Uthrostomy closed over?!

As ive posted before, my cat theodore has had bladder issues since the 1st of april. After two catheters, we decided to go for the perineal uthrostomy surgery.  it's been 3 and a half weeks since the surgery and just over a week since stitches came out. Today we noticed Theodore not being himself and clearly unable to pee. So we took him back to the vet who said it's completely closed over. This vet who dealt with us this time was not at all sympathetic to our plight. He drained the bladder via a syringe and told us to come back in the morning. We are so at a loss with Theodore. Is it telling us that its time to stop or do we keep trying?

We have to bring him back in the morning and hope that the other secondary vet can remember where the opening is when she saw him on Monday just gone. She mentioned that the opening was very narrow but I don't think she would have expected it to close over completely. The vet who performed the surgery is away on holidays and won't be back until the 29th of may. We are so upset and we don't want to give up yet!

I have not seen your earlier posts, which are on another thread, but obviously you cannot wait an entire week for the vet who performed surgery to get back from holidays.  You have not added your location to your profile yet so I do not know where you live, but I would suggest you find another vet who is experienced with this type of surgery and will be able to help Theodore right away if there is no one else at the original animal hospital who is sympathetic and capable.

Thanks, We  need to stay with this vet because they have allowed us to have a payment plan. I live in Victoria Australia. The Vet who we saw last night, i have never laid eyes on this guy and I don't think he has the passion for the job like the owner of the Vet clinic. The  secondary vet, who we will see today because she oversaw the operation and took out the stitches etc, is a much more kind and passionate lady and she knows theodore, knows us and what this boy means to us. Either the vet relieving the owner is just a realist or pessimist, i don't know but I definitely didn't like his manner. So this morning, in 3 hours we'll take him back and hopefully the female vet can remember where the opening is, make an incision and thread a catheter there. It may need to stay in for a week to hold him over until the main Vet is back and hopefully he can redo the surgery. He said that if it failed the first time he would go back and try again free of charge.

I am just so upset because I didn't expect that the urethral opening would have closed over, we weren't warned this could happen. I'm just so thankful that we are in tune with our cat and recognised he would be in dire straights if we didn't get him to the vet asap.

I posted about his recovery in the PU surgery thread and we was going well. Things only really started to go pear-shaped in the past few days

I'm glad you are in Ausralia as that is a very cat-savvy country (I see you added your location to your profile), and it sounds like you do have a good clinic in general even if the vet you saw last did not have the best attitude.  I was not following the other thread because it's not one of my areas of knowledge.  I just picked up on this one because it was an unanswered post and we all try to make sure no post goes unanswered.  Poor Theodore, I'm sorry he has had to go through all of this, and you too, of course.  Keep us posted, and we'll send healing vibes your way. You might want to make a note at the end of your last thread that the updates continue on the thread called "uthrostomy closed over" so the rest of the folks who are following your ordeal will follow you here.

Thanks RedTop for your kind words. I just felt like he thought we were just your average dumb clueless cat-owners who he could feed whatever info he wanted and we'd believe him, pfft! The vet last night gave him a shot of antis and a shot of meloxicam(yes I know the warnings of this) and this morning when my husband took him back in the female vet was able to express his urine tho it was a very very narrow stream. So, the good news is that it didn't grow over, and they haven't threaded a catheter(they want to avoid doing this too much). They are keeping him overnight and having someone stay at the clinic to monitor his bahaviour after witnessing what we described to them.  They have given him valium to try release the tension in the bladder and muscles etc and we will go from there! The vets are just as keen to solve this problem for us as they think he's just a beautiful and otherwise healthy cat with no reason to put him down.

I'm so sorry about the setback, @elise1030.  I really wish I had some advice to give, but I just don't have any experience in this. My guess is that not a lot of TCS members do. I will be following Theodore's progress, however, and hoping for the best. Sending lots of vibes...

Thanks GoHolistic. Update this morning after a phonecall. The vet that saw us the first night(the one i didn't like) has had a change of heart about theodore and he now sees why we are trying really hard to get him sorted out. He's never met another cat like him. They tried to get a catheter in but they were unable to get it in. When his bladder is empty, he is the most happiest cheeriest cat he's seen. They are keeping him in for the weekend to keep monitoring it. Theodore can pee but never empties his bladder so they are keeping him on valium and antibiotics and manually expressing his bladder. After all this hopefully they can hold over until the vet that performed the first surgery returns and does it again and we can solve this issue once and for all. After that we need to seriously think about perhaps sending him over the rainbow bridge for just that reason. It breaks my heart to even have to say that but if he can't pee, what else can we do?

elise1030 said:

 
So this morning, in 3 hours we'll take him back and hopefully the female vet can remember where the opening is, make an incision and thread a catheter there. It may need to stay in for a week to hold him over until the main Vet is back and hopefully he can redo the surgery. He said that if it failed the first time he would go back and try again free of charge.

