Aussie Update - Still Having Problems (Bladder Stones)

tamgirl99

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Feb 18, 2008
Messages
666
Purraise
3
Location
Dallas area
Just to recap, Aussie had bladder surgery a month ago to remove a ton of calcium oxalate stones that were just ripping up her bladder. Since then, she has been doing okay but continued to have a slight tinge to her urine, at least that's what it looked like to me. Well, things have taken a down turn in the last 24 hours so I'm having to take her back to the vet tomorrow. She was up again last night exhibiting nervous behavior and when I got up this morning I could see that she had one normal pee, and then another that was from straining (thin with drops all around it instead of one large clump). I got her an appointment for 9:00 tomorrow and have left a message for the "nurse" to call me today.

I have no idea what to do next. Can crystals form in less than a month? I would think they would take a while to form, at least to the point they would be causing problems again. Ugh, this is so frustrating and I can tell she's in pain again. She was hiding under the bed when I left for work this morning.

I was told that I need to increase her water intake, but she already drinks a lot. She is still eating 100% dry food (Hill's k/d for her kidney failure) and as much as I want to put her on wet, I'm not sure it's possible without taking extreme measures like a feeding tube. She started to go into hepatic lipidosis the last time I tried to very slowly introduce wet. It just threw her off so much because of the renal failure. She's already picky about eating at times because of that and trying to make any changes to her food caused her to stop eating completely.

I just don't know what else to do for her. If you have any advice I could really use it. To make matters worse, today is her 11th birthday.


Kelli and Aussie
 

aswient

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Dec 28, 2006
Messages
1,145
Purraise
1
Location
New Jersey
One of my boys Patch is prone to this he even had an operation that removed his male part, and he still gets sludge and stuff, but with him they say its bacterial so I had to give him a different kind of antibiotic, Clavamox for one kind of infection and one for the bacterial, I forget the name of the other antibiotic. Good luck. for Aussie and Happy Birthday Aussie.
 

nance

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
530
Purraise
10
Location
Ontario,Canada
I don't want to scare you but I went thru this with a male cat I had for a long time...even after he had his " male parts" removed we still had alot of troubles for a few more months after...But once we finally got him better....it was never an issue again and he lived to be almost 17...
 

sharky

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
27,231
Purraise
38
I am far from an expert on this but I would ask the vet to look at the % s in the food as they may be causing this issue... This unfortunately is not uncommon with CRF cats
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #5

tamgirl99

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Feb 18, 2008
Messages
666
Purraise
3
Location
Dallas area
Originally Posted by sharky

I am far from an expert on this but I would ask the vet to look at the % s in the food as they may be causing this issue... This unfortunately is not uncommon with CRF cats
Thanks. The thing is, this all took place prior to starting on the K/D. Last year when she went through all of the "UTI's", she was eating S/D. Then I switched her to Adult Max Cat Chicken Dry and she seemed to do great for 6 months. Then I noticed a tinge on that and we identified the stones via ultrasound. We switched her to K/D approximately 2 weeks before her surgery, but that was after the occurance of stones.

By the way, her urine pH is in the range for both struvite (had in 2004) and oxalate. She also urinates twice a day now so she seems to be getting enough water in her.

She did have some calcification in her kidney when they did the ultrasound. Do you think at this point that could be causing her urinary straining/pain? I really know nothing about kidney stones, just bladder stones. Guess I need to go research that as well, but something tells me this is still localized in the bladder.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6

tamgirl99

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Feb 18, 2008
Messages
666
Purraise
3
Location
Dallas area
Originally Posted by Nance

I don't want to scare you but I went thru this with a male cat I had for a long time...even after he had his " male parts" removed we still had alot of troubles for a few more months after...But once we finally got him better....it was never an issue again and he lived to be almost 17...
Hi Nance. Can you tell me what you did to "get him better"? Thanks!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #7

tamgirl99

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Feb 18, 2008
Messages
666
Purraise
3
Location
Dallas area
Well, it's not the greatest of news, but there really is no definitive answer either. Her bladder was full of blood/clots again. The vet didn't feel the need to run another U/A because it was clear she had the same thing going on. She did run a CBC and her kidneys were slightly elevated above what they were last time, but nothing significant there. I asked about the stones coming back and she said that because of the calcification in her kidneys there could be remaining ones in there and it would just take some time to flush it all out. However, she said there is really nothing else we can do at this point except try to keep her flushed out and keep her comfortable. All of the workup we can do has been done.

I did mention the possibility of cancer and she believes at this point it is much more likely, especially since it is still this bad so soon after surgery. However, she said we wouldn't know about that until further down the road, since nothing showed on the ultrasound or other panels. Since antibiotics seem to help, we're going to pulse her on them for a while. She will also get sub-q's twice weekly and go back for a bladder flush once a month. Hopefully we can just get all of this completely flushed out and things will start resolving, but neither of us are very hopeful right now. She said she wouldn't go back in to clean her out like she did before which is why we're trying to keep her flushed routinely now. I did get her some more pain meds to help her through this. Please keep your fingers crossed that we're able to get it resolved.
 

blast-off-girl

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Aug 5, 2007
Messages
536
Purraise
2
Location
Oakland, CA
I'm sorry you are going through this now. I lost my beloved Buster to bladder cancer in January 2009, so I can empathize with the sadness and frustration you are experiencing.

