Post Pu Surgery

[ans5181]

Hi there! I agree with Jem , if his spirits were good and he is behaving normally otherwise, I would also try to wait only until the 27th. Just my unprofessional opinion and by no means advice!!

Sorry I'm so late to the game and my response for gabapentin might be irrelevant at this point, but I do have some experience so I will share...
It was originally given to me for my 17 year old who had to be put to sleep in October as part of a regimen for pain management coupled with a steroid. They gave me 100mg capsules and told me to give him 1/8-1/4 of the capsule twice a day. He was a big cat, but only about 10 pounds when this was going on. He wobbled around like a drunk, which they told me would happen, but the sedative quality seemed pretty mild. Both my girls got it when they were spayed, they're 8 pounds and five pounds, and it was wonderful for them, sedated them in a way that seemed very comforting to them and visibly helped with pain post surgery. I have a friend, however, who swore off it because a vet gave it to her for anxiety for her cat, and her cat had a panic attack instead of being sedated. So take all that for what its worth!

 

[PJBoy]

There seems to be an area that looks like it has a yellowish something or other, I assume that is where you think the infection is?
If you want to try and clean the area where you see pus. Use Q-tips (cotton swabs) and saline solution. You can make your own saline solution by boiling distilled water and dissolving salt in it. I can't remember the ratio of water to salt but I'm sure you can find that by just googling it. Also, if you can, use epsom salts over table salt as I have heard that it does not sting as much.
Once your saline solution is cooled you can use it to clean the area, and using a cotton swab makes it more precise and gentile. Non-contaminated saline solution can be stored in the fridge for several days, so pour just what you'll need in a small bowl for every cleaning, and let it warm to room temperature before you start.
You could also use brewed and cooled chamomile tea, from the tea bags, to do the same. It has some antiseptic properties but it helps with inflammation and soothes the skin.
After you've cleaned the area, make sure it can dry. Air is the enemy of infection.
But if you notice that it seems to be abscessing (lump full of infection under the skin that is trying to drain) you'll need to bring him in to have it reopened so it can drain properly.

If he is still eating, drinking and seems in good spirits, I PERSONALLY would wait but only if I could bring him in on the 27th, so make sure your vet WILL take him right away. He may need a different antibiotic. They could take a culture of the infection to make sure he is getting the right one. and while they wait for results they will be able to tell you how to keep it clean and if you should apply ointment in the mean time.

When it comes to his pooping, has he been going OK? you mention the throwing up after having to pass a hard stool. Is he pretty constipated?
Plain pumpkin puree can sometimes help with constipation, just add a tsp of it to his wet food, but make sure he is getting plenty of water as well.
In a pinch I have also let my cat lick a small glob Vaseline off my finger, it helps to pass things along as it lubes up the intestinal tract.

Thanks for all the wonderful information! I think I will try and hold off until the 27th then, assuming vet can get him in the day. If she cannot I will find anther vet as to not make him wait. He does seem to be ok otherwise, he's eating lots, drinking (not by choice out of water bowl, but we put tons in his food and he drinks it all up plus syringes of water a few times a day.), and high enough spirits for being cooped up in a room all this time haha.

With pooping, he has been going ok since and before then. For the first week after surgery he was constipated, in which he was given laxatives. A few days later started pooping, and it was leaking everywhere which is when they put him on a probiotic and that hasn't happened much since. He's been pooping once to twice a day since, sometimes very hard (like when he vomited after) and sometimes extremely watery. He pooped 12 hrs after that one that caused vomiting and it was very watery. So I'm not sure if he's actually constipated, or if the vomiting was still due to straining..

 

[Jem]

Watery poop can still mean constipation. The body will absorb more water into the colon to try and pass the hard stools that are't moving, and so, sometimes you get water that comes out without the hard poop. Keep giving him extra fluids. And I think I would try the Vaseline at this point as well. Give it to him only once tonight and hopefully by morning, he'll have passed more solid poop. At that point you'll be going to the vet soon, so I would bring up the constipation as well.

