Urethral sphincter hypertonus

[RagdollsMummy]

Hello all,

As some of you may know I posted before the new year about my cat Ragdoll, who was involved in a RTA... She sustained significant nerve damage, had to have her tail amputated, etc.

The good news is, over 4 weeks later, she is a lot better. She can urinate and defecate by herself, but I'm still rather concerned about her urinating. She goes more frequently than usual, and still cannot fully empty her bladder. I explained this to the vets but they didn't seem concerned because she's continent, but I'm not convinced. I did a little research online and found a disorder called urethral sphincter hypertonus. This is the description:

This happens when the muscles that relax to allow your cat to urinate don't relax. Your cat has to urinate, but they cannot relax the sphincter muscle that will allow them to go. In males, this can be a cause of urethral obstruction. In females, you may just see them going in and out of the litterbox frequently. There may not be any infection or inflammation present in the urine, but they can't fully empty their bladder when they are able to go, so they go much more frequently. This can also be caused by spinal nerve damage such as being hit by a car, or severe spondylosis of the spine, which is a type of arthritis of the spine.

The treatment for this consists of drugs to relax the urethral sphincter muscle, and in some cases, especially with spinal damage, drugs to increase the contractility of the bladder muscles. These are almost always lifetime treatments, if the urethral sphinter hypertonus is not temporary as a result of a UTI or urethral blockage.

I'm absolutely convinced this is what she has, and will be asking the vets again about this when I get her jaw checked on Feb 18th. I just wanted to ask if anyone has experienced this condition with their cats, and if she'll really need to have lifetime treatment for it? Or has anyone had a cat that suffered nerve damage and went to the litter tray more frequently?

Thanks everyone! c

[CarolC]

When you expressed her, did you have to squeeze really hard to get her to release her urine? If she had too much sphincter tone, you would have to squeeze hard to get her to express.

Something to improve the bladder tone may help her though, it's a good idea to ask about it. It may not be a lifetime treatment, she is still healing.

It's only been 4 weeks, I would be thrilled with her progress so far!

http://www.vin.com/VINDBPub/SearchPB/Pr ... R00442.htm

[RagdollsMummy]

When I did it yesterday it was more difficult, but I think that's because there wasn't too much in there.

I did it just now and it wasn't difficult at all :/

[RagdollsMummy]

Do you know what possible drugs they may give her?

[CarolC]

Possibly bethanechol?

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Conten ... ID=3001459

[RagdollsMummy]

Yes I was just looking at that... It's odd, I've been racking my brains trying to figure out what's causing it.

[CarolC]

You could also keep an eye on her for UTI, that can cause frequent urination. It wouldn't be surprising to see UTI in a pet recovering bladder control.

[RagdollsMummy]

I have been watching for that, but she seems ok at the moment. Not in pain, urine is normal colour, etc..

[critters]

In fact, that may be what happened to my Buddy; he developed some sort of spasm at the neck of his bladder. Phenoxybenzamine (PBZ) helped him a lot, but bethanechol made it lots worse.

[RagdollsMummy]

Critters, does Buddy urinate by himself? It's odd because she pretty much fills up a litter tray within a day, but when I feel her bladder she still has some in there (even though it seems she's done more than enough) I think I'm going to leave her a bit without expressing her. I left her for a week before and she was fine, she never overflows or anything.

[critters]

He did, before the thing got so spastic he couldn't.

[RagdollsMummy]

Oh no, how did that happen? Did you need to use that drug before or after that happened?

[critters]

Bethanechol? Well, the vet didn't believe it was making him so impossible to express, so she took him home 1 weekend and tried it. Surprise--I was right. His timeline was that he was expressed post-injury, was continent, then needed expressing, then more, as the spasm got worse and worse. This is him. http://www.amazon.com/Hi-Buddy-Easy-Rea ... =truslow+a . Eventually the spasm got so bad he couldn't pee, so I had a pee button put in. When that failed, he was drained by cysto for a week or so, then we put him down.

[RagdollsMummy]

Oh I'm so sorry her had to be PTS He was a beautiful cat. What was the injury he suffered? And how quickly did he deteriorate?

[RagdollsMummy]

Now I'm worried this will happen to Ragdoll