Hi,
New here, my first post.
One of my cats got a bladder infection right around Thanksgiving and ended up having to have surgery to remove stones on Dec 12th. We're still waiting for the results to see what type of stones they are, but he's now on Hill's C/D wet and dry (vet said they're both good, I add extra water to the wet stuff too). Anyhow, we took him in to have his stitches removed and get a follow up urinalysis. We brought the sample in per our vet's request. The color was back to normal (had been "punch red" before, now it was yellow) but the vet is saying he still sees the "same stuff" in it as before, meaning crystals. How could he possibly still have crystals a week after bladder surgery where he was flushed out about 5 times? And on C/D? The vet said that he doesn't know why it's still there. Our cat is still on antibiotics and we'll be taking him in again for another followup urinalysis in about a week.
The question is (especially to any vet on this board please), can the fact that we're bringing in the sample from home mess with the results? Could contaminants (dust, litter, etc.) look like crystals? We use a corn based litter (World's Best) so not sure if that can look similar. I know the vet had said before too that it looked like "old crystals" in that the edges weren't smooth but jagged. This was before the surgery, but now after he says he sees the same thing.
I know the best way to get a sample is via cath or directly from the bladder but I don't know if it's good now so soon (only a couple weeks) after surgery. I'm not sure what else to do, we're still so nervous about all of this because it seems so abnormal to still have crystals. I don't know if I should take him to a cat specialist (we have a Cat Hospital not too far) or what.
Perhaps this is normal and part of the healing process? If anyone has any advice or ideas I'd greatly appreciate them. Thanks in advance!
Sincerely,
Irene
New here, my first post.
One of my cats got a bladder infection right around Thanksgiving and ended up having to have surgery to remove stones on Dec 12th. We're still waiting for the results to see what type of stones they are, but he's now on Hill's C/D wet and dry (vet said they're both good, I add extra water to the wet stuff too). Anyhow, we took him in to have his stitches removed and get a follow up urinalysis. We brought the sample in per our vet's request. The color was back to normal (had been "punch red" before, now it was yellow) but the vet is saying he still sees the "same stuff" in it as before, meaning crystals. How could he possibly still have crystals a week after bladder surgery where he was flushed out about 5 times? And on C/D? The vet said that he doesn't know why it's still there. Our cat is still on antibiotics and we'll be taking him in again for another followup urinalysis in about a week.
The question is (especially to any vet on this board please), can the fact that we're bringing in the sample from home mess with the results? Could contaminants (dust, litter, etc.) look like crystals? We use a corn based litter (World's Best) so not sure if that can look similar. I know the vet had said before too that it looked like "old crystals" in that the edges weren't smooth but jagged. This was before the surgery, but now after he says he sees the same thing.
I know the best way to get a sample is via cath or directly from the bladder but I don't know if it's good now so soon (only a couple weeks) after surgery. I'm not sure what else to do, we're still so nervous about all of this because it seems so abnormal to still have crystals. I don't know if I should take him to a cat specialist (we have a Cat Hospital not too far) or what.
Perhaps this is normal and part of the healing process? If anyone has any advice or ideas I'd greatly appreciate them. Thanks in advance!
Sincerely,
Irene