I'm At A Loss...

hiraeth

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It's 6am in the morning as I begin to type this. I've been awake a couple hours ago. I had to be up at around 4:30 to give my cat another round of prednisone and clavamox. 12 hrs later in the afternoon he'll receive another round, also followed with Prazosin that time.

My cat in subject right now, was a pesky feral cat who (according to our landlord) kicked it out in the storage shed and lived in this complex area since he was a kitten.
I was feeding a different, friendly community cat who I have now already adopted. But back then, she would have been shooed away by this pesky tom cat. & due to that I despised this little feral guy since she scared the friendly cat away. Eventually I felt a bit sorry, I mean yeah, a cat's gotta eat.

So I began feeding them in different locations so they would each have their share without fighting. But alas! This pesky feral found all the hiding spots. The bastard wouldn't even finish the food he claimed ownership over from the friendly community cat.

Then for a time, I had not seen the friendly cat too often. I got lucky if I saw her once a week. Then weeks would go by. I wasn't too worried, the cat looked like she's seen the world, and I knew why she would be reluctant to return... I often hopefully looked outside my kitchen window in hopes of seeing her sitting there like a dog. But more often I would see that pesky feral, laying down at our porch as if he owned it, soaking the sun. He looked to be a good weight, so I didn't bother to feed him. And I was so bummed over the friendly cat not returning because of him too, that I thought if I stopped leaving food out he would eventually find another.... But count on me to leave a needy animal alone? I gave in after a couple of days. I started leaving food out, and eventually he would hang outside our porch nearly all day and leave for the night to travel. Given his odd choice of living it out in our porch, I thought this cat might not be completely feral. So I tried coming near it, but it would always run away even when I just open the door.
One day, it wouldn't eat the canned food I left out. I had ran out of his favorite turkey flavor. I put salmon out, and had three other types of canned food with me. I was bored and had the afternoon to myself, so I went outside and immediately he ran away. He was peering at me from a bush from afar. I shook the cans and his head perked up.
I opened one and he eased another bush forward. I slid the open can closer to him, down the sidewalk pathway. He immediately came by to sniff it. The idiot's starving and he turns his head away upon sniffing it. Eventually an hour or so rolls by and I've literally laid out 6 different kinds of food on the pavement, and on a glass table we had outside and he's only nibbled on a few. Eventually I'm just sitting there, humoring myself at the sight of him. He had a mighty air to him, laying down among the food that was too good for a poor scavenger. His eyes indicated he was relaxed. I took a chance and put my hand out. As I expected he moved away... But he didn't run away. I left my arm in the air. He got curious after my arm started to cramp, and smelled my hand. Instinctively without thinking I quickly started to scratch his head, and this little fella literally melted. This was such a happy, unexpected moment for me. I kept scratching him (he loved his sides being scratched most of all). Then he began rubbing himself all over me, and started meowing, which I never heard before. He even showed me his belly.

So the next day, or morning actually, he awoke our dogs at 6 am in the morning, meowing at our door. He later learned of the negative reaction when he did this. So instead I would wake up before 6 am in the morning and find a little black shadow walking to our door, then sitting down waiting like a dog, staring up at the light in our kitchen window. Once I fed him around this time, he would leave again to travel and return in the afternoon when the heat of the sun was at its peak.

This guy turned out to be so incredibly love able ( I was primarily a dog person, and just adopted my first cat ), I eventually took him in.

It's been almost half a year since I've adopted him. I love him to death, his personality is so precious.

This poor guy has also blocked... twice. Once a month ago, and right now he's recovering from another one.
I am strapped. I am already going to a very low cost vet. This time around they even gave me a 200$ discount since it's a reoccurring one in such a short time.
They usually go ahead and perform the P.U. surgery in cases like these, but the woman who did those surgeries had recently died.
Even if that weren't the case, right now I am absolutely broke from all these rounds to the vet. I can't even afford the office visit, and the taxi car ride to get there.

I don't get my paycheck until the the 3rd. Even then, I am only working my first job at a food place that doesn't pay too pretty.

Right now, it's been a couple days since he was released from his boarding at the vet. I don't know if I'm panicking, but I don't think he's acting too normal.

I don't know why I went ahead and created an account here just moments ago and layed all this out... Perhaps to vent because that's literally all I can do at the moment. I feel powerless. I don't know if he can wait it out until my next paycheck. I love him so much.

I'm not sure if this is just a recovery period after having a catheter removed or what. But he wasn't like this last time he was released. I'm staying awake and keeping my eyes peered at him until he pees, so I can at least observe something out of that... He drunk a bit after giving him the prednisone which increases thirst and hunger (although he didn't seem too hungry). An hour ago he felt a bit warm, but now not anymore.

