My mom's cat had to have this surgery done. After surgery his rear end looked like hell but he never had any more urinary problems. Does your vet have an easy-finance plan?

I've not had any cats who've had this, but I know it can be a very dangerous thing, especially for male cats. (The condition, not the surgery.) Poor Mookie.

Torrie, I haven't had this problem, but a friend of mine has, I think, with one of her male cats. I am going to email her with your post link, and perhaps she'll have some advice.

wow! $1000... that's like, well, ummm,err, at least *heaps* of aussie dollars... I guess I will never complain again about having the girls' teeth done under GA: I'm guessing your vet doesn't give preofessional courtesy discounts to Dr Torrie! Worth a shot?

Most vets will do you a payment plan. Try not to worry too much.

Long post alert:

Torrie, I am a friend of Adrienne's. She informed me that you are having continuous problems with your male kitty's urinary tract and I thought I would share my experiences with you.

One of my male cats had reoccuring inflammation of the urethra, he would strain to pee, we would take him to the vet, they would run tests, inject him with fluid and prescribe him antibiotics and once even with antidepressants. The vet said that this problem was quite normal for male kitties (it is) and labeled it as kitty anxiety, hence the antidepressants.

The treatment that finally worked for him was getting both of our kitties back on a wet / raw food diet. Many books that I have read on natural pet health trace the majority of all cat health problems to feeding dry food. Some kitties do all right on dry food, but according to everything that I have read and my personal experiences our cats on dry, then wet, dry and back to wet, they are healthier, their coats are shinier, their stool doesn't smell badly and they LOVE their wet food, for the most part.

Wet and raw food does cost us a little more at the store, but it is worth it to have healthy pets and costs less than vet bills and worry in the long run.

A book that helps me through lots of pet health help issues is: Natural Pet Health for Cats and Dogs by Pitcairn and Pitcairn. It's $12.00 on amazon, I highly recommend it for general pet health.

I feed our cats one can of wet cat food in the morning and another in the evening or a serving of raw rabbit meat. I live in Eugene, OR and I am fortunate to live near a pet store that offers raw meat, whereas I know that many places in the world do not have access to such things. Worst case scenario, feed them Friskies wet food. Anything is better than dry food, in my experience with my kitties.

Good luck and please email me if you have any questions!

Hi Torrie,
My cat Oliver had a similar experience. This may be something you already know about, but the problem was basically that crystals were forming in his bladder and he was unable to pee. He, too, would crouch in his litter box and try to pee to no avail. He also began "peeing" in front of us (squatting in unusual places so that we'd notice him) to get our attention. We took him to the vet and that was the problem: a bladder blockage. It is a simple surgery that all in (including anesthesia, meds for afterwards, and special food) cost $237.63. The vet put Ollie on prescription food (I think it has to do with the sodium content) that is more expensive than I would like, but this happened in 2003 and he has been fine ever since. the vet also recommended wet food, like Rachel says, and even sometimes plain ol' tuna.

It may not be the same thing but it might be worth checking into. Good luck, and give Mookie a hug for me.

Hi Torrie,
I have a cat who had the surgery to help relieve this problem when he was young. He is 17 now and as long as I keep him on the prescription food he is fine. You can do a google search on feline urinary syndrome and read up on the different types of treatment. I tried most of them, but surgery was the answer.

Hope this helps!!