Vet Seems Boggled..

[laurainthesky]

So we just got back from Shorty's first official follow up but 3rd vet trip since his episode on September 5th that led us to believe he had a blocked urethra. The thing is he is still not able to pee but the vet says he's not blocked.

We've been trying to help express his bladder in the evening when we are home and seeing that he can't get much out. It helps a little.

Some good news. The urine analysis shows a lot less crystallization, almost none i think. No more blood. His respiratory junk has gotten a lot better. He's on meds for pain, meds to control spasms in his penal glands ? And meds for inflammation.

He was prescribed prozac but we are trying zylkene and feliway system for stress.

The vet seems really confused by his delayed recovery. She said he may have some nerve damage that triggered the whole thing in the first place. Hes otherwise a healthy cat. Healthy appetite. A little lazy but not lethargic. Why can't my cat pee???

Had anyone else experienced this? He's very exhausted with this whole ordeal.

 

[white shadow]

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Hi laurainthesky.

Could you post exactly which drug is this one:

"He's on ...meds for inflammation."​

.

 

[Jem]

Does he pee at all on his own? even just a tiny amount? Does he strain and cry out if he tries to pee? Have you noticed if he's incontinent? Is there pee in his bed or whatever it is he sleeps on? Is he ever wet?
Our cat developed cystitis a few years back, and it took a couple of months before he had control of his bladder again.

 

[laurainthesky]

He will pee a small amount on his own. He will strain for 5-15 minutes at a time just getting little bits out. I would not say he meows in pain when he does this. He does at some points just lay on his puppy cat pee pad and kind of pees on himself. This happens less now that we started to help him express his bladder. A little squeeze will help the process, so when we notice him trying to go now we try to help speed it up for him. Yes, he has little accidents now, especially when it's medication time. Sometimes he has been wet and weve been cleaning him off with a warm soft cloth and water.

At first they said it's common for the catheter(he was on for about 36 hours starting on the 5th) to cause incontinence. But now she thinks it's just abnormal. She is using the phrase nerve damage, and requesting a lot more expensive tests. Right now it seems manageable, so if it's something that will heal itself i'd rather not expose him to anymore stress.

We got a handful more meds yesterday and are just in this waiting game.

 

[laurainthesky]

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Hi laurainthesky.

Could you post exactly which drug is this one:

"He's on ...meds for inflammation."​

.

It's a steroid, here are all of his medications:
Orbax: antibiotic
Prednisolone: steroid
Gabapentin: pain med
Prazosin: Urinary retention medication and antihypertensive drug

He also is taking zylkene for stress. He has a calming collar and feliway system. He has a prescription for prozac that I have not yet filled.

 

[stephanietx]

Do you add water to his food to help increase water consumption? Is he drinking on his own at all?

 

[maggiedemi]

Is he on an all canned food diet? That might help.

 

[laurainthesky]

He's on mostly canned now. We give 1/4 cup of the vet prescribed food during the day. He gets his canned food in the morning and evening. When dry food is gone we will do wet food only. He does drink out of his water tower.

 

[Q2U]

What food has the vet prescribed?

 

[laurainthesky]

The wet food is the royal canin urinary so and the dry food is same brand, calm.

 

[Q2U]

I'm not a vet, I'm just an average Joe who had a bad experience with Royal Canin Urinary SO. Arthur, our 8-year old Chihuahua, developed bladder stones. He had trouble peeing which got worse and worse and, eventually, he had blood in his urine. We paid our vet $2,500 to operate on Arthur and the operation was a complete success. Arthur could pee again, no more blood, and he was his good old self again. Our vet prescribed Royal Canin Urinary SO as a followup to the surgery, and we fed it to Arthur for 6-months. But once on the Royal Canin diet, Arthur started to lose weight. Then he developed sores and scabs around his mouth. We came to the conclusion that perhaps the Royal Canin was causing the problem, so we took Arthur off the Royal Canine and he started to gain weight and the scabs cleared up. I'm not saying that Royal Canin Urinary SO is bad, and maybe the cause of Arthur's post operative problems was something else...but I wouldn't feed that food to my dogs or my car ever again.

Edit: I was using Royal Canin Urinary SO dry kibble

 

[laurainthesky]

I looked it up and it's not rated very high. I do not intend to keep him on it long term. I am still researching and haven't decided what to move all the boys to. I just know that we do not want to do dry food any more once it runs out.

 

[Q2U]

I looked it up and it's not rated very high. I do not intend to keep him on it long term. I am still researching and haven't decided what to move all the boys to. I just know that we do not want to do dry food any more once it runs out.

We have had good results with our 4 Chihuahuas (and our 1 Andy cat) with Fromm Pet Foods, although it is not an inexpensive alternative...

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[laurainthesky]

So from reading other's recovery stories, Shorty doesn't seem to abnormal. Has anyone specifically had issues with cats having nerve damage as she suggests, or could he just be taking a little longer to get back to normal?

 

[Jem]

It took my little guy, a couple of months before he regained normal function after being catheterized for 5 days.
One thing I don't see on his list of medications is an anti-spasm med. I don't remember the name of the one Chewie was on but it was needed for him.
Have you looked at his "undercarriage" at all and noticed if his little bits twitch or move even if he's not trying to pee? Maybe he needs something to help with muscle spasms of the smooth muscles of his bladder and urethra? Just a thought.

 

[laurainthesky]

I think the Prazosin is what she called the anti spazm med.

 

[Jem]

When I read "retention" and "hypertensive" I immediately linked it to blood pressure, not spasms.