We bought some canned chicken, I wonder if it would be ok to mix that in. He's peeing all right, and I'm hoping that's a good sign -- we've now gotten through 48 hours which is great. I feel like if we could get through the next week, I'd feel a bit more optimistic.
Look at the ingredients on the canned chicken, sometimes canned meats have a high sodium content. I know all too well there are those times you will try pretty much anything to get a cat to eat. Some chicken you cook yourself is normally another option, boil a few drumsticks or a chicken breast until tender, no salt or other seasoning, save the broth for a treat or to mix with the SO. Having no experience with crystals, I can’t advise further than that. Hopefully a member with experience with a crystal kitty will be along. But great news that he is no longer blocked.
 

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All my life I've had female cats. Then four years ago, an 8-week old male brown tabby kitten caught my eye. He turned into a very big tom cat, who is the sweetest cat ever. My husband calls Simba, Mr. Snuggles. Then last Saturday night, he just seemed off, not his usual affectionate self. Sunday morning, I found him hiding in the guest room, yowling in pain. I knew something was terribly wrong when he went to the litter box and nothing came out.

We rushed him to vet where we were informed he was "blocked." Having never had a male cat, I knew nothing about this. The vet put a catheter, explained to me what was going on, kept him for two nights. She called me Tuesday morning, said blood tests and urine looked great, he's ready to go home, just need to make sure he pees on his own. I get a call five hours later -- he can't go. Vet says we'll give it five more hours, but then he'll need to put catheter back in.

Of course, all this time, I've now been reading about blocked cats and how devastating FLUD can be. We decided to take him to the best of best, Colorado State research and teaching animal hospital. He's been there three nights. He's doing ok, but the kidney values got jacked up on Tuesday when he couldn't go and she said they are ever so slowly coming down. Urinalysis and x-rays show struvite crystals, no stones of any kind. All other blood tests are normal, and they are hoping if kidney values are normal, we can bring him home tomorrow. Rather than waiting for him to pee there, vet says she wants us to pick him up right after they remove the catheter. She's hoping bringing him home to familiar environment will help him to pee. But if he doesn't pee within 12 hours, it's back to the vet again.

I feel so discouraged. One, why doesn't anyone tell you about this when you adopt a male kitten? We've been giving him the same dry food (although very high quality) our female cat eats. I never knew this could happen. Two, we took him for a check-up three weeks ago, and mentioned he'd peed in the laundry basket a few times. We honestly thought it was a behavioral issue. The vet didn't say anything about crystals or him potentially getting blocked. She casually said we should try to get a sample of his urine and bring it in when we got a chance.

I feel like I've read nothing but sad stories from cat owners who've had to put their cats down from this. I need some sort of message of hope from people who've had cats who managed to recover through whatever method (diet, environment) and live long lives. I need hope.
I have a Persian with this problem. He was put on the c/d diet and that fixed it. If he sneaks the other cats' food (we have five Persians because we rescue them. We're not hoarders!), it immediately causes inflammation and he struggles to pee. This is a rare occurrence, because we keep all of the food sealed up. Before we knew what the problem was, he had to spend three days at the vet because he was blocked by crystals. Anyway, I would definitely look into Hill's Prescription Diet c/d Multicare Urinary Care Dry Cat Food

You have to have a prescription, so maybe you can ask your vet about it!
 
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Ash's_Devoted_Owner

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I wanted to provide an update. Simba's been through 48 hours without getting re-blocked. He's definitely urinating, but smaller amounts at a time. I'm wondering if that's because of the urethra being irritated from the catheter. We've got him on Prazosin and Gabapentin and he seems comfortable. He's not a huge fan of his food, Royal Canin SO, just eats a little at a time, but hoping that will change. So far, so good, just glad he's not re-blocked and hoping that he's turned a corner.
Glad to hear he is urinating! I can assure you that he will get better-just be patient. He probably isn’t too into the food because he has been fed kibble all of his life. Cats can get addicted to the “natural flavor” sprayed on kibble to make it taste like meat. Because you can’t slowly wean him off of his old food in this situation, use a topper. I always used Origen original freeze-dried treats for my cat’s food, but a lickable treat might be good for extra moisture as well (which we know is important).
 

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In nature cats seek out the freshest water they can find. Running water is something they know is likely to be better.I change my cats water dish at least daily. Some people have good results with cat water fountains or leaving a faucet dripping very slowly. I have had a Persian male that had crystals and putting him strictly on wet food and giving him a dripping bathroom faucet must have worked. He never had another bout of trouble.
I call cleaning the litter boxes here ,”panning for gold.” I am always happy to find gold. It may not be 24kt. but it is precious to me! I am so glad to read that your kitty is better. The stress of the clinic definitely could have been a factor. Calm kitty, lots of liquids and your love and attention will make the difference.
 
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Zuni Monster

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On the positive side, he's drinking water regularly from the cat fountains and he is peeing in more copious amounts now, which is great. On the negative side, he doesn't want the food. I don't think it's his appetite in general, because we had pork chops last night for dinner, and he tried to grab a piece of pork right off the plate. He just doesn't like the food.

I know you're not supposed to mix the diets, and there are limited options available for these types of prescription diet. I don't know what to do.
 

maggiemay

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Feed him another wet food, check with parents of crystal kitties re what to watch for, such as phosphoru. He has to eat, very important.
 

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All cats are different but my chronic urinary boy eats Royal Canin Moderate Calorie Urinary SO (prescription) dry and classic fancy feast flavors. He too really disliked the Hill’s prescription wet and dry. The RC is pretty expensive but in the long run saves vet money and stress to him going to the doctor. Since starting this a year ago he has had no more crystals or peeing issues. He’s a very picky eater too. It’s just trial and error. The most important things are keeping him eating and drinking plenty. Good luck!
 

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On the positive side, he's drinking water regularly from the cat fountains and he is peeing in more copious amounts now, which is great. On the negative side, he doesn't want the food. I don't think it's his appetite in general, because we had pork chops last night for dinner, and he tried to grab a piece of pork right off the plate. He just doesn't like the food.
It's OK to mix the food. Mingo has gotten tired of Sheba, so I sprinkle a small amount of dry food on his portion, but I need to feed Sheba to him in the morning; otherwise, he will throw up. You might try sprinkling some of Simba's favorite dry food on the wet food.
 

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We absolutely will be feeding him wet only. We did buy a small bag of the Royal Canin SO dry in case we have a hard time transitioning him to wet. But the plan is to keep him on wet only. I'm just praying this time that he'll be able to go even if it's just a little bit.

Our cats have always used pellet litter. I'm now wondering if part of the reason he couldn't go Tuesday is they had an entirely different type of litter, the clumping kind. He loves to dig in his pellet litter and I know cats can be fussy about litter and that any type of stress can be bad. Someone also suggested he could have had a bladder spasm and that anti-spasmodics could help. I'm going to ask the vet about this before we bring him home.
Hi, I don't have time right now to go into the full story of one of my cats and this same problem, but I can tell you that the Royal Canine SO calm solved it for her! So sorry you and your baby are going through this. I will be back later with more details, but it does (and will) get much better! Hang in there! xx
 
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