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Expressing my cat's bladder

Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 3:59 pm
by yless1
I have been shown how to express my cat's bladder so many times I'm embarrassed to admit I'm still horrible at it. The vet and the tech tell me he's fairly easy to express. I watch the tech and she just puts her hands up there and feels around and pee comes out. She has shown me at least six times. I can find his bladder. So that's not the problem. But I am squeezing so hard its scarey and nothing. I think I have my hand in the right position. But when I do it I'm lucky to get a dribble. He is now so sore from me strangling his bladder I can hardly touch him. Help. Can anyone show me the proper hand position? Am I stopping him from going somehow with my thumb? I have my thumb on one side of his bladder and my fingers on the other. I try to squeeze til I feel the pressure shift towards his tail. I squeeze hard and nothing. My cat hates me and so do I at this point! I have watched several videos but it hasn't seemed to help. Does anybody have something that might help. In all the videos you can't really see what they are doing with their fingers.

Re: Expressing my cat's bladder

Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 5:45 pm
by CarolC
Just a guess...what happens if you position your fingers higher up on the bladder nearer the spine?

:welcomepink:

Re: Expressing my cat's bladder

Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 8:17 pm
by yless1
I've tried reaching up further into his belly. Is there a particular spot you have to hit or pinch or is it just exerting pressure towards his tail? I've gotten a really great stream on 3 different occassions....but I couldn't repeat it. I don't know what I did! He can't stand up so he wants to lay down on his belly and put his weight on my hand. Then I can't feel anything except belly. So I try to get him up so I can feel what I'm doing ....I can find his blatter and squeeze but nothing. I'll try going up even higher if I can.

Re: Expressing my cat's bladder

Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 11:33 pm
by CarolC
There are several people here who have expressed many cats for years. I have only expressed 2 cats, one male and one female. In both cases I enfolded the bladder in my hand entirely, I did not press it against anything. This may depend on whether your cat is slim and the size of your hand. I know I have seen other people describe other methods. My method is kind of like squeezing the squeeze ball on a blood pressure cuff.

Here is a tip from the expressing article:

http://www.handicappedpets.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Express_a_dog_or_cat
Male cat

It took me a long time to figure out how to express. He is a boy cat and apparently boys are harder because they have a long urethra. Finally I saw a different vet and they explained that with boys, you have to find the bladder and then gently move it up (in the direction of their head) for about 1/2 inch and then give it a squeeze. Moving it forward a 1/2 inch straigtens out the urethra so it is not kinked up and therefore the stream can come out without trouble or discomfort.
P.S. Critters has been having computer issues, hoping she will be along soon!

Re: Expressing my cat's bladder

Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 9:41 am
by critters
CarolC wrote:There are several people here who have expressed many cats for years. I have only expressed 2 cats, one male and one female. In both cases I enfolded the bladder in my hand entirely, I did not press it against anything. This may depend on whether your cat is slim and the size of your hand. I know I have seen other people describe other methods. My method is kind of like squeezing the squeeze ball on a blood pressure cuff.
!
This was me, too. For me, finding the water balloon was the hardest part! I also found that it took more pressure to express than I expected; I don't know if that's entirely typical since Buddy had a spastic bladder.

Re: Expressing my cat's bladder

Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 9:58 am
by yless1
Thanks so much for your help. Tinker is a little boy and I can fit his entire (huge) bladder in my hand and squeeze. But I've been trying to push it towards his tail. I'll try sliding it up towards his head a little. It feels to me like I have the pressure on it but something is stopping him from going. Maybe thats it. Thanks for the tip! And thanks for the video too. It looks so easy when someone else does it!

Re: Expressing my cat's bladder

Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:49 pm
by yless1
If I had a million dollars...it would be yours! Thank you so much. I just pulled up a little bit on his bladder instead of pushing down :thankyou: and the pee just came out as gentle as can be. When I think of how hard I was squeezing his little bladder and tugging on it...I just feel awful! Thank you so much. You have made our lives manageable again! God Bless! :thankyou:

Re: Expressing my cat's bladder

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:02 pm
by StephieNS
I've been trying to express my poor baby's bladder since he got home from the vet the other day, and had no luck at all until i read the tip about pulling it up slightly before squeezing. Thank you SO MUCH!!! :trophy: :thankyou: