Post-Op Cystotomy question

Hello all. I just joined tonight and this is my first post.

My cat, Buster, is male and approximately 10 years old. He had a cystotomy yesterday (surgical removal of bladder stones) morning. We brought him home last night. He was fairly giddy, had a great appetite, kept visiting his litter box and peeing bit by bit, and slept between hubby and me. We are giving him an antibiotic in pill form.

Today he is less than enthusiastic. There is a bit of a bloody pink tinge to his urine (which we were told to expect). He ate breakfast and lunch, but doesn't have any interest in dinner. He has hidden under the bed twice today, which is VERY uncharacteristic of him. But now he has come out and is sitting on a chair. His surgical site looks good (no inflammation or irritation), but his penis looks a bit irritated and a little bit of pink ooze comes out from time to time.

I don't know . . . I just feel like something is not right. I realize he just had surgery and will take a few days to get back to normal. I just figured today would be better than yesterday. Maybe the meds he was on made him more comfortable and now he's feeling it more?? Am I being paranoid?

My sisters cat Midnight had that same surgery last Nov.
He stayed overnight at the vets.
He was sore but never acted bad after.
I will tell my sister to respond to your post when she is online.
She is at work right now.
I did pick Midnight up at the vet.
Does your cat have pain meds?

No, he isn't taking pain meds - only the antibiotic, which is Clovamox.
Thank you for your reply. I will look for your sister's post.

Midnight had Clavamox antibiotic and Buprenex for the pain.
I woner why your vet did not give the pain meds.
My Meeko just had surgery monday and she got pain meds also.
What did the vet tell you?

He had a shot of painkiller before we brought him home. I would say that he'd need more than that for the next couple of days.
The vet said diarhea and/or loss of appetite might occur for the first day or so . . . but after that, call the office or take him to the ER. I guess I was concerned that he was better the first night than the second night. I guess it makes sense that the pain shot has worn off and now he is uncomfortable.
I don't know why they didn't send pain meds home with him and I don't know why that didn't occur to me either at the time.

I wonder why they did not send them home with him.
We were told there would be some blood when Midnight peed also.
He had 20 small stones in him.
Did the vet say how many stones your cat had?
Does he cry if you pick him up?
Were the stones struvite or oxide?
Midnights were oxide.
My Coco had bladdder stones also and her were disolved with s/d cat food.
She has had bladder problems for over 2 years off and on.

My cat Midnight had the same thing done a few months ago. He came home and was super grumpy and not himself for a few days. As he started to heal, he became super friendly and his loving self. I would say just give it time. He had about 20 pebble sized stones removed from his bladder. He strained for months as we tried to break it down with a special diet, that most likely made it worse. Today, he is perfectly healthy and back to normal. Don't worry too much, I'm sure he just doesn't feel good.

My cat just came home from this surgery. They gave him a pain patch. He as at the vets for 3 days though. He ended up with a fever. The first day he was kinda out of it. After that he seemed back to himself for the most part. He did as well get under the bed and not wanna come out the other day. He stayed under there most of the day in fact. I think like you said the pain patch wore off. My cat was on Clovamax as well,just ran out last night.

Thanks to you all for your replies.

Here is a bit more info: Last Tuesday morning, Buster had trouble peeing and I took him to the vet immediately. He was x-rayed and the bladder stones were detected. They catheterized him every day, then took it out to see if he would pee on his own and he never did. The vet had hoped that once he was opened up, he would pee on his own . . . then we would start the S/O diet to try to shrink the stones.

Thursday evening came and he still hadn't peed, so they did the cystotomy Friday morning to remove the stones. There were 25 of them, with one stuck in his urethra. He finally peed on his own late Friday afternoon, and we were able to bring him home. The stones have been sent to the lab to be tested and we should find out exactly what they are by the middle of the week.

He strains mostly in the box (he does manage to get urine out), and he has gotten to the point where he will try to get it out wherever he happens to be. We can see his hind parts contracting. So we now have the house covered in beach towels! lol

Our main concern is that as of last night, his appetite is very low. He did eat a couple of bites this morning, but that's it. He is drinking water, expressing pink droplets here and there, and napping in between. We are keeping up with the antibiotic, but we hate the thought of giving it to him on an empty stomach.

Right now, he is vegging on the floor in the sun.

My other cat had surgery last Monday and she has not ate alot either.
In fact we called the vet friday because she threw up 5 times.
They said it might be the clavamox making her not want to eat alot and to call tomorrow if she dosent eat much.
I got her cat treats yesterday and she ate those.
Midnight did not eat much after his bladder surgery.
I hope he feels better soon.

Thanks, guys. We took him to the ER clinic last night due to his
severe discomfort and lack of appetite. His bladder was fairly empty,
they ran a blood panel which looked good, gave him subcutaneous
fluids, and sent him home with a liquid pain killer. He did eat a few
morsels of dry food late last night, which was encouraging.

This morning, he has not eaten at all. I called his regular vet and
updated them on everything. They wondered why the ER vet gave
him Torbugesic for pain because that also causes loss of appetite!
And I just gave him some this morning! The tech says his diarhea is
most likely caused by the constant straining in that area and it is
affecting his bowels, too.

Right now, Buster is sleeping on his purr-pad in the sun on the back
porch. The vet will call back around 1:00.

I tell ya . . . I don't know what I would have done if I had kids.
I'd be a constant state of worry!!! From what I've heard though,
it's par for the course.

Just an update -

The stones were calcium oxilate. Buster will be on either a diet
of U/D or N/F, depending on which he likes better.

He had his staples out Friday and he's doing great! He sure did
give us a scare though. But he's recovering very nicely.