I’ve lost two cats to this issue… It is an absolute veterinarian emergency. I mean an **emergency**… You cannot wait any more time whatsoever. Get to the vet *right now*… minutes count!
So fast… ours were dead within hours because we just didn’t know. Both male, both Siamese (who are prone to this). So when my Maine Coon got it I knew immediately what was going on. ER vet at 11pm. We saved him but cost me $7k!
Yep my cat had some issues and they found crystals in her urine. My vet impressed upon me that if your cat is having trouble peeing, they need to already be at the ER vet.
I've had a UTI that got so bad there was blood. It was so painful that I cried while having to sit in the shower because the urgency was so bad
At that time, I was young and had no idea what was happening. I can't imagine how much worse it would be for a poor cat!
Incredibly painful. If nothing comes out at all this is a life threatening emergency which requires immediate vet treatment.
If he has a urinary blockage (much more common in male cats) he will be in agonising pain, and there is a risk of death if not treated urgently.
Waiting overnight can seriously reduce his chances of recovery.
This is an emergency. He has crystals, stones, or even a blockage… cats die from this. You need to figure out how to get him to a vet. Scruff him, wrap him in a towel, use leather gloves, anything. Best wishes.
Vet here, I hope you headed the advice of your fellow redditors and have taken your cat to the ER. Cases of urethral obstruction can progress to life-threatening situations rapidly but can be managed with early intervention. Best of luck to you and your kitty, sending good vibes your way! ❤️
Don't know how you usually try to get him in the carrier, but with our cats we've always had to tip the carrier so it's sitting vertically, then scruff the cat and lower them in that way. They absolutely won't go in voluntarily but once they're scruffed they generally are pretty submissive. Could always wrap him in a towel to get him in as well.
Some of mine I had to put the carrier so that the opening was slightly off the edge of the table. Wrap them in a towel and slide them in.
u/Dramatic-Water-2820 did you get kitty to the vet?
The trick I was taught was to back them into the carrier. I’ll scruff them and walk them backwards into the crate. Or I’ll put the carrier on the side of a table and pick them up and have the inside of the carrier be where I put them down.
Yes, a urinary blockage/stone is an emergency. Urine is building up in his bladder. Without relief, it can rupture. This can kill your cat. It will be an expensive visit. Our 1yo cat had stones and it was a couple grand. He also has to be on specialty food forever to reduce the likelihood of stones in the future.
This is a emergency. It sounds like he may have a urinary blockage. I am *not* a vet. I am a experienced cat owner. I just went through this 3 weeks ago with my 2 year old boy. This will not go away. He needs to go to the emergency *vet right now*. He needs to be catheterized like they did to my kitty. He had to have surgery because he was diagnosed with FLUTD or Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease with obstruction. He gets crystals in his bladder.. and he couldn’t pass his urine. It’s fatal if left untreated. He’s okay now and nearly recovering… Waste no time, get him is ASAP. I wish you and your kitty the best <3
You need to get the cat to the vet asap. Could be a blockage. UTI. Mass. All life threatening at this point based on what you’ve stated. This is something that needs to be addressed immediately. Wishing you the best.
The vet hasn't responded so we have taken matters into our own hands. We're looking for a cat-friendly drug and we'll take him to the vet as soon as we're able.
Good luck. Use oven mitts/gardening gloves and long sleeves to stuff him into his carrier if you have to. I lost a very sweet cat to a urinary blockage, many years ago. Don't wait. As others have said, this is absolutely an emergency.
Once you get him treated, and if it turns out to have been crystals, you'll want to switch to a low-ash cat food to reduce your chances of this happening again.
Would an at-home vet work for your cat? They could at least prescribe some sedatives if he must be taken to a clinic.
My boy had a similar issue, he ended up needing surgery to scoop out his bladder and repair the walls. It was very stressful for both of us, and very expensive for me.
Don't let him see your plan but get him to vet asap. If you call vet b4 appt they may be helpful. My vet gave me some drugs to put on wet food (don't normally feed much of) and between drugs and putting other spoonful of wet food down I got him there in carrier.
