Rohan Is Ill, bladder crystals Options

[Mink&WillowsMom]

Please keep a prayer for Rohan -- he's in the hospital.
Stable, should be okay, but he had crystals in his bladder that blocked his urethra, and he almost got to life-threatening stage before I realized. His bladder was about the size of a large apple, and at risk of rupture. This afternoon I saw him try to pee on my bed. I'd seen him pee on another rug a couple days ago, and knew that it was very odd, but the only logic I could put to it was a protest over litter boxes that need changing.

After I scooped him off the bed, he meowed in a very distressed way -- pain from being lifted on his abdomen, no doubt. Then he lay by the door and whimpered, so immediately I found a vet with extended hours and got him in. By the time we arrived, he was blocked and yet so full he was incontinent, just dribbling everywhere. If I'd waited until tomorrow morning he could have died.

I arrived thinking was constipated, fearful maybe a hairball obstruction. Ten minutes later she wants to get him out of the room and into the back to catheterize him NOW, while also quickly trying to get me up to speed on what's happening and how urgent it was. She quickly tried to outline the scope of what I was dealing with, and explain enough so that I can make informed decisions. Meanwhile, I know Roh is soooo afraid here, and first she says "heart murmur," and then I hear bladder blocked anesthesia crystals xrays cardio-myopathy stones surgery die hospital $1500 euthanasia. Flashing like red neon signs in my brain. I'm trying to track the details, but ohmigod she's saying Rohan is really sick, in dire distress and lots of pain, and what am I supposed to be looking at on this financial e$timate? Did I wait too long? What clues did I miss? How did I not know he was in pain? And why the hell did she bring up euthanasia? Is he really that sick he might die? Or is she just giving me a financial out? Finally I realized that's what she was doing, and I just looked her in the eye and said, "euthanasia's off the table."

Honestly, I don't know how parents leave their human children in the hospital. I feel like such a bad mama, leaving him all alone in a cage, catheterized and two IVs, terrified by the drugs and the procedures, and the cone he has to wear so he won't pull out the cath. They let me sit with him for a while, but then there was nothing to do but come home. Fortunately the vet tech who's on tonight will take phone calls so I can check on him through the night.

He's also got a heart murmur and possible cardiomyopathy, but we'll deal with that later.
He's only two years old.
I am really overwhelmed right now.
Just today I told someone I've been trying to shake a sense of doom. *pow* strikes again. Just a little left jab, but still enough to ding me.

So I just need to remind myself, he's doing okay right now. They were able to catheterize him with just sedation, not general anesthesia, to my great relief. His blood panel looks good, and he's not too dehydrated. They gave him pain meds, and flushed out the bladder. She said usually the urine has more of a sandy look to it, and his doesn't, which means he doesn't have nearly as many crystals, which bodes well. We talked a little about what I've been feeding them, and may have found a culprit. Typically, the treatment is a lifetime of very expensive food my other cats in the past have hated. Hopefully it has improved, or I have other options. I'm holding out a thread of hope that this was a one-time thing due to two months of cheap tuna fish cat food.

Kim
PS: I just called the vet tech, who said that he's settled a fair bit, especially after they blocked his view of the room with a towel, and that he was eating some. Luna and Willow are asking me questions.

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[Jon730]

So sorry he has been through this! My Sheva had this. Damned DRY FOOD.

Two things happen when a male is catheterized (Ouch, I know..)

The urethra is VERY irritated, and this causes an urge to urinate for several days from the burning sensation. I guess the body wants to flush out whatever it is. So swollen and inflamed is the urethra that patients will not be allowed to go home till they can pass urine, even if it is a Day Clinic proceedure. Despite efforts to make catheters smooth and even lubricious with additions like polyvinylpyrrolidone in the formulation, withdrawing them causes abrasions.
The tissues have been stretched and dilated, and the valve at the bladder has been held open for days as well. Muscle tone will return.

It does get better. Males in general are plagued with long urethras, (Not as long as they say they are...) but passing stones or crystals are much worse for males. It FEELS like Miles and Miles and Miles when it's going on.

My wife has a disease that produces constant kidney stones (RTA). As people know, they are terribly painful.
I am grateful that I had a kidney stone ONCE so I can understand what she is going through, but just as grateful I had one ONCE!!!

Canned food has ~70% water. Male cats should not get dry food. Cats can live on VERY liittle water, and we hear stories of cats being found in shipping containers for long periods that end up fine. But how this is done is that the kidneys reabsorb water to conserve it. When they do so, waste and mineral concentrations rise and rise. When the solubility limit of calcium and magnesium compounds is exceeded, they crystallize out as salts such as phosphates, urates, various amino acid salts, and oxalates. Normally, citrate is synthesized in the kidney, which chelates calcium compounds and keeps things clear, but high calcium concentrations can overwhelm this self-protective mechanism.


By feeding canned food, the cat is forced to have 70% water. With feeding dry food, the cat can be tricked by his tolerance for low water consumption.
Regardless of ash &%^ysis, no male cat of mine will ever get dry food again.

I have seen personal ads in local newpapers from heartbroken cat owners begging people not to feed males dry food.

Everyone, human or FuzzyFriend, should drinks lots of water. The urine must not be allowed to come out dark. Once one has a stone or two, they indelibly remember that!!!