Cat Not Acting Himself After Urinary Blockage

[kellysue301]

Hello all,

Gray (9 years old) experienced his first urinary blockage last week, Monday, around 2am. We rushed him to the emergency vet and they inserted a catheter, the usual treatment. At around 8am we transported him to his regular vet to continue the necessary hospitalization and treatment. We brought him home on Thursday with anitbiotics (Clavamox), a steroid, and a painkiller. He has finished the painkiller and due to him licking his private parts still after a few days, the doctor recommended we keep him on the steroid a bit longer. He has 2 weeks about worth of antibiotics, as they found the blockage due to a bacterial infection and crystals that either caused the infection or were a result of the infection. He is now on a prescription dry food for the remainder of his life, per the doctor, and back to Friskies wet food as this all occurred as soon as I started to try and switch him to a healthier wet food (vet says crappy wet food is better than no wet food, and despite so many efforts he refused to eat any of the new wet food whatsoever). When he came home from the vet he was acting bright and happy, the best he has seemed in weeks actually, but seems to be declining again. His stool seems soft, not much of it, as he is hardly eating. He will lick at the gravy in the wet food and nibble a bit at the dry food, drinks a bit from his water bowl, but not as much as he used to. He is lethargic, sleeping more, hiding more, and will slink away at us trying to pet him especially after we give him his meds. I am terrified of him losing too much weight, but I am also terrified of stopping his meds as I want the infection to be completely clear. He is urinating, but not as much as our other 2 cats - it is a noticeable difference in the lack of urine. However, he is not going as excessively as when he first came home (was in and out of the box 10+ times, constant licking and now he urinates maybe 3-5 times a day and not as much licking though licks after every time he uses the box). I will also say he dragged his behind on the floor the other day after passing stool. Could it be the meds causing this, will a med to increase his appetite maybe help? Is the fact that he's nibbling on some food enough? He's always been a bit picky of an eater, and just overall odd when it comes to food. I plan to call his vet tomorrow but I am concerned about his lethargy and fear of us greatly. He is always such a sweet, loving cat.

Thank you for any and all help!

 

[Furballsmom]

You need to discuss all of this with the vet, but in the meantime take a look at this, the two articles and all the following posts from members;
Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!

 

[hexiesfriend]

He won’t be himself for awhile. My vet explained after this happens they are fearful of going to the bathroom because it’s painful and/or they still remember it was painful. This will effect their eating as well as their demeanor. Usually with the meds is a muscle relaxer that relaxes the bladder to enable them to pee more. As long as he pees that’s all that matters. The key also is keeping water intake up and avoid food that may have caused this. I’m sure you vet already explained but it’s correct the more diluted the urine the better. Regarding the food I fed mine friskies as well all the fish flavors, came to find out that may have caused the blockage something with the fish. I added the urinary dry and kept the friskies but not fish favor and added several water bowls throughout the house and my kitty never had a recurrence of the blockage. It’s surprising how a cat will drink out of a water bowl just because it’s there so my kitty’s water intake went up. It will take a few weeks for him to go back to his old self as long as he is peeing he is out of and danger. It is normal that it is not much at the beginning and not like your others. The urinary tract is probably still swollen so there will be less flow.

 

[kellysue301]

Thank you both for the responses! I intend to call his vet in the morning to see if they have any recommendations or if he is doing okay and maybe I'm just worrying too much lol.

hexiesfriend: Thank you so much for your input, it is so interesting that you mention the fish flavored Friskies! Gray has been eating chicken flavored Friskies and the indoor formula Purina for basically the entirety of his life. I attempted to switch him and our other 2 over to something better (Tikicat, Weruva, Dave's, Koha, and a couple others) but to no avail for Gray. He would flat out refuse to eat at all except for his new Tikicat dry food, and of course as everyone always says, they need to have some type of wet food in their diet. So I figured I would try to switch up the flavors of Friskies to see if that would entice him a bit more (always been more of a dry food kind of guy regardless) and the flavors I tried were a majority fish, since that is mostly what Friskies carries, and within a matter of about 2 weeks is when this blockage happened. With that being the case, I am thinking that was the major culprit along with the stress of trying out new food/not eating wet food much at all for a small while. Such a disaster, should have just kept him on the Friskies chicken wet and Purina dry he's always been on and never messed with anything. You think you're doing something that will benefit them...ugh.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hang in there! Hopefully you and your vet team are able to get him back to rights including his attitude be sure and mention that as well.

 

[kellysue301]

Thank you Furballsmom, I appreciate that!

An update: Spoke with his vet today, and she prescribed him an appetite stimulant as well as a pill that will help to relax and reduce any spasms within his urethra. She also recommended we stop the antibiotic for 48 hours to see if this is causing his stomach upset. She said we may need to bring him in for a recheck if he is not showing signs of improvement. I mentioned he was doing very well upon release, for about 3 days, and then started to decline after his pain meds ended and seems to continue to do so. She said we may need to put him back on another pain killer, but we will have to be careful due to the combination of a pain killer and the current medication she prescribed today. She also said to try giving him the previous dry food he was on to see if his issue is more that he is just very stubborn about only eating what he likes.

So far today, he still seems to be in pain. He will "loaf" pretty much at all times, and when he sleeps he will sleep in a loaf with head flat position. Either that, or curled in a ball on his cat tree, or under the blanket on the futon (has never done this before). He seems to want to play (he is a very playful cat) but will go back to his loaf position after a few minutes of playing. I purchased his old crappy food and he has taken several bites of this, as well as has eaten some of his wet food this morning and this evening. I'm still so very nervous about his lethargy and seeming to be in a decent amount of pain, I keep reading up horror stories of this illness online and that is just not helping...nearly have myself convinced he has CKD...my previous kitty most likely passed from that. If he is still as listless and in pain I will be calling the vet tomorrow to bring him in, at least for peace of mind about any possible complications to his kidneys. I just don't understand why he was better than he had been in weeks when first brought home and now a steady decline worse than when this blockage started! Can he truly be in that much pain from the catheter? Or the antibiotics from an upset stomach? He does seem to be having some diarrhea. Still is urinating, not licking his privates as much - was able to urinate earlier and did not lick himself at all afterwards.

I appreciate the support from all of you! :-)

 

[Furballsmom]

If he is still as listless and in pain I will be calling the vet tomorrow to bring him in, at least for peace of mind