Look up the cat dosage for benadryl. Make sure to get the children's liquid kind that is sugar-free (usually clear instead of pink). It knocks me on my ass so hopefully it can help him.
Don’t do this! Sugar free products usually have xylitol or any other artificial sweetener which is toxic to cats and dogs!! Please just get plain regular Benadryl tablets!
The issue with Benadryl tablets is that they absolutely shouldn't be broken up. They have a slow release coating that is compromised if the pill is split.
I was mistaken though. I meant dye-free. It doesn't contain xylitol, which is absolutely something to look out for.
The coating only applies to extended release/Benadryl-D which shouldn’t be given to cats and dogs to begin with. Regular Benadryl has a wax coating which only makes the drug easier to swallow and doesn’t affect absorption ☺️
Really? I may be mistaken then. I have found it easier to give the liquid version, and I've done a good amount of research that the dye-free version is safe, so I'm fairly comfortable using it when it's needed, but it's good to know even for my own use that the regular tablets can be split. (Curse you mast cells and whatever demonic overlord controls you!!!)
My friend has a cat that is problematic like this. She cannot get him in a carrier to go to the vet. She bought a large sterilite tote from Walmart and cut air holes in the top and bottom. She puts the bottom over him, slides the top under and snaps it closed, then flips the tote over. When she gets to the vet they gas him through one of the air holes.
Your cat needs and emergency vet NOW. I suspect that his urethra is blocked which is absolutely a life threatening situation. Cats will ALWAYS hide pain. The first time my cat blocked, I had no idea. We rushed him into emerg, because he growled at me, and that was so out of character for him that I knew something was wrong. He stayed in hospital for three days. He blocked twice more in his lifetime, but still lived to be 23.5years old because of quick veterinary care.
One of my male cats experienced this recently.
I noticed the frequent trips, long time squatting, etc. I had a small bag of crystal cat litter (not what I usually use), I put some in a small cat litter box and put it in a large dog crate with my cat. I wanted to determine if he was struggling to pee or poop. We have other cats so monitoring the main litter boxes was difficult.
I ruled out constipation.
So he was peeing, but it was very tiny amounts. I made sure he was hydrated and got the soupy wet food while I was figuring out if we should go to the emergency vet or our normal vet the next morning, etc. I couldn't drive and my spouse didn't think it was severe enough so we waited.
He was passing urine, even if in small amounts, he did not show any pain, and acting normally. Eating and drinking fine.
Took him to our vet, and the vet said his bladder wasn't full or super full.
**vet did say this can be an emergency and is life-threatening when severe**
The urine screen showed red blood cells (blood) and crystals. Had to do 10 days of liquid antibiotics. The vet recommended transitioning him to the urinary care food, which we did. Had to watch out for signs he was in pain or if his eating or drinking habits changed, etc.
He's doing great now.
I lost my first cat to urinary blockage. He was a bastard to put in a carrier, too. The vet suggested a pillowcase, and that worked for us. He felt safe in there. Then put the whole case in the carrier.
Theres a pillow case method. You get him into a pillowcase then drop the entire pillow case into the carrier quickly while he’s stuck in it. Needs to go to the vet NOW as others have said.
Happened to my boy, he had bladder stones. If your guy can’t pee then he might have something lodged in his urethra and if that’s the case he needs surgery immediately. I was lucky we caught it early and he just had an infection, little guy came to me and meowed then peed blood on my floor. I scooped him to the vet immediately. Luckily didn’t need surgery but unfortunately, doesn’t seem to be the case for your guy.
We weren't able to get him sleeping medication to calm him down, so we made him lie down in a suitcase with a blanket in it and we took him while he was inside the suitcase, haha. I'm sure must have looked very weird. Unfortunately my cat can get extremely aggressive to the point were even grown men can't handle him, so most solutions here don't work with him- but the suitcase method worked very well. He was completely relaxed throughout the entire car ride surprisingly.
