Cat just had bladder stones removed - kidney scare - still straining to urinate - anyone else go thr

greytabby

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Hi folks,

I have a 5 year old male tabby who for the better part of a year was having urination issues (going to the litterbox once per hour to let only a small amount out, straining, blood in urine, occassional urination outside the litterbox). We tried a few different interventions (antibiotics, etc.) and did blood work a few times which revealed some higher than normal calcium levels.

So, when we noticed our cat was losing weight, we asked our vet if we could step up the treatment and he sent us to get an ultrasound. Lo and behold, he had 3 large bladder stones, so on Friday (12/12) we immediately got him surgery to have them removed. The surgery was a success, but in his pre-op blood work, the vet found that his kidney levels (creatinine) were borderline high. Also, it's clear on the ultrasound that one kidney is quite a bit larger than the other, so it would seem that our poor lil guy had acute kidney failure at some point before the surgery.

After keeping him overnight and giving him fluids (diuresis), his kidney levels returned to normal, so the vet let us take our cat home. It's now been a couple days of recovery on antibiotics and pain killers, and he's *still* going to the litterbox every hour. He always lets something out, even if it's a few drops, but it seems like he goes whether he has to or not. The vet that did the surgery says this is normal for a couple days as his bladder heals, but not if it continues. The second concern I have is that I'm getting conflicting information from our family vet (who referred us to the surgeon) and the surgeon- our family vet is concerned that the kidney levels are likely to go back up, that the fluids only temporarily solved the problem. Our surgeon is unconcerned about that.

So- 1) has anyone had a male cat who went through this surgery? Did they take a while to recover normal urine function?  and 2) has anyone had a cat that went into acute kidney failure and responded to fluids immediately? Did he/she recover kidney function after that?
 
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greytabby

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Thanks guys. I went through a lot of the threads about bladder stones and learned that sometimes it does take a little while for things to clear up. It's now 8 days post-surgery though, and he's still straining and going to the litter sometimes a few times in an hour. He definitely can pee just fine if he holds it in; when we have a visitor and he hides in the bedroom, he often goes in the sink in a healthy stream -- so we know he's not blocked.

The vet wants us to give it a little more time, and in the meantime has him on an anti-convulsant called Prazosin. Also "feline joint gel." 

It just seems weird that he's really no better than he was before the surgery. Still a slight tinge of blood in his urine, still the urgency to urinate even when his bladder is basically empty.
 
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greytabby

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Hate to keep bumping this thread up, but our poor lil kitty seems to have taken a slight turn for the worse and I'd love to hear from anyone who's gone through this with a similar challenge.

After two weeks since having his stones removed, he's still peeing blood, worse than when we got him home from the surgery. At first, when he wasn't getting better within a week or so, the vet had us give him valium to relax his system down there. The first dose rendered his legs pretty much useless, and he had an adverse reaction that made him agitated instead of relaxed. Vet said cut the dose in half, but even then, he was unable to walk or jump without hurting himself. And then he peed in the sink, a deep red blood color and some sludge seemed to have come out too. Something clearly was wrong.

Needless to say we were concerned and the vet asked us to bring him in to take a sterile sample from his bladder -- even though his initial post-op urine sample didn't show infection, after doing a culture of the new urine, it showed a bladder infection in addition to calcium oxalate crystals and both red and white blood cells. We have him on Orbax, a strong antibiotic I presume, to clear up the infection and we're on day 3 of a 10 day course. But the blood is as red as ever and doesn't seem to be clearing up :(

Anybody's cat have this operation and have it not clear up like that? I have a hard time believing it's as simple as an infection, but my better half thinks I'm reading too much into it. He seems uncomfortable (crouching a lot) and I'm sure I would be too if I had what he has. He's eating and drinking normally, so at least there's that. But I'm having a hard time seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for him when 2 weeks post-op he's still peeing blood. Thoughts anyone?
 

furmonster mom

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I'm really sorry things don't seem to be looking good.  I don't know a lot about the particular surgery, but when Pippen was showing trace blood in his urine, we discovered problems with his liver.  Luckily, the liver is the only organ that has the ability to regenerate.  Kidneys, on the other hand, not so much.  If the kidneys were stressed before the surgery, and now they've been put through more with post-op meds... I'd be very concerned about them.
 
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greytabby

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Thanks Furmonster Mom.

His urine specific gravity is (and always was) normal so there's no sign (in his urine, at least) that his kidneys are giving out. But that's high on my list of concerns of course. The vet's philosophy is to treat the bladder issue first and then test his creatinine levels again, especially while his urine doesn't show signs that concern him.

I'm just hoping this is all from complications from the surgery, that he's got a nasty infection and to be rid of it before he can really heal.
 
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