Bladder Stone question

My cat Leo (7-8yrs old) recently developed bladder stones, and has since had the surgery to remove them. The surgery was last Friday, picked him up Monday and he was going to the box, doing his biz, and hopping out. Last nite, he started visiting the box more, just little drops again. He's never strained, howled, or looked like he was in pain, before the surgery or now. He's in seclusion right now so I can monitor his intake of food/water and his um, output! (I have other cats who are not eating the same C/D cat food that he's supposed to be on). He's on like week 2 of Amox 100mg, 1x/day, and takes his pill like a champ, so he should be properly dosed w/it.

My question is this: Has anyone had experience w/the bladder surgery NOT correcting the problem? His urine output is decreasing, but still coming, so the vet says just watch him and see...if he blocks, we move to plan B, whatever that is.

I thought once he had the surgery, he'd go back to normal, and we'd just watch him, feed him the C/D food for however long (maybe life) and hopefully the stones wouldn't recur. They were struvite, btw.

Any advice would be welcome...I'm at a loss and my vet (who I adore) seems a bit puzzled by this as well.

Regards,
lauren, the newbie with far too many cats!

I've never had any experience with bladder stones but I do hope your kitty is feeling better soon!!!

Devlyn & Crew

Hi Lauren,
My cat Tyler had bladder stones removed this past Fall...initially he did frequent tiny voidings, but as the first week went by, his volume was improving, and the frequency decreased.

Then it reversed. In his case, something happened my vets had not seen before, he formed a free floating hematoma that settled in such a way that it blocked all urine exiting. We were able to avoid another surgery, but he did get quite ill, required hospitalization, lots of iv fluids, pain meds and more, and thankfully, this clot dissolved on its own.

Keep a close eye...I hope you'll see that volume increasing a bit, and that your kitty is in the box a little less frequentl (less urgency), if you feel the output is continuing to decrease, I'd zip right back in tomorrow...don't wait.

PS..sorry, hectic day (vet visits!) and I wasn't thinking about the fact it is Sunday tomorrow. I would still, if there is a continued decrease that is much worse than today, call your vet's emergency number or see an emergency vet. You'll have to decide if you feel the output is that much less than today, or if you can safely wait until Monday.
Fwiw, Tyler's stones were calcium oxalate - harder to deal with My vets were also telling me struvite was easier as it can be dealt with by diet change...so think positively. Btw, is your kitty on pain meds at all? Tyler was because the stones had been there for a couple of months, and they felt the lining of his bladder had been rather irritated. The pain meds really seemed to help.

I had the same problem last month with my Misty. She had stones for a couple of months, had surgery to remove them, was on antibiotics for the infection that she had for months but she seemed worse after surgery instead of better.

First off, the vet told me that the surgery itself will cause frequent urination due to the inflammation from the surgery but should start to get better as the days go by. That did not happen, she was getting worse. All that was needed was a change in the antibiotic and she started to get better almost immediately. It is now going on 5 weeks as she is absolutely fine. I would suggest a phone call to your vet and see what they can do for your kitty so the recovery can move forward.

My only complaint now is that although Misty had internal stitches which all disolve, there is one external stitch that is still there and the vet keeps saying not to worry about it and that she doesn't have to come back to remove it. I guess it will come out eventually but I have no idea when. Other than that, she seems to be perfectly healed and off of all medication for more than 2 weeks now and no more infection. After six months of dealing with this, it's finally better.

Does anyone have any info on this one little stitch. I posted a question regarding this and I did get feedback that it should eventually come out on its own. Anyone else have this experience?

Karen

Wow after reading all of this I feel fortunate. Shadow had stones in September and they put a cathider(sp) in to um kinda stretch him out (OUCH) overnight so that the stones could just come out that. He was fine the next day. he had to be on ammoxixillion. Hes now on C/D for life. I hope all works out for you!!

Hey guys...thanks for all of the info - good to hear this might be 'normal' for post-surgery behavior. He's still peeing a little, goes into the box quite a bit and produces very little. My vet said as long as he's still peeing, we're good to go. If he's not 'better' by Monday, I'll shuttle him back, maybe another xray to make sure we don't see more stones. He's not on pain meds, just Amox 100mgs 1x/day. I remember someone saying they had to switch antibiotics...from what and to what, if you don't mind sharing?

Thanks again - lauren
PS He's a formerly feral cat who doesn't like people much, including me, so I keep imagining that he hates me more every day he's kept in seclusion...that's what I get for attaching human emotion to cats, eh? LOL

Sure hope Leo is feeling better very soon! You're taking such wonderful care of him, Lauren, and he knows how much you love him. Please do keep us updated how he is feeling and if his voiding has returned to normal.

Ok, tonight, I decided to remodel Leo's little 'holding cell' which is my spare room. I took the bed offa the frame so we're sleeping on the floor, with NOWHERE huge to hide! LOL I did that and about 15 mins later, I"m sitting on the really low bed, and he decided I was pretty nifty and he came up, started rolling around on his back and purring...weird, cuz he RARELY does that purring thing!

He voided a little more today while I was at work and he seems to be eating/drinking fine. I mashed around on his belly and didn't feel anything hard, so hopefully he's not suffering stones or a blockage. Will call the vet tomorrow to report his progress and check on maybe another antibiotic or pain pills, to see if vetman thinks either would help him spring back to normal faster...he's anxious to rejoin the rest of his clan in the outside world (outside the spare bedroom, that is)!!

Thanks to all for your help - we both appreciate your words of kindness!

lauren and leo

Well, tonight, leo made about 10 stops along the bedspread to pee one drop, and about 5 trips to the sandbox to pee nothing, all in the space of about 5 minutes, so I freaked out, mashed on his belly, SWORE I felt his tennis ball/orange sized bladder, so off to the vet ER we went.

Dr there diagnosed an infection, and prescribed Baytril to go along w/his Amox. Said this isn't uncommon post bladder stone removal, as everything inside is irritated. We started with a shot of the new drug, and I got 5 pills, and he'll take 1/2 a pill a day until they are gone.

Hopefully, he'll be back to peeing like a normal kitty SOON! My bedroom linens can't stand much more! LOL

Thanks to all, just thought I'd give an update in case anyone else ever has this happen.

Regards,
lauren and the slightly pee-ful Leo

Poor Leo...glad you are such an observant cat-mom, and that you got him in to be seen!

Awww poor Leo! I hope he feels better soon!!