Surgery for Sasha, not PU though

diggerled

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Sasha is having bladder surgery this morning. The vet thinks that he is full of unidentified cystine stones. Stones too large to be rinsed with a catheter. Numerous stones. Radiolucent stones. He diagnosed them with ultrasound. He said he shook him up and his bladder looked like a snow globe.

He is going to open his bladder and clean him out. Once they have a sample of the stones they will identify them and set up a diet to prevent a recurrence. He said that although this is a rare case, he has performed this same surgery as recently as last friday. He said the perineal urethrostomy surgery, previously proposed, had only a 50/50 chance to be sufficient enough to void the larger stones. The cat he did last Friday had stones up to 1/8 inch in diameter.

Send vibes our way. XX
 

farleyv

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Oh wow. What a thing! You and Becky must be dragging!

I will sure send good vibes to you three. I sure hope this will finally give your kitty the relief he so needs.

Let us know how he is doing as you are able. We are all pulling for him. Its a good thing and must make you feel a bit better he has done this surgery recently. These $%^& crystals!
 

stephanietx

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Poor little Sasha! So glad your new vet is more proactive and did the ultrasound and found the crystals. Maybe now you can develop a plan to keep Sasha healthy and out of the vet's office! Praying the surgery goes well and little Sasha has a complete and quick recovery.
 
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diggerled

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Sasha is out of surgery. Doc said he is doing well.

Now back to the onion. The "snow" from the ultrasound was not stones at all. It was just alot of "debris". Now we are looking at idiopathic causes. Personally, I can't stop thinking that stress from the recent introduction of Marlow has a role in all this. We'll work it out.
 

mews2much

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My sisters cat Midnight had that same surgery in Nov 2008 and everything has been fine since then.
He is stuck on C/D though.
I hope your cat feels better.
He had Oxide Crystals though.
 
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diggerled

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At this point the vet is recommending Royal Canin SO, dry and canned. I hope we can coax him into eating the canned.

I am getting ready to go see him shortly. I need to ask if they will determine what the "debris" is. I think we may be plowing new ground here.
 

darlili

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Best wishes for a speedy recovery. My boy is on Hills CD, wet and dry, because he just doesn't like the wet that much, and when I can get him to eat a bigger helping of wet, he seems to have soft poo. So far, so good though, even with the dry food being a good part of the diet.

Dante's urine showed 'indeterminate debris' and a ultrasound showed 'snow' a few years back, when he was peeing on the carpet and I was worried about a UTI. I had just adopted him, I already had a resident cat, and I'm thinking maybe it was stress then.

In September he had actual struvite crystals. I'm not sure we'll ever know if there was an actual link.
 

addiebee

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Wow, Digger. Talk about a roller coaster ride for you and your wife. that Sasha will be fine in the long run!!!!
 
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diggerled

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Just got back from visiting Sasha. He was on dope and resting. The IV was giving him fluid and the absorbant sheet under the enclosure looked pretty good for a cat just out of bladder surgery. Barely discolored with blood. He has a silicone catheter which they plan to keep in place until Saturday. Not sure yet if we will get to bring him home then.
 

ldg

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Tuxedo had to have bladder surgery - he had crystals embedded in his bladder wall and it took a lot of work to figure out the problem.

Is the vet of the opinion it is stress-related? Because the intro between Sasha and Marlow was done over such a long period of time and Sasha seems so friendly with Marlow...
 
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diggerled

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Originally Posted by LDG

Is the vet of the opinion it is stress-related? Because the intro between Sasha and Marlow was done over such a long period of time and Sasha seems so friendly with Marlow...
We discussed that possibility over the phone after the surgery. When I got there to visit Sasha, the vet was gone but had left me alot to read about Idiopathic Cystitis (urinary problems with unidentified cause). Articles written by veterinarians for veterinarians. One article discusses stress as a factor in recurrent symptoms and as a trigger for precipitating a first episode in cats with a susceptabilty to these types of problems.

I brought up the "Marlow factor" to all the vets that have treated Sasha during this illness. This vet actually discussed the possibility with me.
 

ondine

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Poor Sasha! I wouldn't be surprised if the intro to Marlow had something to do with this but Sasha may just be susceptible and all the fuss made it worse. I am so glad you found a good vet. loads of to everyone!
 
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diggerled

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Sasha pulled his catheter out overnite. He is doing ok though. They had manually "expressed" him this morning and his urine looked good. They did him again while I was there and it was as clear as could be. He immediately went to licking himself. I think it must burn a bit. He has been "sanding" himself with that rough tongue of his for weeks.

They are mulling over discharging him tomorrow. They would like to see him urinating on his own. Becky and I are worried that he has not yet gone on his own. I believe there is a good chance he would pee just fine at home in his own litterbox. I would be ok with leaving him if they think it best.

He loved me aggressively when I first opened the enclosure he was in. I stayed with him for over an hour. He insisted on petting and head scratching. He ate for me. He was sleeping when I left.
 

stephanietx

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Awww, he's feeling better and misses you! He knows who he owns! He might also be thanking you for helping him feel better.

I would be scared silly to bring him home if he wasn't urinating on his own! Would they teach you how to manually express his bladder?
 

ldg

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Continued

Yes, I'm familiar with idiopathic cystitis - for months before Tuxie was properly diagnosed they were calling what he had idiopathic cystitis. But at that time we had no fosters, no new kitty intros - no change in routine to explain the source of the cause of stress.

While Tuxie's situation did not turn out to be IC, other kitties have the problem without any clear source of change in environment to explain the stress. One of our females, Spooky, appears to now have IC. We adopted a new kitty over a year ago - her problem developed about two months ago. Does it have to do with the "new" intro?
So while they are clear stress must be a factor, whether or not we can determine what is stressing kitty, I personally believe diet and genetics play a far more important role in its expression.
I've put Spooky on the same CD diet the boys are on. We're using Feliway regularly again, and I'm using Bach's Rescue Remedy (for pets) on her. We give her alone play time every day (which we hadn't done for a while) and spend quite a bit of time giving her lots of pets and brushes which she loves loves loves.
She was also a little constipated (I think dehydrated from winter dry weather), so I've been adding a little pumpkin and quite a bit of warm water to her wet meals, and she seems to be overall much better - so far doing well with larger pees as well. Thank goodness I don't need to worry (as much) about a potential blockage because she's female.


I'm so sorry Sasha is suffering so much, and I really hope you're able to figure out an effective treatment.

he's peeing on his own and home soon!
 
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