Urinary block

[Jaram]

So my cat has an urinary blockage and yesterday and today is been a nightmare for my family and I, we couldn’t figure out what was wrong with “Napoleon” our sweet loving and quiet 3 year old tuxedo cat, so this morning we took him to an emergency vet clinic, when the nurse took him inside and told us we were not able to go inside broke my heart, see Napoleon was picked by a friend of a friend at 5 weeks old and was left in my house supposedly for just for one day someone was coming to take him,well 4 days passed and I just couldn’t let him go,he’s a big fragile Cat, he gets scared with everything and everyone he doesn’t know, so now after waiting for about 20 mins outside the vet the nurse comes and explained what’s going on and shows me a bill that explained what was going to be done to him because of the Urinaty blockage, my question to anyone reading this is how do middle class people can afford this, I wanted to cry when I saw this, and that’s not all after this the food that he needs to be on for life is food I have no idea how I’m going to be able to buy it, please anyone, tell me there is an alternative to feeding my cat I’m already in debt with my credit card I don’t know what to answer my kids when they ask me what are we going to do

 

[Ravynn]

Did the vet tell you what kind of stone it was and if wet food is an option? Sending my thoughts over to you during this difficult time. x

 

[Jaram]

Did the vet tell you what kind of stone it was and if wet food is an option? Sending my thoughts over to you during this difficult time. x
[/QUOTE
Hello Ravynn, the vet said it was Cristals and that she doesn’t know if it will happen again, right now Napoleon his having kidney problems because of the blockage, they are giving him antibiotics and lots of fluids to help with that.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Blockages are very scary, and do require immediate intervention. Unfortunately, emergency vet visits are horribly expensive, so much more than a regular vet visit. That being said, once he gets over this huge bump in the road, he may not have to be on that special food for the rest of his life. Yes, that food can prevent crystals from forming, which is ideal. BUT, many, many people simply cannot afford to feed it, or don't want to because they don't like the ingredients. Instead they choose, once the food has done it's thing and dissolved all the crystals, to switch to an all wet food diet, with lots of water for their cats to drink. That can help immensely. You can also monitor your cat's PH using strips that humans use for the same thing. And if you have a nervous cat, then you need to try to keep the stress level low with him by providing lots of hidey holes, lots of places for him to get up high, and lots of play time. among other things. There are also some supplements you can add to his wet food if you decide not to feed the prescription diet (after the crystals dissolve). It is very important to feed the prescription food in the beginning until all crystals are gone, which doesn't take too long as far as I know.

Here is an article that might help on the stress part: Stress in Cats – The Ultimate Guide – TheCatSite Articles

 

[Gizm0]

I had a cat with a blockage and that's about the same cost I paid at the emergency vet. It is rough.

We were told he had to go on a special diet but that just wasn't going to happen. We added water fountains around the house and added a few self-filling water bowls to encourage him to drink more. Instead of wet food we bought Purina Pro Plan Urinary Tract formula dry food (~$35/16lb bag). Make sure it's the Pro Plan because the regular urinary formula doesn't lower the Ph as much. You can directly message Purina and they'll give you the ranges that the food is supposed to keep the Ph at. They also make Pro Plan urinary wet food. I think it's a little more expensive but it may be a better option for you if you're worried he will block again. These are non-prescription options. Pro Plan Cat Urinary Health Page

You can save money on food by ordering off of Chewy and doing the auto-ship. Same with Petco. Amazon sometimes also has deals on the food.

 

[Jaram]

Blockages are very scary, and do require immediate intervention. Unfortunately, emergency vet visits are horribly expensive, so much more than a regular vet visit. That being said, once he gets over this huge bump in the road, he may not have to be on that special food for the rest of his life. Yes, that food can prevent crystals from forming, which is ideal. BUT, many, many people simply cannot afford to feed it, or don't want to because they don't like the ingredients. Instead they choose, once the food has done it's thing and dissolved all the crystals, to switch to an all wet food diet, with lots of water for their cats to drink. That can help immensely. You can also monitor your cat's PH using strips that humans use for the same thing. And if you have a nervous cat, then you need to try to keep the stress level low with him by providing lots of hidey holes, lots of places for him to get up high, and lots of play time. among other things. There are also some supplements you can add to his wet food if you decide not to feed the prescription diet (after the crystals dissolve). It is very important to feed the prescription food in the beginning until all crystals are gone, which doesn't take too long as far as I know.

Here is an article that might help on the stress part: Stress in Cats – The Ultimate Guide – TheCatSite Articles

Thank you so much this is very helpful, I will make sure to do all this things for him to get better.

 

[Jaram]

I had a cat with a blockage and that's about the same cost I paid at the emergency vet. It is rough.

