I have never heard anything but good things about the surgery. To be honest,
it may be less stressful than the blockages and as long as everything else
is OK, while any surgery is always a worry, we know that even older cats can
recover well from them. The thing is, he may be building scare tissue, which
will make blockage even more of a problem. Purrs still coming for Jazz.

Ouch! ;-)

I've heard they can be a life saver for cats with cronic blockages. Our
Xoxo only blocked once, then we switched them to mostly wet food and
he's been fine ever since. Does Jazz like wet food? I know some cats
don't, so it's hard to get them to eat healthier.

I've never had a cat that needed it (I've had mostly females, though), but I
have heard of others who have had this surgery done on their cats and it
turned out well.  I don't remember ever hearing anyone say it didn't and all
reported much improvement.  I know surgery is always a worry for older cats,
but just recently my Bandit, 15 years old, underwent anesthesia three times
in three weeks and came through fine.  We'll keep purring for Jazz to come
through this with flying colors!

Hugs,

CatNipped

Sorry, no experience or suggestions, but wanted to send lots of purrs
for Jazz. I can't recall ever hearing anything bad about the procedure.
And Jazz is a mere spring chicken at 13. ;o)

When Rusty had his 2nd, and complete blockage back in 1998, he
ended up in the emergency vet clinic for the weekend. The emergency  vet
recommded such surgery.
But his regular vet said that should be a last resort. So we switched
to another prescription canned food and I started adding water
to the food. He had other episodes of urine crystals, but no blockages. The
vet said the surgery doesn't solve the problem, just
make anatomical changes so the crystals won't cause blockages.

I suggest you have a good talk with your vet about the pros and
cons of surgery. At his age, Jazz should have a blood test before
going under for sugery.

Please keep us posted.

Winnie

Am 24.06.2005 schrieb Irulan:

please take a look here (but only if you have a solid stomache, because
these are pics from the PU surgery):
http://www.gwsystems.com/testsite/Galerie/owlop/e_index.html

Our Owl had this surgery last month after having so much troubles with his
bladder. He had oxalat-stones and they had to be removed twice. First
surgery was in Feb.2004, next in April 2005. Our vet said then, Owl can't
have another bladder surgery again, so we had to think about something
different to prevent those stones. And then our vet suggested the PU. We
had it done and we are more than happy that we decided to take this step.

Owl is a brand new cat! He is interested in everything, runs, plays, wants
to be cuddled. These are all things, he never did the last 2 years. And Owl
is 4 years old only! We don't have the impression that he misses his penis.
The advantage he has from this surgery is unpayable:-)

Please decide for Jazz that he should have this surgery. It will give him a
new life full of pleasure.

Purrs coming up for Jazz from

Inge & Volker and the catgang

My Lightning had the PU surgery after repeatedly being blocked.  He was
about 6 at the time.  I tried diet first.  However, he blocked a couple
times after his first PU surgery.  He had another PU and has been fine for 5
years.