seems odd. I would definitely get an ultrasound of this dog's abdomen, or go someplace where they can send a little endoscope up the urethra to see what's going on... stones don't always show up on radiographs (urate stones are often invisible on radiographs). Seems sort of young for a mass, but bladder or urethral tumors are pretty common in older dogs (and can occur in younger ones, but far less often). Usually dogs with UTIs urinate MORE often than normal. Am concerned. See a specialist if possible. What area of Florida are you in?

First of all, your male cat probably does NOT have a UTI (very rare in young cats). It does obviously have cystitis, which is just another name for an irritated bladder. The crystals and mucus created by the diet and the inflammation of the bladder wall combine to form a plug sometimes, which male cats cannot always fit through their dinky urethras (and end up 'blocking', which is indeed an emergency). However, a cat that has been catheterized and cleared of his blockage will still have an inflamed bladder so will still 'act' like it has to pee all the time. Telling a blocked cat from one with an empty bladder that just thinks he still has to pee and strains a lot with only a few drops coming out is not easy. One should be shown by their vet how to feel for a large bladder, which a blocked cat will have, but a cat with cystitis that is just straining a lot will not have. To resolve this issue you will sometimes need several 'ingredients'... 1- time.. if your cat truly has been unblocked and there are no more crystals and mucus plugs in the works, he will generally improve over 1-2 days. But often his cystitis needs to be addressed, too. 2- to make your cat's bladder feel better will often relieve the straining, and in turn some of the cystitis. So Pain Medication is VERY IMPORTANT. I hope they sent you home with some. Buprenex is usually the best one and works great to keep bladders feeling better during the cystitis recovery period after blocking. 3- to facilitate the urinating of all the crystals out of the bladder before they 'get together' again and form another plug, your cat needs to take in a lot of water- usually more than they want to should they be eating a dry diet... this is one reason why canned food is usually a MUST for these cats, and in my opinion, a permanent must... life long canned food (perferrably not a fish flavor) is an excellent way of avoiding cystitis in the future (this goes for female cats as well... they get just as much cystitis as male cats to, but are graced with a large bore urethra so 'blocking' is far less likely to occur). I have hardly ever seen a cat block on just canned food (in fact, I cannot think of a single case, and i see at least one blocked cat a week in practice). 4- lower the carbs... this is one of the more controversial aspects of FIC (feline interstial cystitis) and the exact details still need to be worked out.. .but it seems high protein diets (particulary NON fish diets) make it very difficult for a cat to continue creating struvite crystals. Unfortunately not all cats that block form struvite crystals.. .some for oxalate crystals, and there is some doubt whether high protein really helps these cats much... but high water intake sure does, so again, CANNED food! Dry foods are very high in carbs (industry so far has not managed to create a lot carb dry food) and MOST canned foods are significantly lower in carbs (the cheaper the canned food, though, the more carb fillers may be in them, so some canned foods do not fit this description). 5- lower the stress. Not sure how it plays in to this problem, but high stressed cats are much more likely to get cystistis, though this form of cystitis is not always associated with blocking. Still, more litter boxes, hormone plug-ins, and sometimes anti-anxiety meds and make a cat less likely to develop cystitis. Good luck with your kitty.. if you are not sure how to feel for a large bladder and he continues to strain, particularly if he starts of vomit or feel really bad, take him in ASAP. A ruptured bladder is a very bad thing.

Sandy, again I have to say this vet knows what he's doing. He's having the stones analyzed to see which kind they are - because that makes a big difference in the kind of food Mickey needs. Many vets would just say feed a diet for urinary tract problems. Not so! There are two kinds of stones - struvite and oxalate - and each forms in opposite conditions. If you give the wrong food you may actually be encouraging stone formation. Struvite requires acidifiers and Oxalate requires alkaline enhancers. If you give an acidic food for oxalate stones you may increase their formation! Oxalate stones used to be fairly rare, but they are now increasing because so many cat foods are now marketed for "urinary tract health" and they may actually be messing up a normal cat's ph balance: "In the past, crystals and stones which contained struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate) were more common in cats. As a result, diets were developed to minimize the risk of forming struvite. These diets were low in magnesium and cats eating them produced an acidic (low pH) urine. As more cats were fed these diets, both for treatment and prevention of struvite, the percentage of cats with struvite stones decreased, but the incidence of calcium oxalate crystals and stones increased. Struvite is still the most common component of urethral plugs." Probably more information than you wanted to know, but I thought it might be important. There are different formulated diet foods for each stone - c/d and c/d-O. Here is a link that might be useful: Reducing Struvite and Oxalate Stones in Cats

It was on the Wednesday before New Year that the car had a really hard time starting ... then was noisy, indicating that more work was needed on the exhaust ... and it was missing, only a few of the cylinders operating, so it was somewhat weaker, and I didn't try to drive in fifth gear on Wednesday, as I visited the garage, who said that they were not too busy and to bring it in tomorrow. I visited son and we had some discussion about getting his car going and my possibly borrowing it for a few days. It was overnight going to Thursday that the catheter blocked, and in the early hours of the morning I wondered whether I could get through emerg and get to the garage about opening time ... but it turned out that some complicating factors meant that I didn't get going till time to go directly to the garage. Then I took a cab to emerg, and after the new catheter was installed I walked back to the garage ... and they told me that the car couldn't be used - they didn't want me to even drive it home. The car did me a favour, as I was about 55-45 about replacing, or fixing, it - and it made the decision for me. I stayed with son till Sunday, walked a few blocks to downtown and caught a bus that dropped me right in front of the church, ten minutes before church time. One of the generous parishioners drove me home. I spent a quiet New Year's eve, contemplating the year ahead, along with my future. It was a few degrees above zero F. through most of the week with snow on several days, and a fairly heavy wind through most days of the week. The neighbour has a small building with a boiler near his house that sends hot water in to heat the house, and the smoke from that fairly high stack has been sent flying over the field at a fairly stiff pace ... which discouraged me from showing my nose outdoors, let alone hitch-hilking. As cars drive through patches of snow on the road and a dusting of snow flies up - the wind sends it scooting into the nearby field at speed (not quite a fast as the car). My landlord's son lives in the near edge of the city, his truck was parked near the shop on Wednesday, and he agreed to drive me to the city when he went home that afternoon and I was all packed and ready to go at five ... but he didn't show. I'd visited my neighbour to call my son (as my phone isn't working) to tell him of my expected trip to the city, but the next morning it was pretty windy and cold and I didn't walk the third of a mile or so to warn him that the plan had fallen through: old guys aren't supposed to leave people who care about them hanging like that, you know. During that week of enforced isolation, with little of consequence to do, I did quite a lot of checking to find my credit card ... without success. I'm to take oranges and bananas regularly related to one of my medicines, was out of bananas for much of the week and was running really low on orange juice and milk. On this week Tuesday I was to have a blood test for my urologist, the weather was mild(er!), with no snow forecast and little wind, so I decided to head for town. Left home just after 2, walked a half mile to a rather busier corner, was soon picked up and the family was going right near where I was to have the blood test and I needed to get some money from the bank to pay the body shop for opening the hood of son's van. Took a bus to near son's place and we got his van mobile this (Wednesday) afternoon. Let me assure you, in no uncertain terms, that I was over the moon to have our own wheels under me as I drove the six blocks from the body shop to son's place. I'm to take son and friend shopping in the morning, to go to the Old Farts' coffee and conversation, after two missed weeks ... ... and the next item on the agenda is to look for serviceable (rather ole) wheels for ole joyful! Wish me luck. ole joyful