01/10/2025
Lucky GUNDY,
If you haven't heard from us lately it's because we have had a few busy weeks with patients. One weekend we had 3 patients in, which kept Christine busy changing litter boxes and toileting dogs! 🐕
We often find, as we are about to leave, we hear the scratching in yet another litter box!
But that was a good sign in one patient.
GUNDY came in one Friday very flat. He was dehydrated and could hardly move. Geoff immediately took bloods🩸. He found a kidney enzyme was so high it was off the scale! This was a bad sign. His potassium was also seriously high so he needed special IV fluids 💉with glucose, to push it back down.
The cause of all of this was because he couldn't pee, often caused by crystals ❄️ or inflammation plugging him up.
After he was started on IV fluids he was anaesthetised to flush out the blockage and have a 'Tom cat' catheter placed and stitched in. He had to wear a cone so he didn't undo our work.
It was still touch and go, depending on if his kidneys could recover. We rarely see them this high🙄.
The next morning he was talking to us, which was a hopeful sign. And that he had a nibble of food. We repeated the blood potassium and found it was now normal. What a relief.
He stayed the weekend, not minding his other room mates. It was as if he was interested in all the activity and quite liked being nursed. After 48hrs, the catheter that drained the bladder, which allowed the kidneys to rest, was removed.
It was still too early to tell the state of his kidney function and he needed to show us if he could pee by himself.
We still kept the IV fluids going.
He happily hopped in his box and produced ever increasing pee's🫧 .Those of you that have see my litter tray PHA🔸️Youtube will understand how happy I was. 😊
After 5 days it was time to test his kidney enzymes. We were hoping that they may have come down by 1/3 or 1/2.
What!! We couldn't believe it!
They were actually normal.
😊🥰😇🙃🙂😄😁😍🤗😆
How lucky was he?. It doesn't always work out this way.
It depends if owners notice the warning signs... licking his privates, straining, lethargic, pain, and/or off food and flat if severe. Some cats have to jump on their owners lap to get their attention!!!
This is a serious and common condition.🔷️ Overweight BOYS fed mostly a dry diet can be predisposed. Not only may they end up with a vet bill of up to $1000, especially over weekend, but they will likely need an on-going special diet.
How to prevent this? Watch their weight, and their behaviour, get attention early and don't wait, be aware of weekends. Check their diet caters for this problem. Avoid stress or change in routine and provide plenty of water and clean toilet opportunities.
GUNDY gave us lots of cuddles of appreciation. He was such a LUCKY boy. He was a pleasure to nurse and we are thrilled this 😎 cool cat recovered so quickly.
