Cat recovering from cystectomy - bladder surgery - anyone familiar?

Hey everyone -

My cat is recently underwent surgery for a removal of a large blood clot from his bladder caused by various infections and the appearance of stones and a urethral blockage. Not to mention during the surgery they removed some crystals from his bladder as well.

During his stay at the vet he had a catheter in him for 3 days being flushed out, and was able to pee on his own after being on fluids for awhile to get his kidney levels back to normal.

Following surgery and back at home we have been keeping a close on him checking his urination habits.

When he first came home, he pee'd on his own but I noticed not that much, a little bit each time he went in a span in an hour or so. He basically just went back to the litter box to let a little bit out, every time he went. Sometimes he'll get a lot more out than usual, but lately even now after a week of being home he just urinates a little.

It's basically just him going al ittle bit each time, and def. not as much as a normal cat would. Comparing this cat to my other cats that did not have surgery, they urinate one steady a flow while he just is able to pass a little bit each time.

My vet said its normal since hes recovering from an extensive bladder surgery, scrapping out crystals and removing a large growth.

I was just wondering how long it takes for him to get back a normal stream of urine? I can imagine being in his position and being annoyed. However he shows no signs of distress when urinating, and he is eating fine, playing, purring up a storm and in a general good mood. Im just still concerned about his urination after all he has been through some scary situations already with a urethral blockage and almost dying.

Just wanting some advice for some people who had to deal with a cat post-bladder / cystectomy surgery.

My oldest cat, Tyler, had to have bladder stones removed. I was told he'd gradually being voiding larger amounts, and before 2 weeks was up he was..then he reversed, and ended up hospitalized with a free floating hematoma (blood clot) that blocked his urethra. Once that was resolved, he was back to normal within a week. Pain meds helped

Don't hesitate to call them if you feel he's going less than he was initially after coming home, but they are right, lot of irritation there, it does take some time.

Best wishes to your kitty,

I see,

I mean hes acting pretty normal - sometimes in his good mood sometimes in his bad moods. Well I think im gonna blame his current bout of annoyance on the fact that his pain meds from surgery just wore out yesterday and hes been without pain meds for over 24 hours.

I'm sure its just irritation from his bladder, and the bladder being inflamed after extensive surgery. I mean eesh clogged bladder, a blood clot being removed, crystals being scrapped out, a catheter being put in him. Id be irritated for awhile too if I was him lol.

His urine goes from small streams around the size of a half dollar, to a larger stream that is maybe half to a 1/4 of what my healthier cats do. From what I hear it can take a few weeks for his stream to normalize.

I guess i'll just be patient and only worry if he stops peeing again. Vet says tihis is normal due to the irritation of the bladder - but id like to hear some more support from people that have had this experience!

GuruLord,

I am going through the same thing right now as well. My cat, Mick, had perineal urethrostomy surgery 2 1/2 years ago. Since then, he has gone through bouts of frequent bloody urination. Several weeks ago, the vet recommended that we have an ultrasound of his bladder. The results showed what looked like 3 stones about 1.5 cm in diameter. The vet said that surgery would be recommended to remove the stones. On Wednesday he had surgery...he didn't have 3 stones...he had 20!

Since Wednesday, I've been keeping tabs on every trip to the litterbox...He goes frequently, a little a time, and is there for about 1 -2 minutes each time. After several discussions with the vet, we have been assured that this is very normal since he has a lot of pain right now. They've told us to keep an eye out for any signs that he can't go or that the incision shows any sign of infection.

My cat just had this surgery Friday. He has just small stones but had a ton of them in his bladder & all thru his urethra. The vet said it took 45 min to remove all the stones. He has been having a rough recovery. This is Sunday & he still refuses to eat of drink. I am going to call vet in morning as they were closed since sat at 1pm & it concerns me he into eating or drinking. I hand fed him and got 2 bites into him but all he would take. They gave him subq fluids saturday morning before I picked him up at 9 am. They said I was not to give him subq at home so as not to tax his bladder. I am concerned of fatty liver development if he continues to not eat & dehydration if continues to to drink. How long was it before cat ate or drank for others?

