I have searched the internet high and low and found that a lot of people come to forms with problems and then never respond to what the issue was how it was fixed / managed and go into detail for the next person who is looking up the same thing. It drives me crazy... How hard is it to type in what happened and how the problem was corrected.
My household has recently gone down a long road of taking a sickly cat to the vets every month for a few months to treat bladder stones. I would like to share with you from the start to the end of his treatment in case anyone is looking for help, information or just to have more knowledge. I am not to amazing at writing and keeping all my ideas together but I will try my best. I will be talking about symptoms/ behavior issues, Medicine, Special diets and vetting and showing you the break down in our expenses.
It started with us finding that our 2-3yr old male cat had been urinating on the floor were not sure how long the problem existed because our dog at the time was very dirty and always peeing on the floors. When we moved we were not able to bring the dog along with us and this is when we found there had been pee on the floor. He normally kept to spots that were corners, by the litter and against walls on the floor. We thought it was a behavioral problem like many do at first in till we found blood a few days later i wasn't sure what cat had been peeing as we had 3 at the time and later on Artemis was getting brushed and we found the blood on his man parts. We had no money at the time so we went to Google and a form i used to belong to and posted what was happening we got very rude results from the form members and a lot of dead ends on the internet regarding personal experiences.
I was home alone and afraid that he had a uti or bladder infection so I called the vets and they said to make sure he was drinking water and urinating this part is so Important because if they stop urinating they begin to get liver and kidney damage and within 24hours they can die. I was freaked out when I realized I seen no pee in the floor all day so after a few calls I had an after hour appointment arranged, a ride and sold an Xbox for less than half the resale value and was on my way to the vets with my cat. I got off lucky because my vet was not only a small animal clinic but also a big animal clinic and I had a very loving doctor and special tools she decided the cheapest way to find out if he was blocked was to feel his bladder thankfully he peed there so he was not blocked. After she performed a ultrasound we found out he did have something in his bladder. We were sent home with some numbers she gave us two options.The options were to do surgery right away and send the stone off for testing so we could get the proper food to help fight off the stone or we could go on a special vet diet (the food is Royal Canin So Urinary) + medication given orally two times a day. We went with the food and pills to hope that the stone would dissolve. We also had an x-ray to show that his stone was about the size of a pea.
Surgery Estimate
After hour Vet office bill broken down
Second vet visit bill broken down
After we got home we started to give all the cats the new food and they each got a half a cup twice a day. The feeding was hard because they have always been free fed and by cheap food (which probably causes the stone). The cats hated the new food and didn't understand that after 20 minutes I had to dump the food. I had to basically starve them out for two days before they would eat. It was a hard time and I felt so bad but with 3 cats I could afford to free feed a small $40 bag of food I would have no food left a week.
Artemis was getting back to his normal self but we had a hard decision to make... What to do with the 6 month old puppy. He was bad for chasing the cats and grabbing them and he was getting big. We knew we had to rehome him even though we didn't want to like we just finished house training him. About a week after the dog was gone we found Artemis out running around and playing so we were hopeful that he was getting better.
We had another vet appointment that was for us to find out what was happening with this stone. Was it growing? Dissolving? Staying the same? Well an xray later and we found out his stone had shrunk a bit but not as much as we wanted. We had to really consider surgery and that if in a month there was the same progress then we will need to book his surgery date! We started saving every penny in case surgery was the only option. The vet also told us that the shrinking process can be dangerous because the stone can shrink and block him and he would need an emergency surgery to survive. We cross our fingers and continued to pill him with his special food.
We left with another vet bill
It was a week before the last appointment we had had so far and we found our sick cat was playing, running and acting like his normal healthy self. This gave us so much hope that he was better. We could just feel that he was better he was even cuddling in bed again and talking. It had been so long sense we got a nice good snuggle from him and the night before the appointment he slept in between us all night long. We went the appointment and he had his regular little check up with an xray and we found out that he no longer had a stone. If he did it was so small that it would be gone very fast. The vet wanted him on his pills for another month and a last follow up xray! We were so happy that we even got him all his shots before we left and he's due back for some boosters in September with his xray. We had a great outcome but we do need to be careful with what he eats. He's not slowed any other food, no treats, Cannes food has to his brand and he can always get a new stone so we have to keep an extra eye on him and the litter boxes. We are lucky because we got to skip the surgery and so grateful.
This is the last bill with his shots
I will keep things updated and I hope this thread has become useful for someone.
The bills are actual bills I rewrote them in word and screen shot them for your convenience.
We are happy about every last penny we spent and any more we may need to spend on him. Please keep in mind if your cat has a Bladder Stone they will need to stay on their special diet for life and they can always end up having new stones at any time so its important that you spend the time checking the box, your cats input and output and if he seems to be in pain.
