A chain reaction: from vacation to pet hospital in 7 days

Hi all,
Not sure if anyone remembers me. I used to be a regular around here. I'm been trying to log in here for a couple days and just found my password. We had some worry with Footsie this last week.

I took him to the boarding place that I always take him to when I go out of town. He was there from April 29 to May 2. On the second I noticed he was sneezing. I figured it was a resperitory infection, but that there isn't a lot that can be done for it. I took him to the vet last Friday because it was getting worse. The vet perscribed an anatibiotic to ward off any secondary reactions.

Friday night he threw up his first pill and stopped eating. I'm embarrased to say that I didn't notice that he had stopped eating right away. On Saturday he was so lethargic that he wasn't even walking. But when I put him in front of his food he'd take a few bites and when I put him by his litter box he'd get in and dig around a bit. Otherwise he just sat in one spot all day.

On Sunday I realized the severity of the situation when I found that his litter box had hardly been used since Friday. We spent most of Sunday at the emergancy animal hospital. They took him off the antibiotic and gave him fluids. The vet said that he had probably lost his sence of smell since he couldn't breath properly and thus had lost interest in food and water. He gave me some ideas about how to coax Footsie to eat. At that time he thought the empty litter box was just a result of having no food or water in his body.

He ate some on Sunday evening and Monday. Not enough, but some. Monday night he started showing weird behavior. Trying to pee on everything and getting in and out of his box without having gone. We went strait back to the emergancy vet.

It turns out that Footsie probably always has had crystals in his urine, but not in high enough concentrations to cause a problem until now. Being dehydrated meant that his urine was very concentrated. The crystals formed a partial urinary obstruction. The is a very serious condition. Thankfully the vet was able to express the bladder while Footsie was sedated and the obstruction was passed. The vet gave me s/d food which is supposed to acidify the urine and break up any more crystals. I was supposed to make sure he ate that food right away and drank pleanty of water. Also, I had to make sure he urinated on his own within 12 hours. Because he was still somewhat dehydrated he was at a high risk of reobstructing at any time.

It was 12:30 am when we got home from the vet. Footsie was acting hungry but still refusing to eat. He was still sedated and just didn't seem to understand. He wanted to eat. He went strait for his dish and was hovering over the food but just wouldn't eat or drink. I was even trying to spoon feed him and he was rubbing his cheeks on the spoon like he'd rub against a corner. For a while there I was convinced that he had lock-jaw or something, and we almost went back to the vet at 3 am. I was up with him utnil 4 in the morning when he drank some water.

Tuesday morning I found that he had ate a little bit of the s/d food and a decent amount of his regular food, and used the litter box durring the night. I stayed home with him on Tuesday and offered him heated s/d food every hour.

By Tuesday night he was eating on his own, but still reluctant to eat the s/d food. Yesterday I was able to pick up some s/d dry food which he's been eating on his own since last night.

He seems to have gotten his sence of smell back. He spent all night it seemed sniffing everythign in the apartment as if he'd never been there before. He still is congested and sounds terrible with his breathing. But now that hes eating again we're out of the woods for the really dangerous stuff.

Footsie will have to eat s/d food for the next 4 weeks and then switch to c/d food to prevent crystals for the rest of his life. This was a huge shock. He's less than 2 years old and has mostly been a high energy cat. I never thought he might have a urinary problem, much less at such a young age.

 

Poor Footsie! I'm glad he's starting to feel better. URI are so frustrating! Cats just don't understand when you try to tell them they have to eat or they'll get worse. I've always been worried about what I'd do if I had to board Moe somewhere. She's so prone to illness, I don't know what I'd do.

I hope Footsie gets back on his feet soon!

PS - I've missed seeing you around here!

 

songs for Footsie to soon be feeling better.
you can try adding warm water to the canned SD food to see if that makes it more appetizing to Footsie.
I went through this same thing w/my dog 2 years ago....but she had to have stones surgically removed. 5 pencil-eraser sized ones in her urethea and up to 30 in her bladder. Once the blockage starts it apparently doesn't take much for their bladders to burst. It's really scary stuff so I totally sympathize with you.
Glad Footsie didn't have to go through the surgery....it was horrible for Sadie dawg.
I hope he continues to improve...and you know this means you'll never be able to take a vacation again LOL

 

Poor Footsie. Best wishes for a speedy recovery! *HUGS GALORE!* Glad to see that you are back!

 

Welcome back!
I'm sorry to hear about Footsie but glad he is doing okay now. Hopefully, you won't have to go through this again anytime soon.

 

Poor Footsie! My Sabrina gets crystals too but crossing my fingers for no stones. Hope he rebounds quickly!!

 

I'm so sorry to hear what you and footsie have been through I'll keep my fingers crossed that he recovers just fine.

 

Poor little kittycat. I'm glad you found the problem and it is being taken care of. Hope things keep improving for Footsie and hope everything will be back to normal soon.

 

Sorry to hear your kittys been so sick.
For future reference though, just a little information on 'blocked cats'. Ive seen it in male cats of all nearly ages (except I havent seen in young kittens personally). It can be fatal and it is an emergency. I cant say how long it takes to get to a critical point, as far as I know it varies but often by the time the owner notices theres a problem its already at the critical stage, Ive had owners tell me their cat 'seemed fine' the night before, they had witnessed the cat using the litter box to urinate normally....by morning they noticed 'strange behaviour' (cat was in litter box but either only a small amount of urine was passed or nothing at all....or they are trying to urinate outside the litter box/around the house where they usually would not go....or theyre continuously going in and out of the box) and there is often a 'unique' cry especially if any pressure is put on the bladder area if picked up or palpated... and by that evening when they have brought the cat into the emergency hospital it is sometimes already in shock with a bladder the size of a baseball and hard and is in severe pain.
Sometimes there is confusion as to whether the cat is trying to urinate or defecate, unlike dogs, cats pretty much are in the same position for both. Cats that are constipated or have diahrea may show the same litter box behaviour as a blocked cat, its always better to check if your not sure. Ive seen far too many cats die or suffer tremendously in excrutiating pain from being blocked....I couldnt give any figures or even a percentage as to how common this is but I think without any exaggeration it would be reasonable to say we saw at least one a week in the last 5 years that I worked at an emergency hospital.

 

Sounds like a rough week! I hope everything is back to normal soon.