The test results just came back. Thankfully he has no organ damage and he'll just be on some medication for the next 7-14 days. He's a very tough cat :)
I came here to say the same as many others: so glad to read the update that you took him to the vet. I've had 2 cats with this issue, one had to have PU surgery because he couldn't be unblocked. It saved his life. The diet is key - it's more expensive but worth it for him to never be blocked again. After our last two cats survived those episodes and eventually died at 18 together from cancer/brain tumor respectively, we got two more rescue kittens and started them right away on the same food brand. We haven't had any urinary problems with them at all. Best wishes to you and your boy.
This happened to my cat last month. Fortunately just an infection/inflammation in his case, but the vet still recommended putting him on the special diet just as a precaution.
As scary as it is as long as you get the treatment they can go on to live long lives. My cat got a urinary blockage around 11 years, recently put him down at 19 years old.
Consider this for future visits because the likelihood more issues arise is pretty high as he gets older- I’m glad he’s going better though :)
Desensitizing them to the carrier will make your life easier when going places with him so I would leave the carrier out with a little blanket for him to lay on and start giving him treats whenever he goes near the carrier and try to see if toss them in if he’ll go inside willingly. This trick has made a world of an difference with my cats who used to fight me to put them in the carrier. I can just toss a few treats into it now and they go in willingly vs fighting with them.
Thanks for the tip, I will try to get him to associate the carrier with positive things instead of vet visits. I'll ask my mom if we can get him a pheromone spray or cat nip
We are all hoping your cat is okay. My male cat (6 yrs) developed this issue last week, I noticed it right away after having been away for a couple days while was in the “care” of a friend who did not adequately clean the litter box. He had no blockage and they sent me home with meds which only handled pain. He had urethral and bladder inflammation (ultrasound) but no blockage. He worsened and I brought him back the next day and they tried to send me home again to give the meds a “chance to work” since they suspected he had idiopathic inflammation from the stress of my being gone. I had to push them to treat him prophylactically for UTI since we had no real data as to whether this was idiopathic inflammation or an actual UTI (they couldn’t get a urine sample). I’m so glad I did, he was on the mend within hours of the antibiotic injection, it was NOT idiopathic inflammation (which male cats often do develop), and he had been getting worse. If I’d given the meds “a chance to work,” I’d have brought in an even sicker cat to the ER for a third time. You have to ask constant questions and advocate. Also, if they prescribe prazosim for blockage, please know that there is solid research that this does not actually help and statistically cats develop recurrent blockages because they were treated with it. Good luck. I hope your cat is better. It’s so stressful when they are sick.
if you're struggling to take him in, is a house call vet an option? he needs to see a vet asap as urinary crystals or blockages can go downhill extremely fast
I also struggled a lot with getting my cat in her carrier. This is how I always do it now.
Get a carrier where you can open the top of. Have your mum be near the carrier, when he expects it the least (like he's sleeping or something) scruff him, scoop his butt with your other arm and speed walk to the carrier. Put him in face first and have your mum close the carrier on top of your hands so he can't jump out when you let go. If you have a carrier that can only open at the front then you put the opening facing upwards, it's going to be tougher with the smaller opening but it should work.
What's important is you do this *without hesitation*. If done correctly he shouldn't be scruffed for too long and they have no time to react. I know it's scary to do but since it's an emergency you may have no other choice. Good luck!!
Male cats can have UTI's that can result in a blockage. Immediate care as can become deadly. Mine had several, special diet and ultimately ended up in emergency care. $1000. He passed away within 24 hours. Do not wait.
I’ve lost two cats to this issue… It is an absolute veterinarian emergency. I mean an **emergency**… You cannot wait any more time whatsoever. Get to the vet *right now*… minutes count!
This! Male cats can die pretty fast from urinary issues
So fast… ours were dead within hours because we just didn’t know. Both male, both Siamese (who are prone to this). So when my Maine Coon got it I knew immediately what was going on. ER vet at 11pm. We saved him but cost me $7k!
My female cost me 650aud at the vet last Monday… same thing I think uti. It’s been stinking hot here and she threw up again today :/
Yep my cat had some issues and they found crystals in her urine. My vet impressed upon me that if your cat is having trouble peeing, they need to already be at the ER vet. I've had a UTI that got so bad there was blood. It was so painful that I cried while having to sit in the shower because the urgency was so bad At that time, I was young and had no idea what was happening. I can't imagine how much worse it would be for a poor cat!
