"Sludgy" bladder - anyone else's cat had this?

[shockedballoon]

Our nearly 7yo male tabby started peeing inside in various places & hissing if you went near him when he did this.

Couple of vet trips, an ultrasound, a fun day on morphine (him, not me!) and urine culture later... and he has a "very sludgy bladder" but the test showed it was struvite crystals not anything cancery or calciumy.

As such he's been put on a strict diet of Purina Pro Plan Urinary food, mix of wet and dry - water added to the dry food. This will apparently dissolve the sludge.

If your cat had something similar, howhow long did it take the food to work??

He's still peeing in the house so is confined to the hallway/stairwell/bathroom and is only allowed supervised access to the lounge when he likes to sit on our laps in the evenings. To cover his fave peeing spots he has 4 litter trays and 3 cardboard with newspaper & kitchen roll areas, and he wees in the bath as well.
Before this he always went outside to the point where we haven't had a litter tray indoors for years.
Is he going to get better or is this just how he is forever now...
(Pic included coz he might be currently very pissy but goddamn he's still handsome)

@Lougle it so is. The phrase 'fur baby' sets my teeth on edge, but it's also kinda exactly what he is.

Heeeessss home! :) He's a bit freaked out and hates the cone, but I'm sitting next to him on the stairs giving scritches on demand and he's started purring. Got to try to get a gabapentine tab down him now though, so he might not be so happy in a bit...

So glad he’s home.
Matt had got the cone off within minutes of leaving the vets even before we pulled up on the drive…

Mine had an almost blockage, I swapped to hills urinary dry food and he gets cystophan daily as well

Aaaaand he's back in :(

Did a wee last night, but was straining again this morning.
Gave his morning gabapentin in case he was just irritated and sore, spoke to the vets who said to monitor over the day.
He slept all day (unsurprisingly!) then when he woke at 3pm he was still straining.
Vets said to bring straight in. Bladder full and hard. Gave injection to relax in case it was spasm - no joy. Going to be catheterised and flushed again.
They are also getting me a quote from the hospital for a perineal urethrostomy (penis removal).
This is because I asked if there was any way they could get all the sludge for sure and apparently there isn't. The penis removal drastically reduces the likelihood of blocking again.
I'm now googling to weigh up pros & cons.... If it avoids him having to go back in then that's a definite pro coz he really hates it and is so anxious & clingy when I take him. His headbutts are so hard it's like he's trying to climb inside me so I take him back with me :((

I'm really sorry to hear your update. Basil was actually booked in to have an OP but the vet hospital recommended continued flushing for several days first. I was very pleased with the result because there was no postoperative recovery for him. Obviously rely on your vet's recommendation but I'd still go for continued flushing first.

Yes I was wondering why they haven't suggested repeated flushing - they said that 'a good amount of grit came out' last time. I sort of thought why didn't they just keep at it a bit longer, but didn't know how to phrase this without sounding like a 'know it all but actually know nothing'. I mean I presume if this was an option/would work they'd've done it?
I've now read several different accounts of penis removal outcomes. It does seem so drastic, but also I'm out of insurance and if he keeps going back in with blockages it's going to cripple us. Fortunately mum has offered to help, but still, there's a limit there as well obviously
I hate that cost is a factor here. Make you appreciate the NHS even more (yes I know it's not perfect, but still!)

Sympathy to the poor fella and to you for the worry and the bills.

My cat has had this twice but has stayed healthy for a good while now on Hills urinary stress c/d pouches, daily Cystaid capsule on food, tiny bit of Purina Urinary biscuit, plenty of litter trays to remove any stress (we have another cat). Our vet also recommended encouraging natural cat behaviour to reduce stress levels - chasing feathery things on sticks, laser pointer etc.

Goodness, I didn't even realise they could perform such an operation. I am paranoid every time Max scratches now, in case he's communicating that he's blocked.

My cat had the op, though not at such an early stage as this.

He had his first few episodes of urinary crystals when he was 4yrs old. It took a little while for the special food to start working properly. I think he initially had about 4 episodes of needing to be catheterised before things eventually settled.

Then out of the blue he had another episode when he was 11 years old, and then another one about a month later. The vet was concerned that at that age the stress of the visits and the repeated anaesthetic might be too much for my cat.

The insurance company (Petplan) agreed to pay for the operation. I think they realised that it would probably be cheaper for them in the long run!

The operation went well. The cone of shame had to stay on for 3 weeks afterwards but otherwise it was a very straightforward recovery. My cat is now 15yrs old and has had no further problems in that area.

Ah that's encouraging @weefella - update is that he's getting the op tomorrow.

Basically he went back into the vets this afternoon, apparently his urethra is very narrow and putting in a catheter is very tricky. They flushed a couple of times again - said the stuff that came out is like fine sand. He then blocked again so they consulted a urinary specialist and they recommend the urethrostomy.
Vet did say we could just wait and see, but right now they can't remove the catheter. They also gave options for location/cost of the operation.

