I just made it back here.I have hurt so bad today.To answer the question did my dr explain the procedure,see I have been hurting several days thinking it was a kidney infection.So I went to my family dr.He took a example and said my kidneys we full of blood and protein,and said if I was not better come back in a week because he given me some cipro and some med to turn my pee-pee red.Well I got worst and went back yesterday.I told him I had been passing stones and I had been hurting really bad.I sit on the floor on a cushion and placed my feet on the refrigator and pushed as hard as I could trying to push these stones out.I was bleeding so so bad,.screaming out top of my head,.than last nite blood pour out.When I started to leave the dr office greg had taken me and the dr gave me a nausea shot and pain shot and told greg that was what would happen monday so I was already feeling the shots and I guess the dr was thinking they would explain the stint. Thank you all that has explain and told me all about this and who has given me advises.I am chicken when it comes to shots but when it comes to pain I can;t take it.I think I have done pretty good when it comes to this kidney stones.The gave me lortab7.5.Is this pretty strong?I still feel the pain.What I do not understand is the bleeding.thanks again for explaining all this and the well wishes.,I been laying down the times I have not been walking and pushing trying to push these darn things out,Hugs Judy

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.

Several comments: 1) unless your cat is old, has diabetes, renal failure or some other degenerative condition, it is unlikely your cat has a urinary tract infection (very rare in young cats, but not unheard of). Most of these cats with bladder issues that are uncomfortable and have blood in the urine have cystitis, but that does not necessarily mean infection, too. The causes of cystitis are many, from stress, diet, stones to 'idiopathic' (i.e.. no obvious identifying cause). It is such a common problem in feline medicine, it has its own name: FIC (Feline idiopathic cystitis), or the old name was FLUDT (Feline lower urinary tract disease). 2) but one things is for sure, your cat is uncomfortable. ONe of the main things that should be considered in any cat that is urinating blood, straining, crying when urinating, or urinating inappropriately is the potential pain issue. Pain relief alone can make many of these cats better. You might ask your vet for some help in this area. 3) Diet is a big area of concern and should always be addressed. Canned food is a FAR better choice for any cat with bladder issues for several reasons. One is canned food is mostly water, so cats that eat only canned food urinate more, and urinating more empties the bladder more, and emptying the bladder more can result in emptying it of irritating substances such as crystals and mucus (often the cause OR result of straining and bleeding). But possibly more importantly is the carbohydrate issue, which many specialists are considering to be a big deal when it comes to 'happy bladders' in cats. Canned food (MOST canned foods, not all) are lower in carbohydrates- significantly lower. Dry foods all have carbs with a minimum of around 22%... But carbs are really not part of a cat's natural diet and a diet of maybe 7% or less would be far better. So I suggest if your cat is amenable to this, feed her a pate canned food only- no dry. Many cats in my practice have been made symptom free by just switching to canned food.. and my own cat was 'cured' this way when my professor in vet school told me to do the same thing despite my arguing with him that I was sure she had a bladder infection (of course I turned out to be wrong). 4) the 'stress' issue is a bit harder to resolve or diagnose, but stress alone can cause cats to pee blood and be uncomfortable. Your cat's loss of another cat, or having fleas, could have stressed her out some... but most of the time, we humans really have no idea what is stressing a cat. But adding more litter boxes, giving meds to reduce stress and using pheromone diffusers can all help resolve or at least improve these kittie's stress. 5) and I mentioned stones up above... sometimes bladder stones can result from either a dietary issue (most common cause), infection (rare in young cats) or a genetic metabolic issue (not much to be done about that last one other than keep cat on canned food). But without an x-ray, this possibility cannot be ruled in or out. I know rads are costly, but they are one time only cost and worth it to diagnose some cats properly. Discuss these things with your vet and see what they say.

