Outdoor cat in hospital, VET at a loss

[harry028]

Harry has FLUTD, blood still in urine as of this morning.

We have him home here as of an hour ago....have to bring him back on Monday for check.  They said they have never

had a case like Harry.....which kinda freaks me out.

He was on a catheter from Monday until last night, Friday.  They flushed him through the catheter, not IV fluid.

I read on here that he should have been going on his own before he was sent home, but they said they'd rather see how he 

is home from now until Monday. 

He is on a total wet food diet....Royal Canin Urinary  S/D.  On Monday they are changing to Hills urinary as they said it is better (out of stock today).

They said 1.5 pouch morning and again at night.

Have been mashing it with water and he is eating all & drinking the water no problem.  Very hungry.   He hasn't used the box yet....so really hoping he does.

Poor guy is still not right, I can tell.  He is probably afraid to urinate with the pain, after the catheter and all.   Of course, he wants to go out, but that is not happening.

Any advice to ease his fear or pain?

Will start reading on FLUTD and tips.... Thank you! 

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Just lots of love and affection, if he is comfortable with it.  The WORST thing about having a beloved animal sick is NOT being able to explain to them what is going on, why things are being done to them, and that it will get better.  Lots of 

 headed your way!

 

[foxden]

 
Harry has FLUTD, blood still in urine as of this morning.

We have him home here as of an hour ago....have to bring him back on Monday for check.  They said they have never

had a case like Harry.....which kinda freaks me out.

He was on a catheter from Monday until last night, Friday.  They flushed him through the catheter, not IV fluid.

I read on here that he should have been going on his own before he was sent home, but they said they'd rather see how he 

is home from now until Monday. 

He is on a total wet food diet....Royal Canin Urinary  S/D.  On Monday they are changing to Hills urinary as they said it is better (out of stock today).

They said 1.5 pouch morning and again at night.

Have been mashing it with water and he is eating all & drinking the water no problem.  Very hungry.   He hasn't used the box yet....so really hoping he does.

Poor guy is still not right, I can tell.  He is probably afraid to urinate with the pain, after the catheter and all.   Of course, he wants to go out, but that is not happening.

Any advice to ease his fear or pain?

Will start reading on FLUTD and tips.... Thank you! 

I think you said at the beginning of this thread that  Harry would not use a litter box.  If he's still resisting a box --

Did you ever try putting dirt, leaves. or grass in a box?

Once he sees the box as a familiar surface, you can try layering with cat litter and maybe switching it over.

That has worked for some people with cats that have only used the outdoors.

 

[Norachan]

Poor old guy, I'm sorry to hear he is still suffering. Did the vet give him any pain killers?

 

[Mamanyt1953]

How is he today?

 

[harry028]

Back in Hospital today.  He came home Saturday afternoon and first urine was 24 hours later.  

He was very, very, very hungry.....played for first time in a long time.  Cried a lot, one cry to get out, 

one in pain to urinate.  No problem putting a lot of water in his food.  He didn't even try the new water

fountain I bought him.  

He was in good form....the best he's been in ages. 

2 of the urine was size of half dollar.....the rest were small nuggets.   He did a lot of the nuggets.

This morning we found he had leaked during the night and was walking & leaking.  He did use the box, but

again nuggets.

I bought Rescue Remedy this morning and put a tiny bit on his head, behind his ears and tail.  Did seem to relax him.

He did something he never has done before.....sitting in window, he saw something and ran like mad to hide.  Stayed there

for an hour each time he did it.  In the past, he'd only go hiding if he was playing.   

Brought back to Vet and she said there was too much urine...she tried to express it, but couldn't for fear of bursting something.

He's catheterized again and a drip put on.....still on antibiotics 3 weeks now and anti-inflam.  She said she doesn't know

at this point what to think.  Will go visit him tomorrow and talk again.

I ordered Felliway spray, but have to wait for my cousin to mail to me from UK as Amazon wouldn't post to Ireland, as it's liquid.  

We are so sad, as he really seemed better, coat great, eyes bright, lying on his back to play......  

All thoughts welcome....Thank you. 

 

[orange&white]

Oh shoot.   I’ve been following Harry’s story, bless his little heart, and yours too.

I hope that he is just stopping up because of some swelling from the catheters.   I had a Blue Persian a boyfriend at the time had gifted me back in 1980.   Poor kitty had the same back-to-back blockages and constant revolving door trips to the vet to be cathetered so he could urinate.

The vet finally told me that my cat was born with a ureter tube which was simply too narrow to pass normal sized particles in the urine.   (May explain why your vet is using the word “sand”?)   He suggested a surgery which was indelicately described to me as essentially castrating the cat’s penis in order to leave a wider opening for urine to pass.   There really was no other option, other than to put the cat down because he would never be able to pass normal urine without blockage.   The surgery left my kitty with a constant dripping of urine which he couldn’t control.   So we went from constant blockage to constant leaking.   It was not a good outcome.

Like I said, I hope Harry’s recurrent blockages are just from a little swelling and that he can get flushed out and finally heal.   If your vet recommends a ureter surgery, you'll want to ask about frequency of side effects (like dripping).   I’m not sure if the vet botched the surgery or if the dripping was a “normal” result which I was not made aware of before electing surgery.   They have probably (hopefully) improved the surgery over the last 40 years.

​Prayers and good vibes to you and Harry.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

@Orange&White   Yes, the surgery to repair has improved tremendously over the past few years.  Like with all surgeries, the more they are done, the more vets know about how to finesse the surgeries.  Very few cats have issues afterwards, although, as with any surgery, a small number have complications.