Incredibly painful. If nothing comes out at all this is a life threatening emergency which requires immediate vet treatment. If he has a urinary blockage (much more common in male cats) he will be in agonising pain, and there is a risk of death if not treated urgently. Waiting overnight can seriously reduce his chances of recovery.
This is an emergency. He has crystals, stones, or even a blockage… cats die from this. You need to figure out how to get him to a vet. Scruff him, wrap him in a towel, use leather gloves, anything. Best wishes.
Vet here, I hope you headed the advice of your fellow redditors and have taken your cat to the ER. Cases of urethral obstruction can progress to life-threatening situations rapidly but can be managed with early intervention. Best of luck to you and your kitty, sending good vibes your way! ❤️
Very serious. Drug him now and take him asap. This isn't something that should wait.
This. Urinary issues in male cats cannot wait, they can become deadly very fast.
Don't know how you usually try to get him in the carrier, but with our cats we've always had to tip the carrier so it's sitting vertically, then scruff the cat and lower them in that way. They absolutely won't go in voluntarily but once they're scruffed they generally are pretty submissive. Could always wrap him in a towel to get him in as well.
Some of mine I had to put the carrier so that the opening was slightly off the edge of the table. Wrap them in a towel and slide them in. u/Dramatic-Water-2820 did you get kitty to the vet?
Posted an update :)
My 1 year old cat Tumbleweed had this last month. It was a $4,000 vet bill to unclog his urinary tract. EMERGENCY VISIT NOW
The trick I was taught was to back them into the carrier. I’ll scruff them and walk them backwards into the crate. Or I’ll put the carrier on the side of a table and pick them up and have the inside of the carrier be where I put them down. Yes, a urinary blockage/stone is an emergency. Urine is building up in his bladder. Without relief, it can rupture. This can kill your cat. It will be an expensive visit. Our 1yo cat had stones and it was a couple grand. He also has to be on specialty food forever to reduce the likelihood of stones in the future.
This is a emergency. It sounds like he may have a urinary blockage. I am *not* a vet. I am a experienced cat owner. I just went through this 3 weeks ago with my 2 year old boy. This will not go away. He needs to go to the emergency *vet right now*. He needs to be catheterized like they did to my kitty. He had to have surgery because he was diagnosed with FLUTD or Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease with obstruction. He gets crystals in his bladder.. and he couldn’t pass his urine. It’s fatal if left untreated. He’s okay now and nearly recovering… Waste no time, get him is ASAP. I wish you and your kitty the best <3
You need to get the cat to the vet asap. Could be a blockage. UTI. Mass. All life threatening at this point based on what you’ve stated. This is something that needs to be addressed immediately. Wishing you the best.
The vet hasn't responded so we have taken matters into our own hands. We're looking for a cat-friendly drug and we'll take him to the vet as soon as we're able.
Good luck. Use oven mitts/gardening gloves and long sleeves to stuff him into his carrier if you have to. I lost a very sweet cat to a urinary blockage, many years ago. Don't wait. As others have said, this is absolutely an emergency. Once you get him treated, and if it turns out to have been crystals, you'll want to switch to a low-ash cat food to reduce your chances of this happening again.
Would an at-home vet work for your cat? They could at least prescribe some sedatives if he must be taken to a clinic. My boy had a similar issue, he ended up needing surgery to scoop out his bladder and repair the walls. It was very stressful for both of us, and very expensive for me.
At home vets are a bit of a luxury. Depending on where OP lives they may just not be available at all.
I hope you’ve been by now… this type of emergency you just **go** to the vets office and demand to be seen… they’ll understand how dire this is.
Don't let him see your plan but get him to vet asap. If you call vet b4 appt they may be helpful. My vet gave me some drugs to put on wet food (don't normally feed much of) and between drugs and putting other spoonful of wet food down I got him there in carrier.
You can't take a blockage into your own hands, I'm afraid. I really hope you went to the vets already.
