Just Had To Leave My Poor Boy Oscar Overnight At The Vet (urinary Blockage)

[kobata1928]

Yesterday he was perfectly fine until at 10pm I found him sitting in the litter box, which i'd never seen him do before. This morning he was constantly going in and out of all the litter boxes so I started to monitor if he was actually peeing and he was only producing about marble size pee balls over and over again. After hearing all the horror stories on here I knew it could get serious fast and got him in the vet this afternoon. They felt his bladder and said it was full but not hard. They gave him an injection and some liquid oral medicine, which I completely forgot to ask what kind of medicines. They said they would observe him and decide tomorrow morning if he needed a catheter.
For the past 4-5 months I have been changing his diet for the sole reason of preventing this exact problem. He has a water fountain that he loves and drinks from regularly. I switched him away from seafood, and he has been eating as much wet food as he is willing, which is about 65% of his calories. No matter how much he likes the wet food he reaches a point where he just stops eating and walks away. He currently gets 3 meals a day so it might be possible to get him to eat more wet food with more meals.
Hopefully he is fine and can come home tomorrow.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I know you must be frantic! Now, if he has crystals, there are two different kinds that form for exactly opposite reasons! Once you know what kind of crystals he has, you will be able to adjust his diet accordingly. Or if there is a structural problem, you will know what steps to take to correct it. Generally, it is crystals. Hopefully you'll be able to manage them with diet. Let us know how he is and what the vets find out!

 

[FakeGourmet]

Went through this 3 years ago - had to have emergency surgery for 2 different cats, different problems, caused by a urethra blockage. The problem doesn't have to be crystals. My male cat had zero crystals, yet he had blockage. This mucus blockage is not food related, so far as they know. No preventative for that one. Manufacturers have added something to dry foods to reduce the chances of forming crystals. Unfortunately, this seems to increase the risk of kidney stones, which is what the other cat had. Fortunately, for my female cat, we can feed her s/d diet for 8 weeks and avoid surgery. It completely dissolves the calcium crystals. It's been 2 years and and the vet can't find any kidney stones, so the Iams Mature Cat with Hairball Remedy food seems to work for both cats.

 

[mservant]

It is horrible when you have to leave your cat (or any other animal) at the vet surgery for observation. I am sorry you are going through this now, despite all your efforts to try and avoid crystals developing.
Hopefully the vet will have a good idea what is happening for your cat and why by the morning, and have a quick solution to get your cat comfortable and healthy again very soon.

 

[catlover73]

I completely understand how scary this. It is great that you got him to the vet right away. It is also good that he is being observed right now. My cat Sonny got a partial blockage and had to be hospitalized for 3 days with a catheter to unblock him. He did not have any crystals at all and made a full recovery. I hope your baby feels better soon.

 

[kobata1928]

partial update: They said he was drinking, eating and peeing ok today but want to keep an eye on him till tomorrow, I haven't actually talked to the vet so I don't know causes or future plans, I'll talk about that in person.
However, I find myself extremely dissatisfied with their customer relations. I was told yesterday that they would call this morning with an update. I waited worrying till 1:30 and finally called them just to hear they want to observe him till tomorrow like that was the plan all along.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

So far, so good. But I do understand your frustration. Having a vet you can rely on (including ALL of their staff) is crucial.

 

[duckpond]

So sorry to hear about his problems. Hopefully he will be fine by tomorrow, and get to come home! Keeping you guys in my thoughts!

 

[sweetblackpaws]

Having a blocked or partially blocked furbaby is incredibly frustrating and scary. I am very glad he is going to be okay! Unfortunately, sometimes wet food is just not enough. Some furbabies just create a urinary environment that is more condusive to crystals. The ER vet said my boy was a crystal-making machine and his bladder looked like a snowglobe. He has been on prescription food (dry) and that was over a year ago. People sometimes knock the rx food, but IMO it has helped keep him crystal free. The meds they gave your baby were probably Buprenex (for the pain) along with an anti-inflammatory (for the bladder). Did they run a cath or were they able to just manually express? I am sorry you are dissatisfied with them - there is no excuse for them to treat you with disregard. It can't hurt to get another opinion once he is out of the woods to discuss diet, etc.

 

[kobata1928]

Having a blocked or partially blocked furbaby is incredibly frustrating and scary. I am very glad he is going to be okay! Unfortunately, sometimes wet food is just not enough. Some furbabies just create a urinary environment that is more condusive to crystals. The ER vet said my boy was a crystal-making machine and his bladder looked like a snowglobe. He has been on prescription food (dry) and that was over a year ago. People sometimes knock the rx food, but IMO it has helped keep him crystal free. The meds they gave your baby were probably Buprenex (for the pain) along with an anti-inflammatory (for the bladder). Did they run a cath or were they able to just manually express? I am sorry you are dissatisfied with them - there is no excuse for them to treat you with disregard. It can't hurt to get another opinion once he is out of the woods to discuss diet, etc.

