2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

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Lin1611
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2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Lin1611 »

Hi all
Apologies for the long post but I’d really appreciate if you could bear with me if you feel you can offer any blockage/urinary diet related advice.

I posted a couple of months ago on the previous site about my 7yo cat Ernie who had been hospitalised with a urinary blockage, and had some really helpful advice from people here. He had appeared to have recovered and I was praying that it was a one-off but it looks to be an ongoing problem :(

We have just had a traumatic weekend after the same thing happened again, total blockage, emergency trip to vet, very distressed cat and 2 very distressed humans. Ern was catheterised for 2 days and stayed at the vets for 3. We brought him home yesterday as he was anxious in the vet environment and it was felt that he would recover better at home, and he’d had the catheter out for 12 hours and was weeing on his own. He seems fine in himself, he is so happy to be home, but we are watching him like hawks and I am extremely worried about a further re-occurrence.
I am desperate to prevent this from happening to him again and here is where the confusion starts.

The first time it happened we were told it was ‘probably’ caused by struvite crystals. I accepted this and we started him on Hills CD. He did not like the wet food so I also tried other varieties of urinary support wet to no avail, he just wouldn’t eat it. So we switched to Hills CD dry, a combination of the normal and the low-calorie version (also recommended by someone on here, thank you) which he really took to. I was giving him small amounts of non-CD wet food because he was also on one Cystease per day and I needed something to mix it in with. Things appeared to be going OK. The vet confirmed that the CD dry was better than reverting back to ‘normal’ wet food, even though there would be a lack of fluid in his diet it would make him drink more (I did notice he was drinking more which was good).
But- this change in diet has obviously not done the trick in preventing blockage (unless the tiny amounts of other wet food were enough to cause a problem) and to add to the confusion my vet now reports that there were no crystals in his urine at all, which he said was ‘surprising’. I asked if we should switch him back to ‘normal’ wet food as the CD is designed to dissolve crystals but the vet said it would be ‘foolhardy’ to do this. I asked what else could cause a blockage other than crystals and he did not really have an answer (although I admit I was in a panic and may not have taken everything in), other than we must get him to drink more and get his weight down a bit- he’s 6.2kg, but is a well-built muscular boy, broad shoulders, but I admit he is a bit chubby :(

Over the weekend I have tried to do some research online. The majority opinion seems to be that it’s essential to have the cat on a good quality wet diet, no dry at all, and that this better than ‘prescription’ dry food. Any opinions on this please?

I am at a total loss :( I don’t know what I’m supposed to be feeding him and I feel that I am going to make a mistake and whatever I feed him might potentially kill him. Since he’s been home I’ve given him some dry CD, and a bit of Felix for the moisture. He’s on Metacam once a day and I’m giving him 2 Easeflow a day (a chewable version of Cystease/Cystaid). He is weeing regularly but small amounts which is what happened last time, his wees got gradually bigger and less frequent as the irritation healed so hopefully this will happen again.

I have read on the net that repeated catheterisation can cause scar tissue inside, which in turn can cause repeat blockage. I also made the mistake of looking at some pictures of what they actually do to them during this process and now I will do ANYTHING to prevent him going through this again. But if crystals are not the cause I just don’t know where to start. I wonder now if it is anything to do at all with what he’s eating? Is there any point in him being on a crystal-dissolving diet if he has no crystals in his urine? Would good quality wet food be better than dry CD? I am loathe to keep him on a diet that so obviously didn’t help, but also extremely wary of going against my vet’s advice.

It was also suggested that stress could be contributing, but he is the happiest most chilled-out boy normally, he purrs and chats away to us all day and loves being at home or in the garden with us…we have had no changes at home to stress him out and we’re a one-cat family. The vet explained that we don’t always know when they are stressed, but could a happy cat get a total urinary blockage from hidden stress?
Any advice at all would be very gratefully received as I am in a total panic. If this is going to happen every couple of months he is going to get extremely traumatised by the repeated invasive treatment and I can’t bear to see him scared and in pain again :cry: :cry:

thanks for reading
Lin x
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Crewella »

I'm so sorry poor Ernie has gone through this again.

