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Is there a surgery to prevent my cat's FLUTD from recurring?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Male | neutered | 13 lbs

My 3 yr old neutered male spent a week at the vet diagnosed with FLUTD . Is there a surgical procedure to prevent a reoccurrence? He has been home 4 days with prescription food he is drinking water and has only urinated small amount about 3 times. He seems healthy otherwise and is being a typical cat but I am concerned for his future health / life.

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on April 14th, 2017

Unfortunately no, there are no surgical procedures to prevent a reoccurrence of FLUTD. My own cat just had a bought of it, and I had to have him on pain medications as well as increasing his fluid intake. The best things you can do to prevent future occurrences with Ozzie is to make sure he is drinks plenty of water, keep feeding him the prescription diet, and have him lose weight if he's overweight. To encourage him to drink water, I would consider getting him a pet water fountain. It provides a continuing source of fresh water at all times, and cats love drinking from it. Prescription diets help maintain a healthy urinary tract, so it's important to keep feeding that. Try to get him some exercise as well, as that will help Ozzie maintain a healthy weight. Play with him twice a day to get him this exercise.

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Other Answers

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    Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

    Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

    Published on

    I'm sorry to hear that Ozzie is having this problem! FLUTD can be a frustrating condition in some cats. If this is the first time that he has ever had this issue, there is a reasonable chance that he may not have a recurrence - about 50% of cats have only one episode, and do not develop any recurring issues. Prescription food and increasing his water intake with kitty fountains, ice cubes in his water dish, etc. can improve the chances even further that he will be symptom-free from here on out. If he does have a recurrence of this problem, then unfortunately it's likely that it may continue to be an issue throughout his life. In that case, there is a surgical procedure that can be done to prevent him from developing a bladder obstruction, which is a life-threatening complication of FLUTD in male cats - it's called a perineal urethrostomy ("PU" for short), and involves opening up the tip of the penis to give him a larger opening to urinate through. This procedure won't necessarily prevent him from developing some FLUTD symptoms again in the future (such as crystals, straining to urinate, and sometimes bloody or painful urination), but it will drastically reduce the chance that he will become obstructed and unable to pee. This is something that you could definitely discuss with your veterinarian, especially if he has a recurrence of his urinary issues at some point in the future.

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