I've decided to go for the operation. I think on balance it's in his best interests and it was pretty much what the vet suggested. Poor Bootsy is proper fed up and he clearly just wants it to be over. It will almost remove the possibility that this specific thing can happen again. Given that today cost £1600 and the operation I've gone for is £3K (can be done tomorrow, is the middle expensive out the 3 options and will be done by a specific specialist) only 2 more of these episodes and the operation 'wins'.
So it's my poor boy's last night with his dingle, but hopefully the start of him being pain free...

Oh bless him! I hope it all goes well for the poor boy, and for your sake too, with the worry and stress of it all: please update when you can or feel like it!

Hope all goes well tomorrow. Good luck.

Best wishes for Bootsy

Oh, I’m so sorry to hear your update, @shockedballoon
i think this is the surgery my vet meant when he said it basically turns him into a her. He said there was no guarantee of success and given Matt is ten and the expense, which I just couldn’t afford, I’d decided I wouldn’t go down that route.
Wishing you both the best, and thinking of you.

Thanks for well wishes @Papergirl1968 @Breadcat24 @Grumpyoldpersonwithcats & @Pudmyboy and anyone else who sent thoughts.

Update from vets just now: tldr - operation went really well and vet is happy with outcome.

Vet said that he flushed his bladder out again beforehand and it was indeed very sludgy, and when he dissected the penis, the narrow bit was extremely narrow and had a bit of scarring. That meant that had we not done the operation, we would've had repeated vet visits over the coming days/weeks before we got to this point anyway.
That was super reassuring to hear as I was privately stressing that I'd done the wrong thing and should've just waited it out.
Poor bugger now has to wear a double cone & stay inside for a month. I've ordered him a heat pad as the box room can get a bit chilly (I turn the CH off at night) and set it all up as a kitty convalescence room. Plan is to keep him mostly just in that room for the first few days /week. It's the room that I have my wfh desk in so he'll have me for company when I'm not on visits/in the office. Plus no doubt I'll end up sitting with him a lot in the evening because I'm a big softie!

Will probably post again tomorrow, and a few snippets from his recovery for anyone who wants to know, and for anyone else who might come across this thread with a cat with a similar issue.

Here's a pic of him derping around with my son earlier this summer before the problems started :( Hopefully he'll be back to his playful self soon.

He's absolutely gorgeous!

I'm so glad it all went well. Now it's just a matter of putting up with the "How could you make me keep this thing around my neck for weeeeks?!" glares...

Fingers/paws crossed for a speedy recovery.

Oh I love this picture!
Obviously your son had been looking at something he did not want him to see!

Aww,so glad it went well. Yes, please do keep us updated because we are heavily invested now in his recovery.

Oooh poor boy. Glad he's out of surgery. Max has been ok over the last few days but he has a blood test tomorrow morning. He peed in my laundry yesterday, but I suppose I should be grateful!

I won't put too much as ours was quite an extreme case but our four year old boy had this and it blocked him several times over a few weeks.

They were no longer able to do the catherisation because it was building up scar tissue. However without it he would have to be put asleep because once they can't go to the toilet their kidneys fail within 24 hours.

So two things - always take him to the vets as soon as you notice he's in pain in case he is fully blocked.

The second is to say, there was actually a third option it's just that it's not often done but it was very successful for us. Effectively they remove the penis, cut the urethra shorter and route it back out through the back end like a female cat.

Our boy is now a...well, still very much a boy but in theory a "trans-cat".

It's not cheap and it's a major op so I wouldn't have put him through it if there were other options on the table or if he hadn't been in the prime of his life with no other health conditions (I.e. we probably wouldn't have taken this route with a 15 year old cat for example).

That being said he was immediately in so much less pain and we're now 4 or 5 years on and he's been in perfect health since.

He had a bit of a shock the first time he went in the litter tray post-op and it came out the back and onto the floor but he even figured that out after the first day!

@wheresmymojo it sounds like that's pretty much what's happened to Bootsy. Glad he didn't have to endure more catheterisations before we got to this point. From what I can gather, there's no way that the urinary food etc would get a chance to do it's job before he either died or we took this drastic action. Encouraging to hear that your cat recovered well.

Boosty has apparently had a settled night, weed & pood, and the wound looks good, but is off his food and a bit grumpy (probably hissy). They have given him another pain injection and will give me another update this afternoon. They want to make as sure as possible that his pain will be controlled with arthrocam & gabapentin before they Dx, so he might be in another night.

Here's some pics they sent from last night and this morning. My poor boy, he must be so fed up xxx

As a bloke I think it's fair to say if anyone did that op on me I'd be a bit hissy too 🤣.
Reallty pleased the op sounds to have gone well - hope Bootsy is back home with you soon and his recovery is quick and easy.

Hope Bootsy feels better soon ( he rocks the cone of shame by the way)

Poor Bootsy.

Great news though that he's managed wees and poos. I hope he's feeling a bit more comfortable now.

My cat was/is a curmudgeonly little bugger, so being grumpy was a sign that he was on the mend! I found that he needed a bit of extra help with his grooming for those first few weeks. He couldn't reach very much with his cone on - though not for lack of trying. The contortions were truly something to behold!