More UT problems for Gatsby

Thank you, Pinot's Mom and Ellie. It's been a hard day for me. And a harder one for poor Gatsby, of course.

The two vets talked, and the ER vet says they're pretty much on the same page. Haven't talked with my regular vet yet. Gatsby is on an antispasmodic med in addition to antibiotics and will stay hospitalized over the weekend. They hope to have the results of a urine culture Monday to see whether staph is still a problem.

I'll wait to find out what my regular vet has to say before I decide whether to set up an appointment at the university. If my vet thinks there's some chance that it could work, I'm inclined to go ahead with the surgery without a third opinion. We're pretty much out of other options.

Oh dear. How horrible for you and Gatsby!! I'm following this thread closely. Please let us know as soon as you hear anything. Good thoughts being sent your way!

Most of the time, in the hard core cases, the surgery does work. Just be warned, they can get more infections once they have the surgery. The good news is the infections will not cause any blockages after the surgery. At least that is what my vet says. I'm sending prayers your way. I know how you are feeling right now and it is not good.:love:

I'm so sorry to hear that it seems that surgery is his only option. I do hope that it'll help him. When Storm had to have his, the ER vet told me to make sure to have it performed by a board certified surgeon because he was a difficult case. She gave me 3 different locations to choose from and luckily the closest one to me had an opening the next morning. I know that without the surgery that Storm would've also kept becoming blocked.

Storm's never become blocked since his surgery but one time he was straining to pee because I later found out that Sunny was attacking him and trying to become the alpha cat. He was put on some meds and later things calmed down in my household. Since he's been on a grain free diet, he hasn't had any more crystals or UTI's. I do make sure that he always eats plenty of canned food mixed with some extra water though.

I hope that Gatsby's problems will soon be a thing of the past and if he has surgery that it'll go well and keep him from becoming blocked ever again. Lots more prayers and positive thoughts are being sent his way. Please take care. (((HUGS)))

A candle for Gatsby:

http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/...ng&cid=9427277

And one for his mom:

http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/...ng&cid=9427279

Oh poor Gatsby - and you. :( I think you have done all the investigation you can to make the right decision. If he will have the operation, I really hope it will help! It certainly helped Fister. :)

Sending best wishes and keeping paws and fingers crossed for dear Gatsby. :love:

Thanks, everyone. I appreciate your kindness, and Gatsby does too.

Poor boy was so glad to see me when I visited today! He would have loved for me to have stood there for about eight hours just giving him ear rubs and scritches. It was miserable leaving him there.

He isn't eating much. I suspect the antibiotics are to blame for that. And there's still a lot of blood in his urine.

My vet strongly recommended taking him to the university clinic, so we'll make arrangements for that on Monday. I hope we can keep him unblocked for long enough to make the transfer--it's about a three-hour drive from the ER clinic. The university should have the most up-to-date diagnostic tools and information about possible procedures for dealing with Gatsby's problem.

Gatsby will have some form of PU surgery tomorrow (either perineal or prepubic urethrostomy). He's at the University of Illinois, and I think he's in very good hands. The surgeon believes that the blockage can be dealt with even if it's farther back than most cats have.

I had to pick Gats up at 5:30 a.m. from the ER vet, where he's been since last Wednesday night. Then we had a 2 1/2 hour drive to the U of I. Gatsby was such a good boy! He had to be terribly uncomfortable because his catheter was still in, and he had trouble moving around in the carrier because he was wearing a cone. But he settled in and hardly said a word the whole trip. I put the softest microfleece blankie I could find in the carrier, so maybe that helped a little.

I'll be pacing the floor tomorrow, of course, but I have a lot of confidence in the U of I vets. Please keep fingers crossed that all goes well!

Penny - what an ordeal that the 2 of you are going thru!

Prayers that all goes well with Gatsby's surgery. Fingers and paws crossed here, and a candle burns for both of you.

Get well soon Gatsby, so you can get back home with Mom!

Fingers and paws crossed her for Gatsby and you, Penny. We need to get this all behind us, huh? :love:

I sure hopes this solves his problems for good! Please update us as soon as you can. Hugs!

