Hello Dr. Magnifico,

My 2-year-old indoor male cat has had what appears to be three urinary blockage episodes within the last three weeks, and I’m looking for advice because we are running out of options financially.

About three weeks ago, he suddenly couldn’t urinate. I took him to our veterinarian. They expressed his bladder, and he passed what they described as a plug. They said he should be okay after that. Bloodwork was done, they found bacteria and gave him an antibiotic injection. They also performed a urinalysis and found crystals in his urine. However, we were not told to change his diet or given any specific recommendations.

He has always eaten dry food because he has never liked wet food. This is my first pet as an adult, so I didn’t realize how important diet could be for this condition.

About two weeks later, he became unable to urinate again and he also vomited twice. We got him back to the veterinarian. They took X-rays and said there were no bladder stones, but that he had another urinary blockage. They recommended hospitalization, anesthesia, catheter placement, and flushing his urinary tract. He stayed at the clinic for two nights.

Before discharging him, they told us there was no longer any blood in his urine, removed the catheter, and said he was okay to go home.

He has now been home for about 30 hours, and as far as we can tell, he still has not urinated. After watching several educational videos, I tried to gently feel for his bladder. It does not seem very large or hard, but the fact that he hasn’t urinated for over a day makes me think something is still seriously wrong.

Yesterday after coming home he was relatively active and walking around. Today he has mostly been sleeping all day. He has not vomited today, but he is eating very little, drinking very little, and for the last several hours he has barely moved.

Over the last three weeks we have already spent about $4,000 on his treatment, and unfortunately we simply cannot afford another expensive hospitalization.

I understand that this may be an emergency, and if he is truly blocked again, he may need immediate veterinary care. However, before making another decision that we may not be able to afford, I would be very grateful for your opinion on whether there is anything else we should consider or whether there are any reasonable alternatives.

P.S. I have watched several videos on your YouTube channel, and I truly appreciate the time and effort you put into helping pet owners. Your videos have already helped me better understand what my cat is going through, and I’m very grateful for everything you do. Thank you.