Cat with nerve damage to bladder- PLEASE HELP ME :(

by **Momaioneil** » Sat Sep 15, 2012 4:19 pm

My cat was attacked by a dog and has broken her tail - it happened 4 days ago and she cannot urinate on her own...
She is walking (even if a little wobbly) her tail is broken and limp but she is in good spirits,, although she hasn't been eating.

The vet has emptied her bladder with a needle several times but wants to start expressing urine manually from tomoro- I am wondering has this happened to anyone else's cat and if so did the feeling in the neves come back? Did they recover??

The vet said she wil show me how to express her urine to give her a chance to heal but how long should it take for the swelling and bruising to go down and give her a fair chance to see if she will gain her ability to wee again?? I am absolutely devastated as she is 7 and is my baby. The first vet we went to didnt hold much hope so we got a second opinion.

She is in good form apart from her tail being broken and is wobbling slightly when she walks.., PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME we are devastated

by **CarolC** » Sat Sep 15, 2012 10:54 pm

Hi,

There are other people here with experience with tail injured cats. I mainly wanted to say "Welcome" and give you some links to start looking at. One is about cats with tail injuries.

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Conten ... ourceID=42

This article talks about expressing and has links to videos at the end. The one about Pookie is especially good.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16027

Not eating might seem like a small problem compared to her injuries, but it actually can become a serious problem. When dogs don't eat it isn't so urgent, but cats can develop a condition called hepatic lipidosis, which can be life threatening, or require intensive nursing including tube feedings. I would notify the vet she is not eating and how many days it has been. They may be able to give her a B-vitamin injection, medication to stimulate her appetite, or give her a tube feeding to ensure she has some calories. I would try anything you think she might eat (tuna, cat milk, cheese rolled into little pea sized balls, her favorite canned food, or maybe she'd like dry food) and you might see if she'll lick food off your finger if she won't eat from a dish. With cats that are not eating, a pea sized bite of food is sometimes more acceptable than a big bite. You could also try a vitamin paste such as Nutrical, squeeze an inch long ribbon of it onto your finger and let her lick it off. If she will let you syringe feed her, that would be great. Plain baby food such as pureed chicken without any spices works well for syringe feeding, or the vet may carry Science Diet a/d which is designed for syringe feeding.

by **Momaioneil** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 5:08 am

Hi Carol! Thank u SO MUCH for ur Reply and the video on Poole is adorable! Do u have a cat with similar problems?? I am wondering how often will I have to express her ? I have to work so three times a day is not really possible

by **CarolC** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 11:50 pm

Is there any way you can come home at lunch to do it? If not, then can you do it before you go to work, right when you come home, and again at bedtime? How long are you away from home when you work?

by **Momaioneil** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 2:26 am

Hi Carol.. Today is D-day as mel my cat won't let the vet manually express her bladder- she is too sore... So she has had to be sedated every time. I am going there now to speak with the vet and take her home for the day to allow her to relax.... I will let u know how it goes thanks xx

by **CarolC** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 9:57 am

Momaioneil wrote:Today is D-day as mel my cat won't let the vet manually express her bladder- she is too sore... So she has had to be sedated every time.

So...it sounds like maybe she needs to be on stronger pain medication for a couple of weeks. This is not the first pet that was sore and had to be expressed. Here is a thread from someone else--your situation kind of reminded me of this and I thought you might like reading it.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16605

by **Momaioneil** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 9:09 am

hey Carol!

I ended up getting a second opinion as the vet I went to said if mel didn't pee by herself within 24 hours she thought we should put her to sleep - we went to another vet and luckily we did- it turned out that on a new X-ray she Realised it wasn't clear - she ended up opening mel up and she had SEPTIC peritonitis which would have killed her quickly-- she took about a LITRE of infected fluid out of her near her bowel and put her on extremely strong anibiotics..,
within 24 hours mel peed herself... She has gone from strength to strength since then and although she will be on antibiotics for the next 4 weeks..

She was allowed home for the weekend and will have another scan on Monday to see if there is any more infection building up please God there isn't. She is eating weeing and pooing herself now. if all is ok on Monday she will have her tail removed on Tuesday.

The moral of the story is : IF U HAVE ANY DOUBT AT ALL, GET A SECOND OPINION FROM ANOTHER VET- if I didn't follow my intuition, mel would not be here now and would have been put to sleep last week. Thanks for ur help and advice Carol xx