Cat bathroom habits after having a catheter.

[lullghoul]

This will probably be LONG, as I detail nearly everything that has happened, before and after, so just a heads-up.

My 1 year old cat, Pickles, had a urethral obstruction on Saturday night. He was straining to pee, yowling, and when he did pee it was on the floor, along with some blood. We immediately rushed him to a 24/7 vet hospital and while expensive, I know urinary problems can be extremely serious in male cats, so there was no way we’d wait til morning.

It was complete hell trying to figure out why this happened. He gets wet food and dry food, but recently, I had upped his intake of dry food and treats. I always added a bit of water to his food and have bowls throughout the house for him, which he frequently drinks from. The veterinarian told us that it was likely stress-related, which made me panic a bit. He was only slightly dehydrated. He hadn’t exhibited signs of stress, but I had made a drastic change to my bedroom a couple days before, which I know had freaked him out a bit.

Anyways, we did the 48 hour hospitalization with a catheter. I called daily multiple times and he did phenomenal at the vet.

So now, we have him back as of Tuesday at around 11am. He had the catheter removed shortly before. Immediately, once we got him back, he smelled like pee. It seems like he had lost control of his bladder and was dribbling, where it was getting all up in his fur. I was sent home with Buprenorphine, which I give 0.2mL of every 8 hours, and then Gabapentin, 1.0mL every 8-12 hours. He absolutely HATES the Gabapentin and I feel so evil for it!

He was pretty tired and a bit out of it, but he was in a great mood. Super affectionate, playful, and pretty much like his usual self. He ate and drank a lot. They didn’t prescribe a urinary diet because this didn’t seem diet related at all. I added much more water to his food, basically soup now, and he loved it! I bought him a cat diffuser and plugged it up in my bedroom, since it’s where he is the most (also where his litter box and food is), and he loves it!

My only concern is his bathroom habits now. I have been told multiple times that it is relatively normal for cats to not produce as much urine as they normally would following this procedure. He is peeing, but he goes in there pretty frequently. It ranges from dribbles to the size of a quarter almost. He isn’t straining, there is no blood, and he is not crying. He is pooping like normal. I am terrified of a re-blockage. I know it is a full possibility, but I really just need to be re-affirmed right now.

When can I expect him to have normal urine production? I assume each cat is different and I was instructed to take him back if he stops urinating completely for a couple hours.

 

[di and bob]

Everything he is doing is completely normal after catheterization. Especially only 24 hours after it has been removed. His urethra is swollen and there has been trauma to it, this happens in humans too. There even may be a small amount of blood. Encourge lots of water, I found setting bowls around the house encourages them to drink, as you have. He is going more frequently so expect smaller amounts. This takes a few days to subside, so give him time. I would start him on a urinary supplement afetr you ask the vet, it wouldn't hurt, you can find it on Walmart or Amazon online. If he struggles too abd with the pain meds, call the vet and see if you can discontinue them, you don't want to give him more stress, my cats have gone through this with no meds and did fine, they are tough. Give him a week to get back to normal. All the luck!

 

[white shadow]

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Hi lullghoul and a very warm welcome to the forum !

It's well known that buprenorphine can, itself, cause urinary retention. It usually doesn't last very long, perhaps a couple of days - I've both seen this with my own cats and here on the forum. So, this will make your observation of him a little difficult, i.e. is this a blockage or the bupe at work? My advice is yes, observe his urination, but, rely more on his behaviour to judge whether/not there's a problem.

Now, my advice on using the buprenorphine could not be more different from di and bob's. I say, whatever else you do, do not stop using it. The condition he had and the catheterization are both very painful [and, pain associated with urination can produce a whole list of other problems] and everything should be done to eliminate pain. Yes, cats are "tough", but that's no reason to withhold/not use pain control meds.

[Just a btw......when giving the buprenorphine, you're just putting it into the side of his mouth, I hope. It only works when it's absorbed by the oral tissue and useless if swallowed.]

Keep us posted!..........................oh, almost forgot, we never ever reject pictures here
.

 

[lullghoul]

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Hi lullghoul and a very warm welcome to the forum !

It's well known that buprenorphine can, itself, cause urinary retention. It usually doesn't last very long, perhaps a couple of days - I've both seen this with my own cats and here on the forum. So, this will make your observation of him a little difficult, i.e. is this a blockage or the bupe at work? My advice is yes, observe his urination, but, rely more on his behaviour to judge whether/not there's a problem.

Now, my advice on using the buprenorphine could not be more different from di and bob's. I say, whatever else you do, do not stop using it. The condition he had and the catheterization are both very painful [and, pain associated with urination can produce a whole list of other problems] and everything should be done to eliminate pain. Yes, cats are "tough", but that's no reason to withhold/not use pain control meds.

[Just a btw......when giving the buprenorphine, you're just putting it into the side of his mouth, I hope. It only works when it's absorbed by the oral tissue and useless if swallowed.]

