Help Save Sampson - About Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease

Eight months ago Sampson stopped using the litter box. He was diagnosed with a sediment blockage in his urethra. This happens in male cats especially, there's this build up of crystals and mucus in the bladder that passes through the urethra and gets stuck near the end, kind of like a kidney stone but more lethal.

           Male cats have an especially narrow urethra that comes to a point at the end. The crystal plug builds up at the tip of the penis and, along with urine, can't be passed. Toxins quickly build up in the blood and eventually the bladder bursts from the intense pressure. It's a pretty painful condition, and when I brought him in the vet said he would have died if I had waited much longer.

           For the last eight months he's become blocked again three times, and each time the vets passed a tube into his penis to unblock him. This surgery can only be done so often because every time his urethra gets more scratched up, torn, and inflammed. The irritation causes the urethra to thicken and contract, making it even harder for urine to pass through and also causing painful spasms.

           Sampson has been to three veterinary clinics over the course of his condition, recieved the opinions of over a dozen doctors, and at this point all of them agree that every medical option has been exhausted. The last recourse for Sampson was an expensive and risky surgery called a perennial urethrostomy (PU) that basically cut off the narrow, inflammed end of his urethra so that the remaining part is too wide to hold the blockages.

           Although this "sex change" made it so Sampson could no longer become plugged, he still cannot urinate on his own. This is because his bladder, after 8 months of being stretched and swollen, has gone "numb" and lost its muscle tone. For his bladder to heal it needs to be kept small and empty for a period of weeks. The bladder is emptied by physically squeezing the urine out, something only a trained vet can do safely.

           I love Sampson very much, and I've been fighting a frustrating battle to help him be healthy.. For the last eight months I've been putting all the money I earn into new prescriptions, diets and medical procedures trying to heal his condition.. but at this point I've completely exhausted my finances. (see Sampson's vet bills here) Sampson desperately needs continued veterinary care to make it through the final stretch of this ordeal and come out the other end. Please donate, even just a little bit. I'm hoping that with the help of this site Sampson will be able to receive the daily care he needs to recover.

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