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Cat - bad news at vet

They really are the best! As hard as this is, I am lucky to be fostering a litter right now. So I can at least help some other kitties have a good start and have a bit of a distraction.

So many ups and downs with our animals!

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Jingles!!!

Jingling for your sweet girl!

@BootsAndCoffee - thank you for posting that link. My cat has been diabetic for a few years now and I wish I had had that kind of info then, but I can still use it.

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Jingles for your little girl

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Jingling for you both!

No blockage, but waiting on urine sample and will get more info on the stone around lunchtime. We are covering our bases to make sure we make the right decision!

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Jingles for a good outcome - perhaps she just needs a good flush and some antibiotics.

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I hope you get good news and she feels better soon!

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Jingles for your kitty!!

Thanks everyone! Well she lives to see another day. I am happy to have her for some more time but mixed feelings on it since the end is inevitable and I am not sure weā€™re doing the right thing.

Her stone is the same size, so at this point, assuming it is a calcium stone instead of struvite, since the special diet hasnā€™t changed at all. Her urinalysis showed no infection and no information about the stone.

Her bladder is inflamed, which the vet said is probably a ā€œflair upā€ like what started this in July. She likely has had this stone a long time.

Both vets I talked with today wanted to run fluids to flush her out and give her antibiotics and anti inflammatory meds for a few days and reassess. If she starts urinating normally again and is her happy self, we will watch her closely and when the next flair up happens, let her go. If the meds donā€™t help, we will make the appointment to say goodbye at the beginning of next week.

I do feel like we covered our bases and she is still playful, starting play with her brother, and affectionate towards us, so we really think she is just in pain when she goes to the bathroom. So we will see how the next few days goā€¦ as Iā€™m typing this, she is having a run about with her favorite bird toyā€¦

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Sending you all jingles. :heart:

Continued jingles - itā€™s too bad surgery isnā€™t an option for her. We never have long enough with them.

ETA: Iā€™m just throwing this out there as a suggestion, I donā€™t know if itā€™s possible or feasible, but shock wave therapy is used to break up bladder stones in cats and dogs. She might still have to be put under for a bit, but if you have a teaching hospital close by that does this, might it be worth the risk?

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Still jingling for your girl.

Iā€™m glad she ā€œlived to fight another day.ā€ But will keep jingling that she does not have another flare-up - or at least not for a very long time.

Iā€™m glad she feels well enough to play. :smiley:

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I would keep checking her urine samples under the microscope. You can do this at home if you have a microscope. Struvite or calcium oxalate crystals are quite obvious and easy to see with the microscope.

If you are using an acidifying diet, it increases the risk of developing calcium oxalate uroliths. How long has she been on an acidifying diet for struvite?

some extra reading:


Adequan really helped my old cat, and it also wouldnā€™t hurt to add cosequin since it also helps with cystitis. Thatā€™s not her primary problem but pain can certainly cause stress related cystitis so it may be useful two ways.

She is on cosequen and has been for about 2 years. She has been on the struvite diet since July 12. The vets have checked her urine 4 times since starting the diet and xrayed each time, all without change.

She was on some good pain medicine last week and it ended last Friday. She was an entirely new cat on it. (Canā€™t be used long term though). By Sunday she started acting gloomy again and by Monday she was miserably peeing constantly and started hiding from us, which she has never done.

I spoke with the vet in depth and we agree it is time to let her go peacefully. We decided to keep her on pain meds this week and have an appointment to say goodbye tomorrow afternoon. I am heartbroken, of course, but at peace knowing she will be out of the obvious pain she is in. The difference in her from being on a high dose of pain meds and not was really telling.
I keep thinking, if only we could do surgery, or maybe we should try this or that, but she owes us nothing and this week has let us know she is done. Thanks for all of the advice!!

And for today and tomorrow morning, she is getting all the canned food, tuna, and cheapo unhealthy, dry food she wants! The way to her heart is food, so weā€™re letting her go out with a bang!

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I hope she has good days and enjoys her all favorite foods and treats.

Give her an extra treat for me. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Iā€™m so sorry. Hugs and jingles to you both.

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Yes, thatā€™s the sign. Iā€™ve lost 2 to squamous cell carcinoma recently and thatā€™s definitely a pain management issue long before the cancer causes systemic issues. It sucks and you have my sympathies.

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