Daz went through several blockages before we got some control of the problem, and I know how distressing it is.

I found this website very helpful:

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_fe ... t_dis.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My vet said that the large majority of cats showing this problem are overweight and dry food is more calorific, so sticking to the lower calorie version to get the weight off him is a good start, also get as much liquid into him as you can - ideally through adding water to wet food, as that helps to flush through whatever is causing the irritation in his bladder. I fed a low calorie urinary dry food with a good quality wet food and added water, but I did try to mix a urinary wet food in with the regular wet food to try to disguise it and make him eat it. I admit it was a struggle and I have now given up, but I did try hard when things were bad.

Daz seemed a chilled out cat too, but I chose to put him on Cystophan or Cystease as they have ingredients to deal with stress, just in case.

Fusses to Ernie. x
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by greenkitty »

I don't have any experience other than dealing with Cystitis in one of my furries but she is a stress head.

In my mind it makes sense to feed good quality wet with added water over dry as the liquid will help keep things flushed through, if he doesn't have crystals that need breaking down perhaps a small quantity of the dry with some wet and water plus a bit of weight loss would do the trick.

Fusses to Ernie.
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by lilynmitz »

This sounds really distressing. Crewella's advice may be helpful, so do have a look at that, but otherwise I would have another word with your vet over the phone, or ask whether there's a specialist who could give a second opinion if he can't think of anything that might be causing these symptoms other than crystals. As you say, if there's no struvite crystals in his urine, you may need to be considering alaternative treatment for the actual cause.

Meanwhile I don't think there's any harm in trying to keep him to the urinary diet and keeping up with the Cystease, if this WAS the problem last time, as it could recur. You could also try to get a little weight off him if this can contribute to the problem. It's so tough when they won't eat prescription diets though, I do sympathise.

Have another chat with your vet though, it sometimes helps to try to keep them on the case like this.
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Lin1611 »

Hi all

Thank you so much for the replies. Once again apologies for the mammoth post, I was in such a panic and wanted to get it all out I think!

I will certainly talk to the vet again. We have to go back Thursday for a checkup. I do find its a problem that every phone call or visit, most of the time, is with someone different and you can tend to receive conflicting information.

Crewella, I remember your post about Daz on the previous board. I'm glad he is doing ok now. how many times did he get blocked? At any point, were you offered/recommended the urethrostomy operation? It sounds drastic and I know it's not always a success but if I thought it would help Ernie then I think I would find the money and nurse him through it.
What wet food is considered 'good quality'? I'd like to get him on something with a lower content of cereals and filler....
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by greenkitty »

I meant good quality as in food free of cereals and fillers.
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Crewella »

Daz didn't have proper crystals either, it was a sort of struvite 'sand' that had formed a sludge with assorted detritus from the inflamed bladder wall. Daz's blockages went into double figures last year, but he's a very passive cat and my wonderful vet was able to move the minor blockages by inserting a catheter into the very end of the penis and flushing through there and then. He did say he's not met another cat he could do that with! Three blockages were deeper and required a proper catheter and a couple of days on a drip.

We did discuss the perineal urethrostomy, but, personally, having looked into it I felt the success rates weren't encouraging, and it wouldn't actually solve the original cystitis/inflammation/sand problem. I would have gone for it as a last resort, but wanted to give weight loss/Cystophan/added water a chance to work, and thankfully it did.

I added two tablespoons of water to his wet food for each meal (it was practically soup!), and he ate it like that (bless him). The extra water also helped to fill him up so he was happier with less, with some of the urinary low calorie biscuits sprinkled on top. Daz is now a kilo lighter than he was, and I'm convinced the weight loss was a major factor in his (so far ..... touch wood) recovery.

