**UPDATE** Our cat had the surgery, and it was rough for him

[chrissyk]

**Update on page 3**

Our cat has had many, many urinary blockages in his lifetime. Today he was fully blocked again, and I've never seen him like this before. He was lethargic to the point of being unable to stand up in the litterbox. I rushed him to our vet to get unblocked, and I finally made the decision to have the surgery done on him to widen his urinary tract opening. If his bloodwork goes OK, he will have the surgery done today. If his kidney function looks compromised (and it might, due to the blockage), then they have to unblock him and wait at least a day to do the surgery. I am waiting to hear back from our vet now.

Can you please send him some good thoughts today? He is almost 10 years-old, and he's had so many health problems in his lifetime. I'm so worried that he'll have to stay at the vet for so many days and that he will think that we abandoned him I hope that I'm doing the right thing having the surgery done. We've agonized over this for so long, due to not wanting to mess him up further. He could have died from this blockage, though, and I just can't risk waiting until he's even older and then having to have the surgery done as an emergency (that he might not survive)

 

[MickeysMommy]

Oh, Chrissy, he is in my thoughts. I hope everything works out ok for kitty! aw:

 

[Virgo10]

Oh dear. Best wishes for your kitty... and you. We had a cat that was totally blocked once. It was very scary.

I'll be thinking good thoughts for your baby.

 

[chrissyk]

Oh dear. Best wishes for your kitty... and you. We had a cat that was totally blocked once. It was very scary.

I'll be thinking good thoughts for your baby.

Did you end up having the surgery done, or were you just able to have him catheterized once and have that work? I wonder what we can expect post-surgery. I just don't ever want to see him sick and in pain like that again

 

[vacanut]

Sorry to hear, I hope everything goes well with the surgery.

 

[Rowena]

Oh poor kitty.

I'll keep him in my thoughts, and I echo the hopes that everything goes well and he's back purring in your lap again very soon.

 

[CheshireVal]

One of my friends had that surgery done to her male cat a few years back. I don't remember all the details of the recovery process now, but he has been happy and healthy ever since.

Hope all goes well with your kitty today! You're doing the right thing.

 

[chrissyk]

One of my friends had that surgery done to her male cat a few years back. I don't remember all the details of the recovery process now, but he has been happy and healthy ever since.

Hope all goes well with your kitty today! You're doing the right thing.

Thank you. I am relieved to hear that this surgery worked out so well for your friend's cat. That is what I am hoping for. We should have done it years ago, but we were very afraid of either losing him in the surgery or messing him up further. I hope that he is able to recover quickly and never get blocked again.

 

[T16GEM]

Poor little guy. I hope everything goes well sendinging lots of hugs and Pixie dust your way.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Chrissy, your kitty will be in my prayer. Hang in there!

 

[chrissyk]

Our vet just called to tell me that our cat is not considered a good candidate for the surgery after all. They sedated him and manually expressed his bladder, and he passed a 1-inch long blockage of crystals Because he forms such massive amounts of crystals, having the surgery wouldn't solve the problem and would leave us with no further options in the event of a future blockage. I am beside myself.

We can't put him on a diet like Science Diet to control the crystals because he gets so sick from the ingredients that he throws it all up anyways. We can't keep acidifying his food with vitamin C because it was causing him to for calcium oxcilate crystals which can lead to bladder stones. Nothing that we have tried has worked. I'm going to try to get him in to see the holistic vet in our town, because otherwise we're just out of options So much for trying to improve our cat's quality-of-life.

 

[sorcerormickey]

I'm so sorry. I hope you can find a solution for your kitty. aw:

 

[Maleficent13]

I would be worried and frustrated. I'm so sorry!

 

[chrissyk]

This is just going from bad to worse. The holistic vet in our town is retiring in January and there isn't another one in the area! If anyone has any ideas, I'm open to them at this point. Is there a natural way to get cats to stop forming urinary crystals? The medical methods don't appear to be working at this point.

 

[KatelynnsAuntie]

Poor kitty. If he is not a good candidate for surgery, does the vet have any other suggestions that may help?

 

[Feralpeg]

This is just going from bad to worse. The holistic vet in our town is retiring in January and there isn't another one in the area! If anyone has any ideas, I'm open to them at this point. Is there a natural way to get cats to stop forming urinary crystals? The medical methods don't appear to be working at this point.

Do you have him on the CD type of catfood? I had a cat who formed urinary crystals and would end up passing blood. The vet put her on Science Diet CD and it cleared up. It did cause her to gain weight, but she lived a long time with no more urinary problems.

 

[SugarBear]

Don't give up hope without a second opinion... or a third.

 

[Parkerpooh]

I second feralpeg. We have a cat that gets urinary blockages too and the only thing that keeps them from coming back is the cd cat food that is expensive and prescription only from a vet. It cannot be bought in stores. I was told if we kept feeding him cheap cat food(cat chow,whiskas) that he would just die. He's 11 years old now and healthy(albeit fat and lazy ) Hope this helps. You might consider a new vet also.

 

[chrissyk]

He can't eat Science Diet CD. It makes him throw up nonstop We tried that route 7 years and 4 vets ago.

This vet is good...it's not his fault. He's not the first vet to think that our cat wasn't a good candidate for this surgery. It's just that our last vet thought that he would be a good candidate because we had run out of other options. I can see where the surgery could do more harm than good at this point, though.

At this point, we need to stop him from forming crystals of any kind. Even the CD diet can cause crystals to form, albeit the opposite kind (calcium oxcilate). That can lead to stone formation. Our cat was starting to form those kinds of crystals too, due to an acidifier in his natural diet (vitamin C). From the research I'm doing online, we need to stop giving him any sort of dry food or dry cat treats and we need to switch to a different brand of natural pet food (or a homemade diet if we can find one that works). While he doesn't eat a ton of dry cat food, he does eat some...that apparently contributes to the development of crystals. UGH, this is so frustrating!! I really thought that we were going to finally "fix" this problem with the surgery.

 

[CheshireVal]

I'm sorry to hear that your cat can't have surgery.

I've always heard that dry food is a big no-no when it comes to male cats with consistent blockage problems. Maybe you could try the raw food diet? I'm sure there are some posters here who do that-- maybe they can give you ideas.