Keep us posted!..........................oh, almost forgot, we never ever reject pictures here
.

Thanks so much! Sorry I haven’t had the chance to reply or update because of work, but I actually had a question now! We were told we could stop the medication today, so we did after I had given him his last dosage this morning. He has been peeing consistently and frequently, thank God. But I have to ask, when healing from a catheter, is there typically supposed to be a way that his urine progresses back to normal? Like does their pee progressively get bigger? At least in your experience.

I feel like his pee is still not relatively normal-sized amounts. It’s DEFINITELY bigger than the first day we got him back, but now that he’s gonna be off the medication, I feel super nervous that our progress will be reverted.

Granted, it hasn’t been that long at all and he’s been doing great, I just hope he’ll continue to get better. Behaviorally, he is not exhibiting any signs of anxiety or pain like he was before. Yet, anytime he meows I start getting nervous lol. He is playing a lot and is more like his normal self. Just gonna have to be helicoptering over him tomorrow.


Also, here he is !

 

[white shadow]

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What a handsome guy! Glad to hear things are returning to normal.

Yes, the further away from this episode you get, the closer to his 'usual normal' in all things urinary would be my expectation. Helicoptering is normal now and hopefully you can reduce that in time to just monitoring his litterbox habits.

That said, a few thoughts

• get yourself a complete copy of the ER medical records, and we can then review them with you. I'm curious to know their findings and to know the results of urine analyses that were done. (then afterwards you should keep them, adding/accumulating others as time goes on - reach out and get previous ones if such exist so you have a complete copy)
• one of the changes that occurred just prior to all this was a change in diet, increasing the dry food. Reverse that immediately, as we know there's a greater propensity for urinary issues with dry food diets.
• The other pre-incident change you described was environmental - "a drastic change to my bedroom a couple days before , which I know had freaked him out" because "it’s where he is the most (also where his litter box and food is)". So, the lesson learned from this is that there will be a need to carefully manage any such future changes in your house: moving/changing houses, painting, new furniture/appliances, perhaps new people. If any of these are likely to be "drastic", perhaps consider using Gabapentin beforehand.

So, any update...........is Pickles any closer to being back to his normal self?
.

 

[lullghoul]

.
What a handsome guy! Glad to hear things are returning to normal.

Yes, the further away from this episode you get, the closer to his 'usual normal' in all things urinary would be my expectation. Helicoptering is normal now and hopefully you can reduce that in time to just monitoring his litterbox habits.

That said, a few thoughts

• get yourself a complete copy of the ER medical records, and we can then review them with you. I'm curious to know their findings and to know the results of urine analyses that were done. (then afterwards you should keep them, adding/accumulating others as time goes on - reach out and get previous ones if such exist so you have a complete copy)
• one of the changes that occurred just prior to all this was a change in diet, increasing the dry food. Reverse that immediately, as we know there's a greater propensity for urinary issues with dry food diets.
• The other pre-incident change you described was environmental - "a drastic change to my bedroom a couple days before , which I know had freaked him out" because "it’s where he is the most (also where his litter box and food is)". So, the lesson learned from this is that there will be a need to carefully manage any such future changes in your house: moving/changing houses, painting, new furniture/appliances, perhaps new people. If any of these are likely to be "drastic", perhaps consider using Gabapentin beforehand.

So, any update...........is Pickles any closer to being back to his normal self?
.

Now that I’ve been with him today, I can definitely say his urine looks like it normally would. It is bigger, like before he had a catheter. I think I was getting paranoid for a bit there, as it was a few days of small amounts, but there was a ton (and I was super scared after finishing his meds). He is going less now that he seems pretty healed, but he is actually producing like he normally would.

When they kept him at the emergency vet, they actually didn’t find many issues when they ran his tests. Everything came back great, except that he was inflamed. I don’t have the papers right now (I’m at work, and I can post them later if you’re still interested in the specifics). There was no notable findings, as far as I was aware. He was producing like usual and they said he reacted to his treatment very well. The only thing of concern was on the first day he had his catheter, he was peeing some blood. However, that quickly went away.

As for his behavior, yes, he is acting normal. He is usually a high-energy cat and those meds had really chilled him out for the whole week. Half of yesterday and all of today, he has been super energetic and chatty (normal for him, he always wants someone to play with him lol).

Also, I should’ve probably specified better. I didn’t increase his intake of dry food, I reduced it, but I did INCREASE the amount of water put in his food. He used to get a much bigger amount of dry food, not at all now. We give him about 2 *small* portions of dry food with water mixed in. He primarily gets wet. Half of a can in the morning and the other half in the evening.

Thank you for the advice in regards to his reaction to changes. That was one of the things I asked the veterinarian and we were told we could administer the Gabapentin.

Again, thank you so much! I’ll keep you updated if anything changes