I don't think they ended up doing a catheter, I certainly hope that info would have been included in the brief update I was able to get over the phone. They did mention that the vet would probably send home some oral medication for the first few days he is home but i'm currently unsure what that would be.

 

[sweetblackpaws]

I don't think they ended up doing a catheter, I certainly hope that info would have been included in the brief update I was able to get over the phone. They did mention that the vet would probably send home some oral medication for the first few days he is home but i'm currently unsure what that would be.

Probably Buprenex (an opiod pain med). It is a gel in a syringe that is easy to administer. It works pretty well and my boy tolerated it very well.

 

[Timmer]

As I've had more and more cats in life with issues, and as I've gotten older, I've realized we have to know as much as the doctors do and ask a ton of questions. I am like this with the vet and with my own physicians. We have to educate ourselves all the time. Really be aggressive with the questions. Write them down before you talk to the vet. Anything you can think of. It's good you are on here and people have been through what you are going through. Pick everyone's brain! Go on the Cornell University vet website and read up all you can on your particular situation. That's a good website and has always been helpful to me.
Really, it's almost like with some doctors if you don't ask any questions, they won't tell you anything.

 

[mservant]

Great to hear your guy has been eating, drinking and peeing OK while at the vets. That is tough, hearing that they want him in for another night though. I feel for you. I know how much I hate it when I don't have my cats with me, and you can't help but worry about them no matter who's looking after them.
Hoping for you that you get him home tomorrow and they give you clear information about what has been happening and the plan to keep your cat well.

 

[catlover73]

Perhaps one of the techs would be willing to provide more information if the vet is not available. There was one time when Sonny was in the hospital that the vet that was supposed to follow up with me in the morning was dealing with another emergency situation. The tech called to update me on Sonny's progress because she did not want me to be worried all day while I was at work. The vet did call me in the afternoon once she was available. Ask if that is an option to get updates. The actual doctor at the ER vet did updates once a day unless there was a new change I needed to know about. I could call and get additional updates from the techs that were involved in his treatment. I hope your baby can come home tomorrow.

 

[kobata1928]

Well Oscar is home now, they called it a urinary tract infection. All they ended up doing is giving him antibiotics, anti-inflammatory and sent 5 doses of anti-inflammatory home with him. They didn't suggest I change anything with his diet except said he was slightly overweight at 14.3 pounds, which is the exact thing they said when he was 16.8 pounds 10 months ago and still didn't commit to a target weight he should be. Hopefully all is well, but if he starts to have any more problems i'm going to strongly consider going elsewhere for treatment. Of course, now that he is home my other two cats are hissing and swatting at him and each other like he is a stranger. I expected that since they do that when one is away for an hour for their yearly checkup, I'm sure they will get over it. Thanks for all the well wishes.

 

[mservant]

Poor guy, coming home at last and getting swatted by his usual buddies. I hope they calm down soon - with any luck a bit of swatting will swap scents a bit and then they'll remember he's not a stranger.
Lots of positive thoughts for Oscar remaining well now.

 

[duckpond]

Hopefully all will be well now! Im glad he is home. keep us updated on his progress!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

SO happy that he is home! Crossing my fingers that peace will be restored in short order.

 

[catlover73]

I am glad your baby is home. I went through the hissing issue when my Sonny came home from the hospital. Your baby smells different from the vet. You can try using a dirty t-shirt with your scent on it to help on it to help get rid of the new scents picked up at the vet. As long as their are no actual fights it is ok to let them work it out per my vet. This is temporary non-recognition aggression. It took about 3 days for my household to go back to normal.

 

[kobata1928]

Oscar seems to be peeing normal amounts clump size wise, but more frequently than usual. It seems he is still in some pain because he licks himself directly after leaving the litter box. The vet prescribed 5 once daily doses of pain medicine but gave me 10 doses in case he is still showing pain after the 5 days. I have been pureeing his pate food with some extra water in my food processor and overall I think he is eating it better. I have changed his schedule to 4 meals a day so he doesn't have to eat so much each setting.
Getting my cats back to liking each other has been more difficult. I had been using a grooming glove to help with shedding, so I brushed all 3 leaving the hair on it spreading all their scents to each other. I opened a window, even though its very cold, because they all love the fresh air and watching the squirrels and they used to do it together everyday. After a day Mister and Oscar were back to getting along but Molly was still hissing and swatting. After 2 days, I ended up bribing Molly with the one thing they all love, their toothpaste, to get her to stay close to him without getting angry. She finally gave his butt a good sniff and now they are chasing each other up and down my stairs like they used to do.