Last night Milo made an emergency visit to the vet, after we noticed that he was spending a lot of time in the litter box trying unsuccessfully to urinate. Our veterinarian met us at the animal clinic around 7pm and quickly diagnosed Milo with a 'block'.
This was the first indication that something was wrong: Milo's tail hanging out of the litter box flap for 5-10 minutes without moving. The poor guy was just trying to pee!
Apparently a blockage of the urethra can be fatal to cats in as little as 24 hours, so it's good that we caught it early. I shudder to think what might have happened to him had we not been home and paying attention.
The vet inserted a catheter, and Milo's staying at the clinic for 3-5 days while they pump him full of fluids and flush out his urethra. When he can once again pee on his own, he'll get to come home.
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| This face is my life. |
UPDATE: I went to visit Milo at the clinic after work. He was pretty spazzy, but they said he's doing well with his treatment. I can't wait to bring my baby home, and I bet he can't wait to get that cone off his head.
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| look at his little IV... |
Sheesh! Glad you caught it in time. You might ask the vet about an alternate dry cat food as that might be the culprit.
ReplyDeleteHope he's back to chasing Minnie real soon.
Deb
Yeah, we're looking into other foods, although our cats already eat really high quality foods. We've been wondering for a while if Milo is allergic to some cat food ingredient, since he's 'mowed' all the hair off his belly. It could be that he's eating some other cat's food when he's outside.
DeleteJasper has been doing that, too. We wondered if it was stress from moving. Or allergy to chicken.
DeleteThat happened to Jasper, too! Those orange boys! We switched to a high protein (no grain) wet food and he hasn't had a problem since (knock on wood) and also put some drops of "Tract Ease" in his food or water. Hope he gets better quick and your baby is back home with you!
ReplyDeleteI remember when that happened to Jasper! Poor guys. What kind of food do you feed him now? Does he eat dry food, too?
DeleteNo he only eats wet food. They said that the dry food is what causes the crystals to form as biologically they aren't supposed to eat carbs...meat only. We had him on EVO and now just Whole Foods wet food. I hope he feels better and you feel better! It's so hard worrying about your furry ones. =(
DeleteAlso they said the wet food is better because more moisture gets into their system and the crystals are easier to pass. She said to even add water to the wet food if he'd eat it. And Tract Ease (found on Amazon) helped too.
DeleteThanks, Briney! I'm sure Milo will not be disappointed to get more wet food... :)
DeletePoor lil' guy :-(
ReplyDelete