Mucus Plug?

[wolflady]

My mom has been taking her young male cat Stevie to the vet over the past couple of weeks because he was having trouble in the litterbox and exibiting typical UTI behavior.
The first time she took him in, the vet said it looked like he was getting over an infection, so she was instructed to just take him back home and observe. When it didn't improve, she took him back and they found a few crystals and gave antibiotics. It was hard to get a pill down, and Stevie would just throw it back up if she did get it down, so she tried the liquid form, which he also threw up. I told her to take him back to the vet. The frustrating thing with UTI is that is always seems to take a few weeks to diagnose it properly. I did this back and forth stuff with Scooter for years, and now he's finally doing well and hasn't had any recurrances, but in the beginning, I swear I was in the vet's office every week! *sigh*

She called me in near hysterics yesterday saying things like she didn't think he would make it. I was really shocked. She said that they found a mucus plug (??) blocking the urethra and they flushed it back into his stomach? If it was flushed back in, couldn't it reblock and cause the same problem later?

I'm not sure if my mom got that right, but that's what she told me on the phone. Has anyone ever heard of this in male cats? He also has a narrow urethra, but I know from working at a vet hospital out here that these types of things can be treated, even though bit expensively. I would think that the worst-case scenario would be to have Stevie get the "pee pee" surgery - bascially turn a male cat into a female cat. I believe KAK has had experience with this surgery a couple of times now.

Stevie is still very young (maybe 2 years), so I'm surprised that this could be so life-threatening? My vet treated this sort of stuff all of the time that it really didn't seem like a big deal if caught early on. What are your thoughts and what's up with this mucus plug?

[Craftlady]

I did a search for "mucus plug" and got information related to preg felines after giving birth. Your mom's cat doesnt fit that description.
I would think they would flush it out not have it go back into his tummy.
The information doesnt make to much sense.

[moosmom]

I rescued a male/female tortie a few years back. The vet turned it into a "she". The kitten was young so it never affected her.

[wolflady]

Thanks ladies I actually did a little more digging and found this:

http://www.thepetcenter.com/exa/uo.html

which sounds like what Stevie has. It's likely that Stevie has an obstruction which is blocking his urethra and mom was a little confused perhaps. I'm going to call her today and see how he's doing and if the vet was able to get a catheter in and if he may need to have that surgery. I was just so shocked when she told me yesterday that she didn't think he would make it.

Hopefully the vet was able to figure something out!

[jenluckenbach]

I have learned that many times when a cat's urethra blocks it is NOT caused by crystal/stones, but by mucous. (whether the proper term is mucous PLUG or not, it is still an approriate desciption.)

After being flushed out of the urethra, back into the bladder the hopes are that it will dissolve and pass normally. Then it is realistically possible to re-block the cat if it does NOT dissolve to a small enough size.

Possibly the PU surgery might be needed. Rutherford needed this surgery as well as KAK' kitty. Since Rutherford's was caused by a stone, he was placed on a special diet to reduce his risk of forming new stones. So the best thing to find out is what can be done to minimize the formation of this type of mucous plug.

Best of luck with kitty.

[wolflady]

Thanks for the clarification Jen.

This is the first time I am hearing of such a thing. I guess I was only used to these sort of things as simply being "obstructions". The term mucus really threw me for a loop!

I'm thinking Stevie will be needing that surgery, so I've left a message for mom to see if she has any updates.

**hugs**

[krazyaboutkatz]

Karen, I'm so sorry that your Mom is having to go through all of this stress. I hope that Stevie won't need the operation but if he does please be sure that the vet knows what he's doing. I paid a little more and had Storm operated on by a board certified surgeon because he had scar tissue that caused his blockage the second time and they couldn't even get a catheter in him.

I've heard of horror stories where the cat has been catheterized so many times that a lot of scar tissue forms and then it's more difficult to do the operation and sometimes the scar tissue grows back and causes them to become blocked again. Also in some cases the cat becomes incontinent because their bladder has been stretched out too much but this usually occurs in older cats.