I hope that helps, I saw several vets and got conflicting advice as well - it's very confusing.
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Lin1611 »

Thanks for all the extra info :)

Greenkitty...yes I assumed you meant that. but I meant do you have any specific recommendations for a 'good quality' wet food? I find it all very confusing. A lot of the high meat content foods in PAH for instance, say they are not 'complete' foods?

Crewella I will try some of your suggestions. I think I'm just frustrated because I feel I was already doing everything I could and it made no difference at all, we put him on the recommended diet, encouraged more water (he loves filtered water!), were feeding him much less and low-cal (although in fact he hasn't lost any weight since doing this).

He was never a fussy eater until I started trying to get him to eat the CD food. I can try adding water to his wet food as soon as I can figure out what wet food to give him.

I agree the PU would absolutely be a last resort, I also think it's very costly.

Perhaps you are right and the weight loss is key, over the last month I've been measuring between 20 and 30 grams of dry CD for each meal, twice a day, and cut out all treats. I was surprised he hadn't lost any at all. He's got a good appetite but he's such a good boy, he never asks for more or begs for treats...I so want to do the right thing by him....
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Crewella »

I felt I was doing everything too, but it takes time for the changes to take effect. With Daz, we had a horrible year, permanently watching him pee, rushing him down to the vets all the time and it cost a fortune, but it was worth it to see him now.

I have six cats so don't buy anything fancy - I feed all sorts but mostly Butcher's Classic, Felix AGAIL pouches (including the senior as most of mine are over 10) and Feline Fayre (all cereal free). I also avoid feeding Daz fish flavours.

I could be wrong, but the dry food is the most calorific, he should lose weight when on more wet food - that's certainly what happened with Daz.

I hope that helps!
Last edited by Crewella on Tue Apr 15, 2014 12:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by greenkitty »

Maybe something like Butchers Classic, I know it's cereal free but I'm not sure else is in it. It's cheap and available in most supermarkets..
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Lin1611 »

thank you both so much.

I will investigate the foods you have suggested. He loves wet and dry food- he is funny with his dry food as he picks each biscuit out individually and chases it around the floor before eating it, it takes him about half an hour to eat his breakfast like this but it's good exercise for him!

Yes we've constantly been watching his 'output' since January...it is very stressful.

Crewella it sounds like Ernie's problem is similar to Daz's. Each time the blockage was at the very tip. The first time they unblocked him under sedation but he did not require a catheter and only one night's stay. This time, blockage in same place but 2 days catheterisation. Not sure why the different treatments for same thing, maybe because it was a recurrence? I will check when I take him back but the vets always seem in such a rush I always feel I'm asking too many questions :oops:
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by greenkitty »

Nature's Menu and Lily's Kitchen are also cereal free but more expensive, some of the Hi-Life varieties are also free but I'm not sure which ones. As are the Sheba Classic Terrines (in a foil tray but they do several varieties in a foil tray so make sure you pick up the right ones), also the Sheba Terrine Fusion - Fish Selection pouches are too.
Last edited by greenkitty on Tue Apr 15, 2014 2:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by KittyWitty »

I fed Nature's Menu which is very good quality.

My boy loves it.

£30ish for a multipack but that roughly lasts a month (at least with us it does) so really it isn't that expensive.
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Crewella »

With Daz, it depended on the severity of the blockage.
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Jan »

Hello everyone -I'm new here (a year ago, would never in a million years think I'd belong to a cat forum but since adopting my mother's 10 year old moggie because she had to go into a care home, he has me acting as scullery maid (clearing tin), kitchen maid (serving food) and commissionaire (opening + closing the door).

Anyway - now that I'm as spellbound as the rest here, this particular thread caught my eye because we've just been through a rather traumatic time with Blackie (prizes for guessing colour?). We first took him to the vets because we noticed a small round bald spot on his forehead near his right eye. A few hairs were taken to grow in a culture to see if he had ringworm but that proved negative. He also suggested putting one of those collars on him to prevent him from scratching. What a disaster that was - we removed it within half an hour of getting him home. Blackie is a highly nervous cat - jumps at his own shadow and we had never seen him in such a state.

