Expressing a large atonic bladder
Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2015 11:45 am
Hello,
We are at our wit's end here. Our 7 month old Maine Coon kitten was perfectly happy and healthy until his neutering surgery two weeks ago. During the surgery the vet thought that his bladder looked abnormally large and put in a catheter to check for blockage and test his urine for infection, and drained 200ml! They found no problems - no blockage, no infection. The surgery apparently went well, they stitched him up and sent him home. By all accounts it looked as if he just had a large bladder - up until then he peed normally (very big pees, 2-4 per day in the litter box).
After the surgery he couldn't pee. We took him back. They suddenly found a raging infection in his bladder and he's been in and out of hospitals ever since. We switched to a different vet who has been treating him for almost 2 weeks now. They've tried various meds throughout the weeks and he has had several days of staying with them. They've put in a catheter numerous times to drain him, drained him with a needle, but haven't been able to express him manually.
For the past 3 days they've been waiting for his bladder to fill up completely hoping he will pee on these new meds they have him on. He did not pee. They drained him with a needle this afternoon - 350ml. They said the bladder did not compress properly, so I guess he is now atonic. I have a diary of details that we've been sending to the breeders with updates if anyone asks for more details, and journals from the vet.
Right now he is on the following medications:
* Alfadil - every 8 hrs
* Mestinon - ever 8 hrs
* Stesolid - every 8 hrs
* Synulox - twice a day
* Metacam - once a day dosed to 4.5kg (his weight)
I just brought him home. At this point both vets (vet A and vet B) seem to have screwed up several times and we don't know who to trust anymore. We called another vet (Vet C), 70km away, who supposedly has their own specialists and is very well equipped. Vet B seems to be starting to give up - their next step is to put in an "internal catheter" surgically, which we would take him home with, hoping that this will allow his bladder to rest (they have tried cathetarizing him normally but he ripped it out twice). If this doesn't work, they said, we should start thinking about putting him down. We want to consult with Vet C before doing another surgery on a kitten who's already been through so much and in the meantime, while his bladder has just been emptied, see if we can learn to express it ourselves over the weekend. All the journals from both vets have been sent to Vet C, but their vet likely won't actually be able to talk to our vet until Monday. Our cat's bladder is very big - when they drained him today it was full but has only just started going a little harder so they said he should be ok through the weekend. If Vet C can't offer any other insight or alternatives we will go through with the surgery, but at this point Vet B seems to be just taking stabs in the dark hoping something will work.
We read the articles here about expressing the bladder, also found this useful page on JustAnswer and watched videos. However, being totally new to this we have no idea if this is possible with an atonic and very large bladder. Is some technique better than others, do we need to wait for the bladder to be much more full or is it ok to try in a few hours or so?
We could use any advice we can get, because the vets can't seem to give us anything practical. The vets at Vet B have been unable to express it manually themselves or show us how to do it - his bladder is very large and elongated and they just can't seem to do it. They have started bringing up running out of options, but he is otherwise such a happy and active kitten. Even as his bladder is filling up he loves playing with our other kitten, eats very well, runs around, etc. He's very tired of all of the vet trips and procedures but he is not a sickly cat - even the vets say he's perfectly healthy and happy EXCEPT for this bladder. We refuse to give up now and could use any advice we can get about how to best express him at home. I'm sorry about the wall of text - we're just very worried and feel like we're running out of time, as the vets seem to be close to giving up on him, our insurance is running out (but we'll of course spend every cent on him if we have to), and at this point it seems like we need to try something on our own here to express him.
We are at our wit's end here. Our 7 month old Maine Coon kitten was perfectly happy and healthy until his neutering surgery two weeks ago. During the surgery the vet thought that his bladder looked abnormally large and put in a catheter to check for blockage and test his urine for infection, and drained 200ml! They found no problems - no blockage, no infection. The surgery apparently went well, they stitched him up and sent him home. By all accounts it looked as if he just had a large bladder - up until then he peed normally (very big pees, 2-4 per day in the litter box).
After the surgery he couldn't pee. We took him back. They suddenly found a raging infection in his bladder and he's been in and out of hospitals ever since. We switched to a different vet who has been treating him for almost 2 weeks now. They've tried various meds throughout the weeks and he has had several days of staying with them. They've put in a catheter numerous times to drain him, drained him with a needle, but haven't been able to express him manually.
For the past 3 days they've been waiting for his bladder to fill up completely hoping he will pee on these new meds they have him on. He did not pee. They drained him with a needle this afternoon - 350ml. They said the bladder did not compress properly, so I guess he is now atonic. I have a diary of details that we've been sending to the breeders with updates if anyone asks for more details, and journals from the vet.
Right now he is on the following medications:
* Alfadil - every 8 hrs
* Mestinon - ever 8 hrs
* Stesolid - every 8 hrs
* Synulox - twice a day
* Metacam - once a day dosed to 4.5kg (his weight)
I just brought him home. At this point both vets (vet A and vet B) seem to have screwed up several times and we don't know who to trust anymore. We called another vet (Vet C), 70km away, who supposedly has their own specialists and is very well equipped. Vet B seems to be starting to give up - their next step is to put in an "internal catheter" surgically, which we would take him home with, hoping that this will allow his bladder to rest (they have tried cathetarizing him normally but he ripped it out twice). If this doesn't work, they said, we should start thinking about putting him down. We want to consult with Vet C before doing another surgery on a kitten who's already been through so much and in the meantime, while his bladder has just been emptied, see if we can learn to express it ourselves over the weekend. All the journals from both vets have been sent to Vet C, but their vet likely won't actually be able to talk to our vet until Monday. Our cat's bladder is very big - when they drained him today it was full but has only just started going a little harder so they said he should be ok through the weekend. If Vet C can't offer any other insight or alternatives we will go through with the surgery, but at this point Vet B seems to be just taking stabs in the dark hoping something will work.
We read the articles here about expressing the bladder, also found this useful page on JustAnswer and watched videos. However, being totally new to this we have no idea if this is possible with an atonic and very large bladder. Is some technique better than others, do we need to wait for the bladder to be much more full or is it ok to try in a few hours or so?
We could use any advice we can get, because the vets can't seem to give us anything practical. The vets at Vet B have been unable to express it manually themselves or show us how to do it - his bladder is very large and elongated and they just can't seem to do it. They have started bringing up running out of options, but he is otherwise such a happy and active kitten. Even as his bladder is filling up he loves playing with our other kitten, eats very well, runs around, etc. He's very tired of all of the vet trips and procedures but he is not a sickly cat - even the vets say he's perfectly healthy and happy EXCEPT for this bladder. We refuse to give up now and could use any advice we can get about how to best express him at home. I'm sorry about the wall of text - we're just very worried and feel like we're running out of time, as the vets seem to be close to giving up on him, our insurance is running out (but we'll of course spend every cent on him if we have to), and at this point it seems like we need to try something on our own here to express him.