Update on Moe's Urate Stone

Some history:  Moe had surgery on 5/24 to remove a stone from his bladder after blocking repeatedly.  Analysis of the stone revealed that it was an ammonium acid urate stone, which is very rare in cats.  He is recovering well from the surgery, but continues to pee frequently and in small amounts (he doesn't appear to be straining and always goes in the box).  He has an appointment on Friday for a bile acid test to check for a liver shunt, which could be responsible for the stone.  My vet seems to think a shunt is unlikely because he doesn't display any other typical symptoms.  If it is a shunt, surgery is a possible option to redirect the blood flow.  If it's not a shunt then Moe goes on a low protein diet, usually given for kidney and liver disorders.  Also still trying to figure out why the frequent need to pee.  Vet suggested a medication whose name I can't recall that reduces bladder spasms...something he might need to take for life.

It's so frustrating, because there's so little knowledge about urate stones in cats.  My vet has never treated a cat with this type of stone, and the surgeon didn't seem too knowledgeable about it either.  I'm getting some general info from the Yahoo FLUTD group, but again, not many of those folks have dealt with this type of stone. 

So there we are.  We'll know more when we get the results of the bile acid test...until then, we wait...

At least he's recovering well from the surgery .  Gotta look for that silver lining! 

Hopefully the Vet visit on Friday goes well

It sounds very frustrating that people can't give you solid answers. I guess being that one-in-a-million case no one really knows. I'm glad he's recovering well from his surgery, and has a caring owner doing what she can for him.
Good luck with the vet visit tomorrow. :cross:

Sorry guys, I'm just venting here. I am very grateful that he's recovering well from surgery...he almost seems back to his old self, trying to sneak up on my kitty girl Grace and pounce on her (she is not amused).  It's just so frustrating because there is virtually nothing on the web about treating urate stones in cats, except possibly surgery if there's a liver shunt.  I'm hoping there's no shunt, since the vet bills are mounting, but then that will leave us with "what caused the stone?" and no real treatment plan. 

Thanks for letting me vent, and for the well wishes.  I'll update again when I get test results. 

It's been a while since I posted about Moe's status.  He has recovered very well from his surgery and is acting like his old self...curious, playing with his buddy JuneBug and terrorizing his archenemy Grace.  He had a checkup two weeks after the surgery and everything is healing well.  Because the urate stone is rare in cats and is normally caused by a liver shunt, the surgeon had my regular vet run a Bile Acid Test on him, where he fasted for 12 hours, was tested, ate a meal, and was tested again two hours later.  His fasting result was a little high, but his post-meal result was normal.  That ruled out a shunt, but my vet thought it was possible that he might have microvascular disease (MVD). 

So of course, I immediately went into panic mode, joined the yahoo liver shunt group (great group of people!) and researched myself into a frenzy. When the surgeon was finally able to consult with my vet, they decided that the slightly elevated fasting result did not indicate a shunt or MVD, and the yahoo group folks had the same opinion.  Whew!

So at this point, we still do not know what caused Moe's urate stone.  He is on canned Hill's k/d low protein diet and I am giving him corn silk three times a day (will drop down to twice a day in a few days).  His urine is also still somewhat concentrated, his bladder wall is still thickened and inflamed, and he is peeing frequent small clumps.  I got ten doses of buprenorphine to reduce pain, so hopefully that will let him get back to normal. If there's no improvement by this Friday, we will look at a course of steroids to reduce the inflammation. 

I'm trying to figure out how to get more liquid into him. He doesn't like a lot of water added to his food, and he's never been much of a drinker.  I am going to make some chicken broth for him this weekend and see if he will drink that. Any other suggestions for getting a cat to drink would be appreciated!