Wyn is sick... yet again.

[Jessi]

About to post this in my LJ too, so sorry to those of you that see it twice.

Some of you might remember over a year ago now, when my cat, Wyn, was sick with feline crystalitis. For those that aren't familiar with it, crystalitis is a lovely problem where cats develop crystals in their urine, which they then try to pass - and the crystals lodge in their urethra. Not fun.

Last time, we took Wyn into the vet because he just didn't feel right - he wasn't acting normal. We found out then that his stomach was rock hard because his bladder was completely full of crystals and urine he couldn't pee - and it had started to back up into his bloodstream. One emergency surgery, several catheters, lots of meds, and $1500 later Wyn was home and doing just fine with no more crystals. At his yearly exam this past July, his bladder was super-tiny and he was doing really well.

Well, late last night Lindsey and I caught him straining in the litterbox - which sent up a huge red flag for me. We felt his tummy and it was still soft, squishy, and fat - a good sign. We fed him some wet food, which he gobbled up, and locked him in our bedroom with his own litterbox to monitor his urine output. He peed wonderfully for us and we figured maybe he was having a small episode, and we'd get him to the vet this week.

Today has been a different story. He hasn't urinated much, he's been very cranky, -constantly- licking himself, and I caught him straining on the carpet trying to pee. Not good. I called Lindsey home from work, and we took Wyn up to the emergency vet (that I hate) in Overland Park, about 30 minutes from here.

So... again, one exam, one urinalysis and $273 later, here's what we know:

- Wyn's bladder is still small, which means he's not blocked, yet at least.
- His urinalysis showed all sorts of fun things: he has some crystals, he had a higher than normal red blood cell count, lots of protein, and apparently glucose.

What does this mean? Well, for one thing, he might have a bacterial infection that's causing this... so for right now, he's on antibiotics. He's also on pain meds. Hopefully the pain meds will help him be able to urinate better, since he won't be in pain to do so. The more he urinates = the less chance he has of getting blocked yet again.

He also is a bit dehydrated... hence the protein. I don't know why. He gets wet food. We have bowls and bottles of water ALL over for him to drink from. He has a stupid fountain. He shouldn't be dehydrated, but there you have it.

Also, the glucose in his urine might indicate he's having a diabetic problem. That's really all i need.

Sigh. So... yeah. I just had to come vent. Lindsey and I will be getting in touch with our regular vet tomorrow and scheduling an appointment. I'm terrified about the cost of this, to be honest. Last time it was only a miracle we had the money to pay for his vet bills, but right now we are flat broke. I'm not even exaggerating a tiny bit. We had to borrow the money for today's vet visit from Lindsey's mom, and I'll have to see if I can even scrape together what we'll need to take him to our regular vet.

If anyone who wants to could just keep Wyn in your thoughts, it'd mean a lot to me. I'll keep this updated as I find out more.

[covet]

*hugs* It's awful to have a sick pet and not be able to just magically fix them. I'll be thinking of him and wishing you lucks.

[Seerow]

*Hugs Jessi, FMD, and Wyn* I really really hope its nothing too serious, or expensive to solve. You guys have just had such rotten pet luck recently, no one should have to deal with all this at once.

[Alicorn]

Wyn and both of you guys are in my thoughts. I hope for the best and hope everything works out. **hugs all three of you**

[Rainbow Daydreamer]

I'm sorry if this is terribly presumptuous of me, but I'd be the first to chip in if you set up a Sick Cat Fund. Hope your kitty is better soon, Jessi.

[Jessi]

I hate asking for donations. It makes me feel like a real jerk.

Last time this happened, however, people pretty much demanded I give them my Paypal address, and I admit, the donations helped. A lot. So if anyone really wants to, its jessibean @ gmail dot com, but please please PLEASE don't feel obligated to give anything.

I left work early to come home and be with him. We're going to the vet at 11:30. He's not doing so well. He's urinating (and he urinated all over the blanket he was sleeping on, joy) but he's obviously uncomfortable. Will keep everyone updated.

[Jessi]

Updating. This is completely copied and pasted from my LJ (and Rachel here isn't hebdenhippy xD It's a good friend of mine who also happens to be a vet tech!)

I have said this so many times, but I love my vet. I absolutely love the man. He is the kindest, most understanding person in the entire world.

Oh, we're back from the vet.

First, Wyn decided it'd be fun to pee in my car on the way to the vet (and no, he wasn't in a carrier, heh). Really, I don't care, but still. In my car. Oh well.

Today, Wyn's temperature was back up to normal, so nothing to worry about there. And as Dr. Bradley was feeling his bladder during the exam, Wyn let out a huge puddle of pee. I mean, -huge-. All over. A nurse quickly got up what she could with a needle to perform another urinalysis for us. In the meantime, Dr. Bradley finished his exam and explained that although he was urinating, it was a very small stream of urine. He gave me some Diazepam to help relax his muscles so he would be able to have a bigger stream of pee - this is what he was on last time, but he was so badly blocked it didn't work. Still, Dr. Bradley really thinks between the diazapam and the pain killers, he should be peeing a lot better in no time.

He also gave me a sample of the tablet form of Clavamox instead, since Wyn promptly spit it all back up this morning after we gave it to him. He said that it's not likely he has an infection but it definitely won't hurt for him to have the clavamox. We'll give the pills a try and see.

