Irreversible bladder damage - what to do?

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scastillos
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Irreversible bladder damage - what to do?

Post by scastillos »

I will try not to ramble too much, this is my first post as I feel at a loss.

I have a until now, very fit and healthy male cat who turned 10 last week. He is an outdoor cat but spends his time quite equally indoors and outside, he's never had any problems until recently.

The past couple of weeks have been filled with vet appointments and emergency overnight stays, it started with him not being able to urinate and after 2 weeks the vets (3 different ones) don't seem to be able to find a way out of this. He had a catheter/drip and initially we all thought he was improving, his kidney levels returned to normal and he seemed ok, but he still couldn't pee. He was being expressed so easily but he couldn't go himself, he was just in pain and not moving.

We are now at the stage where the vets say there doesn't seem to be another option, and we can't afford much more either we have already exceeded our insurance limit and we now owe £1000 on top of that... they think his muscles around his bladder are so damaged that he doesn't even know when he needs to go, and can't make himself either.

I am just in turmoil, I can't face the possibility of losing him. How can it be fair that a cat so healthy and happy suddenly loses the ability to be independent and live in 2 weeks?

We can't go on getting into more debt it's already more than we can afford, he is in pain a lot and the vets don't seem to have another option.

Has anyone been through this before? What would you do in this situation?

Any advice would be so appreciated, I can't seem to find anything online about cats that have suffered so badly and their muscles not returned after the blockage damage.

:(
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Jacks
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Re: Irreversible bladder damage - what to do?

Post by Jacks »

Dear Scastillos,

I'm afraid I have no experience of any of this but I so feel for you about your lovely boy. It seems unthinkable that he should have got to this place in such a short time without any previous warning. You must be heartbroken, as well as out of pocket. One of my daughter's cats, about the same age, developed a condition with no warning - he lost the use of his back legs, and with it his bladder and tail. They could find no reason, and ran out of money trying to find one. When the vet said 1000 Euros for an MRI scan they didn't have it. They took him home and the vet didn't expect him to live long. He was unwell for some time but now scoots around the house in his 'pamper' nappy, is always begging for food and snuggles on his mum and dad's laps in the evenings. Once a day they have to express his bladder, which he hates, but he has no feeling in that area. The vet says he's amazed he's still alive... The thing is he does have some quality of life, apart from the confusion of not being able to control his body. If he were in pain or suffering they would have to consider taking that final step, but they don't think he's there yet.

I tell you this because only you can decide what's the right thing for your boy. It seems unthinkable that he could have gone downhill so quickly, but with cats these things can happen very quickly - tumours, for example, can grow much faster than they would in a human.

If he really is in pain, and there's no way for you to manage the situation and make his life comfortable or meaningful then I think you probably know what the answer is. If he's had 10 years of happiness and 2 weeks deterioration it's better than seeing him suffer for a long time. And if you haven't got the money for extensive procedures don't feel you've let him down - unfortunately these little ones have quite delicate little bodies and there's not guarantee anything would have made an ultimate difference. I'm truly sorry for what has happened to your lad - I just hope you're supported by your vet in choosing the best thing to do for him. Thinking of you.
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Re: Irreversible bladder damage - what to do?

Post by Crewella »

My Daz went through a dreadful year of repeated urinary blockages, but we never got to this stage. It's a multi-layered problem, as even if you sort out the immediate issues caused by the recent blockage, unless you sort out the underlying cause of the blockage in the first place there's no saying the whole process won't repeat again. As I found with Daz. I'm sorry - I wish I could give you better news, but the only thing I can offer you is the fact that (with the help of my wonderful vet who kept expressing him until we could get control of his weight and dietary issues and so solve the underlying problems) my Daz did make it and is a happy and healthy cat, but as I say we didn't get to this stage. What I do remember is that it took him three of four weeks of medication before he was peeing normally again.

Immediately after his blockages, if I remember correctly, he was on Myotonin to contract the bladder, two muscle relaxants (skeletal and smooth) Dantrium and Hypovase and anti-inflammatory pain relief. Not sure if this is any help, but I thought it might be useful to know. I've added some links to some excellent website with information on urinary issues:

http://www.acerlux.com/catsstrainingtourinate.html
http://www.catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth

It's a horrible disease, I really feel for you.
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