urinary blockages in cats can anyone help.

by Liz
(CT)

Hello,


I'm writing with a question pertaining to my 2 year old female cat, Bella. I had noticed that Bella had been licking her hind area more than usual a few weeks ago. I decided to bring her in to my vet. to see if she had a urinary tract infection. They tested her urine and found abnormal results (blood in the pee, crystals, etc.) They gave me Clavamox and said we should retest the urine in 10 days. Upon bringing a second urine sample back to the vet, they re-tested and told me that there was only a slight improvement in her urine. (Just a trace of blood now but still a high presence of struvite crystals). They told me to continue the meds for 10 days. After getting to about Day 5 of that, I noticed the straining in the litter box. I brought her immediately to the ER and she was in fact blocked. They catheterized her and sent her home with me where we were suppose to monitor her for a few days. They said that if she was a male, they would keep her overnight, but since she is a female and her urethra is larger than a male's, she could go home and just to watch her and keep her confined to a litter box near us to monitor. They also told us this was rare in females.

The next day, we noticed more straining, so we brought her in for the recommended ultra-sound. They said on the ultrasound they found an immense amount of crystals. They
told us that that we can either try to dissolve these with a special diet or surgically remove them. We decided to surgically remove and basically clean out the bladder. (They told us that it wasn't certain they would even dissolve on their own with a special diet).

So that brings us to today. Bella her surgery yesterday and passed some urine throughout the night last night. Today when I called to see what time we could come in for a consultation and pick her up, the dr. told me that she unfortunately blocked again!!!! And that he would have to catheterize her for 48 hrs. (At this point, I'm so discouraged and sad for her that she has to go through further medical procedures). He said he does not know why she re-blocked, and that it could be due to a clot that could develop from surgery.

Has anyone ever heard of this or been in a similar situation? Any advice/input would be helpful as I feel so helpless for her right now. Thank you for your time.

Reply
Poor little girl. It is unusual for a female cat to suffer like this. It is rather puzzling. I wonder if she has a particularly narrow urethra which is causing the problem, or I wonder if the food she is eating coul cause this, I dont know.

I will post this on the blog so that if anyone else has had experience of this they an comment for you.

I do hope this can be sorted out for your cat soon.

best wishes kate

Comments for urinary blockages in cats can anyone help.

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Urinary blockage
by: Anonymous

Get a science diet food for cats with urinary issues. asap! Your vet should have it or another brand available if not look it online where you can buy it. Do it as soon as you can. It saved my cat !
urinary tract feline
by: Gloria Williams

About 6 years ago my male cat had a crystal blockage he had to stay a week at vets with catheder and they put on special diet and food, I now have him on wet and dry food, he eats the other cats food to, its hard to keep him from eating theits. So I just feed him lots of water, which he is thirsty a lot. Its a way of life for him now, and his kidneys arnt good either. We r just making his life good as long as he lasts and we should have another 5 or more years with him.I have never had a cat so sick before.
Crystals in Urine from food
by: Anonymous

My cat Tom was developing crystals in his urine which was an extremely painful condition for him, that I didn't know about until the Vet ran a urine analysis test. Thank goodness! He's been on a mixture of Prescription Diet WD and Purina Pro urine health formula.
You are good cat parents!
by: Amy

My cat years ago had the same issue, not as severe, but my parents had an identical situation as yours. He had surgery, and with the right food and close monitoring he is fine. My cat was okay on the over the counter food but my parents cat needs to stay on a very special diet prescribed by the vet.

It sounds like you really closely monitored this and brought him in right away. Which is really important. I was told this is genetic or familial so if you know any of the cats siblings you may want to let them know, so they can be as great as you have been in caring for your cat.
no kibble
by: Anonymous

berry brite a great product you add to food. if your feeding her kibble ,stop, science diet kibble and many other kibbles cause struvite crystals. you can get berry brites on line and it will help very quickly it is a powdered supplement with cranberry and other which helps with urinary tract
Urinary Blockage in Cat
by: Anonymous

I wanted to reply as I had a very similiar situation with my cat "Sam" 2 years ago. Sam began straining to urinate in his box without much luck. It became apparent that he was in distress and pain. Off to the Vet and we was told he was VERY blocked with crystals. They kept him over night with a catheter in place and the next day he was STILL very blocked and had pulled out his catheter. He was catheterized AGAIN and kept 2 more days and in those two days he was STILL full of crystals and continued to pull out his catheter. After a week of this and surgery, they called me on Friday evening to tell me that Sam was no better and nothing they had done was helping him. They suggested putting him down! I was devastated. He was only 2 years old and we loved him so much. I begged them to PLEASE work with him through out the weekend and if he was still suffering and no better by Monday, I would sign the paper as bad as I didnt want to. They told me he would ALWAYS have these problems and that I would be doing him a favor to put him down on Monday. All weekend while he was hospitalized, I sat home and prayed and cried. I didnt want to lose him but didnt want him to suffer either. On Monday, I called in the morning, expecting to hear he had done poorly all weekend.To my surprise, they reported that he had passed ALL the crystals over the weekend and was back to his old self. He came home with Clavomox and was put on Science diet CAN food called "CD" for cats with a history of blockages. Sam has remained on his special diet for 2 years now and continues to do VERY WELL. NO MORE BLOCKAGE. I am so grateful. I have researched and found that most DRY cat foods have ingrediants that can bring on crystal blockage. I have therefore changed my entire cat family's food to Science diet Can CD and the Science diet CD formula dry. No problems ever since the diet change.This delima costed me about 1,800 in vet bills and a week of sleepless nights but Sam was WELL WORTH IT as saving him meant everything to me.
Best wishes to your kitty and I hope it does well.

Mary in VA, USA

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