Oh boy, I have gone and done it again................

[kestrel91316]

Today I just took custody as the new owner of a kitty relinquished to me by a client who couldn't afford to pay for the very expensive surgery it needs. So I get to do the surgery for free on what is now MY OWN cat, lol! I get suckered by these periodically.

Kitty (not his real name) is a 9-yr-old male with a prior perineal urethrostomy for FUS/obstruction who wound up with a large (1 cm x 1 1/2 cm) bladder stone, and the poor thing has been suffering for so long he is very underweight and anemic. I will be stabilizing him on antibiotics and good nutrition over the weekend and do a cystotomy on Monday to get that darned thing OUT, already! He is only going to go downhill more the longer I wait. I hope he does ok postop. The long-term plan is to place him with one of my better clients (whichever one wants him). These sickies can be a tough sell, though, so I may have a new mascot.

Wish me luck.

Pics to follow if I can ever figure out how to post them here.

[Samurai_Writer]

1. Good luck, kestrel!

I hope the kitty pulls through OK! My vet in FL was so wonderful, would do free surgeries as well on abandoned pets. And she took off half of my total bill when my dog was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and I had to put him to sleep. I'm going to my new vet in CO tomorrow for a checkup for Smoke. Wish the old man (and his human servant) luck! :)

[radfringe]

2. my partner may end up doing it again too

last summer I brought home a kitten from work (she was part of feral colony and had respiratory infection) -- the original plan was to get her well and then find a home for her.

well, by the end of the weekend - my partner said "she's staying"

so our critter population is now 5 cats, 3 dogs (and an occassional foster dog)

since the new addition - my partner's mantra has been "no more animals - ZERO PET GROWTH"

that is until this past Wednesday - my partner was chatting with a woman who works in the building next door. They usually bump into each other in the shared parking lot when out for a smoke and more often than not they talk about cats/dogs/pets

well - the woman asked her if she knew of anyone willing to take in a 6 year old - 3-legged cat. Seems her neighbor is going into a nursing home and can't take the cat, and due to allergy issues the family can't take the cat.

our concern is how well does the cat get along with other cats, and dogs -- she's checking that out...

[GardeningGal]

3. Good luck!

I hope you can stabilize him and get the surgery done. Kitty is a lucky 9 year old cat.

[CountAllVotes]

4. best of luck to you!

I hope the cat does well and lives many more years!

:D

[IndyOp]

5. Let us know how surgery & recovery go! ;-) (n/t)

:hi:

[kestrel91316]

6. I checked in on him this evening and took his food away in

preparation for surgery tomorrow AM. He is such a sweet, affectionate boy in spite of his misery. I hope he does well.

[Ranec]

7. Poor Kitty!

Good luck to you and Kitty.

[superconnected]

8. Kestrel, you have a giant heart.

The vetrinarian near my home goes hunting on the weekends. I know because he invited one of my guy friends to go with him. I'm a vegetarian, so needless to say I wouldn't dream of taking animals to him.

You're the kind I trust.

[demnan]

9. Thank you for being a great healer

I love the vet (actually had a serious crush on him 15 years ago) that takes care of my babies now that I've moved back in the area. He saved one of my cat's lives when Lucifer was only 3 and half. He took out a "dead" piece of his intestines and he lived to the fine old age of 17.

Here is my dear Lucifer, he died a few years back but lived a wonderful life:



Don't ever regret what you do. Someone out there will be forever greatful.

Thank you, Dr. Morse.

[Sanity Claws]

22. Now I know why you took to Charley

Charley looks similar to Lucifer.

[kestrel91316]

10. UPDATE (caution, medical details):

I did surgery on Kitty (not his real name) this AM. I first sedated him, then gave him some ketamine which knocked him down and cooperative, but not asleep. Thus disabled, he was a good boy while I placed an intravenous catheter in a front leg. Through this I gave him more ketamine and some valium. He was then out enough for me to place an endotracheal tube for him to breathe anesthetic gas through. A few minutes spent shaving his tummy, and off into surgery he went.

