It happens to females as well. Came this !! close to losing her.

Naturally it happened on a holiday -Memorial day when my regular vet was
closed. Saw her acting strange that morning  but I had to go out for a while.
Came home about 11AM and she seemed worse. It seemed all to familiar as I had
the problem with a male cat before but I figured it only happens to males. I
saw her going downhill by the minute and finally I lifted her hind end up and
squeezed up under her legs. Yikes - almost hard as a rock - panic sets in.

Now I did know of a 24 Hour emergency animal hospital that I have been to
before But its 45 min away so I figured there must be one closer and there was
so I went there.  The "nice" doctor there confirms my diagnosis and says the
cat is blocked. So I asked "well aren't you going to unblock her". He told me
to have a seat. 20 minutes later he presents me with a $1000 estimate and would
not do anything for the cat unless I signed it. I asked why cant you just
unblock the cat and then worry about what else she needs because shes
suffering. He said "you cant just do that - its not that simple" and with each
question I asked he got madder and madder until finally he said "I dont have
time for this" and told me to leave fully knowing that the cat was suffering
and near death and that the other 24 hour facility was now over an hour away.
The jerk only cared about his wallet.

So I head for the other place figuring she will never make it as she was hardly
moving and down for the count. When I got there I said "this cat is blocked and
she dont look good". They said you mean "he". I said "she". Anyway they
immedietely took her in the back and fifteen minutes later came out and said
she was indeed blocked and that they did unblock her and did see some blood
come out. Now unless I'm missing something isn't that the way its supposed to
be done? Unblocking the cat provides almost instant relief for the cat and
minimizes any futher damage to the kidneys etc. How could the other jerk know
what the cat would need unless he first unblocked her and then investigated the
damage done?

Anyway I left her there and they called later to say her kidney levels were sky
high and they would be giving her fluids and antibiotics. The next day they
told me she dont look good but they would recheck her kidney levels the
following day so I stuck it out. Four days and $800 later she came home. It was
a rocky road since then with flare ups of bloody urine and straining to go and
of course fighting me to the death over taking her medicines but I'm happy to
say at this moment she looks quite good.

So just remember it can happen to females. If I had acted sooner the cat would
have been much better off and so would my wallet. Everything I have ever heard
about it only mentions males.

Tony