Urinary Blockage

"Justin L" wrote in message
...
I had to bring Elwood into the emergency clinic tonight.
It started when I got home this afternoon, I noticed he was kind of
crawling around, and crying. So, I brought him in, and they say he has
a urinary blockage, and they have to keep him overnight.

What causes this? They told me it jujst sort of happens, and he will
be dealing with this the rest of his life.

Will he have to be on a special diet now?

I thought he was constipated, because he would go in his box and try
to poo, but couldn't. At least that is what it looked like to me.

They should be calling me iin a few hours to tell me how everything
went. They said caught it early, which is good I guess.


Hi, Justin;

Your post described my experience exactly. Our cat's blockage developed
the same way and, in getting treatment for him, we heard the same sort
of nonchalant, shrugging explanations. But it's no joke. Please read the
thread "It's academic" in this newsgroup.

Cats given a diet of dry food often don't get enough water, which can
result in their urine becoming concentrated and crystals forming. Since
their urethra is *very* narrow (according to more than one veterinarian)
the crystals can easily block it and even damage it, resulting in
infection. I was told that PJ would be experiencing the same thing.
Apparently the condition known as a "blocked Tom (cat)" is well-known by
vets and many cat owners.

I can offer two pieces of advice to help Elwood. First, if the vet gives
you medications for him, give him the complete round of meds. PJ seemed
to improve within just a couple days and we stopped. The blockage
returned, he couldn't pee, and finally he was in agony and had to be
catheterized.

Secondly, learn about your cat. Read this and the other cat newsgroups.
'Though I asked too late, I'm very grateful for the sympathy and
information from people here. This group will be a great place to ask
questions if another cat comes into our lives.

It's easy, if you don't know a lot about your cat, to get steered wrong
when he suddenly has a problem. There are vets who won't tell you that
they don't particularly care for cats and won't refer you to someone who
does, so I'd say at this point that if you get Elwood back in good
condition, search like hell for good people and resources to help him.
That is critical now. Phil P., who has also answered your post, knows
where I'm coming from on that. PJ was the sweetest cat in the world (I
bet Elwood is, too), but all I have left of him are photographs.

JPM

"DemoDisk" wrote

It's easy, if you don't know a lot about your cat, to get steered wrong
when he suddenly has a problem. There are vets who won't tell you that
they don't particularly care for cats and won't refer you to someone who
does, so I'd say at this point that if you get Elwood back in good
condition, search like hell for good people and resources to help him.
That is critical now. Phil P., who has also answered your post, knows
where I'm coming from on that. PJ was the sweetest cat in the world (I
bet Elwood is, too), but all I have left of him are photographs.


I just wanted to say that I am really sorry this happened to you. I saw
your first post but did not reply as I suspected what Phil said. Honestly,
with cats and with ourselves, vets and physicians have to be watched
like hawks. If I were a physically violent person I would slap your vet
into a slobbering mass of slapped mess. I hurt for you.

Do you have some photos of PJ you could put up on a Yahoo
photosite or something? Like a little memorial? I would love to see
him. (But not if doing so will make you hurt worse.) Here is a good
place to talk about your pets as what they a FAMILY MEMBERS,
not "like family members."

"cybercat" wrote...

I just wanted to say that I am really sorry this happened to you. I
saw
your first post but did not reply as I suspected what Phil said.
Honestly,
with cats and with ourselves, vets and physicians have to be watched
like hawks. If I were a physically violent person I would slap your
vet
into a slobbering mass of slapped mess. I hurt for you.

Do you have some photos of PJ you could put up on a Yahoo
photosite or something? Like a little memorial? I would love to see
him. (But not if doing so will make you hurt worse.) Here is a good
place to talk about your pets as what they a FAMILY MEMBERS,
not "like family members."


Aww. Thanks for your thoughts, cybercat, even the violent ones. In my
own mind, I've already done away with that veterinarian several times.
Won't bring PJ back, though, and I have to remember that I'm partly
responsible.

Plus, what do you DO about the problem; three vets acted like his
blockage was nothing unusual, nothing to get excited about. Just make
sure you pay the bill.

Following a link in this NG, I discovered Picturetrail, a site that lets
you create albums of personal photos. Free, apparently. That's where
I'll post some pictures of PJ. Here's the link, if you didn't know about
it:

http://www.picturetrail.com/

After I set it up, I'll post the URL. See ya here.

