could the change in food caused my cat to bleed blood..my baby boy died and i don't understand what happened

Question

My indoor cat couldn't go the washroom and started puking all over the place water/food..i thought it was a reaction of the new food i gave him and thought he would be better after he got that out of his system..i looked on the internet and it said it was normal for cats to puke.. i didn't think it was so severe until i started to see blood coming out of him where he pees..he died shortly after..i rushed him to the hospital.they told me he had urinary blockage or something-he was backed up.I don't understand what would of made this happen..he was blocked..but what would of caused that..it seemed like this started as a result of the food or at least that is what irritated it and made it worse. I read it's common for boy cats to develop this problem but i want to know what causes these problems in the first place..i have another cat, I don't want to make another mistake. Please take your cat to the vet right away when you notice anything at all different.

i ment to say pee blood..you guys i'm so upset maybe it's hard for me to explain things .i'm at a loss

Answer 1

This is not a very specific question. An allergy to the food change would not be a very likely cause of death , and if so it would not have been fast unless there was something in the food that was poison (like the foods that were recently recalled) . Where was your cat bleeding from? How long did the cat have symptoms of illness ?

Answer 2

The new food change didn't do it, the vet said it was a urinary blockage.

What that is is crystals that form in the bladder can get caught in the urinary tube as the cat tries to pee. If the crystals block the whole tube, the cat can't get the urine out at all and the kidneys shut down, causing blood poisoning and shock in the cat. This can happen in 24-48 hours. The cat will be trying to pee, will sit hunched over in pain, the back fur will be spiky, and he won't want to move around much.

This can happen to any cat, male or female. It's important to get them in fast if they can't get pee out. Food is the basic cause, but it's a long term thing, not an overnight thing. Certain foods cause the cat to build crystals in the urine, over the long term. It depends on the cat and how their body processes food. Cats with a known crystal building response need to be on a prescription food to try to avoid this sort of thing.

Answer 3

1) Early neutering (before the male is 6 months old) makes the cat susceptible to all kinds of bladder and kidney problems.
2) Some foods do make these conditions worse. Most of the major brands make special formula for kits with bladder and kidney problems.

I understand why you did not go to the vet. You did not know the consequences. It only takes a few hours for a cat to die from blockage (less than 12). Now you know. It won't happen again.

I am so sorry for your loss.

ONE very important thing you can do to help avoid infections is to give your cats plenty of CLEAN water. What this means is that the BOWLS must be clean. It does not do any good to rinse out a bowl and fill it again. In order for the drinking water to be sanitary, you must fill a DRY bowl. I accomplish this by having two special bowls I use for cat water. I change out the bowls at least twice a day. I rinse them and let them air dry. I run them through the dish washer once every few days.

If you have hard water, the minerals will begin to attach to the bowl and then the bacteria will begin to attach to the hardened minerals.

I also let my cats drink out of the tub faucet whenever they want! If they come to me and ask me to follow, they'll go to the tub and they want me to turn it on. I let it trickle and will leave it on for 10 - 20 minutes.

Cats need fresh, clean water. That is what will keep their kidneys, bladders, and urinary tracts flushed and clean!

Answer 4

Yes....a diet change did cause the urinary blockage. Some cats can develop crystals from certain types of food...then the urethra becomes blocked with crystals, and they can die if it goes untreated. Common foods that I have seen cause crystals; 1. Wellness dry food 2. Purina Urinary Health (this is not meant to help crystals) 3. Blue Buffalo 4. Trader Joes cat food) 5. Priority Cat food. There are many others. It is importants to stick to brands of foor that have been around longer. Although some of the newer "human grade" foods are out there, they haven't really been around long enough to see what they do long term to the cats that eat it. You should stick to Science Diet, Eukanuba, Pro Plan, Royal Canin. However, some cats cat get crystals from even the best quality diets, and require a special veterinarian prescribed diet.

Answer 5

Sorry for your loss!

I would call your vet back and ask him for more details. You may even want to ask him about the possibility of a necropsy since you have another cat and do not know what the problem was.

At the least, try and see if he knows what your cat died of. Was it kidney failure caused by blockage? He may not know what the problem was, it might have been a genetic abnormality in your cat, it could have been an infection, he might have not been drinking enough water, etc.

Here is some more information on urinary tract problems:

http://www.catsofaustralia.com/cat-urinarytract-problems.htm

Answer 6

well what do want your cat to bleed, gravy?...chocolate syrup?
its a mammal it bleeds blood. maybe i don't understand what you are asking.


ok i just read the additional comments there.

Male house cats need special food to prevent urinary blockages. Purina has one that stated for urinary tract health and Iam's and several others have food specifically for that.

Answer 7

You are vague.
Was this blood sudden?
Could kitty have been poisoned? Was he an outdoor/indr. kitty?

****JUST READ YOUR UPDATE,..SO SORRY*** here's advice I give to other's,.. pls. look for it in future. SEE BELOW~~~~***


**I can help.***

Years of experience even PRIOR to vets inexperience with the horrid affliction!

Signs:
~ Uneasiness, straining and frequency in the litter box
~ Appearance of or doing squatting position (like ready or peeing) in odd places or in box.
~Pinkish tinges in smallish amts. of frequent pee.(sign of irritation and the pink is tinges of blood)
~Complete blockish is meowing loudly (howling) in box, unable to pass any pee,.. then is VET asap, to use cathreter to try to unblock the crystal in urethra.
***PLEASE try to give mainly wet can foods (despite what any vet says, I find dry the culprit),.UNLESS the dry is from vet's and specially formulated with "acidifiers" to dissolve crystals.
***OR if you do give some dry fds., MAKE sure it has the ingredient "DL Methionine" in it (read side panel),.. that is a natural neutralizer which prevents crystalization. (also found naturally in cranberry juice,...which you could also buy in grocery store and just squirt with syringe in cat's mouth to prevent).
I went through (as did my poor male fixed cats) h e l l watching them suffer until I did research, experienced this affliction in them.
I now do not neuter till at least 8 mths., when all their organs are fully develop and ONLY give them dry fds. with DL Meth. in it and plenty of can wet fds. too.
{Oh, and NO milk/cream products, etc., it promotes crystallization}

Hope this helps, although I KNOW it is all good! Pls. be consistant with regime of only dry as prescribed (or with DLMeth., primarily wet) I also find Purina product dry the worse, especially "Cat Chow".
2 hours ago - Edit - Delete
Source(s):
studied to be a vet long ago,.. settled to be an ex vet assist,. lifelong animal rescuer, advocate/activist, assorted multi-pet menagerie.

Answer 8

maybe. you need to ask a vet.