If this solves poor Gatsby's problems, go for it! My thoughts and prayers are with you.:love:

I sure hope that his surgery is very successful. Lots of prayers and positive thoughts are being sent his way. Please take care. (((HUGS)))

Gatsby is going into surgery in about an hour. I'll be mighty anxious until I hear that he's made it through OK.

We are keeping our fingers and paws crossed for a successful surgery for Gatsby. :love:

Prayers, prayers and more prayers.

Gatsby is in great hands, and his Creator is in charge. :love::love::love:

Lots more prayers are on the way. I'm sure that eveything will go well.:)

You'll most likely need to confine Gatsby after his surgery so I don't know if you have a spare bedroom or bathroom for him or not. I didn't have this option with Storm so I had to buy a big cage and I was able to set up a small litter box in it too. I would bring him out to feed him. He didn't like it at first but later became used to it. I think he had to be confined for about 2 weeks or so and then he was able to have his stitches removed. Good luck.

My prays are coming for Gatsby.

I'm so sorry to hear about all these problems. I was just wondering when your vet gave Gatsby the amitriptyline did she mention a kind that they can rub on the cats ear?

They want to give that to my Ashley. I haven't done it yet because she hasen't peed outside of the box since that one sunday two weeks ago. I don't know if it was being at the vets all day long and she got so scared or what.

I hope Gatsby heals well and everything goes wells for Gatsby.

Melissa

Gatsby has his own room under normal circumstances because he really hates other cats. He full-out attacks them. So my home office doubles as Gatsby's house. Because I spend 8-10 hours a day in there working, it's easy to keep a close eye on him.

If he needs closer confinement for awhile, my sister has a good sized dog crate I can borrow. That might be necessary to keep him from trying to jump onto my desk or his cat tree.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Anikaca77

I'm so sorry to hear about all these problems. I was just wondering when your vet gave Gatsby the amitriptyline did she mention a kind that they can rub on the cats ear?

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My vet said we could consider geting the amitriptyline compounded if Gatsby continued to resist swallowing the pill. But he only took it for about a week, so we never got that far. The ER vet discontinued it, and I doubt that he'll resume taking it after the surgery.

Gatsby's out of surgery and awake! After all the worry, apparently it was pretty routine--a perineal urethrostomy rather than the prepubic form. I don't know yet when he'll be able to come home. Obviously they're watching him today to make sure he's recovering normally and that there aren't any complications.

I can't begin to tell you how relieved I am. Thank you all for your healing thoughts and prayers!

Great news, Penny! I hope that Gatsby has seen the last of those nasty UT problems forever! :love:

Oh, I'm so glad!! Crossed paws weren't for naught!!:)

Now Gatsby, you get better and get home, sweetie!:love:

I am so glad to hear the surgery went well. I hope this fixes his problem! Keep us posted.

I'm so glad to hear that Gatsby's surgery went well. They'll probably keep him for 2-3 days. I think that my Storm was ready to go home on the 2nd day. I hope that he'll have a speedy recovery and will never have any more UT problems ever again. Please continue to keep us updated when you can and take care.

We had a long (2 1/2 hour) drive home in a nasty rainstorm, but Gatsby is back home at last. I've got him confined to a fairly large dog crate for now, to keep him from trying to jump onto the desk or his cat tree. He hates his cone and doesn't much like the crate, and he's all kinds of woozy from the pain meds. But I think he's glad to be home.

Gatsby, sending healing wishes your way. I hope you never, ever, have any more UT problems! Meowmie, can you give your precious boy hugs and kisses from me?:love:

Welcome home, Gatsby! After some sleep, maybe you will be up to eating some food and getting lots of love from your mom!

You just need that cone for a few days til you heal up some.

I have seen collapsible cones.

http://www.entirelypets.com/elizacollars.html

I think there are other brands...but these look comfy.

Prayers that Gatsby heals quickly and well!

