First of all I want to state that these are just my experiences in rescue and I am not a veterinarian. I work with many trusted fantastic Doctors and this is my second hand account of Urinary Blockages.
One year ago I happened to walk into the bathroom while Ra's was using his. He was struggling and it seemed little to no urine was coming out. I pet him and felt his bladder area which felt abnormally full. I immediately called the vets office for an urgent visit. Knowing that urinary blockages can become deadly very quickly there was no time to waste.
Thankfully they were able to get him right in. I was shocked when the Dr. told me they had removed almost 12 oz of bloody sediment urine. Thankfully his blood work looked good and we got him on Prazosin, gabapentin and a shot of antibiotics and pain meds. He seemed to be feeling great so they released him to go home and follow up in a few days.
We went home and he didn't want to get out of the carrier. Now, Ra's is considered our welcome committee here at the rescue. He is always present and corralling kittens and comforting the cats after they come out of isolation or after surgery. He takes this job very seriously and is amazing at it. One of the feral kittens he was "Welcoming" came looking for him because he didn't come to dinner. Finding him in the carrier little Ed cleaned him and slept with him so he wasn't alone.
I left the carrier on my bed by my head so if he got up I would feel it and wake up. He went to the bathroom once at about 7pm but he never got back up. I woke up at 1am and he wasn't moving. I picked him up and he was completely lethargic. I put him back in the carrier. Removed poor little confused Ed closed it up and headed to the emergency vet.
When I arrived I brought all his paperwork from my vet so they could get right to the root of the problem. He was now completely blocked, his levels had completely tanked in just 12 hours. Thankfully we caught it in time. With blockages 24 hours can mean life threatenig issues could arise. I had never had a cat with one so this was all new to me. Not being a medical professional hearing his blood work tanked was terrifying! His internal organs were starting to fail but surgery was necessary to save him. I do want to give a huge shoutout to the team at Eastern Maine Emergency Veterinary in Brewer for being especially kind on that night and explaining everything to me in a thorough and compassionate way. Thankfully he survived surgery but would require hospitalization for a few days needing a catheter.
Our local emergency vet isn't open during weekdays so I was able to transport him to our vet for his daily stay and transport him back to the Emergency Vet at night.
For two days he continued to improve and they decided to remove the catheter on the second night. He continued to thrive and they let me bring him home that morning.
Ra's was given a prescription diet that he will have to remain on for the rest of his life. This is no small matter. The food is very expensive at $90/bag for a 16/lb bag and let me tell you if you have other cats they will LOVE this food. So it's best to come up with a solution to feed your cats separately. I began to deep dive into do I really need to feed him this "prescription diet"? Researching through every text and article it remained fairly clear to me that I needed to. I know a lot of people will disagree with me but I trust the veterinarians that work with my animals. I have had the fortune to work with 7 different veterinarians in the last 4 years and they all give the same advice, prescription diet is best.
Ra's didn't improve immediately. It was a long slow road for the food to do its job. The doctor had told me to expect this, that the food takes 3-6 months to breakdown the crystals that could still be remaining. That I could expect to see him still having mild urinary symptoms. And he did. He began peeing in my bathroom sink. His doctor said it was more than likely a issue because of the pain of urination.
His one week check up went well, as did his 3 month. He had stopped peeing in the sink by the 3rd month. And boy was that a long 3 months, we had 12 cats in the house at the time, 4 of them kittens so they were trying to learn from him and this was not something I wanted them to learn!
Thankfully Ra's made a complete recovery within 6 months . He had his annual check up last month and the only ailment he had was ear mites that he contracted in his welcoming committee job.
As pet parents it's difficult to know when there is something wrong. Cats are excellent at hiding pain and it's important to pay attention to anything that's it off about your cat.
Below are the best bets that I wanted to share I know I've missed some but this is a good starting point.
Never ignore a cats change in behavior
A cat with a blockage can become life threatening within 12-24 hours
A fully blocked cat can die within 3-6 days
If your cat has a prescription diet stick to it
Prescription cat food is expensive
Cheap food causes crystals in your cats urine that can lead to blockages and painful urination
If your cat voids outside of the litterbox see a vet
Behavior issues are usually tied to an illness
Recovery for cats takes time and patience.
I hope my experience with this was able to cast some light on a subject a lot of us aren't very familiar with. Below is some helpful information about urinary blockages.
Urinary Blockage from ASCPA https://www.aspca.org/news/pet-health-alert-urinary-blockage-cats-can-be-life-threatening
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