Urethral sphincter hypertonus

[critters]

He was hit by a car, and his spinal cord was damaged. He was PTS about 6 or 7 years ago, and he was one of the first critters to get a pee button. Things have come a long way since then! Besides, that vet specialty hospital was AWFUL.

[RagdollsMummy]

I was just reading a thread from a year ago about someone whose cat was going through the same thing as me, Critters, you and Carol were replying to them. Don't know if you remember, but the username was 'norristhecat' - do you know what happened in the end with their cat? The thread sort of just ended without any resolution...

I tried expressing Ragdoll again today and her bladder felt really hard and it was quite difficult to express her - it was about the size of golf ball. Any clue why it felt like this?

[CarolC]

Do you mean hard, or extremely thick and rubbery? Thick and rubbery could be cystitis. You might ask the vet about a urine acidifier like cranberry. You may also want to have a urine specimen checked for UTI before you start the acidifier.

I am not a vet, but from reading posts here I have noticed that male cats seem to have more difficulties urinating. I don't know if you can compare the case of a male cat to a female completely.

I can't think of any reason why you shouldn't try a medication to relax the sphincter, as you mentioned before, if you are having trouble expressing. I suppose the worst thing that would happen is dribbling, and if that happens you could stop the medication.

[RagdollsMummy]

Pretty sure it's just hard, not thick or rubbery. I'm hoping that just means she has good bladder tone. She's still pretty easy to express, I just think she gets cheesed off with me feeling her up all the time.

I read on another forum that you said it's normal for cats to not be able to empty their bladder straight away while they're recovering, is this true? I e-mailed one of my vets and she said sometimes cats never regain the ability to empty their bladders completely again, but it won't affect her quality of life as long as I stay on top of detecting infections, etc. She didn't seem too worried anyway. I think I am going to get a urine sample checked too.

Thank you so much again for all your help and advice - I really appreciate it.

[RagdollsMummy]

Ragdoll hasn't urinated since about 3pm yesterday (It's now 11:55am) even though I know she needs to... Why is she stopping now?

[critters]

It's hard to say why she won't pee. It may be that she CAN'T, or it may be that she WON'T. My Fartling had a terrible UTI and was doing the box hopping boogie 3 days ago, but he wouldn't pee for the vet for 24 hours!

"it's normal for cats to not be able to empty their bladder straight away while they're recovering, is this true? I e-mailed one of my vets and she said sometimes cats never regain the ability to empty their bladders completely again, but it won't affect her quality of life as long as I stay on top of detecting infections, etc." All true.

[RagdollsMummy]

She actually peed about an hour ago, as if to say 'stop worrying mummy!' *Sigh* They're a nightmare aren't they? I'm on 24 hour cat watch

[critters]

They're a nightmare aren't they? I'm on 24 hour cat watch

Indeed!!