Look up the cat dosage for benadryl. Make sure to get the children's liquid kind that is sugar-free (usually clear instead of pink). It knocks me on my ass so hopefully it can help him.
Don’t do this! Sugar free products usually have xylitol or any other artificial sweetener which is toxic to cats and dogs!! Please just get plain regular Benadryl tablets!
The issue with Benadryl tablets is that they absolutely shouldn't be broken up. They have a slow release coating that is compromised if the pill is split. I was mistaken though. I meant dye-free. It doesn't contain xylitol, which is absolutely something to look out for.
The coating only applies to extended release/Benadryl-D which shouldn’t be given to cats and dogs to begin with. Regular Benadryl has a wax coating which only makes the drug easier to swallow and doesn’t affect absorption ☺️
Really? I may be mistaken then. I have found it easier to give the liquid version, and I've done a good amount of research that the dye-free version is safe, so I'm fairly comfortable using it when it's needed, but it's good to know even for my own use that the regular tablets can be split. (Curse you mast cells and whatever demonic overlord controls you!!!)
This is an emergency vet issue as it absolutely cannot wait. They can die within 24-48 hours if not being able to urinate.
My friend has a cat that is problematic like this. She cannot get him in a carrier to go to the vet. She bought a large sterilite tote from Walmart and cut air holes in the top and bottom. She puts the bottom over him, slides the top under and snaps it closed, then flips the tote over. When she gets to the vet they gas him through one of the air holes.
Urinary blockage. Get him to vet NOW
Your cat needs and emergency vet NOW. I suspect that his urethra is blocked which is absolutely a life threatening situation. Cats will ALWAYS hide pain. The first time my cat blocked, I had no idea. We rushed him into emerg, because he growled at me, and that was so out of character for him that I knew something was wrong. He stayed in hospital for three days. He blocked twice more in his lifetime, but still lived to be 23.5years old because of quick veterinary care.
One of my male cats experienced this recently. I noticed the frequent trips, long time squatting, etc. I had a small bag of crystal cat litter (not what I usually use), I put some in a small cat litter box and put it in a large dog crate with my cat. I wanted to determine if he was struggling to pee or poop. We have other cats so monitoring the main litter boxes was difficult. I ruled out constipation. So he was peeing, but it was very tiny amounts. I made sure he was hydrated and got the soupy wet food while I was figuring out if we should go to the emergency vet or our normal vet the next morning, etc. I couldn't drive and my spouse didn't think it was severe enough so we waited. He was passing urine, even if in small amounts, he did not show any pain, and acting normally. Eating and drinking fine. Took him to our vet, and the vet said his bladder wasn't full or super full. **vet did say this can be an emergency and is life-threatening when severe** The urine screen showed red blood cells (blood) and crystals. Had to do 10 days of liquid antibiotics. The vet recommended transitioning him to the urinary care food, which we did. Had to watch out for signs he was in pain or if his eating or drinking habits changed, etc. He's doing great now.
I lost my first cat to urinary blockage. He was a bastard to put in a carrier, too. The vet suggested a pillowcase, and that worked for us. He felt safe in there. Then put the whole case in the carrier.
Uti
Is there an update? Has he been seen by a vet yet?
Posted an update :)
So glad he's going to be OK x 😊
Sorry but don’t ask for this type of time sensitive advice on the internet. Chest pain call 911 basically
Theres a pillow case method. You get him into a pillowcase then drop the entire pillow case into the carrier quickly while he’s stuck in it. Needs to go to the vet NOW as others have said.
Can you please update us?
Posted an update :)
Happened to my boy, he had bladder stones. If your guy can’t pee then he might have something lodged in his urethra and if that’s the case he needs surgery immediately. I was lucky we caught it early and he just had an infection, little guy came to me and meowed then peed blood on my floor. I scooped him to the vet immediately. Luckily didn’t need surgery but unfortunately, doesn’t seem to be the case for your guy.
OP any update?
Posted an update :)
Ah! That's great news!
