Can I have some good lucks, best wishes and some “please do a wee” for my gorgeous boy?

[user1471548941]

Up on night duty with my biggest baby. He’s obsessed with my DH who sometimes has to travel for work. DCat gets stress cystitis at being parted from DH! It’s not happened for a couple of years and I thought we’d got away with another trip as DH returned home this evening. But he’s not wee’d all day, was looking very uncomfortable and immediately went to the litter tray and started yowling when DH walker in.

We know the drill know and were straight off to the out of hours vets, who could only feel a small bladder but obviously bladder issues are a massive risk, particularly for large male cats (he’s 7kg and also has FIV). He’s allowed home for 12 hours drugged up to his eyeballs on things designed to relax him and painkillers and has taken up residence on the bathroom floor so I’ve joined him. He’s got a litter tray and me on the floor with him but if he’s doesn’t wee before 9am, it’s back to the vet for emergency interventions. We’ve never had to do that before but he’s not even trying to wee.

Instead purring his little head off on the bathmat, staring at me with googly eyes being all space cadet! I’m trying to get him to take his next dose of meds but we’re at a standoff as he’s trying to take the treat I’ve hidden it in without opening his mouth (I would blame the drugs, but he’s generally pretty daft without them!!!).

Trying to let DH get some sleep as he’s flown 11 hours home today over a massive time difference so I want to make it until at least 4am before I have to swap. Ideally my baby will wee before then though! Feeling extra guilty as DCat2 is shut downstairs which we never do as he usually cuddles in bed with us but he was bothering DCat1 so we’ve separated them for now.

Any best wishes for my big ginger baby and secret meowing telling him to wee would be much appreciated- he’s totally daft and unashamedly favours DH over me but he was my first baby, I love him to bits and hate seeing him all sad. Picture of the handsome bugger for cat tax. On Tuesday he was sat on my desk with his face in the fan like he was some diva in a music video!

Sending best wishes for a wee before 9am 🙏🤞

Oh what a handsome fellow. Fingers crossed he performs for you.

Do you use cystease? I feed it to my boy daily as a preventative and if he looks like he might be vaguely struggling I give him an extra dose (mine is 7.5kg so a big cat too!)
he’s also on hills urinary food

I’m not a ‘cat’ person at all OP, but his story touched me.
He’s a handsome fellow, too!
Sending him all the very best for a real good wee and here’s hoping for better days to come for you all 🐾

We had some in the cupboard 🙈 stopped it after he went aa year with no issues and have had another full year no issues since then so I didn’t think to crack it out this time! Kicking myself to be honest!

He’s most definitely still got an appetite however (as he’s snaffled half the pack of Dreamies whilst repeatedly spitting out the gabapentin!) so it will be sprinkled liberally over his breakfast.

Awww thank you! It was love at first sight in the rescue centre for me. DH had never had cats before and was less convinced.

But we stopped at a services on the 3 hour drive home and DH got out the car to grab us some drinks, Flynn realised he’d left and despite it being me that sat in the backseat with him the entire time, he cried until DH got back in the car, gave him loved up eyes the whole way home, jumped out of his carrier into DH’s lap and has been thoroughly attached to him ever since!

I love him to bits even though I’m only the spare human that decided to give him a home in the first place 🙈.

Definitely worth it, mine seems to like the taste!
boy cats and their wee troubles…

my old boy memorably was in the vet, they said take him home because stressed cats don’t wee. I went to pick him up and with a look of great satisfaction he did a horse size wee all over the vet as she picked him up

Mine likes the taste too, I wish he liked the bloody gabapentin!!! He could wee anywhere he likes right now and I’d be delighted!!!

He's gorgeous!! Fingers crossed for you - one of ours is prone to the same thing and it's so stressful, we also always have a stock of catease in the cupboard just in case!

