urinary tract infection?

I am wondering whether this sounds like a urinary tract
infection? Or could this be leading up to a blockage?

Mingy (male) has been spending a long time in the box/halfway in
the litterbox, and yesterday I caught him urinating a bit on the
floor right after he got out of the box. I also stepped in a
puddle on my bedroom rug, and Mingy NEVER pees outside the box.
This morning, there were little puddles in several places in the
kitchen. No real good pees in the box, although what seem to have
been little dribbles/drips. (I use clumping litter.) This is a
bit strange because just the previous night, his litter box was
quite full of seemingly normal deposits of both ilks (even though
his strange behavior had been going on for a few days). Now it
looks like he is not excreting normally, although he is
excreting. God only knows how I will get him to the vet's before
Monday (I think my vet's office is not open on the weekend, and we
are about to have a blizzard), but I will have to do that
somehow. At best, if I don't, I'll be finding more puddles. At
worst, he could deteriorate further, and I don't know how that
would manifest itself.... I do understand that cats can
deteriorate very quickly though, and I don't want to risk that.
--
Jean B.

This sounds like all the symptoms of a blockage. DON'T wait until
Monday. Take him to an emergency vet right away. If you wait, you
could lose him!


---MIKE---

---MIKE--- wrote:

This sounds like all the symptoms of a blockage. DON'T wait until
Monday. Take him to an emergency vet right away. If you wait, you
could lose him!

---MIKE---

Yup! I have an appointment for ca an hour from now at an
emergency vet hospital. To the degree I do things right and
quickly, it is because I have absorbed things from this group.
(Thank goodness!)

Poor baby. It is about zero here, and we have a blizzard warning
starting at noon.... Good timing, but I just have to take care of
Mingy, who hates the vet and is going to hate this whole
experience.
--
Jean B.

in article , Jean B. at wrote on
1/22/05 8:42AM:

---MIKE--- wrote:

This sounds like all the symptoms of a blockage. DON'T wait until
Monday. Take him to an emergency vet right away. If you wait, you
could lose him!

---MIKE---

Yup! I have an appointment for ca an hour from now at an
emergency vet hospital. To the degree I do things right and
quickly, it is because I have absorbed things from this group.
(Thank goodness!)

Poor baby. It is about zero here, and we have a blizzard warning
starting at noon.... Good timing, but I just have to take care of
Mingy, who hates the vet and is going to hate this whole
experience.

Poor Mingy. I'm glad you found a vet!!! He would hate it worse if he could
not get help. Keep us posted.

Karen Chuplis wrote:

in article , Jean B. at wrote on
1/22/05 8:42AM:

---MIKE--- wrote:

This sounds like all the symptoms of a blockage. DON'T wait until
Monday. Take him to an emergency vet right away. If you wait, you
could lose him!

---MIKE---

Yup! I have an appointment for ca an hour from now at an
emergency vet hospital. To the degree I do things right and
quickly, it is because I have absorbed things from this group.
(Thank goodness!)

Poor baby. It is about zero here, and we have a blizzard warning
starting at noon.... Good timing, but I just have to take care of
Mingy, who hates the vet and is going to hate this whole
experience.

Poor Mingy. I'm glad you found a vet!!! He would hate it worse if he could
not get help. Keep us posted.

Yes, I figure this is like dealing with a baby, who you can't
explain things to. He doesn't understand, but it has to be done.
The tech thought he wasn't blocked, but it turned out he was
partially blocked, and it was wise to unblock him and leave him
overnight*, with an catheter and an IV. So that is what I have
done. The big problems are 1) he is so shy and scared of other
cats, this this has to be extremely traumatic for him, and 2) this
is complicated by the fact that we are about to be hit by a major
blizzard in the Boston area, so I am not sure I will even be able
to rescue him tomorrow, if they say he can come home. I have
already warned my friend that if he can come home, and it is
humanly possible to get him, I will need help doing so. (He is a
lot more comfortable driving in the snow than I am.)

I have to say I was very upset when I got this news, because I
know this is going to be so hard for Mingy.... I guess they see a
lot of this though................
--
Jean B.

Poor guy, has to get sick during a blizzard.

Please let us know how he's doing. I'm glad you noticed this right away
and are getting him in so quickly! You're a good cat-mom.

Rhonda


Jean B. wrote:


Yup! I have an appointment for ca an hour from now at an
emergency vet hospital. To the degree I do things right and
quickly, it is because I have absorbed things from this group.
(Thank goodness!)

Poor baby. It is about zero here, and we have a blizzard warning
starting at noon.... Good timing, but I just have to take care of
Mingy, who hates the vet and is going to hate this whole
experience.

Rhonda wrote:

Poor guy, has to get sick during a blizzard.

Please let us know how he's doing. I'm glad you noticed this right away
and are getting him in so quickly! You're a good cat-mom.

Rhonda

Jean B. wrote:

Thanks, Rhonda. To the degree I am a good cat-mom, I owe it to
this group and the information I have (miraculously) absorbed, and
to my friend, Dave, whose cat almost died from a blockage a few
years ago. In a way, the blizzard also played a role, because I
knew I could not afford to wait to see what happened, because I
wouldn't have been able to get Mingy anywhere if I did.

Other mitigating circumstances: Mingy is an indoor cat, so I can
see what is happening in his litterbox; and said litterbox is in
the kitchen, so I frequently see him using it. One thing I can
say, which may be useful to others, is that although I didn't see
Mingy straining (which is what I always read), he had started
spending a LONG time in the box. That is one thing I now will be
on the lookout for and will advise others to file away in their
minds. If you know your cat is usually in and out of the box
pretty quickly, and you notice him/her staying in there a lot
longer, your antennae should go up.

Really, though, I caught this very early. He was partially
blocked. It could have been much worse. (Now, we need the
reports on the cause....) Just pray Mingy is not too, too freaked
out while he is at the Veterinarian Hospital.

--
Jean B.

On Sat 22 Jan 2005 03:56:54p, Jean B. wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav ):

Really, though, I caught this very early. He was partially
blocked. It could have been much worse. (Now, we need the
reports on the cause....) Just pray Mingy is not too, too freaked
out while he is at the Veterinarian Hospital.

I'm very glad that you did catch it early! Good job on your part!
We're going to send prayers and purrs that Mingy is just fine at the
vet hospital until you get to bring him home. Hopefully you don't get
as much snow as they are calling for. I'm in Maryland and it's
already stopped here. It moved very quickly out, and we ended up with
only about 6".

--
Cheryl

I'm glad you are going to take care of this. I had -21F this morning
but we are supposed to miss most of the storm here in northern New
Hampshire. Believe it or not, we need the snow. The snowmobile trails
don't have enough snow and the local businesses are really hurting.


---MIKE---

---MIKE--- wrote:

I'm glad you are going to take care of this. I had -21F this morning
but we are supposed to miss most of the storm here in northern New
Hampshire. Believe it or not, we need the snow. The snowmobile trails
don't have enough snow and the local businesses are really hurting.

---MIKE---

I am in the Boston area--one or two feet of snow, with up to
six-foot drifts predicted. The worst thing about this is I may
not be able to retrieve Mingy tomorrow, assuming he is ready to
come home in the afternoon. I am so upset about his having to
stay, because he is very shy and is scared of other cats. I think
when the doctor calls (soon--which is why I didn't go back out
while I could), I may suggest they cover his cage a bit so he can
feel safer....
--
Jean B.