 

[PJBoy]

Watery poop can still mean constipation. The body will absorb more water into the colon to try and pass the hard stools that are't moving, and so, sometimes you get water that comes out without the hard poop. Keep giving him extra fluids. And I think I would try the Vaseline at this point as well. Give it to him only once tonight and hopefully by morning, he'll have passed more solid poop. At that point you'll be going to the vet soon, so I would bring up the constipation as well.

Ok, I will definitely bring that up! We have an appointment at our vet today at 3:30 PM. PJ has been sleeping a lot more these last couple days, wondering if its due to the sedation side effect of the pain meds he's on, although he didn't show any symptoms when we first put him on it... He's also beginning to use the litter box a lot less frequently as he's constantly sleeping, although when he does use it its still not normal streams of urine and instead small drips... I'm not sure whether thats a good thing and due to the antibiotics he was put on or bad... Hopefully vet has some answers. Will be getting a referral to a specialist soon I believe as it seems like theres no end in sight and we need answers.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Good luck at the vet's!! And, let us know what happens, if you want.

 

[PJBoy]

Good luck at the vet's!! And, let us know what happens, if you want.

I will definitely update after vet visit! Thanks for the support through all this, it's so nice having this site to come to throughout all this stress.

 

[PJBoy]

Just got back from the vet.. The vet gave us Prazosin to assist in muscle spasms, hoping it'll rule out whether thats what is causing him to only drip out pee. Then she also gave us Florentero to assist with his bowel movements. He has lost 1.5-2 pounds quite quickly since this surgery happened, and doctor is concerned about that, and said that since his bowel movements for the most part are extremely runny, she is concerned about them going through him so quickly and losing weight too quickly. She ruled out constipation, but thinks he could just have an upset tummy due to a number of different drugs he's been on, new foods, stress, etc. So he is on this probiotic for a day to see how this assists. The vet sent our referral into the specialist as *urgent*, so hopefully we get a call within a day or two.. She looked at his stitches, as they were originally supposed to be removed tomorrow and said that the top ones looked good, so was able to take a couple out, but the bottom ones are still very raw and need time to heal still. The infection I was concerned about, she said is looking a lot better than how it looked when I first saw it so wasn't too concerned and gave me some stuff to clean it. If it gets bad again though she will prescribe something. We're also still waiting on the culture results to see what the bacteria was that was found in his urinalysis on Sunday... Anyways, thats a lot at once but just my full update haha.. I've read some peoples experiences with Prazosin on this site, and I'm hoping ours will be positive too. I honestly don't think that spasms is the big issue with his inability to pee properly, but if for some reason thats all it is I will be very relieved. Hope the specialist calls soon too.. just want to figure out whats wrong with my boy.

 

[ans5181]

I'm so sorry you're going through all this with your baby! That would be amazing if muscle spasms were the only issue. Sending good thoughts your way, glad she marked it urgent!

 

[PJBoy]

I'm so sorry you're going through all this with your baby! That would be amazing if muscle spasms were the only issue. Sending good thoughts your way, glad she marked it urgent!

Thank you!! Seems like there hasn't been a moment of peace since he was brought into the vet on the 13th. The specialist just called, and we're trying to see if he can get in for his consultation on this upcoming Monday the 31st..

 

[rogue22912]

My boy Gotham had the pu surgery at the end of October, he was peeing small amounts like your is for over a month. I kept asking the vet if this was normal and she assured me that it was because his urethra was so sore and was still healing and that he will be fine once all that is done.

She also told me that they really don't have a sphincter to control when they have to go that he might dripple around the house for a while tell he get use to his new anatomy. I can tell you right now it takes a while for them to heal from this surgery but Gotham is doing just fine now if not better.


* sorry posted this before reading the whole post. I am sorry for what you are going thought. I hope you hear good news from the specialist.

 

[PJBoy]

My boy Gotham had the pu surgery at the end of October, he was peeing small amounts like your is for over a month. I kept asking the vet if this was normal and she assured me that it was because his urethra was so sore and was still healing and that he will be fine once all that is done.

