Gatsby is home again. 8/31 update #27.

[Prairie Purrs]

I had to rush Gatsby to the vet this morning with a urinary tract blockage. He's never even had a UTI before, but last night I noticed he was spending longer than usual in the litter box, and by early this morning he couldn't go at all. Needless to say, Gatsby and I were waiting at the door when the vet clinic opened.

They got him unblocked right away, but he'll be staying there at least through the weekend to make sure he doesn't block right up again. And then I'll have to figure out how to get him to drink more water and eat a special diet. Fortunately, because he has his own room (my home office), I won't have to worry about keeping him away from the other cats' food.

Thank goodness I knew from reading PT that I was dealing with a very serious issue! I really hope we can keep things under control by some means short of surgery.

[Karen]

Aww, poor guy! I hope he feels better, and they figure out why it happened!

[aTailOf2Kitties]

have you got one of those bubbling or flowing water dishes? I tell ya my two drank so much water that I ended up putting it away, 'cuz I got tired of refilling it all of the time. Needless to say lots of water going IN meant lots of water coming back OUT too.

If you dont have one and would be interested I'll send you mine. I'm not using it.

[Pinot's Mom]

What kind of food is he eating? If it's dry try adding water to it. I do that in Pinot's food; she drinks that liquid first, then eats the food. Well, your vet will tell you what to do, too. Glad it was caught early!

[Lizzie]

Don't worry yourself too much, it's common for a cat to block and never block again throughout a long life as happened to two of my male cats. I found out from research after Teddy blocked years ago that eating his favorite treats - raw oats soaked in water and cashew nuts that he stole from a bag if I accidentally left it on the sofa, actually made blockages more common. From then on there were no more oats and the nut treats were very, very rare. I didn't even have to switch him to mostly wet food, which he didn't want anyway, just to a better dry food - Royal Canin.

I know how frightening it is, though. When the first cat blocked, My Artful Dodger, I spent years checking on him and making a few panic rushes to the vet.

[Prairie Purrs]

Aww, poor guy! I hope he feels better, and they figure out why it happened!

Thanks! I just got back from visiting him, and he's still pretty much out of it from the anesthetic. I'm afraid he'll be plenty perturbed when he wakes up enough to realize that he's not at home in his room. He's a total sweetheart around people he likes, but if circumstances are not to his liking he gets very, very cranky.

have you got one of those bubbling or flowing water dishes? I tell ya my two drank so much water that I ended up putting it away, 'cuz I got tired of refilling it all of the time. Needless to say lots of water going IN meant lots of water coming back OUT too.

If you dont have one and would be interested I'll send you mine. I'm not using it.

Thank you! I've got a fountain that I tried to get Gatsby to use, but he seemed to prefer a stainless steel dish. I think I'll set the fountain up again and set the dish alongside--maybe the flowing water will at least inspire him to drink from something.

What kind of food is he eating? If it's dry try adding water to it. I do that in Pinot's food; she drinks that liquid first, then eats the food. Well, your vet will tell you what to do, too. Glad it was caught early!

I've always fed him half canned/half dry. I did switch my dry food brand very recently, though, from Artemis Senior to Evanger's, so I wonder whether that could be the culprit.

Don't worry yourself too much, it's common for a cat to block and never block again throughout a long life as happened to two of my male cats. I found out from research after Teddy blocked years ago that eating his favorite treats - raw oats soaked in water and cashew nuts that he stole from a bag if I accidentally left it on the sofa, actually made blockages more common. From then on there were no more oats and the nut treats were very, very rare. I didn't even have to switch him to mostly wet food, which he didn't want anyway, just to a better dry food - Royal Canin.

I know how frightening it is, though. When the first cat blocked, My Artful Dodger, I spent years checking on him and making a few panic rushes to the vet.

I'll check the Evanger's for oats. It's good quality food, but there might be oats in there.

It was definitely a scare. I've never had a kitty get blocked before and would just as soon not have it happen again!

My office is very empty right now. I hope Gats recovers according to schedule and is back where he belongs on Monday.

[katladyd]

My boy Ming used to get routine blockages until my vet advised me to put him on amitryptiline, one pill per day. This is an anti-anxiety meds that seems to work very well for cats with blockages. Ming kept having repeat blockages until I tried this med (it's very inexpensive, $10 for 100 pills from Pet Meds). As far as diet goes, I feed both my boys Purina One for Urinary Tract Health dry food. Both my cats love this, so I don't have to feed them seperately. I give them a mix of Friskies Special Diet canned food for urinary tract health and Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys. My vet likes both these foods, especially the Elegant Medleys because they have a high liquid content. Ming has not had any problems in over six months (a record!) since I started him on the meds and diet. What's nice is this diet is a healthy one for any cat, so they can all eat the same. Good luck with Gatsby! I used to stress out about this but now I know it can be successfully treated for very little cost or fuss.

[jenluckenbach]

Glad you knew the signs and caught it right away.
Hope he's feeling better soon.

[aTailOf2Kitties]

the little pumps in the fountains are self-contained. You can remove them and put the pump in whatever bowl you want. I got tired of having to refill the fountain and just stuck the pump in a big bowl, but Toby kept yanking it out.

[Prairie Purrs]

Apparently he's feeling more like himself. I called the vet to check on him, and they said he's hissing at everybody. Can't say I blame him much, given the circumstances.

[Medusa]

Apparently he's feeling more like himself. I called the vet to check on him, and they said he's hissing at everybody. Can't say I blame him much, given the circumstances.

Aw, poor boy. Well, he's on the mend now and that's what's important. Hopefully, he'll drink more water now.

[DriftyAlison0]

When Ashes got put on the UT food we just decided to have all the cats eat the same food. We never had any UT issues since with Ashes or any of the cats.

[Prairie Purrs]

When Ashes got put on the UT food we just decided to have all the cats eat the same food. We never had any UT issues since with Ashes or any of the cats.

Gatsby eats separately from the other cats, so it's no problem to feed him a different diet. He has his own room because he hates other cats (any and all of them) with an unrelenting passion. I'm just hoping I can convince him to eat a UT diet.

As for the others, I've got some horribly picky eaters and the UT food would probably be a tough sell. I haven't been able to get Hagrid to eat anything other than Fancy Feast since his allergy attack flared up.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm sorry to hear about Gatsby. Hopefully he'll recover quickly and you won't have any more blockage problems with him. Did your vet tell you if he had crystals in his urine?

My Storm blocked 2 times and before the second time he was already eating a special veterinary diet. He had to have PU surgery because he had scar tissue and they couldn't even get a cather in him the second time. He was then put on Royal Canin Urinary S/O canned and dry food for quite a while but he'd still have UTI's some times. His urine would also some times be very concentrated and would some times still have some struvite crystals in it.

Now all of my cats are on a grain free diet and they eat Innova Evo dry and canned food. Storm gets 2 helpings of canned food mixed with some water every day and I know that this is helping him a lot. He hasn't had any problems since. A bigger plus is that all of my cats love this food. I'll keep Gatsby in my thoughts and prayers.

[Prairie Purrs]

Gats is back home and extremely pleased about it. He's on prednisolone and orbax for awhile, and the vet wants him eating s/d prescription dry food for now. I think I'll look into the Innova Evo, though.

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes and the good suggestions!