 I did some digging on the surgery at well-respected veterinary school sites.  Most of the articles were very detailed and meant for those with medical backgrounds, but I found the below link that covers all the bases in layman's terms, should you and your vet decide this is a way to go, @Harry028

 http://www.petplace.com/article/cat...ats/surgeries/what-is-a-perineal-urethrostomy

 

[orange&white]

 
@Orange&White   Yes, the surgery to repair has improved tremendously over the past few years.  Like with all surgeries, the more they are done, the more vets know about how to finesse the surgeries.  Very few cats have issues afterwards, although, as with any surgery, a small number have complications.

 I did some digging on the surgery at well-respected veterinary school sites.  Most of the articles were very detailed and meant for those with medical backgrounds, but I found the below link that covers all the bases in layman's terms, should you and your vet decide this is a way to go, @Harry028

 http://www.petplace.com/article/cat...ats/surgeries/what-is-a-perineal-urethrostomy

​That's good to know.  I hoped that 40 years of medical advances had improved that surgery, or that it had been entirely replaced with something less invasive.

Still hoping Harry can get better soon without additional procedures.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Still nothing better to replace it, but the upside is that cats don't suffer any psychological ill-effects from the surgery.  

 

[harry028]

Still in hospital....2 calls from the Vet.   1. approval to send urine sample to Dublin, again. 2, To sedate him to put drip in as he's fighting them.

He's eating and they said he's in good form.

Poor guy is breaking my heart

 

[harry028]

Urine test back from lab showing no crystals or anything wrong.

Vet said she called pathologist at lab as they can see the 'sand' in the ultra sound and they had a long discussion about

Harry.  Both are stumped. 

She said the next step, if he doesn't get well is to send him 2 hours away for a liver biopsy and more testing.  HOPING that doesn't have to 

happen to him.  

So, they are keeping him on the drip/catheter until Friday.  On antibiotics for past 3 weeks.  If he urinates for them Friday night/Saturday morning

he's coming home until Monday and see.

Thanks everyone for input.  

 

[orange&white]

Waiting and hoping to get a good diagnosis and a cure for Harry.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Keep us posted on this.  We're all with you in our thoughts and hearts.

 

[harry028]

FLUTD drip question

Hi Can anyone who has gone through FLUTD please tell me how long their cat was on the drip & catheter to clean the bladder out?

Did it work? 

Thank you. 

 

[red top rescue]

If this is stress and struvite crystals, rather than the much more rare calcium oxalate crystals and stones, usually the flush period is just a day or so, and the most important thing is the change in diet so that the urine becomes and stays acidic, and that in itself will dissolve struvite crystals. In emergencies, you can mix 1 part organic apple cider vinegar with 4 parts water and give 1 cc. by mouth every half hour until the urine pH comes down to around 6.0, and that will dissolve any strruvite crystals that formed when the urine was too alkaline. If he is in the hospital, the poor cat is probably not eating enough to acidify his own urine, and stress makes it worse -- stress and a high carb diet both tend to make the urine alkaline.  The urine should be kept between 6.0 and 6.5 pH. and the vet can do that with a flush but doing it from the inside by diet is best.  A diet that is primarily muscle meat, moderate fat, and less than 10% carbohydrates will do this naturally rather than with chemicals.  Also, a wet food diet is mandatory for this healing phase.    There are other things that help, and I will send you MJ's long but successful story by PM.  Do search this site (in the search bar under the brown bar at the top of the page) for FLUTD.  We have had many cures by treating the early blockages by flushing, changing diet, treating with pain medications and antispasmodics afterwards to reduce stress (pain = stress).  A few of the boys had brief relapses when they got into some dry food (a friend's cats) but we have not yet had to to do the surgery on ANY of them.

 

[harry028]

Harry is home today until Monday.....longer if he keeps urinating.

The vet on today said they took the catheter out Thursday and he urinated for them once on Friday and this morning.....so she said 

let's see what happens.   Another vet there said, no, we'll keep him for another while.  We have to give him antibiotics for another few weeks...he's been on 

them 3 weeks already.  She said if he is bad again on Monday they will have to send him to another Vet, 2 hours away for specialist care.  Praying 

that does not have to happen. 

He looked so sad we said we'd take the chance as they have emergency vets on all weekend.   He was so hungry!!!  He ate the Royal Canin urinary with lots of water in it

no problem.

Since he's been home 3 hours, he has used the box on his own...no coaxing by us at all....which is a huge change!  He has urinated a few times....larger than a ping pong ball.

He's not crying at all...except for more food!   Gave him a bath and he was good....no biting or scratching.  He'd be happy as we are to get that terrible smell off him from weeks of 

urine..     I put rescue remedy on his head, chin, tail and it seems to help.  Waiting for the feliway spray to arrive on Monday.

Thank you for sending positive thoughts to old Harry.....I'm truly hoping that maybe we are over the hump . Maybe.   Your experiences are invaluable!  

 

[orange&white]

  PAWSITIVE VIBES TO HARRY AND YOU!   

Sounds very encouraging.  Hopefully they finally got him fully flushed out and this is the end of the trying times.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I can't tell you how happy I am to FINALLY get some really promising news on Harry!  I've been fretting over him a bit.  

 

for continued improvement!  Thank goodness Harry is getting a break, and can FINALLY pee without undue pain!  

 

[Norachan]

That's great news. I hope he has a pain free weekend at home with you. Vibes for him to keep peeing.

Please keep us updated.