Vibes for Aussie's Ultrasound Tomorrow

Ugh! I'm in complete agony. I still don't have the results so I called early this morning to find out what's going on. The receptionist put me on hold and then came on to tell me the results were back and that the vet would be calling to discuss them with me as she wasn't in just yet. The vet has never been the one to call me with results so of course I'm extremely worried now. I'm just hopeful the receptionist was misinformed about who would be calling or perhaps the doc is always the one to explain ultrasound results regardless of the findings.

I promise to report back here once I know something. This waiting is just killing me!

that's it's good news. for you and give Aussie come extra chin scritches.

I hope and pray for you and Aussie that the ultrasound found nothing bad.

for Aussie.

Good luck with the ultrasound results! My Buster experienced similar symptoms and he was ultimately diagnosed with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. The ultrasound showed the mass but surgical removal of the tumor confirmed it was a malignant tumor. I hope Aussie has better luck than Buster.

Waiting has got to be so frustrating
Let us know as soon as you hear from the vet. Here's hoping you find out something useful. I'm like you in wanting to know exactly what is wrong.

UGH! I still haven't heard but called just now and was told that the vet is in the process of making all her calls for the day. She said I should hear from her any minute now. She was apparently in several surgeries today or something. I guess the fact that she didn't call quickly is probably a good sign that things aren't too serious, otherwise I assume she'd call right away. Still, the waiting is killing me.

Waiting for any type of news is so frustrating!
Good luck and sending Aussie healthy

Well, the vet finally called this afternoon and there were two findings. The first was calcification in her kidneys. She said at this point it's just something to keep in the back of our minds since there is no real way to treat it in cats. The second finding is in the bladder. She was full of crystals. These didn't show up on the x-ray or in the UA for some odd reason. She said her bladder was literally full of them and it looks like she has a bunch of sand in her bladder. She actually had the results yesterday but spent that time consulting with the internist before she called today.

So, she had two recommendations. The first is to use a large bore catheter to try and suck out as many of the stones as possible, but it won't get them all and there is a chance of blockage. The second is surgery to open the bladder and clean it out. The surgery is a bit risky as well since my cat is overweight and in early renal failure, but the vet felt this was the best option and what she would do. I agreed and she is scheduled for surgery on Thursday. They'll keep her for two days under close observation to ensure her bladder doesn't have any leakage after.

Once the crystals are removed, they'll go out for analysis, but both of us feel like they're probably calcium oxalate. The reasons we believe this are because she's older (11 next month) and because she has been on food for the last several years for prior struvite crystals which had resolved. Once we know for sure what they are, we'll treat as best we can, but from what she's saying there is no sure treatment for oxalate crystals. I'm hopeful the Yahoo FLUTD group I'm a member of will be able to help me with that. She did say B6 is used to treat but I'm going to have to do some more research to see what else might be helpful.

Anyways, the good news is that it's definitely not cancer. Unfortunately she said the poor baby must be in tremendous pain from this. That's why we scheduled the surgery as quickly as we could. Fingers crossed that everything goes well with that.

Thanks again to all for your well wishes and support!

Oh my gosh Kelli, how stressful.
I don't have any experience with those kind of crystals but I can send tons of powerful TCS vibes to both you and Aussie.

I'm so glad it's not cancer! I'm sending more vibes for a successful surgery and quick recovery for Aussie. Once the stones/crystals are out she should feel much better. She has all my sympathy, I had to pass a kidney stone a few weeks ago and it was agony! I imagine bladder stones are just as bad.

Aussie!

Originally Posted by tamgirl99

The reasons we believe this are because she's older (11 next month) and because she has been on food for the last several years for prior struvite crystals which had resolved.

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What kind of food was she eating? Some of the diets for struvites can be too acidifying long-term, and that is thought to contribute the formation of calcium oxalate crystals:

http://www.peteducation.com/article....+1402&aid=2729
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body...er_stones.html

She will likely need a change in diet to manage her urine chemistry once the crystals/stones have been removed.

Thanks cloud_shade. She was eating Hills S/D for five years (I know that never should have gone on that long) and around this time last year got 3 UTI's. I eventually switched her to Max Cat Adult Chicken during the summer and she was great for about 6 months. She's now eating Hills K/D for her kidneys but it's also FLUTD friendly. Her pH on the first two foods was always 6.0 - 6.5 which was a good range for struvite. I have no idea what it is now that she's on the K/D since I haven't had a chance to check it yet. She's only been eating that for one month.

Any thoughts?

The first link I sent mentioned that phosphorous should not be restricted in cats with calcium oxalate crystals, and I would guess that the k/d is likely low in phosphorus. I wouldn't suggest jumping to any conclusions until after you get the results though.

Just catching up with this Kelli as I haven't been on in a while. I am so glad it wasn't cancer and hopefully can be treated and she will get feeling better. Prayers, hugs and vibes for our sweet girl

Let me know how she is doing.

Originally Posted by cloud_shade

The first link I sent mentioned that phosphorous should not be restricted in cats with calcium oxalate crystals, and I would guess that the k/d is likely low in phosphorus. I wouldn't suggest jumping to any conclusions until after you get the results though.

Click to expand...

She's only been on the k/d for a month and has had the bladder problem for about 3 months, so the k/d definitely isn't the cause of the stones currently. I don't think we'll be able to take her off of the k/d either given her kidney condition.

The hospital just called and Aussie is out of surgery, awake and doing really well. She said there was a LOT of crystals/debris so they had to flush her bladder/urethra out numerous times. She also said they did a recheck of her kidney values right before the surgery and her BUN and creatinine had improved even more since her last visit a month ago. Now she just has to get through the next two days and sheâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ll be on her way home.

Thanks again to all for the well wishes for my baby girl!

I am glad everything went well today.
My Coco is on k/d even though she has bladder problems.
Midnight was on s/d for strvite stones then he got the oxide stones and had the same surgery your cat did.
Everything went well with Midnight.
We were told the s/d made the oxide stones worse.