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Our baby, Pluto, is sick. I noticed him acting strange today. He was lethargic, not eating much, and hiding in the upstairs bedroom. He does sleep a lot during the day (as all cats tend to do) but he has about 3 spots he normally sleeps in and the upstairs bedroom isn't one of them. So it was really strange when I got up this morning, called and called and even jingled the bag of Greenies (cat treats that he loooves) and he wouldn't come. I found him curled up in the upstairs bedroom.
Later in the day he came down to use the litterbox. He was in and out of it 2 or 3 times in just a couple of minutes. Then he came and sat by me and I offered him a couple of Greenies. He ate 3 or 4 of them and then started grumbling and making "hurking" noises like he was going to throw up. He never actually threw up but he made those noises all afternoon, for like 3 hours. I called the vet who said it could be a number of things and encouraged us to bring him in, so we did.
Turns out he probably has a blockage in his bladder that's preventing him from urinating.
I guess it's somewhat common in male cats. Apparently the minerals in the food they eat can crystallize and either solidify to form a blockage in the urethra, or cause swelling/inflammation in the urethra that prevents the cat from urinating. The vet is going to sedate him, run a catheter into his urethra to try and unblock the blockage, or at least let the bladder drain, give him some antibiotics, and keep him overnight. We're probably going to have to switch him to a prescription diet that will help prevent this from happening again.
We're all hoping that we caught this early enough that there isn't a bad infection in the bladder (from not being able to urinate) and that since Pluto is so young (just over a year old), with the new diet hopefully this won't become a recurring problem.
Later in the day he came down to use the litterbox. He was in and out of it 2 or 3 times in just a couple of minutes. Then he came and sat by me and I offered him a couple of Greenies. He ate 3 or 4 of them and then started grumbling and making "hurking" noises like he was going to throw up. He never actually threw up but he made those noises all afternoon, for like 3 hours. I called the vet who said it could be a number of things and encouraged us to bring him in, so we did.
Turns out he probably has a blockage in his bladder that's preventing him from urinating.
I guess it's somewhat common in male cats. Apparently the minerals in the food they eat can crystallize and either solidify to form a blockage in the urethra, or cause swelling/inflammation in the urethra that prevents the cat from urinating. The vet is going to sedate him, run a catheter into his urethra to try and unblock the blockage, or at least let the bladder drain, give him some antibiotics, and keep him overnight. We're probably going to have to switch him to a prescription diet that will help prevent this from happening again.We're all hoping that we caught this early enough that there isn't a bad infection in the bladder (from not being able to urinate) and that since Pluto is so young (just over a year old), with the new diet hopefully this won't become a recurring problem.
That sounds pretty typical of him, he is a very clean and well-groomed kitty.
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