Any vets around? Cat's pee pipe problem - when do you call it a day?

[RGPargy]

Hi

My male cat has developed a pee pipe problem, in which crystals are forming in his uretha, preventing him from passing urine.

Anyway, it started on Friday when i noticed he was acting peculiar and holding his back end down so i rang the vet and was able to take him there straight away. She had a feel and said his bladder was HUGE and that she was going to keep him in and insert a catheta (sp?). While he was in, they removed the catheta to see if the bladder would fill up again and unfortunately it did so they had to reinsert it. I brought him home on Sunday night as he was very depressed all weekend (naturally) and the vet thought that he might perk up a bit if he was at home and this might aid his recovery. I had to give him special urinary food and also medication. I had to take him back yesterday to find out the situation and although he was acting fairly normally all the time he was home, unfortunately his bladder had filled up again and i had also noticed him spending about 10 minutes in one spot in the garden trying to have a wee, but it seems that he was not able to do so.

Last night i got up to the baby and noticed that again he was acting weird. He kept trying to wee anywhere he sat, including various places on my bed! In the end i had to shut him out of my bedroom because there's no way, if he were able to, that i or DP were going to be peed on in the middle of the night!

This morning he looks very depressed again and it seems we are back to square one. The medication isn't working, nor is the urinary food that's meant to dissolve the crystals.

The vet said that he might have to be hospitalised for 2/3 days again and have a catheta reinserted but if all this treatment isn't working, when do we say enough is enough?? He's obviously very unhappy. The vet said the worst case scenario would be to amputate his penis () but this seems really macabre!!!

Also, to be very honest, the bill so far is around £500 and we are very very stretched financially. I dont know how much more we can take, cost-wise!

Advice anyone?

TIA.

our dear old cat had this - lived for another 6-7 years after we thought he'd die

we only gave him the temptingly-named Urinary Tract food fron that point on - our vet said cat food is the cause if the build-up of nitrates.

hope he's better soon, it's so sore for them. and blimming cost us best part of 2k, iirc

Message withdrawn

Gawd - didn't realise Sparkly's post was already on this one lol. So used to seeing Sparkly in the post natal thread....

Thanx for the reassurances everyone and thanx for the link oops. Will read it in a sec - just off to take his meds down to him at the vets.

I'm so sorry your cat is so poorly. However, I have found some ideas for encouraging cats to drink more. They include;

collecting rainwater in a dish (my old male cat loved this best),

making weak herbal "tea" by brewing dried catnip in water, strain off catnip and give to drink when cool (this can be made in bulk and stored in fridge)

and making a weak "stock" by simmering a piece of chicken or fish just as it is and feed the resulting stock to the cat.

People have also been known to buy a water filtration system, like Brita, for their cats' drinking water!

Kittensocks - they are good ideas!

The thing about a cat needing to drink more...

Our lovely old cat started to squat over and over again and just produced a few drops of pink urine.

I guessed it might be cystitis, he'd already had a big op on his head

I literally dipped my finger in water and put it to his mouth a few times every hour or so. Yes, I did this several times in the night too, I slept in the same room.

He began to pee again more normally, thank goodness. I also held the bowl of water up for him and brought it to where he was, as he didn't feel well enough to go to the bowl in the kitchen.

For stress...i used to visit him while he was recovering from his big operation. I'd sit on the floor, leaning against the wall with my legs out and crossed. He found it very comforting to sit on me like that. He preferred no talking or stroking, just my hands gently alongside him. He still needs that every day or so.

Wow that's dedication! Glad he is ok now tho!

So they still have the catheter in place and will take it out Thursday night, with a view to seeing how he gets on overnight. If all is well, he'll be home on Friday. Fingers crossed!

To help mine drink more I have a cat-it water fountain. They really like it and all seem to drink quite a bit out of it. Oh and the manky pond too of course.

I cannot take the credit for all the ideas on getting cats to drink more, have read them over the years in a well known cat magazine!! But thouht they might come in handy if my cat becomes ill or won't eat in the future.

One of my cats broke her leg and couldn't be tempted to eat or drink afterwards, the only thing she would try was a very small amount of Marmite dissolved in tepid water. (This was 22yrs ago, before so much was known about cat dietary requirements, wouldn't recommend it now as Marmite is so salty; I figured at the time that getting her to drink anything was a bonus) And I had to spend my birthday money my mum had sent me on the vet bill, as it was a long time to pay day and we were broke!

I would add that if you have had a roast chicken, but haven't used any salt on it, put the bones in a pan with some water and boil it up, then strain the resulting stock to catch any tiny bones. When cool, the stock can be fed to the cat.

Claire - that Catit fountain sounds ideal because he loves drinking from running water.

Kitten - your ideas are very useful! I'll certainly be keeping them in mind!

He's having his cathetar out tonight so hopefully he wont block up overnight. Poor little thing is so sad in hospital.

RG, I have one of those foundations somewhere (might be in the shed) My cats won't drink from it, if I can find it, I can post it to you.

Oh wow, that'd be great, thanx Sparkly! Let me know how much you want for it.

Got to pick him up in a bit (when DD decides to wake from her nap!). He's been flushed out loads and apparently he's still getting a big build up but they want him to come home today in the hope that he relaxes a bit and starts to wee properly over the next couple of days. I have to take him back for another check up tomorrow morning to see how he's got on. Poor little fella.

Hope he gets through the weekend without any more problems, he will be very pleased to be home I bet.

Thanx Claire, I know he'll be really pleased to be home. He wouldn't leave me alone last time he stayed in and that was just a 2 night stay! This time he's stayed for 3 nights. Hope he doesn't have the hump with me!

Hi RGPargy.

Long time no see! How is the baby?

So sorry about your cat. I used to begrudge paying my cat's insurance as whenever we needed to claim on it we couldn't because of the excess. Then, when she was 12 years old, she needed a scan costing £2500 so we were damn grateful for the cover then as we couldn't have afforded that and I would have had to ask DH to put it on his credit card.

I hope your cat is soon home and well again.

Hi NAB, how are you?! DD is great thanx!

I think i'll deffo be looking into getting some sort of pet insurance in the near future. I have no idea of the current bill. It was £400 on Monday, which we paid £200 of. That was before the hospitalisation from Tuesday onwards.....

He's home now anyway and is acting as if he's never been away, bless him. Let's hope he has a few wees tonight as i have to take him back in teh morning for a check up.

Okayish here , thanks. Depends which way the trees are blowing!

Hope catty is soon okay.

I forgot mine was in the garage today and she was shut in for 2 hours. She ran out very pleased to see me!

Hi everyone

Took the cat back to the vet's this morning and she that his bladder "wasn't too full"!!!

That's brilliant news isn't it?! I was out at PIL's last night so couldn't really monitor him, but when i came home this morning he seemed very perky and even lifted his tail up to greet me!

The fact that his bladder wasn't huge obviously means that he's been to the toilet at some point over night.

I feel very very relieved!! Have to take him back on Monday afternoon for another check.

Things are looking up!

That's great news!

Brilliant, isn't it.

Great news how has he been today?

Hiya

He was fine yesterday but today he seems a bit quiet and he's been trying to have a wee in the same spot for ages now. I bet it's come back again

Off to the vets again today at 2pm for a check up.

Hi, I am a vet. Having just read your last post I would encourage you to phone your vet this morning and get him seen sooner than 2pm if at all possible. If he is blocked again a few hours can make quite a difference and most vets have far more time for dealing with problems like that earlier in the day. Hope he is OK.