If it helps at all, ours did have to stay in overnight once for intervention where he had a catheter and he was totally fine and back to normal within a day or two! It was stressful for us and horrid not having him at home that evening but it did the trick 🙏

Thanks all for the best wishes. We’ve had a very stinky, runny poo but that’s a good start as it means he’s not avoiding doing any business for fear of pain, so the drugs are doing their thing! He’s also had some water and is begging for more of the dreamies so fingers crossed for some liquid output soon!

I’ve swapped with DH and gone into the lounge with poor DCat2 who is basically a velcro cat and has considered 3 hours in a room on his own complete torture! Was hoping for a sofa nap but I’m currently being showered in love and gratitude for existing and DCat2 has snuggled in far before I got comfy!

God I love the little buggers even if they cause so much drama

What a handsome boy! Never thought I'd be so happy to hear about a stinky poo but here we are! Sending miaows and paws crossed for a wee very soon.

Fingers crossed! The only way I manage my fat old boy’s twice-daily gabapentin is to wrap it in a v thin layer of that ‘give a cat’ paste, and drop on top of a lick e lox alongside a few decoy balls of paste, he scarfs it then looks offended at being tricked!
Am on a similar watch with one of mine who has stopped eating. Praying they start soon, am trying every treat known to womankind to try to tempt her appetite.

@user1471548941 I trust a wee was forthcoming and you’re not off at the vet just now 🤞

@AllTheChaos i hope your girl has been tempted by something. I’ve had a few weeks of my 17 year old avoiding food and getting very skinny but we’ve worked out that he’s just being fussy and wants a greater variety of foods (stuff he looked at in disgust yesterday, manna from heaven today) 🙄

Thanks for all the good wishes. He was definitely blocked so we were back at the vets for 8am. They’ve done all the tests and scans and decided to catheterise (which had to be done under GA because he was “spicy” 🙈) but they’ve found no evidence of stones or crystals and thinks it was a mucus problem.

They want to monitor him until later tonight so we’re going to have a nap before we can go and pick him up and go on night watch for wees again tonight!!! Very emotional waiting to hear he’d come through the procedure but the vet is completely lovely and thinks he’s very cute!

Your poor boy. I hope the catheter makes him more comfortable & you got some rest.

Oh thank goodness, that must be such a relief!
@Themostbeautifulcats I think she struggled with the heat, so she wasn’t eating enough and it became a negative cycle, especially as it meant I couldn’t get her usual meds into her. I have been trying all the different things I could get my hands on - and so have discovered that she will still drink cat milk, and has a pash for supermarket own cheap kibble, rather than the fancy stuff. I was trying to woo her with 😂 Frankly I don’t care, it was just so good to see her head down in the food bowl, munching away ❤️

I hope he’s doing better now? It’s really worrying when you feel helpless.

The heat is really draining for them. Mine spent days sleeping inside and went off their food too. I’m glad she’s feeling a bit better, and the cheap kibble is probably the equivalent of junk food for humans 😊

We picked him up after a positive catheter procedure last night. Took it in turns to watch him all night been back to the vet this morning as he didn’t wee at home at all :( as they’d emptied him out once already he was sent home with increased meds to try and relax him enough to go but it didn’t work.

He hadn’t been by the 4pm deadline so he’s been back to be properly admitted. Back under general and this time the catheter will stay in for 24-48 hours and we’ve asked them not to discharge him until he’s properly weeing independently- watching and waiting at home has been so stressful for him and us and the poor boy has been back and forth to the vet in his carrier and in the car 5 times in 48 hours.

He’s on a lot of drugs but weirdly seems totally fine in himself- very loving and wanting a lot of attention and food, which is very much him! I think that makes it harder- he seems fine so carting him off for interventions feels mean, but we have been watching him obsessively and can’t confidently say he’s weed properly by himself since before Friday morning, possibly some point on Thursday, so I also know it’s really dangerous. With him being FIV our baseline is never to just hang around and see anyway so have a tendency to intervene but it’s very hard to hand off you very chatty, handsome boy over to the vet.

