Blood in Urine - Part III

blast-off-girl · Sep 27, 2008

The vet just called me to tell me that Buster is doing great. He's relaxing and eating all his food. He's also urinating freely on his own. She also believes that Buster was never blocked on the day he was admitted to the ER.

We talked about the ultrasound and x-ray and why one is better than the other. She said that she wants to get a closer look at the walls and soft tissue. She doesn't think it's a tumor but of course wants to rule it out. She feels confident that an ultrasound will explain everything.

mews2much · Sep 27, 2008

Coco had one yesterday and it shows alot.
You get the results very fast.
Do not be surprised if he comes back shaved and smells.
Tumors are very rare in cats bladders.
When will you gte the results of the test/

blast-off-girl · Sep 27, 2008

Originally Posted by mews2much

Coco had one yesterday and it shows alot.
You get the results very fast.
Do not be surprised if he comes back shaved and smells.
Tumors are very rare in cats bladders.
When will you gte the results of the test/

You are so lucky that the ultrasound in your area only costs $79.00. This will cost me a whopping $300.00! The ultrasound specialist only comes to the clinic on an as-needed basis. Therefore, he hasn't done the test yet. I think we can only fit in my schedule for Friday.

P.S. I'm on the Yahoo group too! I'm Sugarjetgirl on that list. I've been posting all day.

mews2much · Sep 27, 2008

I think its cheaper because my vet does it right there and he is a specialist. He is also where people take their cats for 2nd opinions and test no other vets do. I will look for you on there. They shaved Coco alot.

simkie · Sep 27, 2008

Originally Posted by Blast-Off-Girl

The vet just called me to tell me that Buster is doing great. He's relaxing and eating all his food. He's also urinating freely on his own. She also believes that Buster was never blocked on the day he was admitted to the ER.

We talked about the ultrasound and x-ray and why one is better than the other. She said that she wants to get a closer look at the walls and soft tissue. She doesn't think it's a tumor but of course wants to rule it out. She feels confident that an ultrasound will explain everything.

What does she think it is?

booktigger · Sep 28, 2008

Fingers crossed for him - cancer doesn't show up on blood tests, there are certain levels that can be high and can help form a diagnosis with other things though - I have had 2 cats with cancer and both had bloods done, but it was to see what else was going on to help decide what to do.

blast-off-girl · Sep 28, 2008

Originally Posted by Simkie

What does she think it is?

She said there were a couple of possibilities such as bladder stones, polyps, thickened bladder wall, etc. She said it's so rare that cats have bladder cancer and she's never seen it in cats during her practice.

mews2much · Sep 28, 2008

Did the vet explain about the kinds of stones?
Coco gets slight blood still.
She has a thickened bladder.
I hope your cat dos not have Oxide Stones.
Those kind need surgery.
Coco had Strovite and she was on S/D for 2 months and they were gone.
That was 2 years ago and the food worked.
Here is a link about bladder stones.
http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/uroliths.html
Let us know how he is today.
I hope you can stop the problem.
The vet told me when Coco first got te problem if it kept happening it might cause kidney problems and now she has them.
i do not want your cat to get that.

blast-off-girl · Sep 28, 2008

Unfortunately, I won't know anything until the end of the week. The radiologist can't come to the clinic until Thursday or Friday. At the moment, Buster is still in the clinic because he needs two rounds of sub-q per day. They are trying to treat the excessive bleeding with aggressive fluid treatment. They don't think he's ready to go home yet. I'm sure this is going to cost me another $1000 with the ultrasound, etc

I'm hoping he doesn't need surgery because I am financially tapped out. It was the ER that really screwed me over - doing a catheter when he wasn't really blocked.

mews2much · Sep 28, 2008

Can you file a complaint about the Er?

simkie · Sep 28, 2008

Man. I would request a radiograph at this point. A radiograph WILL show you stones and should show you polyps. A thickened bladder wall should be evident as well, but you will not know anything about what sort of tissue it is. Waiting a week for any info sucks

I understand they want to use a cool new toy, but a radiograph will give you quite a bit of info--and if it is something like stones, you should not need a follow-up ultrasound.

Stones do not always require surgery, but I believe polyps will. Polyps are considered a type of tumor. Not all tumors are cancerous.