How is your cat now?  My cat just had the same surgery on Thursday, and now it's Saturday...she is not eating or drinking and is very lethargic.  I don't know if it is the pain med making her lethargic or if there is something wrong.  The only time she gets up is to go to the litterbox box where she does seem to be peeing anything.  Sounds like your cat was the same way.  Did she start to act more normal and how long did that take.  I know my cat has had major surgery and it will take time to recover but I don't have a good idea of what that recovery should be like.  I did talk to the vet and she assured me everything was fine, but I'm still unsettled because my cat is normally a real "people" cat, but she is just lying off by herself and I'm worried she is suffering more that she should be.

Ring your vet.  Not eating or drinking are serious signs and she needs to eat and drink to recover.

She told me the food and water were not a worry until a few days after the surgery.  it's been about 48 hours since her surgery.  I'm more worried about her lethargy and have a another call into the vet but am wondering if the lethargy is a side effect of the pain med ([font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Buprenex). [/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]  This is the first time a pet of mine has had surgery so I am not sure how active she should be.  I certainly would not be doing cartwheels if my urinary tact system had been opened and sewed back together, but she does seem very inactive.  Just lying on a rug in our bathroom and only getting up to try using the litter box, then returning to the rug. She's normally always sitting is the same room with us.[/font]

OrientalSlave said:

Ring your vet.  Not eating or drinking are serious signs and she needs to eat and drink to recover.

Click to expand...

I agree! That is to long to go w/out eating, or drinking. Please call your Vet ASAP!  Good Luck.

After reading this thread, I realize just how fortunate I am that Angel didn't have to go through surgery a couple of weeks ago. He had to spend two nights at the Vet's.

(my thread was "Had to rush Angel to the vet").

No blockage, turned out to be bacteria, but the whole thing was scary just the same! I had to give fluids at home every other day, until the bag was gone. (7xs).

My 17 year old male recently had a cystotemy to remove about 8 vicious looking bladder stones. He had displayed all the symptoms, including a worrying amount of blood in his urine.

He's doing ok, but 6 days after the op, his urine is still extremely bloody…no problem with the flow.

Unfortunately he does seem to have pain from a reaction to the sutures and localised lumps around the incision. 

The vet checked them, and since he is already on antibiotics we have adopted a "wait and see" approach, until his 10 day post-op check.

He thinks he can do more than he should..agitating to be let out of the living room, where we have placed a litter box (to keep an eye on the bleeding)

I did let him out for half an hour today…and he spent the time playing hide and seek with his friend, our other cat, both indoors and out!

He had been acting a little depressed, and the freedom did his mood no end of good.

However, since the vet had advised us to restrict his movements until his sutures healed, I put him back in one room for the rest of the day and overnight. This is his routine until he has healed completely.

He is such a sweet funny little thing and I hope and pray that we have made him more comfortable for the remainder of his time. However I fear that the problem may stem from his kidneys. 

I can see from this thread that all of you love your cats as much as we do….you gotta love them to agree to pay vets surgical fees!

I wish your cats all the best for a speedy recovery,

This is my first post on this site. I've read some helpful info on this thread. I have a 4 month old kitten that just had bladder stone surgery. He had 6 large stones. He was eating the next day and was allowed to come home. It's been 5 days since his surgery and I've noticed some bright red blood spots and the counters and floor. It doesn't appear to be in his urine though. Anybody have any thoughts on this before I call the vet on Monday?

Hi, my name is Rita.

My 9 year old cat named RingRing is the sweetest childlike cat that adopted us 9 years ago since he was a stray back then.  He is so loving to all and playful.  He can wave hello with his paw when you say Hi-E , wags his tail like a dog when he hears his mommy & daddy's  voice say... I see you... my sweet baby,  he also says maaaaa when he wants food,  opens up my son's room with his head to enter and even wakes us up every 5:30 am with head nudges and climbing over my husband and I to get us up to feed him every morning.  But this past Thursday, he had to go into the vet cat hospital  for a cystectomy bladder surgery.  On the xrays, we noticed a lot of crystalized stones that had to be removed and the cost was overwhelming.  My husband and I managed to get the money from ourselves and from our family to pay the costs.  He slept over one night and we brought him back home on Friday this week.  Now it's Saturday and because of his major surgery, he's not eatting or drinking water.  The vet is sending out the stones to be tested and gave us some urinary tack cat food in the meantime.  They said he ate a little there early  Friday morning, but I don't see it here.   I do not want him to become dehydrated and he is not peeing from what I can see on the newspaper littler they recommeded for us since he was stapled and shaved.  I know, it must be very hard for a cat to not be able to speak like a human.  We are giving him his antibiotic (which he hates because  it is so bitter --Orbax orbifloxacin  and Buprennex his pain medication).  I know that the pain medications side effect is sedation.  Yet, I feel so helpless for him.  

