Male cat keeps getting blocked.

suegoo

My cat first got a urinary blockage spring 2008, again at Christmas and he is now at the vets again for the same thing.
I feed him Hills C/D dried food which the vet recommended. He drinks a lot of water.
I can't afford the Hills wet food, the dried is stretching the budget as I am on jobseekers and struggling to make ends meet.
Has anyone got any ideas of why he is getting blocked all the time and what I can do to help him.
Getting concerned as the insurance only covers £3000 a year. If he is going to get this blockage every few months that money will soon be gone. It costs around £800 a time at the vets.
He is the only pet and goes outside, I don't think he is stressed although he does chase other cats if they venture into the garden.
Any ideas or help very welcome, thanks.

foreign_correspondent

I am not really clear what sort of blockage you are describing - is it something like torsion, constipation or a urinary problem, such as infection or kidney stones? (i.e is it digestive tract or urinary?)

Without knowing more and understanding what sort of diet he needs as a result its hard for people to advise on alternative foods etc...

suegoo

Sorry, it is a urinary blockage, the vet says it is caused by struvite crystals blocking the urethra.
According to the vet it is caused by too much magnesium in the diet. Hence the Hills C/D which has a very low level of magnesium.

foreign_correspondent

aha, well thats a good start - its not something I have any experience of, but I would not be surprised if some of the cat owners on here have experienced similar! Good luck ;-)

UKTigerlily

I don't know whether it'd be worth having your Vet look at James Wellbeloved food, it's £10 a month (Approximately) & I think that's low in magnesium, really i'm suprised they haven't said to use wet food as Cats on dry rarely drink more than about half of what they should. Most vets push Hills but you could ask if there's any other brands you could use. Have you tried a Feliway plug in? I doubt it'd cure him but have heard they can help. Is he overweight? If so he needs to lose it. I hope he'll be feeling better soon!

moggylover

I would look for a low magnesium wet food and see if this improves matters. It certainly did for a female cat of mine that had trouble when on dry food and we found that she could not eat dry food at all because she did not drink enough water with it (and yes, there was plenty left down).

I never had any problems as long as she was kept on (any) wet food.

Waterfalls

im sorry to hear that, but yes this is can be a common problem in male cats.
hills, royal canin or purina all do this kind of food to healp keep the problem at bay. but hidden stresses like other cats in the garden may not be helping, so feliway may be some thing to consider

has the vet mentioned an operation to u if this is becoming a regular thing?
i think its called a perineal urethotomy. not all vets will do this so he may need to be refered

suegoo

No, the vet has not mentioned an op, I wondered if it could be something to do with the cold weather recently. We had a lot of snow so maybe that stressed him?
I don't know how long the problem exists before getting to the totally blocked stage, the snow has been gone for about 10 days.

Waterfalls

it could be anything.
there is another hills diet called sd, with is used to help dissolve the crystals, then cd is used to maintain it. or soaking the food before hand?
unfortunately if a cat has FLUTD then a cause may never be found
http://www.cats.org.uk/catcare/leaflets/VET02-FLUTD.pdf

rita-rabbit

Have you tried Burns?

They are now doing wet food but their dried is also excellent. Wetting the dried food will increase the fluid intake

good luck

daleigha

my female cat has had two incidences of UTI as we fed her dried food and she didnt drink very much water - since the last one about 1 1/2 years ago we have been feeding her Hills s/d dried food, one whiskas pouch a day (half in the morning & half in the evening) usually with extra water mixed in, and cat milk instead of water every other day and she has been fine ever since.

i think that once you have it under control you are definitely going to have to feed him wet food and mix some water into it on a daily basis, to make sure he gets enough water and it shouldnt happen again - assuming that lack of water is the problem - i think its a very common reason for UTI infections.

hope he improves soon - apparently its very painful for the poor things!

xx