An Ounce of Prevention

A year ago, my rescue cat, Newt, developed a blocked urethra. This is a painful condition and I wasn't familiar with it, not having owned a male cat prior to saving him. Newt was left homeless on the roadside so his sex wasn't a matter of choice.

Newt's condition quickly became painful. His first symptoms didn't lend to his actual condition. He began showing signs of illness with diarrhea and vomiting. I was concerned about dehydration so we took our first trip to his veterinarian during the height of the pandemic. The urinary issue was masked by the initial symptoms. The veterinarian prescribed medication and sent us home. During the pandemic, we couldn't go in with our pets to their appointment. You just sat in your vehicle and waited. The veterinarian communicated with me by phone after they examined Newt.

Two days after this visit, Newt stopped urinating and hid under my guest room bed all day. My veterinarian had no appointment openings so I scheduled with my then fiancé Jeff's veterinarian. The second veterinarian visit consisted of needle aspiration of his bladder, pain meds and a new diet. The veterinarian's office near us is not an emergency veterinarian so they couldn't keep Newt over night. The next day he was scheduled for surgery. They aspirated his bladder a second time and then prepped him for surgery. Surgery consisted of flushing his bladder several times with salt water. Some cats get urinary crystals. Newt didn't have crystals, instead he had a mucus blockage. Thank God that procedure was successful.

Newt is on a Hill's bramd CD/urinary specialty diet ($$$) which I order through Chewy.com in dry and canned foods. I purchased a fancy water fountain off of Amazon to encourage more drinkng, but after me and Jeff were married in July, Jeff and his dogs moved in and Newt stopped using the fountain.

To make sure he's still taking in enough water, I stationed two finger bowls full of water in the two bedrooms and I fill them with water daily. I purchased Pretty Litter off of the internet because the crystals change color to blue to indicate if the cat's urine is acidic and the cat may develop crystals. The bonus to the Pretty Litter is its light weight and that it keeps odors at bay. The only scooping is of the feces. You change the litter out once a month. The downside of Pretty Litter is, again, that it is expensive. If you think for one minute a free cat is a "free cat" then you haven't had a "free cat" before.

Newt is doing fine these days and I have learned a lot about male cat care due to this issue and prior ussues. I've also learned that having a Care Credit card is smart with pets. Those three visits to the veterinarian ran the card over $1,200, but by paying the card off before the promotion ended I wasn't obligated to pay any interest. I focus on prevention every day.

Do you have any cats or dogs with challenging health issues? Has it made you somewhat of an expert on those problems? Share in the comments if you like.

This is my five
minute freewrite using prompt a bowl full of water hosted by @mariannewest.

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