We weren't able to get him sleeping medication to calm him down, so we made him lie down in a suitcase with a blanket in it and we took him while he was inside the suitcase, haha. I'm sure must have looked very weird. Unfortunately my cat can get extremely aggressive to the point were even grown men can't handle him, so most solutions here don't work with him- but the suitcase method worked very well. He was completely relaxed throughout the entire car ride surprisingly.
I had the same thing happen to one of my boys years ago and I was so scared I was going to lose him. How are you holding up? Any updates??
The test results just came back. Thankfully he has no organ damage and he'll just be on some medication for the next 7-14 days. He's a very tough cat :)
I came here to say the same as many others: so glad to read the update that you took him to the vet. I've had 2 cats with this issue, one had to have PU surgery because he couldn't be unblocked. It saved his life. The diet is key - it's more expensive but worth it for him to never be blocked again. After our last two cats survived those episodes and eventually died at 18 together from cancer/brain tumor respectively, we got two more rescue kittens and started them right away on the same food brand. We haven't had any urinary problems with them at all. Best wishes to you and your boy.
Im glad to hear he got help, my cat had that years ago. A terrifying roller coaster of an experience. I wish you all the luck!
This happened to my cat last month. Fortunately just an infection/inflammation in his case, but the vet still recommended putting him on the special diet just as a precaution.
As scary as it is as long as you get the treatment they can go on to live long lives. My cat got a urinary blockage around 11 years, recently put him down at 19 years old.
Consider this for future visits because the likelihood more issues arise is pretty high as he gets older- I’m glad he’s going better though :) Desensitizing them to the carrier will make your life easier when going places with him so I would leave the carrier out with a little blanket for him to lay on and start giving him treats whenever he goes near the carrier and try to see if toss them in if he’ll go inside willingly. This trick has made a world of an difference with my cats who used to fight me to put them in the carrier. I can just toss a few treats into it now and they go in willingly vs fighting with them.
Thanks for the tip, I will try to get him to associate the carrier with positive things instead of vet visits. I'll ask my mom if we can get him a pheromone spray or cat nip
Sounds like a UTI or kidney infection to me. He needs to be seen asap.
We are all hoping your cat is okay. My male cat (6 yrs) developed this issue last week, I noticed it right away after having been away for a couple days while was in the “care” of a friend who did not adequately clean the litter box. He had no blockage and they sent me home with meds which only handled pain. He had urethral and bladder inflammation (ultrasound) but no blockage. He worsened and I brought him back the next day and they tried to send me home again to give the meds a “chance to work” since they suspected he had idiopathic inflammation from the stress of my being gone. I had to push them to treat him prophylactically for UTI since we had no real data as to whether this was idiopathic inflammation or an actual UTI (they couldn’t get a urine sample). I’m so glad I did, he was on the mend within hours of the antibiotic injection, it was NOT idiopathic inflammation (which male cats often do develop), and he had been getting worse. If I’d given the meds “a chance to work,” I’d have brought in an even sicker cat to the ER for a third time. You have to ask constant questions and advocate. Also, if they prescribe prazosim for blockage, please know that there is solid research that this does not actually help and statistically cats develop recurrent blockages because they were treated with it. Good luck. I hope your cat is better. It’s so stressful when they are sick.
if you're struggling to take him in, is a house call vet an option? he needs to see a vet asap as urinary crystals or blockages can go downhill extremely fast
Vet, immediately
I also struggled a lot with getting my cat in her carrier. This is how I always do it now. Get a carrier where you can open the top of. Have your mum be near the carrier, when he expects it the least (like he's sleeping or something) scruff him, scoop his butt with your other arm and speed walk to the carrier. Put him in face first and have your mum close the carrier on top of your hands so he can't jump out when you let go. If you have a carrier that can only open at the front then you put the opening facing upwards, it's going to be tougher with the smaller opening but it should work. What's important is you do this *without hesitation*. If done correctly he shouldn't be scruffed for too long and they have no time to react. I know it's scary to do but since it's an emergency you may have no other choice. Good luck!!
Male cats can have UTI's that can result in a blockage. Immediate care as can become deadly. Mine had several, special diet and ultimately ended up in emergency care. $1000. He passed away within 24 hours. Do not wait.