Cats not horses - help please

Box_Of_Frogs

Box_Of_Frogs

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My poor moggie Spencer has just survived a brush with death. Over a 24hr period he developed a totally blocked bladder. His bladder swelled up to the size of an orange and thank god I spotted it and rushed him down to the vets where he had a GA within 20 minutes of arriving. He is sort of OK now (though may recur) though the pressure within the bladder has caused some kidney damage. The 2nd day in cat hospital, the vets had to manually express his urine as he couldn't pee unaided. He has come home today (4th day) and to my horror he is now incontinent. He is such a clean cat that his only way of coping with it is by laying outside looking miserable and alone and leaking urine. Emergency call to the vet (from the yard) and they said we are in unknown territory. Very reassuring. They hope he will regain control after a few more days but he may not. Please, please has anyone had any experience of this and if so, what was the outcome????
 
Oh no what a nightmare .... sorry I can only be of any use with a female cat who had her bladder 'checked out' by putting some sort of balloon in it so that they could see what was going on ..... she used to 'dribble' for quite a while after that and then it settled down in time
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.... I hope your chap improves as the days go on .... it sounds like he is 'embarrassed' by it all .... and they do get like that don't they
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Never experianced that, but I know my cats do appreciate company and things when they are poorly/down.

Could you find a brush or comb and go give him some fuss and companionship? Our old boy spent some of his last days living inside my Dad's shirt, and we have kept a few kittens alive by putting them in there too.
 
It is quite common for them to go incontinent after a blocked bladder but some do gain the continence back, it is a case of just waiting and hoping. Dried food, especially Iams is one of the big causes for kidney stones & blocked bladders!
 
James Wellbeloved dried cat food has cranberry extract in it, so cats dont suffer bladder problems.
I've got my Coons on it and have always done (thats probably about 20 cats over the years) and theyve all been fine.

I hope your cat recovers, and can be proud to be a cat again.

Give him catnip mice from Culpeppers Herbalists (very strong) and he'll be so drugged he wont care!

Hugs to the cat!
 
Huge thanks all. Dressage Babe I'm shocked!!! I thought Iams was one of the best dried cat foods you could buy! My 3 have pouch, wet food but I leave dry down just so they don't starve between meals. And guess what brand I always get??? Never again - thanks for info. Mister_Jay - thanks for advice on dry food with cranberry in. Gonna see if I can order on line any minute now. And mega strong catnip mice - brilliant idea. Anything to bring back his pleasure in being alive. CrazyMare - that's a lovely idea about giving Spence an old jumper or something to snuggle down into. He's really not recovering well at the mo - he's licked himself absolutely raw so the next thing will be infection after infection. Back to the vet tomorrow. Nowhere near ready to call it a day but I feel a bad moon rising as the song says so fingers crossed x
 
We get lots of cats into our surgery with kidney stones and we made an active note on their feed to find that 92% of stone suffers that came through our surgery were fed on Iams!!
 
Dear god that's terrifying D-B. Like I said, I bought Iams for years, working on the rule that you get what you pay for so a more expensive food should be better researched and better produced. Not so it seems. Not good at the vets today. Bladder blocked again despite the fact that poor Spencer has been leaking urine ever since he came home Sunday afternoon. He's been hospitalised at the vets again. Promise off the vet for no invasive stuff like cutting into his abdominal wall to drain the bladder or amputation of his penis. They don't even want to re-catheterise as the damage is already too great. I asked for marks out of 10 for how bad the kidney damage is and vet says 6 so not good. They are gonna try some stronger anti-inflammatories and light sedation to do an ultra sound scan of the bladder. He's not eating, lost weight, very distressed and we have had an honest discussion about quality of life rather than just quantity. If Spencer can't be helped to have a quality of life, then he'll be coming home for 24hrs and the vets will come to me and quietly put him to sleep in my arms with dignity and compassion. Not there yet but that bad moon risen higher. Need vibes, hugs, anything x
 
Poor you and poor Spencer. I think you're doing totally the right thing though and I think it's great you already have a plan of action in place (should worst come to worst - hopefully it won't though).

Lots of hugs to you both - let us know how he is tomorrow x
 
Well done for catching it in time, I lost a cat because of this - he always went the loo outside and wasn't in the house a lot so it was too late before we noticed, it took hold of him within 24 hours
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Our female cat has had kidney stones from dry food because she wouldn't drink water, we moved her over to wet food and added water to that, she wasn't happy but it kept her healthy. Now we've got another cat she has learnt how to drink from the bowl...weird cat. She was also incontinent for a long time and the poor thing had to be shut in the kitchen, she's much better now though.

FYI about IAMS, their 'research' involves cutting open live cats to see how the food is moving through their gut......I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole....
 
The following is my OH typing info for you as he is a Vet:

Male cats and blocked bladder is a common occurence. The most likely cause is dietary and in your case feeding dried food.The crystals that cause the blockage are called struvite which are pastey deposits of calcium magnesium and phosphorus. They form due to high concentrations of these salts in the urine from dietary sources as well as the feline not drinking enough.(infact bladder infections may also promote these crystal formations because the bacteria act as seeds onto which the salt solution crystalises).
Treatment after the inital catheterisation and clearing of the obstruction should envolve a complete change of diet to a wet cat food or a specifically formulated dried food I.E. royal canin urinary diet or hills equivalent.A long course of antibiotic should be given in case there is infection involved (14 days convenia) It is unlikely that your cat will remain in continent as it is probably only a cystitis from the repeated catheterisation that is making him in continent. It is unlikely that he has permenant kidney damage as the unit we measure would be high at the time of blockage (creatinine and urea) but then rapidly return to normal once urinary flow is resumed
the reason your vet may have suggested high ureathrostomy(penis amputation) is that the ureathra shrinks in diameter as it nears the exit and this is where the 'stones' lodge and cause the blockage. I have done many of these with persistently blocking cats ,usually where owner management has been unsuccessful, and in all cases it has been very good with the cat returning to normal function very quickly

hope this helps
 
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