Blocked Tom - Please Share a Message of Hope

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Zuni Monster

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I called the vet yesterday, she suggested trying other samples of prescription foods and using an appetite stimulant. I'm wondering if it is at all possible the Gabapentin is affecting him wanting to eat? He has one more day of it today. Our other cat went through a period where she wouldn't eat and it was because she had some sort of respiratory thing and she couldn't smell. I think she had cat herpes. Once she got over that, she went back to eating.
 

verna davies

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The Gabapentin may be upsetting his tummy. Give it 24 hours after the last dose and if he's still not eating try another. I tried several but the only one my cat would eat is the one you have.
 
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Zuni Monster

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Well, we’re back at the vet predictably. Finally yesterday they gave me samples and we may have found a good, but too late. This morning, he was straining and only a drop urine came out and he seemed uncomfortable.
We’re probably going to have to do the surgery now. I feel so disappointed because given he wouldn’t even eat the prescription diet, he really didn’t have a chance. Plus per the vet’s instructions we gave him appetite stimulant and that didn’t seem to help because it just made him hyper and he stopped drinking water.

I feel so defeated.
 

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Don’t be too disheartened about him not eating the prescription diet. I have had only one prescription diet mine would eat, and the ingredients were so cheap and awful (first ingredient corn) it gave him diabetes. 🙏🙏🙏 for this baby’s surgery!
 
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Zuni Monster

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Vet says he’s not blocked again but his temp is elevated so may have a UTI, they are doing culture of urine. But even he has infection, they can give me antibiotics and he can go home.
Better news than I was expecting. Also, we may have found a food he likes because he did eat some this morning. The Royal Canin regular (not modified calorie) wet food in a loaf.

Crossing fingers and hoping for the best.
 

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Hi again,
I'm new to this site and kinda confused about some things so I hope I am responding to OP. What happened with Maisy is all was right with the world until two events happened in her life. One was I was laid off from work for two months due to COVID. She is very attached to me and watches every move I make, won't go to bed until I do, was waiting on the cushioned bench by the door when I got home from work, etc. So I went back to work. And around this same time, workers had to come into the small apt. to tear up a small piece of carpet near the front door. I knew they were coming and had the bedroom door closed so she could hide under the bed - her favorite place when scared. Sometime after they two stressful changes she started going to the litter box repeatedly but no peeing. It's all a blur now but did all the tests and never had uti, but vet did see some struvite crystals. I think at one point I was giving her meds 5 times a day and have the scars to prove it, lol. Vet explained cats bladders can become inflamed due to stress. I think we did antibiotics to be sure, plus pain meds that really helped, but despite this, the worse night she had that just broke my heart was her going to the litter box every 2 minutes one night beginning around midnight I think. She was already on pain meds so waited until early am and had her at vets first thing. Saw a different vet who I will always love because he solved this ongoing nightmare by prescribing anti-spasm meds for her bladder and the Royal Canine Urinary Formula SO Calm. We also tried an anti-anxiety med she spit out so used amitriptyline transdermal gel in her ear flap. She's been on that for a year and just now we are tapering off of it since she is doing so well and she now has a best friend to hang out with now so that she's never alone - little Sky in my profile pic. I still keep the bladder spasm meds on hand and have a few of the pain meds left in case she ever has an episode in the middle of the night, etc. but she hasn't, even though we just went through a 12-hour move to a new apt. at the beginning of the year. Thank goodness she loves the Royal Canine food. It's not cheap - 50 bucks a month, but it's been well worth it not to go through that again. Sky is always trying to get her sister's food and Maisy is always trying to eat Sky's kitten food - it's kinda adorable. Hope things are somewhat better now. Take care.
 
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Zuni Monster

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Just wanted to provide an update. Simba is doing well, he didn't have a UTI, but they did give us more prazosin and gabapentin. The biggest news is we finally found a food he is eating! I had to go back to the vet and they gave me samples of like six different foods. The one he really took to was the Royal Canin Urinary SO loaf (not morsels and gravy). Unfortunately, Chewy is out right now, but I'm getting some more from the vet and hopefully Chewy will get it back in stock so we can get it in our normal monthly shipment. He's really acting like his normal self today -- more playful and happy. So I'm really hoping we've now turned the corner.

