Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Bummer

I worked all weekend. We were very busy, so I didn't sleep on Friday or Saturday night at all. Once upon a time, I would've been able to handle that no problem. No longer. I blame my personal miss on my own cat on this lack of sleep. I noticed on Saturday morning that my old man cat seemed sluggish. He wasn't very active, just kind of lying around. I filed it away for further consideration. I noticed it again Sunday, but again, I didn't think too much about it. He wasn't vomiting or straining in the litterbox or vocalizing, so I wasn't too concerned.

Then, Monday afternoon, I caught him straining to urinate on the dog's bed. He has bladder stones. I KNOW this. I should've palpated his bladder when I first noticed the sluggishness. But I didn't. I snatched him up then and felt his abdomen. His bladder was HUGE. It was also rock hard. He didn't make a peep. That's highly unusual. Most blocked male cats I see at work are screaming their heads off. Their bladders hurt that badly. Archie never made a sound.

At any rate, he's at work now. He has a urinary catheter in place, and his urine is the color of cherry Kool-Aid. He is in acute renal failure secondary to obstruction. I'm hopeful that I caught it soon enough for it to be reversible. Hopeful that my slow-on-the-uptakeness has not caused him any permanent harm.

*Sigh* Why do the cobbler's kids always go barefoot?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

O no!! I hope kitty feels better soon :( Please update us.

Elizabeth said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Elizabeth said...

I just went through this with my boy in February. We had just returned from vacation and I noticed he was "off". I went to bed making a mental note to check him in the morning but them let him out without thinking. We found him at 3pm after 5 hrs of searching. I checked his bladder and knew he was blocked and we then rushed him to the ER. He was treated and spent 3 days there but was released before he peed on his own because he refused to eat or drink at the clinic. He ate and drank at home but could not pee so we took him twice a day to be expressed and then he as readmitted. Then multiple meds several times a day and after several months he slowly went from a drop or two of urine to peeing almost normal amounts. It was a long tough road. I feel for you and hope it goes better/faster for you.

Anonymous said...

How is your little man feeling?

Mary said...

Aw, poor kitty. My mom's cat was blocked and the vet almost punctured his bladder. It was bad, but he survived. I hope your little guy makes a full recovery.