First, he should be okay and I’m bringing him home this morning at around 10 AM.
He has been fine since his surgery 2 weeks ago, back to his old self, playful, happy. But when I came home from work yesterday (with my Dad, who got into town yesterday evening) Zeke was lethargic. He went into his litter box and wouldn’t come out–kind of like he did when he was a kitten. When I got him out, he went into a corner and was straining (it looked like) to pee.
He was supposed to have his stitches remove this morning but I didn’t want to risk waiting, so I brought him to the hospital in Annapolis, which is probably the best animal hospital in the state, if not the entire Mid-Atlantic region. There, they ran blood tests, which all came back fine, as well as an x-ray, which also didn’t show anything unusual. They gave him a sedative and fluids to help him pee, but that didn’t seem to help, so the next step was forcing him to unblock. They do this by anesthetizing him and then running a catheter up into his bladder. I spoke to the doctor at 2:30 AM after the procedure was complete. It wasn’t hard to do the catheter, which was a good sign. There was no blood, which was also a good sign. Finally, once the catheter was in and out, Zeke urinated.
I spoke to his doctor (Dr. Taylor) again this morning at 7 AM. They said around 3 AM, they found a large quantity of urine in Zeke’s space which was a good sign–he was able to urinate again. This morning he was eating and drinking. They said it is safe for me to take him home, but that I need to keep an eye on him.
The most likely cause is something called Feline Idiopathic Cystitis (FIC). The “idiopathic” part means that they really don’t know what causes it. But some cats just get so stressed that it causes them to block.
I am meeting with his regular vet at 9 AM (the time Zeke was schedule to have his stitches removed) to let him know what happened and to have him call the emergency hospital with the results of the stone analysis. This will help determine what kind of diet Zeke needs to be on and may prevent these incidents from happening again. I will also reschedule the removal of his stitches.
It was a long night and I didn’t sleep to well, mostly anxious over how Zeke was doing. I feel a little better this morning, knowing a little more. I just want to get him home and make sure he’s okay.
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