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who provided tips and support, it really was so helpful. s
 

Lynn M

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I just found this site; my 4yr old Pablo had PU surgery in mid July. He blocked on a Friday, then again on Tuesday, then on Wednesday. The vet said Pablo had an "insane" amount of sludge, but it was caught before any kidney damage. The PU surgery was done that day by a pricey (but so worth it) specialist. It was rough, but now Pablo has a shorter, larger, urethra so blockage itself is no longer an issue.

Of course there is still the issue of the creation of the sludge itself. He's always had a mix of quality dry and wet foods. The c/d food the vet says he should have is... dry... and meat by products... . So I figure that for the dry food, and also a quality wet food. I've just gotten Dr Marty's freeze dried raw food (less processing, no fillers or preservatives) and mixed it with water and some wet food, to minimal acceptance. Distilled water, (minerals have been removed) and I plan to syringe him a couple cc's once or twice a day. I saw somewhere "the Solution to Pollution is Dilution" of the urine. I will also get a fountain and give that a try. My concern is ongoing nutrition and hydration.

Should Pablo still develop sludge/crystals/stones, there could still be catheter flushing and if needed a surgery to open up the bladder for a direct cleaning out. But the chances of a complete blockage are now pretty much off the table.

It is shocking that your vet was so unconcerned about the inappropriate peeing. I lost my Sparky years ago in a similar fashion (different vet), so I was alert to Pablo's situation when it arose. I hope your Simba recovers completely and without further incident. But we'll always be on the look-out.
 

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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.
PLEASE KEEP HOPE!
We went through this with our cat 3 years ago. He was completely blocked and after 3 weeks of little results, we opted for the PU surgery. It was pricey ($1500) but the cat has been in perfect health since. He is on prescription food now and hasn't had one urinary problems in the last 3 years.
 
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Zuni Monster

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PLEASE KEEP HOPE!
We went through this with our cat 3 years ago. He was completely blocked and after 3 weeks of little results, we opted for the PU surgery. It was pricey ($1500) but the cat has been in perfect health since. He is on prescription food now and hasn't had one urinary problems in the last 3 years.
We know about the PU surgery, but we are hoping to avoid that. We want to give him a chance on the special diet. BTW, here in Colorado, PU surgery costs around $4,000 by a board certified surgeon. So it would be a huge added expense that we are hoping to avoid, since we already spent that much in vet bills when he was at the animal hospital for the blockage. I am glad that it worked out for you with your cat though, and certainly, if we need to, we will find the money if it's necessary to save his life.
 
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Zuni Monster

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Unfortunately, Simba blocked again this morning. We were lucky in that CSU vet hospital took him right away and did the PU surgery this afternoon. It was a team of two surgeons who said they had done the procedure over 100 times, so hoping their experience will yield good results.

Hoping Susananne's success with her kitty will be the same for our Simba. I love him dearly, but this has traumatized me so much, I don't think I'd ever adopt another male cat again. We've had three females prior to this who had good health up until 17 years old.
 
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Zuni Monster

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He was doing really well and was eating his food acting like his old self. What happened is our dog got into something nasty outside and had terrible diarrhea all night long, pooping in the house. I’m convinced the stress of this event is what blocked him this morning. I just don’t know what we could have done differently.
 

verna davies

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Unfortunately it's almost impossible to know what is going to stress a cat, it can be the simplest of things so there's no way if avoiding it.
 
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Zuni Monster

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Well, this is a bit distressing. They said he did great in surgery and is eating and urinating with good energy. However, his creatinine went from 2.7 when we brought him in, partially blocked, and now post surgery it's at 4.0. I'm just wondering if stress can cause increased creatinine levels. They say they won't let him go home until they get below the 2.7 he was at when we brought him in. I don't understand why this would happen and how worried I should be.
 

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Hi!
I can't help with the creatinine issue, but I noticed chewy's still out of that food. You could look into Forza10
Shop Cat

Also, for at-home stress relief try cat music, for example there's Relax My Cat, and MusicForCats.
 

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Hope he gets better soon, I just rushed one of my males to the vet for the same thing except he is not blocked vet thinks it’s stress
 
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