Urinary crystals - How long to recover?

"Phil P." wrote in message ...
Take your cat back to the vet *immediately*. Complete or partial obstruction
of the urinary tract can produces a pathophysiologic state equivalent to
oliguric acute renal failure!

Phil

He's back in the hospital as of about 2 hours ago. They catheterized
him again and are keeping him in the hospital to be monitored for a
few days.

Do cats usually recover from this? They're not very forthcoming with
the information at this vet hospital.

-Rachael

From: (Rachael)

He's back in the hospital as of about 2 hours ago. They catheterized
him again and are keeping him in the hospital to be monitored for a
few days.

Do cats usually recover from this? They're not very forthcoming with
the information at this vet hospital.

I believe they usually do, but the most important thing is to change his diet
so he doesn't have chronic urinary problems. If you keep him on dry food, it
most likely will get blocked again, and again, and may end up eventually
needing a pensiotomy (I know this isn't right, but it's the operation where
they remove the cat's penis to make the urethea opening larger). The best
thing you can do is get your cat on an all wet diet. It may take some doing to
switch him over, but I seen a lot of finicky cats switched. You might have to
start out wetting down his dry food until he gets used to the texture of a
moist food. Another option is to make a powder out of the kibble and then
sprinkle it on top and/or mix it in with canned food. Another thing you may
want to try as well is getting one of those cat drinking fountains to entice
him to drink more water.

Good luck and I hope your kitty gets well soon.

Lauren
________
See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm

From: (Rachael)

He's back in the hospital as of about 2 hours ago. They catheterized
him again and are keeping him in the hospital to be monitored for a
few days.

Do cats usually recover from this? They're not very forthcoming with
the information at this vet hospital.

I believe they usually do, but the most important thing is to change his diet
so he doesn't have chronic urinary problems. If you keep him on dry food, it
most likely will get blocked again, and again, and may end up eventually
needing a pensiotomy (I know this isn't right, but it's the operation where
they remove the cat's penis to make the urethea opening larger). The best
thing you can do is get your cat on an all wet diet. It may take some doing to
switch him over, but I seen a lot of finicky cats switched. You might have to
start out wetting down his dry food until he gets used to the texture of a
moist food. Another option is to make a powder out of the kibble and then
sprinkle it on top and/or mix it in with canned food. Another thing you may
want to try as well is getting one of those cat drinking fountains to entice
him to drink more water.

Good luck and I hope your kitty gets well soon.

Lauren
________
See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm

PawsForThought wrote:

Another thing you may
want to try as well is getting one of those cat drinking fountains to
entice
him to drink more water.

I just bought a Drinkwell fountain hoping to get my cat to drink more water
because I can't get her to eat anything other than dry food. She's also a
little scaredy cat, very timid, and doesn't like new or different things.
We are also both recovering from our recent loss. And I didn't want to put
her under unnecessary stress but she took to it right away. She drinks from
it and plays around in it Maybe she won't like it after the novelty wears
off but she surprised me by drinking from it immediately.

Good luck.

PawsForThought wrote:

Another thing you may
want to try as well is getting one of those cat drinking fountains to
entice
him to drink more water.

I just bought a Drinkwell fountain hoping to get my cat to drink more water
because I can't get her to eat anything other than dry food. She's also a
little scaredy cat, very timid, and doesn't like new or different things.
We are also both recovering from our recent loss. And I didn't want to put
her under unnecessary stress but she took to it right away. She drinks from
it and plays around in it Maybe she won't like it after the novelty wears
off but she surprised me by drinking from it immediately.

Good luck.

In ,
Riceps being of bellicose mind posted:
PawsForThought wrote:

Another thing you may
want to try as well is getting one of those cat drinking
fountains to entice him to drink more water.

I just bought a Drinkwell fountain hoping to get my cat to drink
more water because I can't get her to eat anything other than dry
food. She's also a little scaredy cat, very timid, and doesn't
like new or different things.

Are you like that too?

We are also both recovering from our
recent loss. And I didn't want to put her under unnecessary
stress but she took to it right away. She drinks from it and
plays around in it Maybe she won't like it after the novelty
wears off but she surprised me by drinking from it immediately.

Good luck.

--

~~Philip "Never let school interfere
with your education - Mark Twain"

In ,
Riceps being of bellicose mind posted:
PawsForThought wrote:

Another thing you may
want to try as well is getting one of those cat drinking
fountains to entice him to drink more water.

I just bought a Drinkwell fountain hoping to get my cat to drink
more water because I can't get her to eat anything other than dry
food. She's also a little scaredy cat, very timid, and doesn't
like new or different things.

Are you like that too?

