And his story continues....
One evening we found Chance sitting in his litter box crying. This is never a good thing, and it can indicate a urinary problem - with male cats that can be deadly. Chance was in pain so we immediately took him to the vet clinic. Thankfully one of our favorite vets was the overnight emergency vet working that night.
Chance was sedated and she cleared the blockage, then Chance was admitted to ICU to – essentially – flush his bladder clear. He had IV flowing fluids into his paw on one end and a urinary catheter allowing the urine to come out unimpeded on the other end. Once the urine started coming through clear, the urinary catheter was removed, and we waited to see if he would re-block or if the problem was over.
Most cats have one episode and are never bothered again. But some cats have repeat episodes and then other measures need to be taken. Chance recovered in a textbook fashion and was able to go home 2 days later. We hoped that would be his first and last time, but that was not to be.
Things stayed quiet and normal for almost a year, but one night he chose to pee on the tile bathroom floor instead of in the litterbox. This is often the first indication of a medical problem. People often think their cat is “mad” at them, but that is generally not the first thing to consider. If the litterbox has been kept clean and fresh, and pee is on a cool surface (tile, bathtub/shower/sink) there is a good chance the problem is medical. In any event, it’s always good to start with a vet visit, which is exactly what we did, especially since the pee sample Chance left for us clearly had blood in it.
The veterinarian did a full exam, bloodwork and took a sample of urine, which was reviewed immediately. He walked into the exam room where Chance and I were waiting.
“Did you see anything in there?” I asked.
“What didn’t I see!” he replied. “Red blood cells, white blood cells, crystals, debris. Chance got the short end of the DNA stick.” He changed Chance’s diet, gave him antibiotics, and prescribed regular infusions of fluids. Thankfully, with cats, we can infuse the fluids under the skin (subcutaneously, so they are often called “subbies”) which can be done at home instead of intravenously (IV), which would have to be done at the clinic. The veterinarian should always be the one making the determination since there are very good reasons not to give a cat (or dog or horse) supplemental fluids. In this case they were deemed necessary to help keep the urine flowing.
This is similar to humans being told “drink more water.” Even humans don’t drink enough water and, with an animal, you can’t just hand them a bowl and say “drink up!” Feeding a canned food diet, rather than dry food, helps as does using a water fountain with a filter designed for animals to make the water fresh and taste better. However, with Chance, he needed a lot more fluids, so subbies were ordered.
Thankfully, Chance was a good sport about the fluids. He was less co-operative about the diet changes. For a cat who is completely obsessed with food, he is remarkably picky about what he will eat. He may be the only cat on the planet who does not think canned food is “real” food. He will sit and watch other cats eat it yet not touch it himself. This made it challenging, to say the least.
He was in and out of the clinic with recheck appointments and saw a number of different veterinarians in the process. Everyone was pulling for the shy but sweet and silly boy with the World’s Loudest Purr.
A few months later, despite all the precautions, he blocked again. This time the veterinarian had a much more difficult time clearing the initial blockage. It was possible he had a stone blocking the path instead of crystals as he did the first time. A second vet joined the attempt and eventually the two of them got him cleared. He was admitted to ICU with fluid lines going in and catheter out just like the first time. But this time he was referred to a feline veterinary specialist for a consultation.
She examined Chance and conferred with us. There is a surgery that is available to cats who
have repeat blockages, but she recommended against it due to Chance’s weight. We had tried to bring his weight down significantly but had not been successful. Prescription diets for weight loss were – at that time – different than the ones for urinary health. And, in any event, both recommended foods were canned and Chance was having no part of it.
This time Chance was much more stressed during his time in the hospital, so once he was clear they removed his urinary catheter and sent him home quickly. We had previously pulled him from the public adoption profiles, but at this point we knew he would be a sanctuary “lifer” with us. We were uncertain how long this would be.
He settled in at home with a new routine. He was on a restricted diet, which meant he had to eat alone. So, every morning he went into the bathroom to eat and he was not allowed out again until he had deposited a urine sample in the litter box. This let us know he was not blocked. Every other day he was also given subbies to help keep his urine dilute and flowing. He “got” the routine pretty well, and for another stretch he seemed to do okay.
Until he didn’t. He had another episode. And then another. No matter what we did, his urine pH was wrong and he had a lot of “debris” in his urine and that is what kept causing problems. “….the short end of the DNA stick…” turned out to be a very accurate diagnosis. We started talking about euthanasia. But each time we took him in we could not bring ourselves to do it. Even the veterinary staff would be teary because he was such a charming cat. But we all knew this couldn’t go on indefinitely.
Finally, late one Halloween night, after a week of multiple trips to the vet, Chance had another complete blockage. We had started using a specialty vet for him, primarily because they were located closer. As it turned out, that ended up saving his life.