Based on my experience with feline bladder cancer, Buster's manifestation was different than your cat's. If it was TCC, I feel pretty sure that your surgeon would have recognized it because the tumors are pink-colored and have a rocky texture. Most surgeons can recognizeTCC tumors on sight alone but generally send the mass to a laboratory for confirmation. Did your surgeon send the crystals/stones to a lab for analysis? Also, cancerous tumors typically attach themselves to the bladder wall rather than free float. However, there can be some rarer bladder cancers that I do not have experience with.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me. Good luck!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #9

tamgirl99

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Feb 18, 2008
Messages
666
Purraise
3
Location
Dallas area
Originally Posted by Blast-Off-Girl

I'm sorry you are going through this now. I lost my beloved Buster to bladder cancer in January 2009, so I can empathize with the sadness and frustration you are experiencing.

Based on my experience with feline bladder cancer, Buster's manifestation was different than your cat's. If it was TCC, I feel pretty sure that your surgeon would have recognized it because the tumors are pink-colored and have a rocky texture. Most surgeons can recognizeTCC tumors on sight alone but generally send the mass to a laboratory for confirmation. Did your surgeon send the crystals/stones to a lab for analysis? Also, cancerous tumors typically attach themselves to the bladder wall rather than free float. However, there can be some rarer bladder cancers that I do not have experience with.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me. Good luck!
Thanks! She didn't see anything obvious, but said there was a lot of inflammation in the lining. The internist that read her ultrasound didn't see anything obvious either. This is why we think either it's truly not cancer, or just in the very early stages that make it difficult to detect. Fingers crossed that it's not, but things are just so bad after a month of surgery that it's looking like something more serious than stones. And yes, the stones were sent off to the lab for testing and found to be oxalate.
 

nance

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
530
Purraise
10
Location
Ontario,Canada
This was awhile back for me....so I couldn't be sure of the meds..but I know there were pain meds.....antibotics....appetite stimulants cause the meds were making him sick and he wouldn't eat....he was also on something for his bladder to make him pee more I think it would make it contract ...he was on s/d for a very long time til the vet felt it was ok to give him c/d he was on that for yrs and yrs til he developed diabetes...he would stay in the hospital on an iv for days at a time...there was times they couldn't do anymore....I thought he wasn't going to make it...but he pulled thru...I can recall going to visit him while he was in the hospital daily cause he would ONLY eat when he saw me..he also had many UTI's after his surgery..Its a rough road...but like I said eventually he got better and it wasn't an issue again....
I'm sorry your going thru this....for me there was nothing worse than dealing with a sick cat...going to the vets at 1 am....after hr calls...and alot of money...but he was worth it he was my buddy...and he lived to be 17....
I hope your kitty turns around soon and gets well...
 

snake_lady

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 9, 2008
Messages
7,218
Purraise
13
Location
ON./Canada
I have no advice.... I just wanted to say that I'm sorry you are going through this....lots of for Aussie, and
for you.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #13

tamgirl99

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Feb 18, 2008
Messages
666
Purraise
3
Location
Dallas area
Thank you everyone. It really means a lot to me to have your support through all of this. It's a very draining experience for both of us.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #15

tamgirl99

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Feb 18, 2008
Messages
666
Purraise
3
Location
Dallas area
Originally Posted by mews2much

My Coco still has blood after 2.5 years of bladder problems.
Maybe they will be able to stop the problem with your cat.

Yeah, Aussie's been dealing with these problems for over 6 years now, but this last year has been the worst. I'm assuming that's because she started developing oxalate crystals. Hopefully the flushing and antibiotics will help her. She was urinating almost solid blood all weekend. The pain killers I'm sure help, but she is still showing signs of discomfort (restlessness). The antibiotic has always helped before so hopefully it will this time too.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #17

tamgirl99

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Feb 18, 2008
Messages
666
Purraise
3
Location
Dallas area
Hi again everyone. I could really use some advice. Aussie is on her second round of antibiotics (day 6) and as of yesterday has a lot of blood in her urine again. She's in obvious pain even though I have her on some pain killers and as much as I don't want her to suffer, she still has such a will to live right now. She finishes her antibiotic early next week so if things haven't improved over the weekend I'm going to call the vet back to see what she advises.

My question is, how does one decide when it's time to put a kitty down if they still have so much life to them, but they're also dealing with something painful like this that we can't seem to resolve? I'm so afraid of throwing in the towel too early for her, but at the same time I don't want her suffering any either. She only shows she's uncomfortable by walking around and crying a lot and demanding food. I think eating is how she deals with it. She's not losing weight or over sleeping/hiding and so it's hard to know if it's time for her to be let go. UGH, I'm so torn on what is best for her at this point.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Kelli
 
Top