Handhold and positive stories please - bladder blockage

[hereismydog]

My boy was struggling to wee last night and howling when I picked him up, noticed he was leaking urine so took him to the vet at 1am, they catheterised him (whilst fully conscious, he was very brave!) and there was no evidence of crystals, stones, tumours or anything else that would have caused an obstruction. The vet managed to completely empty his bladder via catheterisation and he came home with me feeling much better after some heavy-duty painkillers.

DP took him back to the vet at 9am as requested, they confirmed his bladder was still empty and he wasn’t at all bothered about them having a good squeeze of his belly. He’s been sent home again with painkillers and a urine sample kit. He’s under bathroom arrest today to make sure he does a wee, but it’s now been 12 hours and still nothing. He’s not a frequent toileter in general and doesn’t drink much, he usually wees 1-2 times daily (probably why he is in this pickle!)

He seems his usual happy self, eating and drinking and wanting a fuss whereas last night he was behaving like a wild beast due to pain ☹️ I’m expecting this not to be the end of it and am prepared for another vet trip if he doesn’t wee in the next couple of hours. Can anyone share any success stories of their boy cats fully recovering from bladder blockage please, because I’m so worried about my little love 😪

My lovely old boy has this. He gets stress related cystitis. He ended up in the vets for a week, and cost me a fortune. I now keep loxicom in the house for him at all time. I get tell tale signs of it. So he starts getting in and out of the litter tray and trying to wee, but there's only a drop, or he starts trying to bunch up towels or bath mat to do it. I also see spots of blood. As soon as he does this I give him a dose of loxicom, followed by another about 4 hours later. So far this has been enough to relax him enough to get him weeing again. It's bloody for a few days, and small volumes. I keep up the meds if needed. And he's so far been fine.
I also make sure he has a wet pouch of food daily too. That massively helps.
some people swear by cystease capsules sprinkled on their food as well.

Don't confine him to the bathroom. Let him roam but not out so you can see him using the loo. He needs to relax as much as possible.

I need to keep him isolated until he’s been because we have three cats and I need to know exactly whose wee is in the tray so I can a) see if he’s been and b) collect the urine sample 😫

He’s got loxicom now (and had a hefty whack of methadone last night at the vets) so hopefully he’s relaxed enough to wee. He’s eating fine at the moment, so hoping he is still feeling alright in himself.

Have you given him another dose of loxicom yet? I'd consider that. Sometimes I have to give my boy twice the amount recommended. The new vet was very much "nope bring him in, it can affect his kidneys". My response was he's 18, hates the vet's and it makes everything worse and you'll just give it him anyway. The more sensible vet agreed and it's worked so far.

Not yet, he does get a bit of a dicky tummy with it so don’t want to add to his woes. Still no wee, I called the vet and she said if he’s not in pain then just see how he goes, I’ve had a good feel of his abdomen and it’s still soft and me touching it didn’t bother him. I’m going to try and stimulate him to wee with a bit of wet cotton wool (a bit like his mum would have done when he was tiny!) tonight and encourage him to drink a bit more as I don’t think he’s drunk much today to actually produce any wee. Will take him to bed with me tonight so I can hear if he tries to use the tray and call the emergency vet again if I’m worried. His regular vet is open 9-12 tomorrow morning and have said to bring him if he doesn’t wee tonight.

I just had an epiphany and thought I ought to check the bath as he sometimes does piss down the plughole if he’s planning a big wee that he doesn’t want to do in the tray (he’s always done it!), sure enough the hair catcher we’ve got over the plug hole is wet and smells of fresh cat piss 🙄 probably been merrily pissing down the drain all day because he doesn’t want to use the pathetic thimble-full of the urine collection litter kit the vet gave us! I’ve put the plug in now so we shall see what happens tonight.

I’m talking to myself now but just wanted to update that boycat has done a MAMMOTH, normal-looking wee in the tray, I’ve got my sample and he is free to roam the house again

Glad it's good news

Fingers crossed that's the end of it for your cat @hereismydog! Good thinking about the bath possibility. Not sure if you need any reassurance but my elderly boy had this a few years ago - it was a complete one off, and he's never had further problems (he's now 16).

