Simon

Well just over 7 weeks from his Urinary blockage and several hospital stays Simon is doing ok. He still is not peeing like a normal cat but we, meaning my Vet and myself have decided that as long as he is peeing and not uncomfortable we are leaving him alone. I make sure he pees every morning before he is allowed outside and we will take it a day at a time. I have finally stopped his meds and he is not peeing any less so we will see how it goes over the next week without them.

Here is is pictured with his Vet Dr. Paula Cunningham..

Simon Peed, a healthy pee once...

Supper time last night Simon had a big pee... But that was it, he then went back to peeing small amounts.. He is putting out more urine than he was though so that is progress, but he goes to the litter box now 2 or 3 times in 5 mins, sometimes producing very little, sometimes crying.. Still giving him SQ fluids and his meds.. It is better, just slower than I would like..

Simon

You never realize how important peeing is until you cannot do it.. My poor boy still is not really peeing. He stopped peeing after the lasix wore off last Sunday.
We have been through several different meds and have changed the plan a couple of times. My Vet did some research and he is now on Alprazolam and Prazin and we are keeping his bladder empty. The Alprazolam had the opposite effect last night and I woke up to him sitting on my head licking my face.. Then he attacked the dogs tail and would not stop. I tried to get hold of him and he face planted on the floor.. It took more than 2 hrs for him to settle down and then Caley had me up with diarrhea starting at 4am.. We reduced the alprazolam to half to see if that helps..

So now we are expressing him morning and evening. He is very difficult to express. We are giving fluids as well when needed and I am am getting a decent amount of fluids in him by adding water to canned salmon and letting it soak up the flavor.  He seems to do better the more fluids we can get in him.
Dr. Paula is on all weekend so we will keep pushing the fluids, keep his bladder from filling up and see how the weekend goes. The next step is another catheterization and keeping his bladder completely empty. There is also some concern that since we do not know what caused the blockage ( no crystals ) that maybe he has some neurological issue. Paws crossed for my boy.

Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD)

If you have a male cat you may already be familiar with FLUTD. Thankfully I was well aware of it after having researched some of the serious medical issues that can happen to a male cat when we adopted Simon a couple of years ago. Sat night he was "off", just not himself but I put it down to him being annoyed with us for having "abandoned" (his word not mine)  him for a week while we were on vacation in Mexico.. Sun morning I let him out as per usual but kind of kicked myself for doing it without giving him the once over, but knew he would be back in a an hour so let it go.. Well he wasn't back in an hour, so I kept looking for him. Simon has better recall that my dogs, I swear he comes immediately when I call. By noon I began to look seriously and it took another 3.5 hrs to find him or until he found us.. It was the longest 3.5hrs in a long time. I knew as I carried him in the house he was very sick. He went to the litter box and did nothing then laid down on the dog bed. I checked him and he had blood on his penis. I knew he was blocked so I called the Vet and met Dr. Ted at the clinic.
Dr. Ted confirmed the blockage and showed me how to check the bladder, it was the size of and orange (damn that had to hurt). Dr Ted cleared the blockage and placed a catheter, gave him fluids and meds.  He was able to come home today a little earlier than expected because he refused to eat at the clinic.. He was quite stressed there and would not even eat for me.
He had xrays today that did not show any bladder stones so that's good. The likely cause of the FLUTD is cystitis. The basic treatment is lots of fluids and feeding wet food.. Simon however HATES wet food so that is going to be a challenge. He has eaten a small amount since he came home this morning and had several drinks so I am feeling a little better about it but he has not peed.. The catheter came out this am and then Dr. Paula expressed him before he came home so we know he was not blocked... so now all we need is some PEE...

I took this just after he came home and he assumed his place! He has barely moved from there since he got home.

Here is a link to some good info from Cornell on FLUTD

If you have a cat, especially a male cat you should be very aware of FLUTD. It is a true emergency for a cat if they become blocked. Do NOT wait if you see these symptoms, take your cat to a Vet immediately.

The symptoms you need to look for:

1. Straining to urinate.
2. Frequent and/or prolonged attempts to urinate.
3. Crying out while urinating.
4. Excessive licking of the genital area.
5. Urinating outside the litter box.
6. Blood in the urine.
7. Lethargic
8. Refusing food or water
9.  Vomiting