My cat Whitaker, who I have had since has born on April 1st 2012. Last night we had to rush him to the vet because he was bloated to twice his normal size and was screaming a lot. They figured out that he had a urinary blockage. Our options were either a very expensive treatment ($1500 that I couldn't afford with all of the myriad of other things that have gone wrong lately with my car and our house) or to have him put down. My wonderful husband managed to get the deposit for his care from his grandmother, and they were able to start working on him.

They were able to put in a catheter and remove the blockage, luckily. However, they are keeping him for observation until Thursday morning, which is the earliest that he will get out if all goes well.

The vet was concerned that the blockage could come back, as the xray did not show any crystals or stones in his bladder, which means that the blockage was due to inflammation, which could mean recurring issues. We are changing his diet and making sure that he gets more water, but the vet says that this will be a lifelong concern.

Has anyone had a cat with an issue like this? How worried should I be about him, because I am pretty freaked.

I am asking anyone and everyone for advice with this issue, and for them to keep Whitaker in their thoughts and prayers until he is feeling better.

If you would like to follow his story or donate towards his care, we started a GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/saveourwhitaker

I'm sorry to hear that you and your poor cat are going through this. Unfortunately, it's a relatively common thing for male cats to have urinary issues.

I think if you stick to your vet's advice, and keep him on a urinary diet (designed especially for cats that are prone to these kinds of issues), you'll definitely be doing him a favour and it will hopefully keep everything as normal as it can be down there for him.

Your cat definitely has the chance of blocking again. Make sure you keep him on a prescription urinary diet (SO/CD are two choices) for the rest of his life. He could block due to stones or big stressors, such as moving to a new house.

If he blocks again, you could always have a surgery done that basically changes him to a female structurally, to prevent a third blocking (the cat would still be male; it's not like the hormones change or anything, it's just a redirection of the urethra, if I recall). The strategy behind that is sinking money into a more expensive permanent fix, rather than sinking money into multiple unblockings time and time again. Unblocking for the the first time is standard, as is keeping him overnight in the hospital with a urinary drainage bag.

We're planning on keeping him on the prescription food. We're working out how everything is going to work logistically, since we have 5 other cats also. We're trying to follow up with the new primary vet (since he had his procedure at an emergency clinic) to find out what our other options are for feeding him, as far as brands, since he doesn't seem to like the one that he has very much. He does like the canned food, which I know is better for them, except for that they do need a little dry food for their teeth. A website that I looked at suggested that he will most likely gain weight and to hide treats so that he can "hunt", but according to one of the vets at the emergency clinic, he isn't allowed to have any treats ever, and the other one said to give him treats sometimes, so it's all kind of confusing.

What I'm feeding him now is an SO food. What is CD? They did mention stressors, but I don't think I've ever seen stressed out behavior from him other than when he was neutered and in pain, and right before he went into the emergency clinic on Monday. I have a friend who's cat had the surgery to redirect the urethra, and it seems to have helped him a lot. The vet said that they typically don't choose to do that until there is a second blockage, just in case he never blocks again. I'm also planning on talking to the specialist to determine if that is something that we should be planning for in the future based on his medical file.

C/D is another choice in cat food for urinary cats. It's made by Hill's brand.

Good luck with your kitty! Hopefully he won't block again. :x Remember to keep him on his special food!

I'll look into it. I am trying to find things that he is allowed to eat so he has variety and doesn't get bored. I am keeping him on his special diet so far, and he seems to be doing pretty well. ^_^