OUCH! Bladder stones are expensive! (cat-related)

[Scootergirl]

Miles, my wonderful tabby, started urinating in the wrong places last night (like on the couch) so I palpitated his bladder and felt a golf-ball sized lump in there. He's had bladder stones before, but much worse, so I shut him in the room with the litter boxes last night and checked him again this morning.

It seemed like the lump was gone, or at least smaller, so I thought he had passed the stones, but he started going to the box every 2 minutes again and peeing on the blankets. I called my vet, but she's not on call this weekend so my only choices were to take him to the ER vet or wait until tomorrow.

Well, after watching him strain and only getting a couple drops out then reading online that an obstruction could kill him in as little as 24 hours, I decided to take him to the ER vet.

The intitial estimate is $750.00!! But, I got him to knock off the radiograph and urinalysis and some of the chemistry since we 1)already know it's an obstruction since he can't pee so there's no use doing a radiograph and 2)can safely assume there's something wrong with his urinary tract and, no matter what it is the treatment is going to be the same - to catheterize him to unobstruct his urethra.

But the bill will still be around $600, and I had to leave Miles there overnight. But, what are you gonna do? He's much more important than the money. Keep him in your thoughts for me. He's not a happy kitty

[kathryn]

Poor Miles.  Lots of hugs for both of you.  I hope he's feeling better.

[pyr4me]

My female cat, Melanie, had stones a couple of years ago, too. My vet recommended a specific science diet food to help prevent stones, but now she's on EVO and has done well with it. There hasn't been a recurrence (knock on wood!  ). Hope that Miles feels better soon!

BTW, I had an orange tabby in grad school that looked so much like your Miles!  

[Scootergirl]

I've been reading that wet food is better for cats that tend to get bladder stones and crystals as well. I've been feeding him dry food. I was feeding him exclusively Iams urinary tract health, but recently switched to Goodlife Recipe because it seemed like it was more organic/natural. Well, I think that's what made the stones come back.

When he got bladder stones the 1st time I had been feeding him Cat Chow and my vet told me 90% of the cases she gets the cats had been fed cat chow.

I guess he's going to get canned food from now on. I'm sure he'll hate that (she says sarcastically).

[Scootergirl]

Thank you all so much for the tips and well-wishes. I'm a nervous wreck and don't know how I'll sleep tonight without Miles cuddled next to me.

I'll let you know how he is as soon as I hear.

[List]

I totally understand! One of my cats hes chronic problems with struvite crystals, and bladder issues. The tiniest thing will set his ph off and lead to peeing outside of the litter box and blocking
We've tried every food out there. Wet and dry and the only thing that has worked has been switching to a raw diet and adding distilled water. This is the only combo we've had success with.

[Scootergirl]

The vet just called and said he is doing well. He was blocked about an inch in and his white blood cell count was high so he wonders if there is a kidney infection, but he's on antibiotics from the catheterizatio n anyway.

Miles managed to take his e-collar off, but the vet said he would leave it off for now because he's being a good boy and leaving the catheter alone.

The vet said he was doing well and things were "flowing" so I guess that's a good sign. I have to go pick him up at 6am.

[Scootergirl]

Well, it turns out that Miles may have had a bladder obstruction due to a severe bladder infection or kidney infection. He's still urinating very frequently and it's still bloody.

When I picked him up this morning, the ER vet jokingly said he was very angry with Miles because he had just pulled out his own catheter and disconnected his IV. I told him Miles could be a vet tech!

He's definitely more perky today. What really ticked me off about the ER vet, though is that they didn't shave his leg before putting in the IV catheter and then they left the catheter in when I picked him up in case I took him to my personal vet (which I didn't need to do) so I had to take the catheter out, which is normally not a problem, except the tape they wrapped the cather with is stuck to all his hair and it's been a chore to get it removed - not to mention pretty painful for Miles. So, he's walking around with a big hunk of tape hanging off his leg now 'cause I can only work on it about a minute at a time.

[Scootergirl]

When Aaron got home, we got the rest of the tape off together with a little snip-snip and one big RRRRIIIPPP!

I called my vet about the still-frequent urination and bloody urine and she said she usually prescribes an anti-spasmotic and something else along with the anti-biotics to make sure they don't relapse so I'm going to pick those up in a little bit.

He has finally started slowing down his frequency, though and is back to normal cuddling!