JPM

On Sun, 20 Nov 2005 23:15:05 -0600, "DemoDisk"
wrote:

"Justin L" wrote in message
.. .
I had to bring Elwood into the emergency clinic tonight.
It started when I got home this afternoon, I noticed he was kind of
crawling around, and crying. So, I brought him in, and they say he has
a urinary blockage, and they have to keep him overnight.

What causes this? They told me it jujst sort of happens, and he will
be dealing with this the rest of his life.

Will he have to be on a special diet now?

I thought he was constipated, because he would go in his box and try
to poo, but couldn't. At least that is what it looked like to me.

They should be calling me iin a few hours to tell me how everything
went. They said caught it early, which is good I guess.


Hi, Justin;

Your post described my experience exactly. Our cat's blockage developed
the same way and, in getting treatment for him, we heard the same sort
of nonchalant, shrugging explanations. But it's no joke. Please read the
thread "It's academic" in this newsgroup.

I'll give it a read later tonight, thanks.


Cats given a diet of dry food often don't get enough water, which can
result in their urine becoming concentrated and crystals forming.

This is what is a little confussing for me, he has been eating a
strictly canned diet for about 2 months now.

Since
their urethra is *very* narrow (according to more than one veterinarian)
the crystals can easily block it and even damage it, resulting in
infection. I was told that PJ would be experiencing the same thing.
Apparently the condition known as a "blocked Tom (cat)" is well-known by
vets and many cat owners.

I can offer two pieces of advice to help Elwood. First, if the vet gives
you medications for him, give him the complete round of meds. PJ seemed
to improve within just a couple days and we stopped. The blockage
returned, he couldn't pee, and finally he was in agony and had to be
catheterized.

Secondly, learn about your cat. Read this and the other cat newsgroups.
'Though I asked too late, I'm very grateful for the sympathy and
information from people here. This group will be a great place to ask
questions if another cat comes into our lives.

I have been doing a lot of reasding about cats, it is just very
difficult to know which source to believe. For instance, when I first
got Elwood, everywhere I read said to feed him a quality dry food for
the first year of his life. It wasn't until I found this group, I
learned how crappy dry food is, and started to switch him over.


It's easy, if you don't know a lot about your cat, to get steered wrong
when he suddenly has a problem. There are vets who won't tell you that
they don't particularly care for cats and won't refer you to someone who
does, so I'd say at this point that if you get Elwood back in good
condition, search like hell for good people and resources to help him.
That is critical now. Phil P., who has also answered your post, knows
where I'm coming from on that. PJ was the sweetest cat in the world (I
bet Elwood is, too), but all I have left of him are photographs.


Thanks JPM for you reply, and I am sorry PJ did not make it.


JPM

"DemoDisk" wrote

Plus, what do you DO about the problem; three vets acted like his
blockage was nothing unusual, nothing to get excited about. Just make
sure you pay the bill.

I just wonder why they felt/told you that the surgery might not work.
Unless they did damage him, as Phil said, with the catheter. Anyway,
as you say, and very sadly, this will not bring your kitten back.

Following a link in this NG, I discovered Picturetrail, a site that lets
you create albums of personal photos. Free, apparently. That's where
I'll post some pictures of PJ. Here's the link, if you didn't know about
it:

http://www.picturetrail.com/

After I set it up, I'll post the URL. See ya here.


I am looking forward to it.

Justin L wrote:

On Sun, 20 Nov 2005 23:15:05 -0600, "DemoDisk"
wrote:

Cats given a diet of dry food often don't get enough water, which can
result in their urine becoming concentrated and crystals forming.

This is what is a little confussing for me, he has been eating a
strictly canned diet for about 2 months now.

Hi Justin,

We just took in a cat with urinary problems. He was not blocked (thank
all the gods) but had crystals and an infection.

I've been reading lots of websites on the problem. The canned diet is
better for them because it has higher moisture and keeps the urine more
dilute. Dry diet does not CAUSE the crystals. Alkaline urine causes the
minerals in the urine to become crystals. Alkaline urine can happen
during times of stress, or with certain diets. High-protein diets make
the urine more acidic and reduce the chances of crystals forming. Also
in addition to changing the urine ph, many urinary diets are low in
magnesium so that there is a lesser amount of the mineral in the urine
that could become crystals. From my reading and from what has been
posted on this group, it sounds like urine ph is the most important in
managing the crystals, which means reduced stress and slightly acidic
urine. There are probably other factors out there yet to be discovered.

By the way, I'm talking about struvite crystals, which seem to be more
common than calium oxalate. If your vet didn't tell you, ask which kind
he has.

Good luck to your cat,

Rhonda