We are also both recovering from our
recent loss. And I didn't want to put her under unnecessary
stress but she took to it right away. She drinks from it and
plays around in it Maybe she won't like it after the novelty
wears off but she surprised me by drinking from it immediately.

Good luck.

--

~~Philip "Never let school interfere
with your education - Mark Twain"

olitter (PawsForThought) wrote in message ...

I believe they usually do, but the most important thing is to change his diet
so he doesn't have chronic urinary problems. If you keep him on dry food, it
most likely will get blocked again, and again, and may end up eventually
needing a pensiotomy (I know this isn't right, but it's the operation where
they remove the cat's penis to make the urethea opening larger). The best
thing you can do is get your cat on an all wet diet. It may take some doing to
switch him over, but I seen a lot of finicky cats switched.

He's still at the hospital. I just called to check on him and they
say he's urinating through the catheter fine, but he's not eating
anything. He didn't eat anything here at home since Friday afternoon,
so that's the biggest thing I'm worried about now. I asked the vets
what could be done about him not eating and they said they'd send him
home with appetite stimulants.

I think a big part of the not eating thing is that they're giving him
wet food. He absolutely won't eat it. Every time I've tried to give
it to him since he was a kitten he has refused it. The vet said that
I could feed him the dry Hills Prescription Diet C/D-S food....she
said either wet or dry was fine.

-Rachael

olitter (PawsForThought) wrote in message ...

I believe they usually do, but the most important thing is to change his diet
so he doesn't have chronic urinary problems. If you keep him on dry food, it
most likely will get blocked again, and again, and may end up eventually
needing a pensiotomy (I know this isn't right, but it's the operation where
they remove the cat's penis to make the urethea opening larger). The best
thing you can do is get your cat on an all wet diet. It may take some doing to
switch him over, but I seen a lot of finicky cats switched.

He's still at the hospital. I just called to check on him and they
say he's urinating through the catheter fine, but he's not eating
anything. He didn't eat anything here at home since Friday afternoon,
so that's the biggest thing I'm worried about now. I asked the vets
what could be done about him not eating and they said they'd send him
home with appetite stimulants.

I think a big part of the not eating thing is that they're giving him
wet food. He absolutely won't eat it. Every time I've tried to give
it to him since he was a kitten he has refused it. The vet said that
I could feed him the dry Hills Prescription Diet C/D-S food....she
said either wet or dry was fine.

-Rachael

"Rachael" wrote in message
om...


Hi Rachael,

He's still at the hospital. I just called to check on him and they
say he's urinating through the catheter fine, but he's not eating
anything. He didn't eat anything here at home since Friday afternoon,
so that's the biggest thing I'm worried about now.

Many male cats with partial or complete urethral obstructions develop
postrenal azotemia (uremia) because they're unable to eliminate toxic waste
products from protein catobolism. Azotemia makes a cat feel queasy and not
feel like eating. As the azotermia diminishes, his appetite should improve.
It seems like you caught the obstruction in time so hopefully no permanent
damage has been done to his urethra.

Its also possible that his anorexia may be caused by a combination of
non-pathological factors. Please keep in mind that most cats are reluctant
to eat when they're in the clinic due to stress and an unfamiliar
environment. Also, he may have refused the canned food because he may be
simply used to dry food. Cats are very sensitive to the texture of foods.
Texture preferences are usually influenced from a young age. Cats
accustomed to dry or canned food often refuse foods with a different
texture. So you may need to make the transition to canned food gradually.


I asked the vets
what could be done about him not eating and they said they'd send him
home with appetite stimulants.

I think a big part of the not eating thing is that they're giving him
wet food. He absolutely won't eat it. Every time I've tried to give
it to him since he was a kitten he has refused it. The vet said that
I could feed him the dry Hills Prescription Diet C/D-S food....she
said either wet or dry was fine.

Although the dry c/d-s is similarly formulated as the canned and should
inhibit struvite formation, I've found the dry c/d-s to be less efficacious
than the canned version. Cats fed canned food have a greater water intake
and higher water turnover than cats fed dry food. A higher water turnover
results in more frequent urination which helps eliminate potentially
calculogenic particles before they can "grow" into larger crystals that can
interfere with normal urination. The longer that crystalline particles
remain in the urinary tract, the larger and larger they can grow and the
more likely they are to cause an obstruction.

However, its most important that eats! The dry c/d-s is certainly better
than a non-prescription diet or nothing. You might want to wait until this
crisis is over before trying to make the transition to canned food. He's
under too much stress right now, an abrupt change in texture could turn
result in an aversion to food and serious anorexia - which lead to a serious
liver disorder.

Best of luck.

Phil



-Rachael