She also told me that they really don't have a sphincter to control when they have to go that he might dripple around the house for a while tell he get use to his new anatomy. I can tell you right now it takes a while for them to heal from this surgery but Gotham is doing just fine now if not better.


* sorry posted this before reading the whole post. I am sorry for what you are going thought. I hope you hear good news from the specialist.

That makes me feel a lot better reading that someone else's cat experienced this and ended up ok! All vets so far have made it sound like they've never experienced anything like this or really much of the surgery in general so its good to get feedback. When Gotham was going through his recovery, when he was peeing small amounts, was he going constantly or just once in a while?

So glad to hear Gotham is doing well now.

 

[PJBoy]

So, vet called and said culture results are back and he doesn't have a UTI. The bacteria could be a number of things but not an infection that can be treated with meds like a UTI.. So I guess thats good news, although leaves me with more questions. The probiotic he was given for his runny poops doesn't seem to be helping as he was leaking today and hasn't gone number 2 yet, and the spasm medication also is not doing much as his pees are stilll dripping out.

 

[Sharon2665]

I have had a cat that had a PU and my daughter has also. Both continue used to have problems with incontinence once they had the surgery although not as bad as yours. What we found was that it was food related. We immediately put them on dry SO. Tried the soft but not a si gel cat would touch that stuff. Tried the Hills Science and they didn’t like it either. Did a lot of research on food and found that wet soft food is the best thing for them because they are mostly water and that is what they need. It must be late because anything with gravy is higher in carbohydrates and that causes stones. My cat would pee okay but then if he ate people food or hard cat food orsoft food with gravy he would start leaking esp if he jumped etc. after much research on what had the lowest carbs we chose Friskies pate. The cats eat it fine and no more problems with leakage, unless we give him to many treats, and my daughters cat who was peeing everywhere went back to peeing only in the liter box and regular amounts. You can find list on the internet of carbs in cat foods and which ones are best for cats with PUs. Good luck with your baby. It’s a hard surgery for them and it takes time to recover.

 

[rogue22912]

Gotham must have went every 20 to 30 minutes to the bathroom to pee and each time it was a small amount, but he wouldn't use the litter box he use the cat bed that was in the living room. once a month went by maybe a little longer he started to use the litter box again and the is time it wasn't every 20 to 30 minutes. All I could think of was he was in a little bit of pain and that it felt weird for him to use the bathroom because now he had to go more like a girl cat.

The way I think about it is imagine you had to go though the same time I bet it would take you a while to feel comfortable going to the bathroom and you would have to re learn how to go to the bathroom cause you were so use to going one way and now you have to do it another way.

 

[PJBoy]

I have had a cat that had a PU and my daughter has also. Both continue used to have problems with incontinence once they had the surgery although not as bad as yours. What we found was that it was food related. We immediately put them on dry SO. Tried the soft but not a si gel cat would touch that stuff. Tried the Hills Science and they didn’t like it either. Did a lot of research on food and found that wet soft food is the best thing for them because they are mostly water and that is what they need. It must be late because anything with gravy is higher in carbohydrates and that causes stones. My cat would pee okay but then if he ate people food or hard cat food orsoft food with gravy he would start leaking esp if he jumped etc. after much research on what had the lowest carbs we chose Friskies pate. The cats eat it fine and no more problems with leakage, unless we give him to many treats, and my daughters cat who was peeing everywhere went back to peeing only in the liter box and regular amounts. You can find list on the internet of carbs in cat foods and which ones are best for cats with PUs. Good luck with your baby. It’s a hard surgery for them and it takes time to recover.

Thanks for all the info PJ has currently been put onto the royal canin urinary SO wet food diet exclusively, and we will be working with the vet after this recovery is done to work towards finding a urinary wet food lower in calories to help with his weight loss as well.

