Of blocked bladders and E Collars

[Entropy]

So, today my cat Hudson got to come home from the vet. He had a blocked bladder. I love my vet, she cleared some space to get him in quickly and I'm glad. Had to drive him to the vet in lovely blinding snow turning to slush. Of course they all remember me from my trouble with kitten Marz (who passed away about this time last year).

Now, he's got his catheter in, and his e-collar on and he's not happy. Can't blame him, both items look incredibly uncomfortable. I let him have some time without the collar under strict supervision and he gave himself a halfway decent bath and drank a bit. I put it back on after he started getting a bit too attentive when cleaning around the catheter. All in all he's been great. Now my second most expensive kitty I'm glad I caught everything in time. Pictures of poor Hudson in his e-collar coming later when I believe he won't be in such a mood to kill me.

[slartibartfast]

They sent him home with his catheter in?
Is it red rubber, or clear-white polypropelene?

[Entropy]

Clear/white. It comes out on Wednesday. Also Jess, I have a question and since it's 8 p.m here I know there is no one at the office. Is he suppose to be drippy constantly or in waves? He was drippy when we got him home but now he's slowed down, I see it sloowly filling back up so I don't believe it's blocked but I was curious.

[slartibartfast]

Ugh. We don't leave the poly ones in. They are really rigid and can cause more scarring secondary to irritation vs. the softer red rubber ones. I've never seen a vet leave one in for days.

It will drip at the rate his kidneys produce urine, but can become blocked if there is a lot of mucous/blood clots. Is he hooked up to a collection bag, or just freely draining?

[Reediculous]

man! i can't imagine how he feels! i hope they fix him soon.......i'm pretty sure its draining in a bag!

[Entropy]

Freely draining, we knew it would be a bit messy and are prepaired. There hasn't been a lot of blood, a few drops of light red along with his urine drops earlier but nothing really icky. I asked about the stiff catheter and she said she prefers the stiff ones so they don't get bent/closed/squished shut as the cat moves. Once he got himself clean he seems to be much more content though the e-collar will stay on at night when we can't watch him.

Right now Hudson is sleeping comfortably on his blanket, he likes being up high so he's on an end table up off the floor and is happy with it, it's not high enough to stretch him much or stress things though it's high enough that he feels secure.

[Entropy]

Hudson is doing well. Not thrilled with his collar still but draining as he should. Tomorrow I drop him off before work to get everything removed. I'm sure that will be a happy day for him as he'll be able to bathe himself properly.

[Entropy]

Well, I'm posting an update from Indiana. After Hudson got his catheter removed the first time he was fine for a few days before blocking up again. They tried unsuccessfully to unblock him so we opted for PU surgery. Because of the time of year and my other financial obligations the rescue we got him from paid for the entire surgery, though we are not obligated to, my husband and I feel it would only be right to repay them for it entirely so some other cat in need can benefit from their care and generosity.
Right now Hudson is being boarded at the vets, his catheter is out and he's doing great, he had managed to develop a URI which he is also recovering from. I give special thanks to a wonderful vet tech who will remain unnamed, for taking a personal interest in Hudson (aka Little Man) and his recovery as well as to my vet who drove all over the place at all hours of the day and night to make sure things went as they should and put up with phone calls from me at all hours of the day and night.

[SarahMB]

Awww, poor kitty. Sorry to hear y'all have had to go through all that.
What were his symptoms in the beginning?

[Entropy]

Well, he was straining to pee and no pee was happening. I was told that most cats make sounds to show they're in pain when this occurs but Hudson was silent through the whole thing. Also, he looked obviously miserable. The time between 'relatively normal' and 'miserable sick kitty that I rushed to vet' wasn't even a 24 hour period. I worked nights the day before and he'd been acting fine, sleeping a tad more then usual if that but playing and eating. I woke up the day after and he looked terrible. I got Ryan off to work, came back, watched him for about an hour and noticed the trouble peeing and grabbed the phone for the vet. While I was on the phone I noticed him plop down to do a bath but when he'd hike his leg up to clean himself he'd look pained and just stay like that.
I took him to the vet and the rest is written above.

The SECOND time he blocked up I noticed first and foremost because of the leg hike with no bath following it, he just sat there and looked at me like 'moooooooooom, I is icky feeling'. So, I waited until he went for the litter box (about twenty minutes) and saw no pee after him being in there for five minutes so off we went to the vet again.