Has anyone ever had experience with this? :(
 

Linda Dwyer

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you might want to consider giving a cranberry supplement, cranberry is the go to for urinary problems
 

kittens mom

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You found a great place to vent and there are lots of members here with a lot of knowledge to share. Feeling alone and frustrated makes it all worse.
 

lalagimp

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I would also have to ask about his diet. I got a ton of information from Catinfo.org about changing Tom's diet after he first blocked. He blocked twice more in February and we did the surgery on him. I actually talked to the DVM last week that runs Catinfo.org (that was a fun bill to get) and that she would have liked to have spoken to me before we did the surgery. But, it's in the past. We did the surgery because we couldn't keep affording to unblocked him if we couldn't get it under control. And the surgery is not a cure; it's only a larger opening for debris to leave the bladder, but you still need to focus on the bladder issues.
If he's on wet food like he should be, he should probably be on Hills S/D or an equivalent for two weeks to clear the bladder out and then if you didn't keep him on prescription like C/D (yes, "C"/D) then you could try something like Dave's Dave's Pet Food Restricted Diet Magnesium & Phosphorus Grain-Free Pork Recipe Canned Cat Food, 5.5-oz, case of 24
I have Tommy on a raw diet. Raw is cheaper for us than canned. Dr. Pierson just told me to lower the mineral content of his food by adding in more boneless meat, ditch the cranberry relief I'd been using (if used incorrectly you can cause calcium oxalate stones to form which can only be removed surgically, and that the cranberry in cats was unfounded), and see about adding in a glucosamine supplement.
 

Kieka

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you might want to consider giving a cranberry supplement, cranberry is the go to for urinary problems
Cranberry is the go to in humans. Aspirin is the go to for headaches in humans, but give aspirin to a cat and they will likely die.

To quote another post about cranberries and cats,
Cranberry is not processed by kitties, as it contains benzoic acid, which cats lack the pathways to metabolize. Benzoic acid has been shown to cause health issues and even death in kitties. Cranberries also contain Salicylic acid--that is similar to aspirin--another negative. As an alternative: The active ingredient in cranberries is D-Mannose, a simple sugar, so you could consider giving D-Mannose to a kitty who is prone to urinary tract infections (UTIs), and FLUTD, IC, etc. It works by attracting the E. coli bacteria to bind with itself rather than with the bladder wall; the bacteria can then be passed with urination. E. coli is the most common bacteria causing UTIs in kitties, so D-Mannose can be quite beneficial. Klebsiella is another bacteria D-Mannose is effective at fighting. Cranberries, not so much--it is just another cat food ingredient that causes more problems for kitties in the long (or short!) run. Including cranberries in cat food conjures up thoughts of how helpful they may be for humans, so a kitty's human then extrapolates this to cranberries being helpful for kitties--which is just not true because kitties can not process cranberry.
Cranberry as an ingredient in cat food


On that note, cranberries for human infections is also a debatable topic. It doesn't work for everyone and the reason why the doctors/scientist thinks it works for some people is because of the acid content (that cats don't handle well). Personally, I avoid cranberries in my cats food.
 
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hiraeth

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Thank you all for your inputs! I really appreciate it!

He's far too picky. Hates prescription food, and wet food most of the time. Sometimes he likes it, but then suddenly he's not in the mood. So I syringe feed him water when he will only eat dry, grain free food. I think he likes the feeling of crunching food in his teeth. The only wet food he seems to like is the very very cheap ones that make one of my cats vomit. He has a water fountain that runs through a filter, using already filtered water bottles. I'm supposed to be asleep by now because I have work at 5 am in the morning, but I'm waiting for him to pee again just so I can observe it.
 
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hiraeth

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I don't think he's too fond of pate. He likes a bit of chew in his food. Is there a canned food like that Dave one that was recommended, that has is textured like chunky tuna with gravy? (Only way I can described the cheap wet food he's so fond of that's probably terrible for him).

It doesn't help that I have two other cats. One of which is a young Tom I'm fostering. One is a bit fat and old, and has hairball problems. So I give her a specialty diet for that (which the kitten prefers). The kitten doesn't like his kitten food, but my blocked cat does. & my blocked cat hates his special food, which the kitten goes to many lengths to steal.... It's all very cute until it sabotages their health.
 
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hiraeth

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Right now his breathing rate is around 24 a minute. He was warmer early in the morning, now not anymore. Still wants treats when I shake the bottle and takes drinks once an hour. But I don't think he's peed in the last four hours or longer.
 

Kieka

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That doesn't sound good. Is your vet still open? Maybe you can call them.

As to food, my guys love broth heavy. Fancy Feast Broths is their favorite but it is not a complete food. Weruva has a pouch line that is similar in consistency as does Soulistic.
 
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hiraeth

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He peed overnight!

He's still not behaving the same, however.

& the vet is really not an option until my paycheck. My past three checks had been cleared because of his complications. All the ones around me absolutely refuse animals if you don't have the money immediately or a down payment :/ ... They'll put your animal down for free though. That's how most of my phone calls end when I desperately call different animal hospitals trying to find any other option.
 

maggiedemi

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I feed the cheaper wet foods like Friskies, Fancy Feast, Purina One, Purina Pro Plan, and Sheba. I just avoid the fish flavors. Some of them don't say fish in the name, but they still have fish in them, so I made a list of the fish-free ones.
 

_spadekitty

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You could try mixing his wet and dry and gradually weaning him off dry if you havent already. Thats what I did for my cat, but he wasn't too picky about the wet food to begin with.
He gets dry only as snacks now.
 

nansiludie

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I agree, wet food, even cheaper wet food, is better than any dry, for urinary issue prone cats. I would rather he eat wet food than any dry. I have had cats block, have lost a cat to it. But with the one who is well, he eats friskies and fancy feast, in august, it'll be two years since he last blocked, thank God. Not any dry for him, not ever.
 
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