Unfortunately, this is all too common an occurrence with male cats. Three of my boys have suffered complete blockages in the past. It is incredibly painful and quickly life-threatening without prompt veterinary intervention. Your boy is very lucky that you got him back to the vet in time. I have to ask, though, did the vet check a urine sample under the microscope during either of the first two appointments? If so, it seems odd that (s)he wouldn't have seen the crystals in Max's urine before they caused a complete blockage.

In any event, it's extremely important that you keep syringe feeding Max until he starts eating on his own again, and you must keep close track of his urinary output. Cats frequently reblock soon after the initial blockage, so you have to make sure he is still passing urine and get him back to your vet immediately if he is not.

Hopefully once Max heals up, he'll return to using the litterbox, but sometimes a previously blocked cat associates the box so directly with the pain of the blockage that he refuses to ever use the box again. Hopefully that won't be the case with Max.

The best thing you can do for Max, both now and from now on, is to do everything possible to increase his water intake. If he's currently eating dry food, switch him to canned, then mix the canned with hot water to create a warm canned food soup. Put extra water bowls all around your house, and keep the water in them fresh. If Max likes to drink out of the tap, let the sink tap trickle anytime you and Max are in the bathroom together. Consider buying a pet fountain waterer. Many cats seem to love the running water of a fountan. The bottom line is that the more water you have flowing through Max's system, the more crystals will be flushed out before they have a chance to clump together and create blockages.

It's not uncommon for blocked cat to experience kidney issues. Blocked cats become toxic very quickly, and that strains the kidneys. Hopefully Max's kidneys will recover fully. Extra fluids will help that process, too.

Give poor Max a snuggle from me. He's lucky to have such a dedicated caretaker to help him through his recovery.

All the best,

Laurie

My vet is German, and the last check-up my tomcat had was conducted with typical Germanic attention to detail. Build-up on his teeth & gums was flagged as potential kidney problems leading to chemical imbalance within my cat's body, something the Irish vets he had seen previously hadn't picked up on. So he was kept in for tests which did reveal that his kidneys had seen better days but nothing to worry about right now. Another test is sheduled for 6 months time to try and ascertain the rate of deterioration. If necessary he will be placed on a special diet to try and avoid the problems described in previous postings and to let him carry on living a proper catty life full of birds and mice by slowing down the deterioration.

Sadly kidneys are a weak point with cats. My family have always had cats from the year dot, and those that have died naturally more often than not have been kidney related.

Thanks for your responses, unfortunately we took Max back to the Vet to get a new blood workup, and his kidney function is getting worse. Not the news I was hoping for.

Sue K.

My cat ollie who is 3 years old recently had the same problem max had. He started getting in the litter box very frequently and not even going at all. We took him to the vet in our town about it and they said he had crystals and some kind of sludge build up that looked like sand and they would perform surgery and wash it out. After that they put him on the antibiotic baytril, and another med that you put on his ear flap to help his muscles not hurt so much while urinating. He seemed to be doing fine. Then he got worse overnight practically. He was licking himself alot more and walking slowly, not being as active, not urinating and acting very sick. Took him back to the vet, they did another surgery after they saw a bad ultrasound on him. They told me he had more block up and that his bladder is placed much higher on the inside of him than where its supposed to be and that the tube that comes down from the bladder to the urethra is much longer than its naturally supposed to be therefore that is why it was more suseptable to gettin blocked up. shorter tubes get cleaned out by the body easier. So due to that, his left kidney has enlarged and is very bumpy and not working at alll, his other kidney is overworking itself to keep him going. They didn't sound too optimistic about his condition but i've still got him on meds and he seems to be doing okay now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and maybe he'll be strong enough to overcome this. It wasn't the news I was hoping for either. :[ I hope your cat does well and heals well too.