The vet wanted to see him again in 10 days or so. However, during that time, instinct told me 'something' wasn't quite right with the cat so instead of waiting until the Friday when the appointment was due, we took him in the day before and saw a different vet. He did the usual hands-on examination and then proclaimed to our shock and horror that Blackie's abdomen was full of urine and that had we left the appointment until the following day, the cat may well have died. We had absolutely no idea that he wasn't toileting in the garden.

He was given anaesthetic so a catheter could be inserted to draw off the urine but as it happened, the vet said once he was 'under', the urine simply poured out of him - giving us the only good news that there was no blockage of stones or crystals.

The vet could see what a highly strung, nervous little individual Blackie is, and met all the criteria for Feline Idiopathic Cystitis - male, a bit overweight, neutered, easily stressed and 11 years old, and he should be put on a course of the wet Hills Prescription c/d Urinary Stress diet. We've only ever given him wet food anyway - Felix which is what my mother fed him on for 10 years with no problems whatsoever. We should also add a teaspoon of water to the meal. I had already noticed before all this that Blackie didn't seem to drink much - if at all.

This vet told us that the bald spot on his forehead had been self-inflicted and gave him an antibiotic injection which would last him 2 weeks so that the spot would be protected from picking up any infection in the garden. He also gave us some Metacam to give him for 5 days to ease his bladder inflammation when he passed urine within the next days.

The upshot of all this is that the Hills diet and the short course of Metacam seems to have worked for Blackie. Initially he loved the Hills diet but it does smell rather bland and given that the only flavour we could get was chicken, I think he is now sick of it (my husband said he'll start laying eggs soon!). I have now managed to get the salmon variety for him though this was quite hard to come by where I live.

The vet has warned us that this particular idiopathic cystitis will recur from time to time -there is no known cure and having the kind of nature Blackie has will make him more prone to attacks than perhaps other individuals now that he's an 'elderly gentleman' as the vet called him. I wonder if putting that collar on him, even for only a short time, started this bout of cystitis - only time will tell if he gets another bout of it under more normal circumstances.

The vet also suggested we get a water fountain as some cats will drink water when they see it moving. This we did - so far a complete waste of money. Blackie looked at it for 2 seconds and walked straight past and now doesn't look at it at all.

We now watch his toileting habits like a hawk and I dread coming down in the morning to find he hasn't passed any urine during the night. So far, so good.

Like humans, I'm sure that what works for one cat, won't work for another.

I completely understand and sympathise with Lin and any others here who have undergone and are undergoing this trauma with their cat. We know exactly how it feels.

(Sorry for long post).
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Lin1611 »

Hi Jan

Thanks for the reply and good for you for adopting your Mum's cat. I do hope your mother is getting on ok at the care home.

Poor Blackie, I hope he is feeling better. If the cystitis is caused by stress have you tried A Feliway diffuser? This can help especially when a cat is going through a change like settling into a new home. You can also buy a product called Cystease which is made by the same company, it is like Cystaid which is a supplement to help soothe the bladder but has an added stress relieving ingredient. Do check with your vet first but this might help if he has another attack. I usually have Ernie on this or similar.

I know what you mean about the Hill CD, you can tell by the smell that its not going to taste nice! But if Blackie is tolerating it, you can buy both flavours from several online pet stores, cheaper than via the vets too.

I've found that Ernie prefers filtered water to tap, you know just from a Brita filter or something. So maybe something to try.

