- Joined
- Apr 12, 2014
- Messages
- 14
- Purraise
- 2
Hi everyone,
I'm new to this forum, but a life-long cat lover. My cat Max is about 3 years old. He was a rescue that my girlfriend (at the time) and I brought in at about 4-6 weeks old. So he's been with me for a long time. About a year ago, he started showing blood in his urine and the Vet diagnosed him with crystals his bladder. An X-ray wasn't performed at the time though, and she said it's normal for some young, male cats, and to just keep an eye on him. She gave me medication to help treat it. Several months later the blood started again and I brought him in a second time for this same diagnosis. This time they told me to try to get Max to drink way more water, and to focus on wet food over dry food, increasing his wet food meals to three a day. That seemed to help, until about a week ago, where the blood in his urine started again. Only this time, there was more of it, and it was darker in color. During this time, Max had taken up the habit of peeing in my bathtub every day, which I took as a sign that he was either peculiar (as he is) or that he wanted me to see what was up. He even started peeing in my kitchen sink. So this past Sunday I brought him in to the vet for a third time.
This time they performed an X-ray and, sure enough, they saw a rather large stone in his bladder. The Vet recommended a cystotemy surgery. So I brought him in this past Wednesday. This is where it starts to get frustrating.
Wednesday afternoon, the Vet called with an update and, sounding all peachy and upbeat, told me Max did great under the anesthetic. But when I asked about the stone, he informed me that they were unable to retrieve it and that, they "suspect" that it passed into his urethra. I asked how that could have happened, and the Vet said the anesthesia relaxed his body and allowed it to pass into the urethra. But no worries, they could now have him slowly dissolve it with prescription food over time. At this point, I was fuming, because I had suggested we just do this from the get-go. Furthermore, they just cut my cat open for no reason and left him in a place where the stone was now in a worse position. I went to bed Wed night pretty upset.
Thursday, I went into the Vet, ready to raise hell. They brought Max out and he looked miserable. It was pretty depressing. But the Vet told me the surgeon had taken a new X-ray and, sure enough, the stone had moved to the urethra. She wanted to do a second surgery and, using catheters, push the stone back into the bladder where it could then be retrieved and analyzed. They told me they would not only waive the fee of the second surgery, but that they'd also give me a discount on the first surgery. But if they were going to do it, they'd literally be operating on Max within the hour. I wasn't crazy about my cat going back under anesthetic so soon. But they said it was best to re-open him when the stitches were still fresh. So I agreed.
Come Friday (yesterday), I went to pick him up and got the update about how the surgery went. Yet again, it proved frustratingly inconclusive. While pushing the stone into the bladder, it broke apart into a thousand pieces. Like sand. They then flushed it out of him. An X-ray after the surgery proved that it was no longer in him, and his flow seems to be normal again. I was upset though because I was counting on them to retrieve the stone so it could be analyzed, but alas, they have no sample now. Now, all of this backstory is leading up to the recovery process.
Max has been home with me since last night, and he seems very out of it. He has almost no energy and moves around slowly. He also seems to be in pain. Last night, he'd audibly groan whenever he sat up, and would moan every now and then in pain. I gave him his pain meds, and that seemed to help. But he keeps jumping from my bed to the floor, and then back up again, and I don't like that. Because every time he lands, he grunts in pain, and I'm worried that the activity the jumps do will cause his stitches to re-open (they're on the inside).
He seems to be peeing okay. He's gone from doing it in the litter box, to my bathtub, to even on my bathmat. But I just spied on him now while he peed in the litter box, and he noticeably groaned in pain while he did.
Is this normal? He's had a lot of work done to his bladder and urethra, and had two surgeries in two days. The Vet said he'd going to be sore and tender down there. That the walls of his bladder are enflamed. One of the meds they gave me helps to relax his urethra, so it doesn't hurt as much when he pees. But man, he's just so out of it. He'll lean his head down towards that area, and then just sit like that, like he forgot what he was doing, and is frozen in that half-stance. And all he does is sleep. I also can't get him to eat the prescribe 'Bladder Health' wet cat food. I have to mix his Friskies into it. But then he just eats that portion and doesn't touch the other food.
If anyone can provide any feedback or words of support for a similar situation they went through, I'd really appreciate it. I primarily want to know if he should still be in this much pain, while even on meds. And also, if it's the trauma from the surgery or the meds themselves that are making him this groggy and lethargic.