I am just so upset because I didn't expect that the urethral opening would have closed over, we weren't warned this could happen. 

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If necessary, can the secondary vet do the surgery? Is the primary vet on holiday close by? Can he be contacted by the clinic via email?

Sending vibes.

We asked the rude vet if he could do it, and he said not a chance with the equipment that the main vet has here in this clinic, that he just won't do it. I can only assume that the secondary(female) vet hasn't had much experience with doing the surgery and isn't willing to try. The main vet has been the local area vet for over 30 years and has performed alot of these surgeries for local cats. He told us that he will do it again if he needs to do it again and says that it very rarely fails the 2nd time around. He said that occasionally for whatever reason the surgery doesn't always work the first time but he's never had a cat come back after having it done the 2nd time.

He is in italy on a holiday, we're in australia. Lucky guy but he deserves a break, he's a hard working vet who services equine and farm animals as we live in a rural area.

Make sure your cat is number one on the priority list when he returns. Have the clinic clear his schedule for the morning of the first day back.

We got to visit Theodore this morning! He's doing well, they have decided to keep Theodore in until the Vet can come back and redo the surgery. Right now, all swelling is gone and he's a happy cat but he still needs to have his bladder expressed. So at this stage, it's just monitor and keep him there to prevent further swelling or complications so the vet can do his job. Initially, when he did it, Theodore he had a lot of swelling from having a catheter in and out several times before.

So, it's a waiting game, we know he's safe happy and healthy. He'll be there at least for the rest of this week!

How's Theodore doing today?

When you say they are "manually expressing his bladder," can you be more specific? Are they gently squeezing the bladder from the outside? Or are they extracting the urine via a fine needle?

We were able to bring him home 2 days with his meds. He aeems to be doing really well. They are hoping to hold him off for a few days until the main vet can get settled into work. They were expressing by squeezing the bladder. He seems to be dong pretty well on his own now

Great news! But if you see any difficulty, take him right back. Was it the main vet's decision to let him come home?

Sorry for my wonky writing in my last post. My 8 year old son broke his arm so i was in the hospital on a phone. The decision was made by the secondary (the female) vet who was monitoring him over the weekend and monday/tuesday. She was confident enough to allow us to bring him home and knows that we can tell when things aren't right early. I suppose the aim is to wait as long as possible to see if we can avoid doing the surgery again. Hopefully we won't need to! Or at least buy my family and I some time after spending a day and night and next day in the hospital.

I'm so sorry about Theodore.and now your son breaking his arm!!!!
Did they have to do surgery on his arm? My son broke his at 10 yrs old and had to have surgery!
Poor Theodore! I pray he doesn't need surgery again!
My thoughts are with you! When it rains it does sometimes pour!

They weren't sure if he'd need plates or pins til they got my son into the operating room. Turns out they were able to just set it so it's all good!

Thanks for the prayers for Theodore. We're finding now that we are home again he appears to be leaking urine, which in one way isn't a bad thing but in another, not so good either! I think we might take him back tomorrow or saturday morning and see if everything is ok.

Glad to hear all went well with your son.
My kitty leaked urine for a week just from being catherized twice in 12 hrs. He had to wear a diaper. Poor Theodore!!
Well your son will enjoy the attention he'll get in school. My son ate it up!
Prayers to them both!!!!!!

Glad to hear Theodore seems to be doing a little better! Are you expressing his bladder at home? Or is he going on his own now?



I can totally relate when it comes to the main vet being away. I could care less about any of my personal doctors, but when the vet is away, I'm nervous.     There are 5 other vets to choose from in the practice I go to, but still... 

We took Theodore back to the Vet today, he was really unhappy and growling at us. Good news though, the main Vet is back in town! We were there all of 15 minutes for him to tell us that the plan was to put him back to sleep and express his bladder manually and look at what kind of stream he gets. He is pretty sure he will only see a very fine spray and that the urethra is too narrow. In which case he will then go ahead and redo the uthrostomy now that the swelling and inflammation is all gone. I tried to say that if it fails the 2nd time we'd have to consider having him cross the rainbow bridge and he wouldn't let me finish the sentence lol. He is really confident he can fix Theodore again!

I'm gonna miss my baby yet again but lets hope it's the last time!