My cat's FLUTD surgery: Is it permanent? How long will he live?

Unfortunately no, there are no surgical procedures to prevent a reoccurrence of FLUTD. My own cat just had a bought of it, and I had to have him on pain medications as well as increasing his fluid intake. The best things you can do to prevent future occurrences with Ozzie is to make sure he is drinks plenty of water, keep feeding him the prescription diet, and have him lose weight if he's overweight. To encourage him to drink water, I would consider getting him a pet water fountain. It provides a continuing source of fresh water at all times, and cats love drinking from it. Prescription diets help maintain a healthy urinary tract, so it's important to keep feeding that. Try to get him some exercise as well, as that will help Ozzie maintain a healthy weight. Play with him twice a day to get him this exercise.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor Theo! These cats do well. Yes, the 2-3 weeks post surgery are rough but it is temporary. He shouldn't urinate differently. All cats squat to pee. There should be no outward difference. Just so you know, the surgery is to prevent a urinary obstruction. It will NOT prevent stress induced bladder inflammation where he will urinate small amounts, have bloody urine, urinate out of the box or whatever symptoms he shows. He may still have those type of flare ups and need to be on medications or a prescription diet for life. I would do the surgery. He will be fine. The short post-operative period shouldn't deter you. Good luck!

Moving forward, you will need to feed Frodo a prescription diet for cats who have urinary problems. I recommend Royal Canin S/O. These diets are formulated to promote increased drinking and urination. They also affect the urine pH to prevent the formation of crystals and one type of bladder stone. You will want to have his urine checked at least twice a year for infections and crystals until you know things are stable. I've got my fingers crossed for you and Frodo!

Thank you for considering a special needs cat. These often remain unadopted. If she is maintained on her prescription diet and you make sure she remains very well hydrated that will make all the difference and will likely cut down on problems and subsequent vet visits. If there is a canned version of her prescription food, offer her that in the interest of getting as much water in her as possible. Offer a fountain or multiple bowls around the house so she is always close to fresh water. Add water to wet or dry food to increase her fluid intake. With such care, and your ability to have her looked after as she needs it, there's no reason why she shouldn't live a long and happy life with you.

This is only done in very severe cases that do not resolve or in cases that tend to reoccur too often, is this the first time it happened? if so you should first explore traditional treatment, and by the way in cats UTI is actually not very common, urinary blockage is usually caused by a condition called FLUTD which is related to stress and causes bladder inflammation.

Hi, thanks fir using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor Jose! The most common causes for urinary obstruction are: crystals in the urine (struvite or Calcium oxalate), bladder stones, stress causing inflammation or a urinary tract infection (not common). The goals of therapy are to relieve the obstruction, test the urine for crystals and infection, do blood work to make sure he isn't sick (high potassium, increased kidney values) take an X-ray to look fro bladder stones. We treat with antibiotics for 2-3 weeks, a urethral relaxant (Prazocin) for a week, and pain medications for a few days. If he has bladder stones surgery is require to remove them. Long-term management is a life long diet change to a prescription urinary diet (royal canin s/o, Hill's c/d, Purina UR) and increase water intake. You can buy a water fountain and change him to an all canned food diet (more water in canned food) from one of the above company's. Jose will also be at risk to reblock and should always be monitored and on a prescription diet. Other wise there are no life long medications. I hope this helps and I wish Jose a speedy recovery!

The good news is he is passing urine well. When he was blocked the bladder got enlarged and now he doesn't have the bladder tone and control to hold the urine inside and urinate under control. This should improve with time. There is also medication that can help so please talk with your veterinarian about trying some medication. Acupuncture may also help with the neurological control of the bladder. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Newton.