Thanks everyone.
I'm new to this forum, but a life-long cat lover. My cat Max is about 3 years old. He was a rescue that my girlfriend (at the time) and I brought in at about 4-6 weeks old. So he's been with me for a long time. About a year ago, he started showing blood in his urine and the Vet diagnosed him with crystals his bladder. An X-ray wasn't performed at the time though, and she said it's normal for some young, male cats, and to just keep an eye on him. She gave me medication to help treat it. Several months later the blood started again and I brought him in a second time for this same diagnosis. This time they told me to try to get Max to drink way more water, and to focus on wet food over dry food, increasing his wet food meals to three a day. That seemed to help, until about a week ago, where the blood in his urine started again. Only this time, there was more of it, and it was darker in color. During this time, Max had taken up the habit of peeing in my bathtub every day, which I took as a sign that he was either peculiar (as he is) or that he wanted me to see what was up. He even started peeing in my kitchen sink. So this past Sunday I brought him in to the vet for a third time.
This time they performed an X-ray and, sure enough, they saw a rather large stone in his bladder. The Vet recommended a cystotemy surgery. So I brought him in this past Wednesday. This is where it starts to get frustrating.
Wednesday afternoon, the Vet called with an update and, sounding all peachy and upbeat, told me Max did great under the anesthetic. But when I asked about the stone, he informed me that they were unable to retrieve it and that, they "suspect" that it passed into his urethra. I asked how that could have happened, and the Vet said the anesthesia relaxed his body and allowed it to pass into the urethra. But no worries, they could now have him slowly dissolve it with prescription food over time. At this point, I was fuming, because I had suggested we just do this from the get-go. Furthermore, they just cut my cat open for no reason and left him in a place where the stone was now in a worse position. I went to bed Wed night pretty upset.
Thursday, I went into the Vet, ready to raise hell. They brought Max out and he looked miserable. It was pretty depressing. But the Vet told me the surgeon had taken a new X-ray and, sure enough, the stone had moved to the urethra. She wanted to do a second surgery and, using catheters, push the stone back into the bladder where it could then be retrieved and analyzed. They told me they would not only waive the fee of the second surgery, but that they'd also give me a discount on the first surgery. But if they were going to do it, they'd literally be operating on Max within the hour. I wasn't crazy about my cat going back under anesthetic so soon. But they said it was best to re-open him when the stitches were still fresh. So I agreed.
Come Friday (yesterday), I went to pick him up and got the update about how the surgery went. Yet again, it proved frustratingly inconclusive. While pushing the stone into the bladder, it broke apart into a thousand pieces. Like sand. They then flushed it out of him. An X-ray after the surgery proved that it was no longer in him, and his flow seems to be normal again. I was upset though because I was counting on them to retrieve the stone so it could be analyzed, but alas, they have no sample now. Now, all of this backstory is leading up to the recovery process.
Max has been home with me since last night, and he seems very out of it. He has almost no energy and moves around slowly. He also seems to be in pain. Last night, he'd audibly groan whenever he sat up, and would moan every now and then in pain. I gave him his pain meds, and that seemed to help. But he keeps jumping from my bed to the floor, and then back up again, and I don't like that. Because every time he lands, he grunts in pain, and I'm worried that the activity the jumps do will cause his stitches to re-open (they're on the inside).
He seems to be peeing okay. He's gone from doing it in the litter box, to my bathtub, to even on my bathmat. But I just spied on him now while he peed in the litter box, and he noticeably groaned in pain while he did.
Is this normal? He's had a lot of work done to his bladder and urethra, and had two surgeries in two days. The Vet said he'd going to be sore and tender down there. That the walls of his bladder are enflamed. One of the meds they gave me helps to relax his urethra, so it doesn't hurt as much when he pees. But man, he's just so out of it. He'll lean his head down towards that area, and then just sit like that, like he forgot what he was doing, and is frozen in that half-stance. And all he does is sleep. I also can't get him to eat the prescribe 'Bladder Health' wet cat food. I have to mix his Friskies into it. But then he just eats that portion and doesn't touch the other food.
If anyone can provide any feedback or words of support for a similar situation they went through, I'd really appreciate it. I primarily want to know if he should still be in this much pain, while even on meds. And also, if it's the trauma from the surgery or the meds themselves that are making him this groggy and lethargic.
Thanks everyone.