Expressing a large atonic bladder

[critters]

Oh, so he had a PU--penile urethrostomy? I didn't realize that; I thought he'd had a belly one.

I SO know the pee/not pee/waiting thing, and it's truly miserable. Honestly, though, it sounds like he's doing pretty well, all things considered!

I peed Buddy by myself, and I scruffed him with one hand and peed him with the other. It CAN be done!

[critters]

So how's he doing??!!!

[drakonka]

Hi,

We actually have no idea I've been staying awake with him since Wednesday, had time off of work and my partner was away, so it was just a week of waiting "heck". He peed twice a day a couple of times, most other times would pee once every 24 hours - once it was after 25 hours. Then yesterday suddenly he started taking smaller pees. He peed 4 times, but in smaller amounts each time. By the end of the day the pee clump was smaller than our other kitten's, who is 3 months younger. My partner is back now and I have to be back at work so he's watching him.

This morning again - very small pee clump. I can't visibly see him straining and he's not sitting there for ages. I'm not sure if he's developing a stricture, if his bladder is so stretched that he can't feel himself needing to get anything else out, or if the myocholine has compressed his bladder to the point where he pees tiny amounts. Today he only did the one tiny pee in the morning and nothing else so far - I really hope he goes. We're still terrified, it's going from not peeing at all to peeing very infrequently and now to this. I'm afraid of another stricture, of him getting worse, some other complication. We have no idea what's happening

We saw an internal medicine specialist at the local hospital on Monday. She took a blood test - said kidney function seems good, slight anemia (she said normal after surgery), and slight sign of either a mild allergic reaction or a parasite. She said normally in this case they'd deworm the cat, but he's balancing so many meds right now they don't want to risk it. I took a urine sample the next day and she said there seems to be no obvious sign of infection, good concentration, and the one slightly concerning thing she found was some bladder cells coming out in the urine. She says this too may be normal after surgery, but that I should submit another sample next Monday.

She also said that we should try to take him off of Stesolid (Valium). Which we did - I'm not sure if this could have anything to do with his diminishing volume of pee. I'm keeping an eye out for any sign of straining, but so far don't see it - he's just going to the box, sitting there for 13 seconds or so, coming away with a tiny pee clump.

Now the specialist works there as a consultant, so won't be at the hospital again until Monday. I have no idea if he's ok, if we should take him in, or what. The specialist is the first person at this hospital who seems to really know her stuff about this condition - the other vets have been good but he's been getting seen by a different person each time and no one even knows his full story anymore it seems. He is much more relaxed at home - we don't want to stress him out more as long as he keeps peeing, but we are just so lost right now. Others keep telling me that as long as he gets something out every 24 hours and isn't visibly straining he should be fine. But how much pee is ok...and how often in relation to the volume...and I don't know.

[critters]

The fact that he's peeing and isn't straining sounds good to me!

[CarolC]

She also said that we should try to take him off of Stesolid (Valium). Which we did - I'm not sure if this could have anything to do with his diminishing volume of pee.

I would let her know. If you can't talk to her directly, leave a message telling her exactly what you are seeing. When she said to try taking him off, she is depending on you to report the results back to her. I would definitely call her right away. Also if you can't speak with her directly, after you leave the message check with the desk ask them what time she leaves for the day, and if you haven't heard back from her by an hour before her shift ends, call them again and tell them you were waiting for instruction.

[drakonka]

She also said that we should try to take him off of Stesolid (Valium). Which we did - I'm not sure if this could have anything to do with his diminishing volume of pee.

I would let her know. If you can't talk to her directly, leave a message telling her exactly what you are seeing. When she said to try taking him off, she is depending on you to report the results back to her. I would definitely call her right away. Also if you can't speak with her directly, after you leave the message check with the desk ask them what time she leaves for the day, and if you haven't heard back from her by an hour before her shift ends, call them again and tell them you were waiting for instruction.

He actually ended up peeing an amount closer to his "normal" volume last night after I got home! We did let her know about the small pees earlier when they started and she said as long as he isn't straining 1-5 times a day should be normal...so now we are watching for straining.

This morning he went a good amount as well - we even heard the stream. It sounded strong enough but did have slowdowns and speedups - it sounded almost like the bladder would contract a little, relax and slow the stream, then contract some more. I didn't hear dribbling or anything - the stream itself sounded solid, tapered off a little for what I think may be the next "contraction", then solid again. Not sure if this constitutes straining...

Then within the next hour he went twice more - so he had the good size pee first thing in the morning, then a slightly smaller one, and then a very small one. I can't feel the bladder and he did get a good amount out so I hope this is ok.

Tonight we go back to the hospital to look at his stitches and maybe have them taken out (it is his 11th day after the urethrostomy).

[critters]

My "normal" boys usually have a pulsating quality to their peeing, too.