Condolences to your brother.

I've had male cats and found that they are more prone to urinary problems than females. When our last boy-kitty died of renal failure 2 years ago, we decided only female cats from now on. We now have 4.

You are correct in your assessment of the signs. Sometimes they sweet little things won't let us know until it's nearly too late.

special expensive, prescription food - but it is worth it (he is superb).

he had organ problems. His ureter was more than 90% blocked and the poor thing kept trying to pee every few steps.

The vets in the cat clinic where he goes are unanimous about diet --the best diet for male cats is a mostly wet food diet with very little fish or seafood.

The ureter blockage occurs in 1 in 100 male cats.

We lost a cat to that years ago, and almost lost another one recently. It's a rather unpleasant way to go for the cat, and surviving it is no picnic either. And as often as not (maybe more) the problem goes undetected by the owner until it's already too late.

Overweight male cats are particularly susceptible. When you buy food for them, check the label and see how much ash is in it.

It was blocking both his urethra and his colon. They extracted the urine from the bladder directly through the skin with a needle. He never seemed to be bothered by that. It finally came down to "do we operate?" I told the vet her procedure sounded more like an autopsy than an operation and she agreed. I took him home for one final night with his person (my middle daughter) and she went with us the next day to say good-bye. Some of his ashes are in my daughter's strawberry bed. Perhaps that's why the plants perform so well.

Max was sleeping in the litterbox for 2 days prior to my taking him to the vet. Thank God my roomies and I caught it in time; otherwise, Max would have been crossing the bridge.

Back in October, I made the appointment for the following day, but my roomies urged me to call back and make it later that evening.

His care ran me a small fortune, but he's still here, minus 2 of his lives.

it was the only time he ever went outside the litterbox, so I had him in to the emergency vet immediately. He was the sweetest cat I ever knew, and lived with the condition about 10 years. I had to put him down last summer because of kidney failure.

If they go outside the box a lot it can also be diabetes. I had another cat that they didn't realize had it until it was too late. So in general watch your cat's toilet habits....