With him tied to the surgery table and his gas hooked up and running and his IV fluids running, we got to work. My trusty assistant kept an eye on his depth of anesthesia and followed my instructions when he needed more. I did what I do best: CUT. We have a saying in vet medicine: a chance to cut is a chance to cure. So that's what I set about to do. I cut a 2 1/2" incision in his abdomen (south of the belly button), packed off the undesired innards, and brought the bladder to within reach. After placing a couple of stay sutures (anchors for manipulating tissue) in the bladder, I opened it up and was easily able to find and remove the HUGE bladder stone (1 cm x 1.5 cm x 1 cm). Rather than prolong his surgery with poking around (known as an exploratory laparotomy) I opted to close the bladder and then get the heck out of his tummy as his compromised condition made him increased risk for complications. So I sewed the bladder closed (not easy, the wall was over 1/4" thick!!!) with absorbable suture, then closed the abdominal wall and then the skin with more of the same absorbable suture. I use a buried suture pattern in much of my abdominal surgery so the cats can't pull stitches out amd make trouble.

I finished up around 11:30 AM. We pulled his trach tube around noon. By 3:30 PM he was up and demanding to be fed. He got two small meals of Prescription Diet A/D and then a few crunchies over the following 3 1/2 hours and when I left at 6 PM he was a little unsteady on his feet still, but one VERY happy kitty. He fidgeted a little when I capped off his IV catheter for the night, but not so I couldn't do the job.

I am very happy with how he is doing so far post-op. Because of his low albumin level and the anemia, he will bear watching the next several days. Low albumin can result in poor wound healing, but with the high protein diet he is on I am not too worried. He is still on antibiotics, but they agree with him so far. I hope the anemia is just what we call Anemia of Chronic Disease, which should self-correct as he recovers from surgery.

All-in-all a fun and interesting case, and a really sweet cat.

[GardeningGal]

11. So far it sounds good...

I hope he continues to do well post op and that he is back to a happy kitty very soon!

[IndyOp]

12. Such a relief to have that out - one VERY happy kitty...

They tend to hide the problem and the discomfort/pain when a medical condition is developing so it is a suprise (to me anyway) how they revel in relief.

This a good reminder to all - if your gut tells you that your pet is experiencing pain - they are. You wouldn't see anything amiss at all if it was really mild and nothing to worry about.

:-)

[Tammie]

14. Good Job!

I'm so glad to hear kittie came through surgery and is doing well. Kittie is lucky to have found you. Keeping good thoughts for a full recovery and long, happy life.

Take care!

[mike_c]

15. good news indeed!

Sending positive thoughts for Kitty's recovery!

[okasha]

17. What caused the thickness of the bladder wall?

Was it the presence of the stone?

[kestrel91316]

19. Chronic inflammation and infection - the stone was like a foreign

body that his body was trying to reject, but couldn't.

He still has a very small bladder capacity but hopefully as the inflammation and swelling subside, it will get "stretchier" so he can hold his pee longer.

[Eurobabe]

13. Kestrel, you are a gem....

Kitty Karma will reward you! I hope the little guy improves daily.

[BrklynLiberal]

16. I hope that Kitty (not his real name) continues to do well. It is so

wonderful of you to take over his care, and to find him a wonderful home.
Please keep us posted on his progress. Thanks.

[kestrel91316]

18. Wednesday update:

Kitty continues to do VERY well - eating like a pig, gaining weight, no surgical complications, very little visible blood in his urine. He still has some bladder control issues, but it's only a little over 48 hours postop. I am very encouraged by all this, and expect a complete recovery. The stone turned out to be struvite (magnesium-ammonium-phosphate), recurrence of which is easily prevented by appropriate diet (no cheap dry food, no food with fish). I am feeding him Prescription Diet A/D (canned) to get meat on his bones, some Science Diet turkey Adult canned to decrease the chance of diarrhea from the A/D, and all the Science Diet Adult dry mixed with Kitten dry that he can eat (for fiber and fat and to retrain him to eat dry food). He needs the high-protein A/D and kitten food to speed healing, especially since he had a slightly low albumin.