Please wee ginger boy

Oh OP I have been there - endless vet trips, multiple catheterisations (he kept pulling them out 😖), bladder aspirations, drugs to relax the spasm. The lovely vet took him home overnight a couple of times, in case being at the vets was stressing him out. She would put a harness on him and take him out for a walk around her garden in case he didn’t like the cat litter. Nothing worked. The last roll of the dice was a drug that had been taken off licence here but the vet was Latvian and she got her friend in Russia to send some over. Anyway, it worked, and it was great to phone the vets to say he had finally managed to wee, the receptionist told everyone and I could hear them all cheering in the background. He hasn’t had any problems since and is now nearly 16. Fingers crossed for your lovely ginger lad.

I am sorry to hear that he’s no better but he’s in the best place to find out, and put right, the issue. I’m thinking of you and hope he is home soon 🤗

Well he’s come through his second GA in 36 hours and this time they’ve left the catheter in for 24 hours. The diagnosis is “bruised penis”, my poor boy- he will be horrified! Essentially the first catheter was particularly tricky to clear the initial blockage so although it did work, it left some bruising and swelling that they think caused his reluctance.

We live literally a few doors down from the vets (good job, we’ve been in 5 times in 48 hours!) so have popped in to see him and take him a blanket. Very woozy bless him but happily woofing down his chicken!!! After 2 sleepless nights on wee watch we can relax a bit knowing his bloods and vitals are good and he’s in the hands of the professionals to monitor tonight. We’re in a strict deal with the vets that he’s not coming home until he’s weeing independently, even though we are several grand poorer than we were on Friday-he’s worth every penny and the vets have been outstanding. He’s been treated by a rotating shift of lovely young female vets and nurses who have listened to us, learned his personality, made a proper fuss of him and taken the greatest care and explained everything to us, helped us make the decisions without rushing us and called to update us at every step. What lovely peace of mind we now have to know how fab they are.

Thank you for all your lovely wishes. Hopefully we will be picking him up in a couple of days with fully functioning waterworks (ideally without any smuggled drugs!) and some treats for the team!

I always find d mannose helps with the wee situation I swear it's a diuretic but my boys (overweight and prone to stress) need it sometimes as we are about to go through yet another heatwave I'm going to start now

Cats eh? Love them but oh boy are they trouble

Just wanted to update this thread for all you cat lovers as this turned into quite a saga.

He was catheterised once and sent home on wee watch, which failed so went back for a 48 hour catheter and obs.

Came home incontinent and with severe cystistis and began overgrooming his shaved area so had cone of shame applied. Turned out the overgrooming was because of the cystitis and incontinence the urine was scalding him 🙈. For about 5 days either me or DH had eyes on him 24/7, meaning time off work and for 2.5 weeks we took turns staying up over night with him. At one point he was on meloxaid, opiod painkillers, penicillin to try and avoid infection from the burns, bladder supplements, barrier cream to heal the burns and special foods. It was a full time job to care for him and clean up after him. The cone distressed him so DH found a lovely soft pumpkin one on Amazon.

We FINALLY started seeing improvements in the weeing and burns last week and started weaning him off meds (and getting a bit more sleep) and ended up back in the vets with sickness and diarhorrea probably just as a side effect of all the meds. Luckily this proved to be just a speedbump!

He will be on cystease for life, prescription food for life and have an ongoing prescription of gabapentin to use pre-emptively every time DH goes away….

He has been so so poorly and at times me and DH felt so out of our depth we just cried together but we are finally seeing his cheeky character return and he is beginning to play with his brother again and be allowed supervised time out of his pumpkin cone! His appetite has returned with a vengeance and he is making ALL his opinions known and hopefully has his final vet check this Friday!

I love him SO much, am so proud of him and me and DH who have become experts at administering medicine to cats in whatever way possible and also his brother who has been SO gentle and patient at the lack of attention he has got and even came to cuddle me when I was crying one day!

Here he is proudly displaying his pumpkin cone and litter tray and demonstrating what a good pillow it makes!