November 23rd, 2009 → 6:24 am @ admin // 10 Comments
I was wondering if anyone’s cat has had a urinary blockage before? I had to spend $4000 dollars to unblock him and then he had to have surgery. I am trying to change his insurance because it does not cover much. I was wondering if anyone knows if this problem will come back even after surgery because he still has some calcuim crystals in his urine x-ray showed
68T
2 years ago
I’ve never owned a male cat, but I’ve helped with plenty of blocked tom cats. I must say, $4,000 is quite an extravagant number, but I guess it depends on where you live. Best bet for preventing this from happening again is keeping him on a very, very strict urinary diet. Something like c/d, s/d, or x/d (from Hills), or Urinary SO. Your vet should have discussed this with you thoroughly, and if he didn’t, you need to give him a call and talk to him.
lissyvon
2 years ago
Hi there.. my dad’s cat had to have surgery 2ce for the same issue until at only 6 years old, the kitty had to be put down. It’s very unfortunate for a cat to have this because in some cases, no matter how much you change (proper cat food, litter box cleanliness, etc) it doesn’t always help.
Please do everything that the vet tells you to to keep the crystals from coming back, it’s very painful, and stressful on a cat to have to be put through something like that.. and good luck ♥
dkarin32
2 years ago
My male cat had bladder stones 2 years ago. It cost $1800 including the surgery. After the surgery, the vet advised me to switch his food to special dry food and it hasn’t reoccurred. I also have plenty of fresh water available to him at all times and giving him extra wet food because a lot of the times it’s caused by not enough moisture in their diet. That is not the only cause though, it depends on the kind of stones/crystals they are prone to getting. I would ask around and see what other vets charge because 4000 seems like a lot!
Good luck!
DawnMari
2 years ago
I have had this twice (2 different cats) actually. I must say that $4000 is more then i paid for both of them put together BY FAR!!! When i took my cats to the vet, it was different cats and happened a few years apart, but the cost was about $150-200 for each cat. They did not do surgery, they just gave him some shots of stuff that disovled the hard crystals and break them dow into smaller ones that the cat could pee out. You are getting taken advantage of by your vet, you should call and talk to them about your bill.
babyboo_
2 years ago
A male cat I had was blocked, and it cost me around $300 with the surgery and everything. $4000 sounds very excessive. It can happen again. You will have to switch the food, I believe it is food with a magnesium content over 12%, but check with your vet. They might be able to get you a prescription food.
hudsongr
2 years ago
My siamese had the surgery. Afterwards my vet said ‘you know, this cat only has 1/4 kidney function left’. Well, that cat lived another 9 years just fine till renal failure got him at age 20. He didn’t have any more blockages after the surgery (he was on better food after the operation as well). Prior to the surgery he’d had 6 blockages, and we’d been free feeding Science Diet (dry) and Little Friskies (dry).
stace!
2 years ago
That’s a lot of money. When my Freddie got that it had cost a couple hundred dollars at the most. He had repeats so my vet did cut me a break for the remaining times he had to return for that problem. See if your vet will consider doing that if it comes to that point. Good luck.
yorkie luver
2 years ago
Unfortunately yes I had a tom with the problem and it kept coming back. It eventually turned to cancer and we had to put him down. I was told by the vet that it could have been avoided by feeding him canned food instead of the dry.
kittenan
2 years ago
My 9 year old cat started having problems with this last year.
The first time we brought him in, he had to be catheterized and have the crystals removed. This cost around $300, including the over night stay.
Brought him back about 6-8 weeks later, he was unable to urinate again. Vet removed the blockage again, said if it kept recurring, he may need a perianalurethrostomy (removal of the narrow end of the urethra where the crystals were getting stuck).
Two days after that blockage was cleared, he re-blocked and we opted for the surgery. My vet quoted an estimate of $800 for the surgery.
The total for the surgery ended up being $500 (since I had already paid the $300 for the second blockage).
I was feeding him cheap dry food, and occassionally, cheap canned food. When I started researching his condition and home remedies, I started reading more and more about cat nutrition, and how food with cheap filler ingredietnt can cause unhealthy urinary pH, which contributes to crystals. I have switched him to a higher quality food since then. Since his operation, he’s been feeling much better. He’s still prone to small crystals, but he’s able to pass them now instead of becoming painfully blocked.
I picked up some of the special cat litter that tests urinary pH (about $10 at Petsmart) and changes color. Since he’s been eating much better food, and much more canned than dry, his pH is at a much better level. (It was very alkaline before, and his bloodwork had shown high blood sugar. That appeared to be a reaction to the corn in the cheap food he had been on).
So if that’s really four thousand dollars, I think your vet is waaayyy overcharging. If that should read four hundred, that’s about what it cost me each time he blocked.
If the surgery he had was the perianalurethrostomy (they sometimes refer to it as the “kitty sex change operation”), then it will probably solve a lot of the problems. Every cat is different, but it did wonders for mine.
Good luck!
nodryfoo
2 years ago
I have a 6 year-old- male cat that just suffered urinary blockage. We caught it early and he was unblocked, then remained hospitalized for two days while getting fluids via IV.
He got sick late at night. We have no emergency vet hospital in this area so I had to call his regular vet at 1 AM. She met us at the clinic and treated him immediately. Even with the emergency middle-of-the-night call, the hospitalization, and all treatment, the total bill was $494. But, my cat did not have surgery.
As far as whether this problem can recur, yes it can, especially in male cats. It is a problem with the cat’s diet, so proper diet is extremely important as both treatment and prevention. Our vet prescribed Hill’s S/D for my cat to get rid of his crystals and prevent more from forming. However, my cat does not have calcium crystals, he has struvite crystals.
If your cat has calcium crystals, do NOT feed him any of the foods designed for urinary tract problems. Those foods acidify the urine, and acidic urine is what causes calcium crystals in the first place. If you feed him those foods he will definitely have a recurrence, even though he has had surgery.
Feed your cat a high-quality wet food for the rest of his life. Do not give him dry cat food. You must make sure your cat gets enough moisture in his diet EVERY DAY and dry foods tend to cause chronic dehydration in cats. The only way to ensure enough fluids is by feeding wet food, as it contains a lot of water.
Do not go with cheap canned food, get something like Wellness or Evo, or similar quality brands. Read labels. There should be meat such as chicken, turkey, lamb, rabbit, etc. There should be no grains listed and no by-products or glutens. Also, avoid giving him fish. No cat should have fish in its diet, especially a cat with any kind of urinary tract problem.
I threw out the Hill’s S/D that our vet prescribed for my cat. It was a dry food, and dry food is what caused my cat’s problems in the first place. I now feed my cat Wellness grain-free canned, and Evo 95% meat canned. He is doing very well and is urinating normally. He also throws up a lot less than he did with dry food (though he did throw up the wet in the beginning, until his system adjusted to the diet change). He also has a better looking coat with less shedding.
And here is another perk: His litter box doesn’t reek anymore. Quality wet food is nutritious with less waste, so the cat box stays cleaner and what is in there doesn’t stink up the whole house.
Get your cat on a quality wet-food diet, no dry food at all. Feed meals only, no free-feeding. Leave the food down for him for 30 minutes, then take away any uneaten food. And no urine acidifiers at all, so steer clear of S/D or C/D or any of the urinary tract foods.