We had some quality time in an exam room today, sat on the floor and played for a while, and let him sleep on my lap. He likes to claw on my left shoe (guess I need to get him a scratching post!).

We removed his intravenous catheter today - he was a VERY GOOD BOY, only got a little upset. He is an excellent patient, very cooperative!

[mike_c]

20. thanks so much for the update....

I've been checking a couple of times a day! Kitty is one lucky cat, IMO. He sounds like a real sweetheart, too.

[demnan]

23. You are a beautiful human being

thank you for being you. :loveya:

[legally blonde]

21. Glad to hear that kitty is recovery well

Keep us updated!

[kestrel91316]

24. He's still doing great! His little personality is starting to blossom

now that he feels better. He likes his tummy rubbed, and he's a "shoulder kitty". Good with kids, too.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

25. OK, so now you must be reminded of The Rule:

You can't talk about a new cat without posting a picture of him.

[kestrel91316]

26. Well, I have dialup and am computer illiterate. On the up side, I do

have some digital photos of him and his bladder stone, lol. How do i post photos?

[legally blonde]

28. If you want to post pics

you need to sign up for an image hosting site, like photobucket.com (it's free). Then, download the pictures to the website, where you should be able to post the link. It's sort of a pain, but I think that's the only way you can post pics.

[kestrel91316]

27. Request for assistance in posting photos -

I have never posted photos here and need a simple explanation in plain english. I have dialup if that matters. I have a digital camera and the photos are on my computer in a jpg file.

[kestrel91316]

29. I tried photobucket............

Here is the url for the only photo I could get it to load. It won't take the others. I hate photobucket.

Now can somebody explain to me how I can post photos directly on my post, without the damned url link??? Everybody else puts photos on their posts it seems.

On edit: Photo deleted due to size - post below has it.

[kestrel91316]

30. Maybe somebody could just explain how to get something other than

a GIANT photo on the post??? All I did was a normal upload and link. I can't even look at this photo, it jams my computer it's so big. WTF???????????

Anyway, that's Kitty in recovery with his endotracheal tube and IV catheter.

[tencats]

31. You will need to resize to something like 800X600 pixels

Here is your photo file resized to 800X600.
<>

I'm on an Apple Mac OS and resize my photo files in iPhoto.
I suspect though that you are using a Windows OS and I am not familiar with that platform.
What OS are you using?

[kestrel91316]

32. I don't know how to resize, or where to do it. I have Windows ME (I know!)

I tried limiting pic size on photobucket but I am afraid to recheck the post because it jams my computer to look at it.

[tencats]

33. Here is one you could perhaps try.

PIXresizer - Free Image Resizer
http://bluefive.pair.com/pixresizer.htm

Here they are for ME.
http://www.tucows.com/Windows/DesignTools/Image/ImageResizers/

[Orsino]

34. Bless you. n/t

[kestrel91316]

35. Kitty is now being allowed out of his cage and around the office, and he

REALLY likes to hang out on my lap or on my desk. He has gained 2 lb since I took him in 12 days ago.

Things are definitely looking good.

[kestrel91316]

36. 4-9-06 update:

Kitty is doing very well. He is now up to 8 1/2 lb. That's up 3 whole pounds from when he first came to us! I think 10 lb is a reaasonable target weight.

He spent a while yesterday racing up and down the hallway, playing with a newspaper ball, his favorite toy. He is starting to harrass our female mascot. He thinks he owns this place, lol!

Still having some GI issues with the diarrhea, but it's slowly improving.

[IndyOp]

37. Yeah! Share a 'well-kitty' pic when you can --

The post surgery pic with the tube in his mouth is a little scary to those of us who don't spend time around post-op!

:)

[Lisa0825]

38. yes, please share a pic!

Remember, if you want to email them to me, I will upload them for you!

[kestrel91316]

39. Sorry about that, lol. It's so ordinary to me, I didn't think it might

freak some people out! He was JUST out of surgery and still asleep, and we don't pull the endotracheal tube until they regain their gag reflex.

I have some recent pics, but he won't hold still to pose for me, so I keep trying to get the perfect one..........