I also dread checking the litter tray each morning, I'm beside myself with joy if he's done a normal sized wee and can relax a bit, but if there's a small wee or nothing I get very anxious :/

Thanks also Greenkitty and Kitywitty for the food recommendations. I'm going on a cat food spree over the weekend!
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Graylion »

Our cat "Double" was a stray for about 3 years in our neighbourhood and we rescued him last October. He showed as FIV+ on the short test and we haven't bothered to go further (I wrote a lot about his early days on the old forum (are you still around Carol?). Recently he had a blockage which the vet reckoned was struvite crystals, so he had to go on anti-biotics and Royal Canin Urinary S/O - wet pouches. I am an absolute convert to wet food and am reluctant to give our cats any dry food, although we have a large bag of Royal Canin Exigent to use up!. The vet said that cats fed on commercial food will often get struvite crystal formation. Odd, because, in 45 years of keeping cats, we have never seen it!
Research told me that it's overweight and under-excercised cats that suffer the most. That fits Double as he's become an indoor, inactive 'barrel'! Someone has been overfeeding him! ;) 3 years of fighting to survive has made him grateful to belong to someone (and be loved of course). We now regulate his food even though he wants feeding about 3,000 times a day! Low water intake and dry food encourages crystal and stones formation - I have kidney stones due to inadequte water intake! They recommend a cat's urine pH should be 6.0 - 6.5; slightly on the acidic side to dissolve the crystals.
Double has to see the vet again this evening to see if he's clear of infection, which generally goes hand-in-hand with passing crystals (AND kidney stones!). He's about 13 and is doing very well, apart from these recent very heavy vet's bills - but of course he's worth it! It's a shame he doesn't like our other cat Shadow (here from a kitten and is nearly 6). They are both long-haired blacks and look the same from a distance - hence the name "Double" :D
Cheers, Lionel
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Jan »

Hello again Lin

Pleased to say Mum is doing well now that she's looked after 24/7. She always asks about Blackie - tells me he comes to sleep on her bed at night and disappears in the morning. Then thanks me for looking after him for her. Brings tears to my eyes. If it wasn't for Mum, Blackie wouldn't have been here at all - he was the runt of a litter and as no home could be found for him, the owners of the farm where he was born were going to have him put down. Mum came to the rescue and said she'd have him.

As for Blackie himself - everything x'd, he seems to be doing well. He used both litter trays tonight - one to wee in and the other for 'the other'! He was also racing to the end of the garden and back again this afternoon - a distance of some 240ft, as well as playing 'hide and seek' under the patio table cover with me dragging a piece of string around it (I'm the one who gets dizzy!). So they are good signs that he's feeling better.

We have used the Feliway spray and in the small bedroom where Blackie sleeps we have a 'Pet Remedy' (similar to Feliway) plug in. We also put one in the dining room in case he decides to sleep in his cat bed or on one of the dining chairs underneath the table.

I have tried online to get the Hills Urinary Stress wet diet but without success. Do you think you could let me have the names of a couple of online retailers who might stock it? I'd be very grateful - Blackie seems to prefer the salmon variety, though expect he'll get fed up with that soon enough. I'm mixing the Urinary Stress food in with the Hills Anti-Ageing 11+ food which does smell as if its got more taste - and Blackie definitely seems to like that.

Thanks for the info on Cystaid - I haven't heard of it but then again, I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to cats. I will of course speak to the vet if (when?) Blackie has another attack. The 2nd vet we saw said that his hyper-nervousness is due to the fact that he was the runt of the litter. He has such a short little tail due to the fact that he had hyperthermia when he was born.

Thanks also for the tip about filtered water ... I'll give it a try.

Have to say that Blackie is quite an active cat - I'm try to play a game with him every day - usually with a bit of string, either with him chasing it, or he hides under the patio table cover and darts his paws out to grab it as I go round (I'm the one who gets tired of this game first as I get dizzy!). Or I have him running up + down the stairs chasing the string. Today he raced from the house to the back of the garden and shortly afterwards raced back again - that's a distance of some 240ft - so he must be feeling much better than he was.

How is Ernie going on? Hope all is progressing the right way. Fingers x'd for him.

