@Rose429 How old is your cat? In the 90's we adopted a stray cat and he had the crystals and a urinary blockage. He was only treated once for that problem.
He was put on special diet wet cat food for that issue. He also could have no food that contained fish. He was okay after that,
as far as urinary problems.
Dry foods usually contains ash, which can cause crystals in males cats as food with fish can cause, also. Male cats seem to be more prone to the urinary problems than females.
Cats need wet food. Only high quality dry food like Taste of The Wild is what I give my female cat, only in small amounts.
Diet should be mostly wet food. If you use dry, look for very low or no ash food. I also give fresh water twice a day.
Twenty years before that, in the 70's, we took in a stray male and we did not know about dry foods being a problem. He had to be cathed and the vet said that we would have to keep doing that for him, more than once a week. We could not let him suffer. Sadly, we let him go.
Did your vet recommend a change of foods? Did the vet say that your cat could recover, or was surgery the only solution?
With that poor 90's male cat that we took in, he also had ear problems and kept getting infections. The vet said that he had ear polyps and recommended surgery. We went ahead with that, thinking that he would be better for it.
I wished that we never had done that. He suffered so much, he wouldn't eat. He got dehydrated and we had to take him in twice, to get hydrated. At one point, he just laid in his litter box. I guess that some cats will do that when they think they are dying. It was so sad to watch.
It was a serious surgery that involved removing the entire interior of his ear. It must have been so painful. After weeks, he did recover.
Sixth months later, the poor thing was diagnosed with an ****** tumor. The vet said that they could do surgery, but he would be incontinent. That would be horrible and no way would I put him through another surgery and watch him suffer again.
She said that the tumor would grow and he eventually would be blocked. He seemed happy and pain free. He ate and played
and was the most lovable lap cat that we ever had.
Within the year, he did seem blocked and we could not let him suffer, so Good bye sweet Ollie. He was the best cat. He
must have had a hard life on the streets, before we had him.
No one can make a decision for you, but I would not put a cat through a surgery and cause more suffering.
We love our pets so much, we don't want them to suffer, but it is so painful to let them go.
My Maine Coon's sister had a heart murmur as a kitten. We hoped that she would outgrow it. Her heart got worse and she had seizures, three times.
She was being treated by a cardioligist and it was $600. for each visit. When she was spayed, there was the surgeon, cardiologist and nurse. She had to stay in the hospital for three days, with around the clock nurses. That bill was $4000. six years ago.
Then her heart got worse, she had congestive heart failure and each month, we had to take her in for the cardiologist to put her under anesthesia and drain the fluid around her heart. She would be fine and play with her sister until a month later, she needed the procedure again. After the third time, I told the vet that I hated to put her through that and he recommended not putting her through that again. She would never get better.
Sadly, we had to let her go. She was only 2 1/2 years old and the most beautiful silver blue fluffy Maine Coon, from a line of show cats. She had bonded with me, Silvie was my precious baby.
Her sister Katie, had bonded more with my husband. Katie was lost without her sister and looked for her for a week. We showered Katie with so much attention and now she rules the house. She is our spoiled girl, but I will always miss my Silvie.
( I was rather surprised when the anatomically correct term for the distal end of the alimentary canal of a cat was blocked out.
A**l is not a slang or vulgar word, it is a scientific term in anatomy)
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