My initial concern about a tumor was not really about a tumor IN the bladder--I would be more worried about a tumor in the abdomen that was invading the bladder. An abdominal tumor could explain the constipation and the bladder issue. Did you ever do any imaging studies when you were having so many issues with the constipation?

mews2much · Sep 28, 2008

There are two kinds of stones also.
One can be shrunk with food.

simkie · Sep 28, 2008

Yes, struvite stones respond to a food change. Caclium oxalate stones do not, although you can limit/stop the formation of new stones with a food change.

Depending on where the stone is, you may or may not need to surgically remove it. I had a cat with calcium oxalate stones lodged in her ureters, partially blocking them. Surgery was not an option. She had some minor blood in her urine, but nothing like your cat's.

It would be weird to have a stone problem without seeing stones or crystals in the urine at some point, but I suppose it would not be impossible.

mews2much · Sep 28, 2008

To bad you can not get to my vet and have it done there.
They do the ultraound right there.
I can give you the number if you want to try it.

blast-off-girl · Sep 28, 2008

I rather just pay for an ultrasound and get over it. I have this bad feeling that I will pay for an x-ray and it won't show anything. Then I'll have no other choice but to then spend an additional $300.00 for an ultrasound. I always try to cut corners but then it backfires.

We never had imaging studies when Buster first started experiencing constipation. I already spent hundreds on enemas and couldn't afford the imaging. Both doctors said it was fine because they already knew he was constipated by observation and there was no point spending money. I doubt it was cancer causing the constipation because it's been happening since March 2007. I think it would have spread to his other organs and lymph nodes at this point.

Originally Posted by Simkie

Man. I would request a radiograph at this point. A radiograph WILL show you stones and should show you polyps. A thickened bladder wall should be evident as well, but you will not know anything about what sort of tissue it is. Waiting a week for any info sucks

I understand they want to use a cool new toy, but a radiograph will give you quite a bit of info--and if it is something like stones, you should not need a follow-up ultrasound.

Stones do not always require surgery, but I believe polyps will. Polyps are considered a type of tumor. Not all tumors are cancerous.

My initial concern about a tumor was not really about a tumor IN the bladder--I would be more worried about a tumor in the abdomen that was invading the bladder. An abdominal tumor could explain the constipation and the bladder issue. Did you ever do any imaging studies when you were having so many issues with the constipation?

blast-off-girl · Sep 28, 2008

Originally Posted by mews2much

To bad you can not get to my vet and have it done there.
They do the ultraound right there.
I can give you the number if you want to try it.

That sounds like a good idea but I don't think I can get off work this week to drive to Modesto. I'm already in trouble because I keep on taking time off for this. I just started this job on September 2nd and I feel as if I'm making a bad impression.

mews2much · Sep 28, 2008

I sure would not want you to get in trouble with the new job.
I hate you are spending alot of money and not getting answers.
I think they should have done the ultrasound first and that might have gave you alot of answers.

blast-off-girl · Sep 28, 2008

Originally Posted by mews2much

I sure would not want you to get in trouble with the new job.
I hate you are spending alot of money and not getting answers.
I think they should have done the ultrasound first and that might have gave you alot of answers.

The ER vet wanted to do an ultrasound but I couldn't afford it at the time. I kept on putting it off, which was a huge mistake because I ended up paying more in the long run.

I have a habit of doing these types of things. For example, last year I took Buster to get his vaccinations at VIP because it was cheaper. However, he got very sick and I had to go to his regular visit and pay for another visit. So, I didn't save any money at all.

simkie · Sep 28, 2008

B-O-G it sounds like you have bad luck, like me

It's no fun.

In the last 8 weeks, I've had a lame horse with totally off the wall problems (and thousands spent on her--bone scan, cervical spine injections, hock injections, gabapentin), a cat with totally off the wall problems (ACTH stim test, skin biopsies, food change), a dog with idiopathic colitis (if this happens again, we're looking at general anethesia and a scope for biopsies) and another dog with a mast cell tumor and a broken tooth (surgery this coming Thursday.)

I know my vets entirely too well. They like me because my pets are horribly interesting. It gets really old after a while. Sigh.

I hope your kitty gets better quickly and doesn't have anything too weird or too expensive wrong with him.

blast-off-girl · Sep 28, 2008

I'm sorry to hear about all your animals, Simkie. I can imagine that horse ownership is very expensive!! I think that most animals have health problems as they age. My vet said that animals in the wild don't tend to live as long as house pets; that's why owners are always saddled with these huge expenses.

Anyway, I realized that Buster did have an x-ray last year when he got constipated. All they could see was a huge pile of poop stuck very far up his body. That's when they started doing the enemas.

Blood in Urine - Part III

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