First off ...Carol welcome to PT and Congratulation on becoming a grandmother....your grand-daughter is adorable.

As for Oscar I have been through the surgery with my Smokey, and KAK has one of her kitties that went through the surgery as well.

My experience was a good one with the surgery. Basically what they do is make the male cat into a female...if they are taking hte same surgery that Smokey had. My vet called in PU Surgery.

They will make his urethra bigger so that the stones (crystals) pass easier. The surgery does not guarantee that Oscar will never get a stone again but since having Smokey done 5 years ago I have only had one or two instances of him having a problem that required him to go back into the hospital.

I was able to visit Smokey 2 days after his surgery and he still had a catheter in and they had shaved from the top of his back end to half way under his belly. He had about 20 stitches that dissolved as time went on. He was quite bloody around his back end and that I think was something that I was not expecting.

Smokey came through with flying colors. I will recommend that you ask your vet about a crushable tablet to put in Oscar's food. It is called Methio-Form and it works wonders. This tablet actually helps to break down the stones and I use it with Smokey all the time. You just crush it and mix it in his food and they never even know it is in their food because it has a fish flavor to it.

If you vet does not know what it is, let me know and I will be happy to send you information on the tablets. --- Meg