I'm glad to hear that he's home.:) When I had to confine Storm to a cage, I put an old sheet over it and this made him feel more secure. He did cry a lot the first few nights though so I put him up on the bed with me and held him securely all night so we could both get some sleep. I think he was almost 9 at the time and now he'll soon be 14 so it was quite a while ago. I hope that everything will go well. Good luck.:)

Poor boy just needs some rest and lots of love from Mom and I'll bet he'll calm down. That was quite a drive for him. (and you)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by katladyd

Gatsby, sending healing wishes your way. I hope you never, ever, have any more UT problems! Meowmie, can you give your precious boy hugs and kisses from me?:love:

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Gentle hugs and kisses delivered. :D

I'm a little worried because he hasn't urinated since he's been home, so we'll be visiting my local vet this afternoon if it's still no go by then. Other than that, he's doing well. He didn't want to drink anything last night, but he's been drinking some today, and he's eating pretty well.

He's having a nap right now. He may not like the crate much, but the extra-soft new bed I put in there appears to be acceptable.

Gatsby had his bladder emptied by the surgery, and I imagine the anesthetic and other meds dried him out quite a bit. Certainly call your vet about this, and ask how long it should take for him to have a normal amount of pee.

Glad to hear he is eating and drinking...hopefully all systems will be back to normal in no time. Give that handsome boy some lovins for me. :):love:

How's our boy doing today? (And you, too, Penny.) :love:

Gatsby is driving me a little bit crazy because he just doesn't want to urinate. I took him to my local vet yesterday because he hadn't urinated in nearly 24 hours, and of course he let go in the carrier and soaked a puppy pad. He hasn't gone since then, but his bladder doesn't feel really full. I called the U of I emergency line, and they said not to panic yet if he didn't seem to be uncomfortable.

He's not drinking a lot of water, and I'm sure that's a big part of the problem. That's typical for him--not a big drinker. He does want cuddles, and I've been giving him as many of those as I can.

After Storm has his PU surgery he didn't want to drink water at all. To solve this problem I gave him sub-q fluids every day and this did the trick. He then started peeing very well. My main problem with Storm is that he also had a very bad UTI infection so he had to be on strong antibiotics for 2 weeks. This caused him to have very bad diarrhea no matter what I did. I didn't know about Forti Flora back then.

I hope that everything will go well with Gatsby from now on. Lots more prayers and positive thoughts are being sent his way.

So far the only way I've found to get him to urinate is to put him in the carrier with a puppy pad and take him out to the car. I'm afraid he's going to catch on to that trick pretty soon, though.

I'm going to have another conversation with the vet tomorrow, because there's got to be some way to persuade him to go more frequently and in his litter box. It's crazy--we've gone from too many trips to the box to far too few.

Is it possible something as simple as a bit of Cat Attract litter would make his box trips more frequent?

I wonder if the litter box is something he associates with discomfort.

Hugs and prayers for you and Gatsby!:love::love:

Can't use litter while his incision is healing, so there's shredded paper on top of a puppy pad in the litter box. I'm sure it hurts for him to urinate right now, despite the pain meds, so that's no doubt causing him to "hold it." But holding it can't be very comfortable either.

Gatsby still has to go on a car ride in the carrier before he'll urinate. I've been putting "Yesterday's News" litter in the box instead of the shredded paper, but still no go. I don't want to use his regular (clumping clay) litter while his incision is still healing, and I don't think that would help anyway because he doesn't seem to be holding it for lack of a "proper" place to go. He just doesn't want to go at all. The vet doesn't have any advice other than the change of litter.

Yesterday's car ride to the vet's office brought an unpleasant bonus--Gatsby's first bowel movement since coming home, and an especially nasty one at that. I'm sure that the poor guy just hates to use the plumbing because it's still painful (even with pain meds), but I could swear he's thinking, "Payback!"

He is healing up pretty much on schedule, and the stitches should be ready to come out next week. I'm hoping that completion of healing and a return to normal routine (especially when he can get rid of the cone) will solve the problem, if we're still having issues by then.

I sure hope this clears up soon, Penny. This has been going on for far too long, poor li'l guy. Our furkids can't seem to get anything simple, can they, such as a sty in the eye or something. LOL