This is our Champ <3
My household has recently gone down a long road of taking a sickly cat to the vets every month for a few months to treat bladder stones. I would like to share with you from the start to the end of his treatment in case anyone is looking for help, information or just to have more knowledge. I am not to amazing at writing and keeping all my ideas together but I will try my best. I will be talking about symptoms/ behavior issues, Medicine, Special diets and vetting and showing you the break down in our expenses.
It started with us finding that our 2-3yr old male cat had been urinating on the floor were not sure how long the problem existed because our dog at the time was very dirty and always peeing on the floors. When we moved we were not able to bring the dog along with us and this is when we found there had been pee on the floor. He normally kept to spots that were corners, by the litter and against walls on the floor. We thought it was a behavioral problem like many do at first in till we found blood a few days later i wasn't sure what cat had been peeing as we had 3 at the time and later on Artemis was getting brushed and we found the blood on his man parts. We had no money at the time so we went to Google and a form i used to belong to and posted what was happening we got very rude results from the form members and a lot of dead ends on the internet regarding personal experiences.
I was home alone and afraid that he had a uti or bladder infection so I called the vets and they said to make sure he was drinking water and urinating this part is so Important because if they stop urinating they begin to get liver and kidney damage and within 24hours they can die. I was freaked out when I realized I seen no pee in the floor all day so after a few calls I had an after hour appointment arranged, a ride and sold an Xbox for less than half the resale value and was on my way to the vets with my cat. I got off lucky because my vet was not only a small animal clinic but also a big animal clinic and I had a very loving doctor and special tools she decided the cheapest way to find out if he was blocked was to feel his bladder thankfully he peed there so he was not blocked. After she performed a ultrasound we found out he did have something in his bladder. We were sent home with some numbers she gave us two options.The options were to do surgery right away and send the stone off for testing so we could get the proper food to help fight off the stone or we could go on a special vet diet (the food is Royal Canin So Urinary) + medication given orally two times a day. We went with the food and pills to hope that the stone would dissolve. We also had an x-ray to show that his stone was about the size of a pea.
Surgery Estimate
After hour Vet office bill broken down
Second vet visit bill broken down
After we got home we started to give all the cats the new food and they each got a half a cup twice a day. The feeding was hard because they have always been free fed and by cheap food (which probably causes the stone). The cats hated the new food and didn't understand that after 20 minutes I had to dump the food. I had to basically starve them out for two days before they would eat. It was a hard time and I felt so bad but with 3 cats I could afford to free feed a small $40 bag of food I would have no food left a week.
Artemis was getting back to his normal self but we had a hard decision to make... What to do with the 6 month old puppy. He was bad for chasing the cats and grabbing them and he was getting big. We knew we had to rehome him even though we didn't want to like we just finished house training him. About a week after the dog was gone we found Artemis out running around and playing so we were hopeful that he was getting better.
We had another vet appointment that was for us to find out what was happening with this stone. Was it growing? Dissolving? Staying the same? Well an xray later and we found out his stone had shrunk a bit but not as much as we wanted. We had to really consider surgery and that if in a month there was the same progress then we will need to book his surgery date! We started saving every penny in case surgery was the only option. The vet also told us that the shrinking process can be dangerous because the stone can shrink and block him and he would need an emergency surgery to survive. We cross our fingers and continued to pill him with his special food.
We left with another vet bill
It was a week before the last appointment we had had so far and we found our sick cat was playing, running and acting like his normal healthy self. This gave us so much hope that he was better. We could just feel that he was better he was even cuddling in bed again and talking. It had been so long sense we got a nice good snuggle from him and the night before the appointment he slept in between us all night long. We went the appointment and he had his regular little check up with an xray and we found out that he no longer had a stone. If he did it was so small that it would be gone very fast. The vet wanted him on his pills for another month and a last follow up xray! We were so happy that we even got him all his shots before we left and he's due back for some boosters in September with his xray. We had a great outcome but we do need to be careful with what he eats. He's not slowed any other food, no treats, Cannes food has to his brand and he can always get a new stone so we have to keep an extra eye on him and the litter boxes. We are lucky because we got to skip the surgery and so grateful.
This is the last bill with his shots
I will keep things updated and I hope this thread has become useful for someone.
The bills are actual bills I rewrote them in word and screen shot them for your convenience.
We are happy about every last penny we spent and any more we may need to spend on him. Please keep in mind if your cat has a Bladder Stone they will need to stay on their special diet for life and they can always end up having new stones at any time so its important that you spend the time checking the box, your cats input and output and if he seems to be in pain.
This is our Champ <3
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