So pleased to hear this. I do feel there should now be cat tax payable though. :)

Mine has been in the vets for this just this week! £2.5k later... he seems to be doing OK. He's got a heart condition and had to be sedated, so it's been a real worry. But he's currently purring away on my lap having just done a wee, a poo and having eaten!

Tax paid! Still sporting the mullet the vet gave him on our last emergency trip for an abscess on the top of his bonce 🙄😂

Oh look at him! He's gorgeous. I hope he's now feeling much better.

Might be worth giving cystophan daily as a preventative

Mine had this recently and I've swapped him to urinary food and adding the supplement daily. Mostly as it's £10 a month and cheaper than OOH vets!

My cat had a blockage last year, I think it was caused by stress as we got new kittens and he hated them. He had to go to the vets for a few days they removed the blockage in his pipe bit and said he had kidney stones

I was on edge for weeks after that it would happen again. The vets said somtimes it happens again other times the cats never have an issue again. Ever since then I've put a little water in all of my cats wet food just to make sure their getting enough liquid,

Hes not had a blockage since though x

We’ve had totally normal wee and a happy boy all week! We’ve put it down to him having had dry food to snack on recently, which he doesn’t normally have.

We are going to look into preventative measures though as I don’t ever want him to be in that pain again

This is the stuff I use, just empty it and mix into food, one a day
It must taste ok as my daft boy tried to eat the empty capsule!

amzn.eu/d/2c2c5jm

I've had two cats with urinary issues and I've found switching to a urinary dry food and giving daily Cystease and D-Mannose supplements to be the answer - it's much cheaper than the vets too!

You could ask your vet if it would make sense to give your cat methionine to prevent another blockage and maybe have its pee tested to see if it is acidic enough. Low acidity can form struvite stones: https://www.petmd.com/pet-medication/dl-methionine-dogs-and-cats
I had to give methionine to my cat daily for half a year and it didn’t have any side effects.

I’m back at the vet in the morning with my dog so will ask about it when we’re there!

Our old cat had this. It started when a new cat moved in across the road. The cystitis always seemed to flare up if we went away so I used to dose him on metacam (same as loxicom) every time we went on holiday as a preventative. We used to add a lot of water to his wet food until it was basically soup and he only ever need the surgery for a blocked urethra that one time. So definitely get some loxicom/metacam for times when you see signs of him having cystitis and add lots of water to the food. For some cats though it is due to crystals in the urine and they need to have a special type of cat food to prevent the crystals forming.

It’s happening again 😞 he’s tried to wee 3-4 times this morning but can’t. He had his breakfast as normal and seems okay in himself but DP is off to the vet with him again now, will update when he’s been seen ☹️

No blockage today, he has been treated for cystitis. His bladder was nice and empty but he’s just a bit sore so thinks he needs to wee when he doesn’t and will just go and squat in the tray looking sorry for himself 😫 he’s got a week’s worth of gabapentin and metacam to make weeing a bit more comfy for him and vet has advised us to order Cystease to give him daily from now on.

I do think the cystease helps. I started that immediately as well as changing food and fingers crossed he's been fine since

Seconding Cystease here.

Sid was found in the garden, practically unconscious,head over a water bowl one morning, no obvious previous sign of illness. 2 days hospitalised, catherised, on a drip, offered euthanasia… 5 days later you’d never know he’d been ill.
He’s now on Cystease daily. (And we are now postponing my new car for a couple of years)

I had the same problem with my boy cat , he couldn't wee at all just a few drops . He went in and out of his litter tray dozens of times to try to go.
The vets said there weren't any kidney stones or crystals and couldn't figure out what was wrong with him . His bladder was very full so they catheterised him and kept him in .
He was put on metacam and gabapentin . He seemed better the following day so I took him home only for it to be repeated 3x on one occasion it took him hrs to start to come round from the sedation because his whole system was slowing down .
It scared the bloody life out of me .
The vets still couldn't figure out what was wrong and said if it happened again they would have to operate and remove his penis and give him a more 'female' type opening but if that didn't work there would be nothing else they could do for him .
Fortunately he has been fine since then ( I think he must of understood the vet ! )