Eli-Weli in the hospital

Eli gave us quite a scare last week, and has once again proven to be a money pit. Not that we don't love him, and not that this may have been prevented by us.

On Thursday, he was vomiting repeatedly and we thought he just had a tummy bug. But that night, he was lethargic and not acting like himself. Eli normally meows and brrrs a lot, and exhibits lots of cattitude in his stomping little walk across the apartment, but there was none of that. At that point, I decided he'd go to the vet. Eli was even more lethargic the next day, and I was worried that he might not make it to the appointment I made for the afternoon. As I write these words, I'm so thankful that he actually did make it, because he very well could've passed away.

The vet, upon palpating Eli's abdomen, discovered that his bladder was extremely swollen and that Eli tensed whenever she was squeezing it, and believed him to have a urinary obstruction, and he would require immediate treatment and a few days in the hospital. She also gave us an estimate that it would cost between $1000 and $1200 for everything. It didn't matter though, even though the treatment cost almost a month's rent, because Eli is our baby and we can't imagine our home without him. In fact, in the few days he's been gone, we notice that it's a lot quieter and Morty is sticking to us instead of his usual hangout spots.

The vet's update on Friday evening told us that the catheter was working and that a lot of grit had been cleaned out and his bladder was draining. After today's update, Eli's urine is clear (no longer bloody), but he doesn't want to eat. I hope that it's just because he's in a scary place rather than a sign that he's really still not well. He's coming home tomorrow and I hope he gets better and takes to the prescribed diet that's supposed to dissolve the crystals that caused the blockage in the first place.

Apparently, Eli had Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD), something that occurs frequently in male cats, but there is no exact cause. Crystals build up in the bladder and block the urethra, and since the urethra is narrower in males, this disease afflicts males mostly. The vet and a lot of my Googling has told me that it's most likely due to Eli being on a 100% dry food diet, which means that certain minerals build up more, and he's getting less water. I'm a bit frustrated with myself because we stopped feeding them wet food when they stopped eating it. We thought they were just growing out of it, but if I'd known about the high risk of FLUTD, I would've made greater efforts to keep them on a wet food/dry food combo diet like they were on when they were kittens. I'm also angry that I never got Eli pet insurance, and now I won't be able to have these medical expenses covered because even if I got insurance now, it would be a preexisting condition and they wouldn't cover it.

And the scariest thing is that urinary blockage in a male cat can be fatal if it isn't treated quickly enough. Most websites say that the cat will go into a coma and pass away due to renal failure within 48-72 hours. It's horrible thinking about how those four hours I was working on Friday may have been more vital than they actually were. And we're not out of the woods yet. Eli may block again if there are more crystals in his bladder, and he's high risk because he wasn't eating at the hospital, and that food is supposed to help him dissolve the crystals.

So please think good thoughts toward Eli, that he'll eat his prescribed food when he comes home, and that he goes back to being his tenacious and outspoken former self.