We were told he had to go on a special diet but that just wasn't going to happen. We added water fountains around the house and added a few self-filling water bowls to encourage him to drink more. Instead of wet food we bought Purina Pro Plan Urinary Tract formula dry food (~$35/16lb bag). Make sure it's the Pro Plan because the regular urinary formula doesn't lower the Ph as much. You can directly message Purina and they'll give you the ranges that the food is supposed to keep the Ph at. They also make Pro Plan urinary wet food. I think it's a little more expensive but it may be a better option for you if you're worried he will block again. These are non-prescription options. Pro Plan Cat Urinary Health Page

You can save money on food by ordering off of Chewy and doing the auto-ship. Same with Petco. Amazon sometimes also has deals on the food.

Thank you my Napoleon and I are very grateful for this info

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

If even the Purina Pro Plan Urinary is out of your budget, you can use this link to find other food that might work. It has food listed in order of the amount of phosphorus in it, and for crystals (if they are Struvite), the goal is to try to keep the phosphorus around 1 - 1.2% on a dry matter basis. http://www.felinecrf.org/canned_food_usa.htm#canned_usa

But again, it's important to use the prescription food in the beginning until all crystals have passed, especially since Napoleon is having kidney problems because of the blockage. One thing you can do to is add water directly to his food, as well as having water bowls and/or fountains around the house. I add at least one tablespoon of water to my guy's food each meal, sometimes more. It just depends on which food I'm feeding at the time. Some pates require a lot of thinning down, some minces would get too watery

 

[Jaram]

Thank you

 

[lalagimp]

Hey there

Scariest time of my life with Tommy. I thought he was constipated and when his father got home from university and touched Tom's side and he screamed and ran back to the litter box, his dad told me to get him to the ER now. I don't remember if I was able to do anything with him for his triage, or if they took him straight to the back, but I remember driving home alone in the rain and crying my eyes out. I'd never left him behind for inpatient.

The bill is about right, but hopefully more on the low end than their high end, but they told me that was dependent on Tom and how soon he was safely able to be released. It would fluctuate each time between $1,700 and $2,100.
Each time? Yeaaaaaah. We changed his diet from kibble to canned to raw and were able to change his pH from 8 to 7. He made it from December 1 2016 to February 14 2017. He then blocked twice because of cystitis and we can't afford to keep going this route so we did surgery. They shouldn't have discharged him so early on February 15, and his medical notes shows they screwed his catheter placement and I am sure that was why he had to go back less than 12 hours later.

You can't knock many charges off of that, but in three days they were tell you what the urine culture showed and if there is an infection, but if there is there isn't much you can do about it because Convenia is a long lasting antibiotic injection. If they listed his pH it could be an indicator of what they might find in his urine. Again, Tom was an 8 and it ended up being struvites. If it's under the ideal 6.5 you could be looking at oxalates but that's less common.

Prescription medication should only be used to neutralize a condition and then you can control most of the concerns. People either don't have the finances, time, or even mental fortitude because this is exhausting and do the prescription or specialty diet for life.
I made his food from scratch for 3 years to be able to afford it. When his diet changes, so does Stewart's.

Your xrays probably weren't used to few the bladder at intake, but to verify catheter placement was correct. On discharge it was oral buprenorphone and prazosin. You place the buprenorphone at the back of the cheek pocket and run it from the back of the gums to the front of the gums as you are releasing the syringe. It's an easy get in and drag forward and get out and that's where it goes the best job for absorption.

Granted this was years ago by this point and there could be advances by now.
PS if I disappear for a large span of time it's because this recounting is mentally and emotionally exhausting + seasonal depression.
Tommy has since moved on to more ailments since then and the current focus is his kidneys.

Cheers.

 

[Jaram]

Thank you, Omg poor Tommy I can’t see you are a loving parent Tommy is lucky to have you.
Money and time are my problems, see beside Tommy and Napoleon I also have 7 stray cats in my backyard that maybe I also need to change their diet to a better one so they won’t have this problem and I’ve been doing some research on line to see what I can feed Tommy and the 7 strays in my backyard but after 2 days of research I end up more confuse than ever, Im tired and frustrated to see the cost of healthy food for all my babies and I have come to the conclusion that I will be making their own food I just don’t know where to start
Napoleon is Home he seem a lot better, you right about the medication is the same one, not easy to deal with all this but I have no other way, if you have a recipe please send it my way, only God knows how much help I need right about now.

 

[DreamerRose]

I feel for you during this rough time. You're on the ropes. I hope it gets better from here on out. My Mingo had crystals, but luckily, I got it taken care of before he blocked. I feed him Fancy Feast, Sheba, and one of the kibbles for urinary problems. I also mix water into the Fancy Feast because he doesn't drink water out of a bowl at all. This is something you can do easily - just add a couple of spoonfuls of water to Napoleon's wet food. See if you can get a local rescue or TNR group to help with the strays. It shouldn't be all on you.