Good to read, Lionel, that Double is doing well. Kidney stones are very painful so I'm told ... a friend of mine suffered from them. There's no doubt that Blackie loves his wet food and has never been fed on anything else even when my mother had him for 10 years. Hope the vet visit tonight went well.
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Lin1611 »

Lionel, Double sounds adorable, I love black cats, how did his vets visit go? Ernie had his follow up visit the other day too and he was clear of infection. I know what you mean about the leftover dry food, I'm not giving him anymore dry food at all and have a huge stash of the stuff in the 'cat cupboard'!

Jan, I got my last lot of Hills CD food from vet uk, if you Google it you'll find their sites.
I got Cystease and other bits from here as well, but there are several online retailers I think you can even get it on Amazon. Sounds like you're doing all the right things with Blackie :) some cats like a separate litter tray for number 1's and number 2's so maybe he's one of those. And exercise is all good, keeps their weight in check, makes them sleep better and keeps them stimulated, you really are doing a great job with him.

Ernie is doing ok I think, he is weeing normally some of the time but other times he goes and there is hardly anything there. Vet says it could be that he is still irritated down below after the catheter treatment and making him feel he needs to go when he doesn't really. Still keeping a close eye on him but he's back to his normal cheery chappy self in his behaviour etc.

After discussion with the vet I now have him on a purely wet diet, non prescription. The vet was still keen for me to use the Hills CD wet but Ernie hates it. We discussed the fact that there were no crystals found, so what were the benefits of a crystal-dissolving diet as opposed to a high quality wet diet. I've tried him on Natures Menu and he absolutely loves it! And as per Crewella's suggestion I am adding water to each meal and he's not objecting yet, I will add, more and more until I find out how much I can get away with!

Thanks again for everyone's advice.
Lin x
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Crewella »

I'm glad that you were able to have a proper discussion with your vet, that sounds like a good plan, and I'm glad that Ernie seems to be doing well.

Daz and I send positive vibes, and give Ernie a fuss from me. xx
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by HRHFluffy »

Hi Lin, I'm pleased that Ernie seems to be doing better. I've been following his progress but haven't had any useful advice to offer although my little girl Fluffy is prone to cystitis. I know it is a lot more serious with boys. I have found though that adding water to her wet food has helped.

Hi Lionel, this is Carol. Yes I'm still around! I've been trying to keep up to date with this thread and tonight whilst reading through the posts I came across the name Double. I thought there's only one cat I know with that name :) . I'm sorry he has had some problems with cystitis. Hopefully he is on the mend. Keep us up to date with how his latest vet visit went. I remember the story of Double when you first started looking after him. Sadly two days after my last post on that particular thread I lost my lovely FIV boy Harvey. Took him to a new vet as he was having problems with his mouth and I thought he would need a dental. It turned out he had oral cancer. Two tumours were found. We had to let him go. He was so young. But he had been saved from his straying days (like Double) and had learnt that life was actually really quite good. I hope that Double has settled down more and is enjoying his new life with you.

Sorry Lin to intrude. Give Ernie a cuddle from me and Fluffy xx
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Lin1611 »

Thank you Crewella and Carol. Ernie has had a good weekend, I am still celebrating every wee in an obsessive manner but we are all starting to relax a little and just hoping that the wet food will keep things flushed through. He's stopped licking himself after each visit to the tray so I think he's feeling much more comfortable.

No intrusion Carol, so sorry to know about your Harvey, but lucky boy to have found a lovely home after being a stray. It's awful when they go young isn't is :(



Lin x
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HRHFluffy
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by HRHFluffy »

Hi Lin, I'm so pleased that it looks like Ernie is improving. You will probably be keeping a watchful eye on his tray habits for some time yet though :) The wet food will definitely be helping. Keep us up to date with his progress. Great picture in your avatar by the way. Makes me smile everytime I see it. Is that Ernie? Thanks also for your kind words about Harvey xx
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Lin1611 »

Thank you Carol yes that's my Ernie, it's my favourite picture of him he looks like a little Eskimo :D
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Jan »

Hello again Lin ...glad that Ernie seems to be doing well now. Actually you have helped to ease some of my worries about Blackie.. .in that sometimes one of his wees will seem a lot, and other times hardly anything at all. So perhaps it is due to the fact that his bladder is still a bit inflamed and tender.