Gotham must have went every 20 to 30 minutes to the bathroom to pee and each time it was a small amount, but he wouldn't use the litter box he use the cat bed that was in the living room. once a month went by maybe a little longer he started to use the litter box again and the is time it wasn't every 20 to 30 minutes. All I could think of was he was in a little bit of pain and that it felt weird for him to use the bathroom because now he had to go more like a girl cat.

The way I think about it is imagine you had to go though the same time I bet it would take you a while to feel comfortable going to the bathroom and you would have to re learn how to go to the bathroom cause you were so use to going one way and now you have to do it another way.

Absolutely! It must be so horrible for them to have this very sudden change, and I definitely imagine its causing them a lot of the pain and discomfort that is making them act the way they are. For PJ I was overly worried as he is going back and forth to the litter box multiple times a minute, for hours on end, so hundreds of times. I hope that this is something that will take time to get over and isn't because of some error in the surgery!! My vet seems to think the specialist may want him to have some sort of re-surgery, although she really isn't sure so I'm anxiously waiting for Monday to arrive to see what the specialist says. Last thing I want is my poor boy to go through another surgery.

 

[FeebysOwner]

PJ has currently been put onto the royal canin urinary SO wet food diet exclusively, and we will be working with the vet after this recovery is done to work towards finding a urinary wet food lower in calories to help with his weight loss as well.

Forgive me if I am repeating myself; but, Royal Canin SO also offers canned food (by default, less calories), and also a moderate calorie version of the dry. If they have a moderate calorie version of the canned, I don't have it where I am located.

You might try comparing RC SO with Hills C/D (both wet & dry), as well as Purina's version of urinary care foods (both wet & dry). I haven't use the Purina's offerings, so don't really know anything about them.

 

[PJBoy]

Forgive me if I am repeating myself; but, Royal Canin SO also offers canned food (by default, less calories), and also a moderate calorie version of the dry. If they have a moderate calorie version of the canned, I don't have it where I am located.

You might try comparing RC SO with Hills C/D (both wet & dry), as well as Purina's version of urinary care foods (both wet & dry). I haven't use the Purina's offerings, so don't really know anything about them.

I will definitely be looking into the Hills C/D wet (just as we're trying to keep him on wet rather than dry), as well as Purina's version of urinary wet to see if either is lower in calories and will be better for weight loss. Unfortunately none of the vets near me have Purina so would need to be ordered in which is a bit more of a hassle. I haven't began searching yet for a new food just cause I'm focused on his recovery and making sure he gets through all this first, but as soon as he seems like he's more so recovered I will begin the switching of food. But thanks again for all your info and help.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Totally agree - didn't mean to get off track with his recovery which is first and foremost!!

I don't believe the Purina version is prescription. And, if you are in an area with PetSmart's - they 'renew' my prescriptions without vet involvement, or at least mine does.

 

[PJBoy]

I don't believe the Purina version is prescription. And, if you are in an area with PetSmart's - they 'renew' my prescriptions without vet involvement, or at least mine does.

Oh ok, didn't know. I had originally put him on the "urinary" purina brand from petsmart but the vet told me he absolutely needs to be on the prescription type because the one I was buying wouldn't prevent crystals. But very good to know about Petsmart renewing prescriptions without vet involvement - that makes things easier as well. I will follow up regarding that.

 

[PJBoy]

Hi everyone...

Does anyone have any experience with the revision surgery? And whether it is infect a viable option? I don't have the energy or words to explain all that has happened since last posting, but we went to a specialist today as we found answers nowhere else... and specialist took ultrasound to check for stones (there was none), and then went to put a catheter in.. and they couldn't fit any size of one in him whatsoever. His urethra hole is far too small too fit it. She said the only option from here is a revision surgery, and that because there is such little skin to work with down there she truly doesn't know if it'll work. It's a 50/50 chance and she doesn't sound very optimistic... we have now paid $4000 and the surgery itself will cost almost $5 grand... I will do anything to help my poor boy but I am at a loss. Is it worth the surgery? I truly don't know what to do. I don't think I can live with myself not trying if theres any chance but I feel very hopeless with how slim his chances are seeming. Any feedback would help so much....