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.