I'm sorry that I missed your phone call this evening. I tried to call you back and left messages on both your cell phone and home phone. I feed all of my cats Royal Canin Urinary S/O and this helps both struvite and calcium oxalate crystals. I feed Storm and Sunny both wet and dry and mix a little bit of water with it for even more moisture. The others are getting only dry right now because they do better on it.

I hope that everything goes well and please don't hesitate to call me if you have any other questions. Lots of prayers and positive thoughts are being sent Stevie's way. Please take care. (((HUGS)))

[wolflady]

Thanks for this information, Tracey I'm getting concerned at how my mom is reacting to Stevie's condition, so hopefully it's not as bad as it seems. I would imagine the surgery would take care of the problem though.

Stevie has gone home today, but my mom is still pulling her hair out wondering if she should put him to sleep I've sent her an email with the information that you provided. Right now it seems like the vet has sent Stevie home to try a wet food diet, so I would imagine that's normal, since the vet would want to see if the diet fixes the problem first.

She's been given some Baytril (liquid), but she can't get it down, and when she does, he just foams at the mouth. She tried the pills, but he barfed those up, which is why she opted for the liquid stuff. Apparently Stevie doesn't care much for the wet food, but maybe he's just still feeling under the weather. I don't know why she keeps bringing this putting him to sleep thing up.

I think the vet is doing what our vets would do out here...send them home and try the diet, if that doesn't work, opt for surgery.

Thanks for checking this thread

**hugs**

[Craftlady]

Poor guy, I know sometimes the foaming at mouth is because of the taste of medication. Maybe once he settles down at home food will become appealing.

[critters]

She's been given some Baytril (liquid), but she can't get it down, and when she does, he just foams at the mouth. She tried the pills, but he barfed those up, which is why she opted for the liquid stuff.

In the last 3 months we've done Baytril, amoxi, and TONS of clavamox (even today. sigh). I pulverize or liquify pills and put pill liquid (or liquid med) in a bit of wet food. Seldom has somebody refused to take it readily.

[wolflady]

Good ideas, critters. I'll send those ideas along to my mother.

Here is an update on Stevie as of today from my mom's email:

Karen, I’m still not understanding what is wrong with him. The injections seemed to help but they were painful so we will try injections of Baytril. That is what he barfed before, and I was told the pills were either coated usually for cats, or chewable beef flavored for dogs. His white cell count was down but he still had high bacteria, which surprised the vet. (His ph was 6. It looks like they are trying for a neutral pH but the food is more acidic than the x/o (now it’s c/d Hills). So it looks like the problem is Stevey is holding his urine too long for whatever reason and that is causing the infection? And the blockage? Of course we have a long weekend and I will have to give these shots. He was definitely acting better this past week chasing toys than he has been for a long time. I hope he doesn’t have another emergency.

Here is another email she sent after going to the vet today:

I got Stevey back from the vet. He got a baytril shot in the muscle and tomorrow I will meet the vet for another shot and also on Monday as they don’t want me to try to give this shot. It seems he is doing good on his food and that it is ok for GreyC. I think they never saw crystals but definitely have an infection. I am willing to give those other shots if he need them. They like the dry food and the vet says to stick to it and not add anything else. I have a water fountain in their room. I hope this is helping. The idea is to get more water into him as they think that is the problem.

Poor mom. It's so frustrating trying to figure out what exactly is wrong with Stevie. If he didn't have crystals, then all of this blockage and infection was something else? He's a young cat, I just hope he can overcome whatever this is. I know my mom was at her wit's end about a week ago and kept asking me if she should put him to sleep! I said no, he's young and the vets are doing everything they can. It's just a matter of figuring out what is wrong, and then fixing it.

*sigh*

[jenluckenbach]

The NOT knowing is always the hardest part.