My hubby and I went back to the vet to exchange the Royal Canin Urinary So pate-- which he did not even want to look at... and got Hills  c/d  prescription diet chicken and veg. stew. We are hoping that this will look a little more favorable when he decides to eat.  It's sad, that we had to give so much of his old friskies canned food away for this outragiously over priced small can case- and  only for  two weeks consumption.  The vet also gave us  some urinary So dry food as well.  My concern is to keep a watchful eye on him as he travels around the house and to make sure he doesn't do too much jumping upon the furniture.  Is this all normal behavior ?  The vet said yes... but after his last surgery years back with his nutering, the same named center botched up is surgery and had to redo the suturing, since they only glued him and it came open-- looking like a crime scene in the house when we got back home.  We changed locations, but you wonder about ethics at other places.  I just hope he comes around soon. I want to know from you guys... how long it took your cat's to come around and eat and drink again.  I do not want to upset him too much, but i am concerned and will continue to go back to the vet.  Just wanted to hear from all of you. Thanks Ri

Hi Rita,  Welcome, & I am sorry it's under these circumstances.  Please do call the vet ASAP! Too long w/o food can cause fatty liver disease, & that's another big can of worms you don't want.  It can be very fatal, & hard to recover from, if at all.  The longer they don't eat, the more they won't want to, & it leads to this. The liver can not handle all of the fatty deposits, & shuts down, or fails. It is fatal.

I don't mean to scar you, but just to stress how important it is for your cat to eat, even if you have to syringe feed. If you have to do that, there are threads on here to tell you the correct way to do that. 

It's important to do it correctly, as to not get liquid in his lungs, etc.. 

I would not recommend dry food at all, even a urinary formula, BUT, if he will eat it, that is more important right now. (maybe try mixing it w/ some water?) (He should also only be getting purified water from now on).

My vet put my cat on Purina UR SO Rx food (wet), & he liked it.  If your vet carries that, maybe it's something you can try. My vet knew how I felt about the Rx food ingredients, so she looked at all 3 urinary food choices they had, & the Purina had the least yucky ingredients. She did not recommend the dry either. (He had stirvite crystals in his bladder, & 3 wks on this food took care of them).

I did have to give him IV fluids at home to help keep the badder flushed out for a while as well. 

It's now been well over a year sense he has had any problems. After being on the Rx food for a year, I wanted to find a similar, more natural, healthy food (no byproducts, etc..), that would still address his bladder,

& found an alternative at a natural pet food store. I found Daves pet food Restricted Diet (magnesium / phosphorous pork dinner)  The store owner told me that Dave's created this to be like the urinary formulas.

So far he has been on it slightly over a month, & seems to be doing great. (big pee clumps in the box) but I will schedule a "follow up" urinalysis soon, to check things out.

Maybe this could also be an alternative for you, if you can find it in your area.  http://davespetfood.com/product/restricted-diet-magnesium-phosphorus-pork-dinner-cats/

I hope by time you read this, he is eating & drinking!  I am saying a prayer for your sweet baby!

Keep me posted. I'm sure others will come along soon & help as well. If I were you, I would ask a Mod to move your post, to start your own thread. 

Did they do a histopathology on the mass? Did they send it into the lab?

48hours way to long for a cat not to eat. Get more pain meds if you can.

My cat, only 2 years old, just went through this procedure.  I too am worried.  He is eating and has gone after water, but he is not urinating.  I called the vet and was told that this is normal.  But, because he was taken into the vet because he could not urinate and now after a week of treatment and finally surgery, he is not urinating; I am worried sick.  His operation was yesterday and I picked him up this morning.  He is listless, just wants to lay around and not move.  I suppose this is to be expected after major surgery, or at least I hope so and the vet is right.  He is on pain meds and another medication to relax his bladder.  Perhaps those medications is the reason for his lack of interest in things. 

I am now asking for your advice.  My cat has a cone on his head which makes it difficult for him to freely drink water or eat.  So, I am hand feeding him and offering his water to him inside the cone.  Any suggestions of a better way to handle this?   I tried a smaller bowl, but the cone will not let his head get to the water or food.  The vet said that I was not to remove the cone for any reason because she worries he will lick his surgery area.  Any ideas would be appreciated.