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- Sep 4, 2018
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Hi everyone,
My three year old DSH male, Ramses, was trying to urinate for 30+ minutes in the litter box with no success on this Tuesday evening. Thankfully he chose when both my partner and I had just returned home, and did it right in front of us so we could see. I didn’t know anything about urinary blockages, but my instinct told me not to wait. I called an emergency vet clinic and asked if I should take him in, to which they advised I do as it was a medical emergency if he could not urinate.
So we packed him up in his carrier and drove him to a 24hr emergency clinic, where the vet confirmed that he did indeed have a blockage. She gave him an IV, sedated him, and did the unblock + catheter insertion at around 1am. We ended up staying until he was set up in his cage, still asleep from sedation, but stable.
He stayed in the hospital through Wednesday so he could catch up on fluids, and so his output equaled his input, as he had apparently been behind on fluids when we brought him in. We do feed almost exclusively wet food (Tiki Cat wet twice a day, followed by a small amount of dry at bedtime). Follow this, though, I think we will likely cut out dry. On Thursday his catheter was removed, and we were cleared to discharge him as he had urinated on his own. He also really likes the prescription food, which is pretty convenient! He does eat it without complaint.
He was sent home on gabapentin and proazin. He seems to be urinating fine on his own, although he did pee on himself in the carrier ride home. I’m not sure if that was due to stress, lots of IV fluids, trauma from the catheter or all of the above. We had to give him a bath which he unfortunately hated, but he ate that night and we were able to give him his medicine. The gabapentin is pretty sedative and he does seem to relax a ton on it, but he also doesn’t seem to be in any pain that I can see even after more than 8 hrs between doses.
Does anyone have experience with this? How long should I keep giving the gabapentin? I don’t want to give him too much if he’s not in pain, but I also don’t want him to suffer.
Also, if anyone has any tips for the recovery period, or things they have noticed from their own experience, that would be awesome. I’m continuing to give him the prescription food for now, and we bought a cat fountain to see if he will drink more (he normally never does).
So far things seem good and I have seen him use the litter box on his own and actually pee.
My three year old DSH male, Ramses, was trying to urinate for 30+ minutes in the litter box with no success on this Tuesday evening. Thankfully he chose when both my partner and I had just returned home, and did it right in front of us so we could see. I didn’t know anything about urinary blockages, but my instinct told me not to wait. I called an emergency vet clinic and asked if I should take him in, to which they advised I do as it was a medical emergency if he could not urinate.
So we packed him up in his carrier and drove him to a 24hr emergency clinic, where the vet confirmed that he did indeed have a blockage. She gave him an IV, sedated him, and did the unblock + catheter insertion at around 1am. We ended up staying until he was set up in his cage, still asleep from sedation, but stable.
He stayed in the hospital through Wednesday so he could catch up on fluids, and so his output equaled his input, as he had apparently been behind on fluids when we brought him in. We do feed almost exclusively wet food (Tiki Cat wet twice a day, followed by a small amount of dry at bedtime). Follow this, though, I think we will likely cut out dry. On Thursday his catheter was removed, and we were cleared to discharge him as he had urinated on his own. He also really likes the prescription food, which is pretty convenient! He does eat it without complaint.
He was sent home on gabapentin and proazin. He seems to be urinating fine on his own, although he did pee on himself in the carrier ride home. I’m not sure if that was due to stress, lots of IV fluids, trauma from the catheter or all of the above. We had to give him a bath which he unfortunately hated, but he ate that night and we were able to give him his medicine. The gabapentin is pretty sedative and he does seem to relax a ton on it, but he also doesn’t seem to be in any pain that I can see even after more than 8 hrs between doses.
Does anyone have experience with this? How long should I keep giving the gabapentin? I don’t want to give him too much if he’s not in pain, but I also don’t want him to suffer.
Also, if anyone has any tips for the recovery period, or things they have noticed from their own experience, that would be awesome. I’m continuing to give him the prescription food for now, and we bought a cat fountain to see if he will drink more (he normally never does).
So far things seem good and I have seen him use the litter box on his own and actually pee.