Comments about cystitis in younger cats (no idea how old any of the cats in the above discussions are, but for now I will just assume they are all under 10 years?). Cats with urinary issues under 10 years of age are almost always due to a non-infectious condition currently referred to as FIC (feline idiopathic or inflammatory cystitis). Less than 5% of these cats (male or female) actually have UTIs (urinary tract infections). For years and years we assumed these cats had infections... and when the evidence finally proved us wrong, we then assumed it was a dietary issue (most vets still believe this fallacy to this day)... but recent research has been showing that though canned food is generally recommended, the actual diet often has no bearing on the cystitis (still hard for me to get my head around this as this has been drummed into our brains for over 20 years now). It is STRESS that is the cause of 90-95% of these cases of FIC... there is a very complex physiologic reaction to stress in some cats (not all obviously, or all cats would be having FIC half the time... turns out genetically only 5-10% of all cats tend to have this abnormal reaction to stress... the other 90% of cats will NEVER have this condition no matter what happens to them. The actual physiologic responses that lead to bladder inflammation are not clear to me, but they obviously exist. Not all these cats with FIC have crystals in their urine... in fact, most do not. The presence of crystals in dog and cat urine is, most of the time, meaningless and considered normal (though some crystals are more common than others). We used to think it was always crystalline plugs that caused male cats to block, but sometimes it is just mucus plugs- no crystals at all... and sometimes it is little tiny oxalate stones (these are the worst as they do not dissolve and even pushing them back into the bladder just delays the inevitable... having to surgically go in and remove them). Female cats get cystitis as often or even MORE often than do male cats, but thanks to their wide urethras, are far less apt to block up (and as a result are far less worried about when they have urinary issues). All these cystitis cats are in pain. All need pain meds (male and female) along with whatever other treatments are used to relieve them of their cystitis. So be sure if you have a cat with cystitis (straining to urinate, blood in the urine, frequent urination) they need to be on pain meds, sometimes for extended periods of time (weeks sometimes). Alleviating these cat's pain will often alleviate their stress as well and can sometimes 'cure' them (temporarily or permanently) of their cystitis. But the goals now for treating cystitis are aimed also at decreasing these cats stress levels (not always that easy since most of the time we have no idea what is stressing these poor kitties out). Stressors that we can manipulate include not having enough cat boxes in the house (always should be one more cat box than there are cats)... and cat boxes need to be in open areas (not corners or between objects)... in other words, easy to get in and out of (in at least two different directions- so NO lids, either). Also pheromones are often recommended now (in the form of diffusors or sprays)- most common brand is Feliway. These pheromones make the kitty relax and be less stressed and the resultant physiological response will be less inflammation in the bladder. Believe me, it is hard sell sometimes, particularly as most clients assume their cat has a simple bladder infection and only want antibiotics... not all these 'stress crap' that actually is the cause. Historically cats given antibiotics often get better, but only because this disease is a normally waxing/ waning condition that gets better often on its own, though the owners conclusion is the antibiotics are what worked. Can't blame them as most dogs and many people with cystitis have UTIs, so why not cats? No one knows for sure, but turns out cystitis in people is sometimes stress related, too. On top of all this 'revolutionary' thinking about cat cystitis is the realization that not every bacteria in urine (dog, cat AND even people) needs to be treated- also a 'new' idea in veterinary medicine. We used to ALWAYS treat any bacteria found in urine assuming urine is supposed to be sterile always... turns out that is not the case. So when we find bacteria in urine in cats that are asymptomatic, we are now told we should not necessarily put them on antibiotics. Yikes! Medicine is getting MORE complicated as I get older, not less. Now, cats OVER 10 years of age have a rapidly increasing risk of real urinary tract infections (the older the cat, the more likely UTI IS the cause of the cystitis... but still not always). So for any of the above cats that are OVER 10 years of age, the chances are 50% or more that they DO have an infection... particularly if there is another disease process (renal failure, diabetes, hyperthyroidism etc.). Sorry for the long story, but just wanted to chime in the above discussion so you can understand why sometimes food is NOT the issue and crystals are NOT the issue, and bacteria is NOT the issue. Hope this helps.