Thank you too for the name of an online retailer - in the end I did find one that had the Hills c/d salmon variety in stock and they should be arriving tomorrow. We were given another free trial pack of the Hills diet on Saturday from our local vets.

I had a bit of a panic attack over the cat on Sunday - I am so used to him doing his poo indoors and hadn't seen any for 2/3 days so I felt sure he must be constipated. After being told by our local vet that he was probably 24 hours from death due to him not passing any urine, I didn't want to take any chances so we rushed him up to an emergency vet. We waited over an hour - to be told by the vet there was absolutely nothing wrong with him! I felt a bit of a fool - and had to pay £141 for the privilege!! Still it was worth it for peace of mind. She said Blackie must be fooling us by doing most of his toileting outside now whereas he's always used his indoor trays, especially for pooing. On examination there were no 'lumps' and his bladder had hardly anything in it.

This particular vet also agreed with our local vet that Blackie must be kept on the wet Hills c/d prescription diet for urinary stress and we'd be advised not to mix it with anything else. She suggested we could try the Royal Canine wet food for stress for a change - has anyone here tried that on their cat?

Sorry that Ernie hates the Hills c/d stuff so much. Our usual vet was a bit surprised when I told him that we didn't have any trouble getting Blackie to eat it. I always add water to it as well.

I am sad to read that the cat Harvey died young ...
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Lin1611
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Lin1611 »

Oh Jan I'm so sorry you spent all that money but what a relief he was OK! It's so difficult with animals as they can't tell us if any things wrong and we just have to judge it ourselves, but as you get to know Blackie more you will be more confident in what is normal for him and what isn't.

I've been struggling a bit getting Ernie onto purely wet food...he keeps acting like he loves something, like the first lot of Natures Menu I gave him he wolfed it down, but then seems to go off it. He has however been eating Royal Canin urinary wet food which I thought he'd hate as he didn't like the Hills. The thing is I never want to buy too much of anything because he keeps changing his mind!

Glad all is going well with Blackie :)
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Jan »

Sorry you've been having struggles with getting Ernie onto wet food, Lin. I know what you mean by not buying too much food ... I'd just spent nearly £60 on Felix only days before Blackie was diagnosed with Feline Idiopathic Cystitis. It now sits on the shelves in the garage until we get round to taking it to a cats home.

Our local vet told me his cat is fed on the wet Royal Canin urinary diet but when I asked if Blackie could have this as well, he said no - that the Hills Prescription Urinary Stress diet was much better for Blackie, so I have to accept what he said. He also told me he must have it for the rest of his life with only an occasional treat of Felix.

Seems we're lucky that Blackie has accepted this Hills food ... and at least I can get some water into him. I told the vet I was mixing 2 teaspoons of water and was told I could up it to 2 tablespoons of mildly warm water - which is practically drowning the food! Still, he laps it up - he sounds like a human sucking up soup. Just hope all this liquid is coming out the other end :lol:

Hope Ernie goes along ok ...
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Re: 2nd urinary blockage in 2 months, help please :(

Post by Nettybags »

Hello everyone ,
I have a question about cystitis my cat tom was at the vets on Saturday evening .
He had been straining and passing blood . My vet was lovely gave him a painkiller and two week antibiotic injection, cystophan . It's not his first bout of cystitis but seems to be lasting a long time . He is passing more wee but when he does go for a wee it starts the in and out of litter tray again .
So worried about my baby . Even though he is fine sleeping eating , fighting his sister !! It's just when he goes for a wee it starts .
Is it normal for cystitis last for a long time ?
If I knew how to upload photo I would he is fast asleep while I'm driving myself mad with worry

This is a great site and love reading everyone's stories really helpful

Thank you
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