He also thinks he might be hanging out in the closet because he's sleepy - I guess not all cats need 2 doses of the pain meds per day. SO we're going to cut that down to one dose, since between the pain meds and the Diazapam he'll be very sleepy indeed.

He did another urinalysis, and with MUCH better results this time! There was not a high level of protein at all (looks like you were very right on that, Rachel :3) and hardly any glucose! Dr. Bradley said the glucose was probably high just between the long car ride to the e-vet and the stress of it all. So very, very good results with that! He did find crystals in his urine of course, and a bit of blood, so he did give him a cortisone shot to help with that.

He also gave me a bag of s/d dry food, instead of us just relying on the cans. Wyn hasn't been eating the cans as well, but when I put the s/d dry in front of him, he practically attacked the bowl and started to gobble it up. Yay! So the s/d dry will help break down the crystals and hopefully he'll be peeing fine in no time.

After this, Dr. Bradley suggested we either mix the Wellness dry with the s/d dry as a 50/50 ratio, since Wyn no longer eats the cans that well but obviously until now this diet's been working, or we just put him on c/d. I think we'll probably just go for the c/d, but if anyone (..Rachel? XD) wants to give some input on what they think, feel free. But this way we can just feed him c/d and keep the others on Wellness.

(Speaking of Wellness, we figured out another problem might be Wyn having gotten into the kitten food a few times. We do our best to keep it up off the floor when Cairo's not eating but he's sneaky x_X We'll have to be much more dilligant with it).

Anyway. Wyn goes back in Friday for another quick exam so Dr. Bradley can feel his bladder and make sure it's getting smaller, and then next Wednesday it's back in for another exam and maybe another urinalysis.

Obviously, I'm feeling much better. Dr. Bradley is completely optomistic that Wyn will pull through this time without the need of a catheter or surgery or ever having to go under anesthesia. Between all the meds he's on now (the cortisone shot as an anti inflamitory, the antibiotics, the painkillers and the muscle relaxers), the s/d food, and lots of water and rest, the crystals should dissolve on their own and he should be able to pass urine a bit better each day.

Oh, and besides being wonderful and actually EXPLAINING everything, unlike the e-vet, he charged me far less than it could have cost. For example, he only charged me for a re-evaluation, rather than a full exam. The cortisone shot was free. The clavamox pills were free. And so on and so forth.

I will continue to keep you guys updated. Right now he's in the bedroom scarfing down his dry food like there's no tomorrow!

[Fjorab_Teke]

YAY! Here's to a speedy and full recovery for Wyn...and no more pee problems!

There really is nothing like an awesome vet. I'm SO grateful for mine!

[Seerow]

Yay, I'm so happy to hear that he should be alright I can't imagine how ecstatic I would be if I was in your situation.

I swear Clavamox is the miracle drug for cats, though piling him I'm sure is fun. Out of curiosity, is the pain med either Metacam or Rimydal?

[Kuroro]

Hey, it sounds like your cat has the same issue as mine.

I also feed mine C/D right now. I use dry food in the week and wet food C/D in the weekends.

At first, we went through several antibiotic courses with him, but the problem kept re-occuring. About a year ago, we went to another vet, who gave us, basically, the same advice as yours C/D. He also gave homopathical medicine: capsules of spascupreel and solidago, we also had to give daily when he had the problem, for about a week. (When we went at first, the vet also gave an extra injection.. of something I alas not recall).

Anyhow, what I want to come to, is that he advised us to give spascupreel and solidago when we saw the problem starting (like you said, going on the litter, trying, but peeing nothing). As up until now, he had it twice again, starting, we immediately started give the two capsules and he got better even after a day.

Strange thing is, our cat seems to get 'it' when he sees that some off my family are starting to pack. He had it twice every time when several members that he lived together with, were travelling. The doctor had said it could be stress related..

I just thought to tell you about those two meds (I'm not sure, maybe your medecine are the same, but under a different name), since they seemed to yield good results up until now.

[Jessi]

Seerow, the pain medicine he's on is.. bupremax, I believe. And actually, Wyn is REALLY easy to give pills to - I was so grateful my vet gave me pills of clavamox instead!

Kuroro, stress can also cause flair-ups, its true, so packing might just set him off a little bit? Right now the meds he's working on seem to be doing their job :3 He's very playful and hyper right now. Er, and eating a cheez-it off my floor!

[Alicorn]

Yay! I'm glad to hear Wyn is doing better. I'm also glad to hear your vet is such a great vet. I had a vet that was just like him. I remeber when he treated my g. pig when he doesn't usually do rodents. I hope things keep looking possitive for Wyn. ^_^

[Jessi]

Another Wyn update, copied from my LJ again! Sorry, it's just the easiest way to do it!

Wyn went back to the vet today, and he's doing very well! His bladder is even smaller than it was on Monday, and an ultrasound showed there were no little fragments of crystals or sand, and that his bladder was not inflamed or anything like that. He's still straining when he urinates, but not for as long. However, he is in no way uncomfortable - in fact, he had a grand time at the vet, rubbing on our feet and Dr. Bradley's and CHATTING. He wanted everyone to talk to him! He's been playful and bouncy and his old self.

Dr. Bradley thinks because of that he's not actually blocked, not even by the smallest crystal imaginable - if he was, he would be in pain and uncomfortable, and he's certainly not acting like it at all! He thinks the problem is between the last time this happened and now, Wyn just has trouble relaxing his penis (..Wow, is that the first time I've ever had to say the word penis in the history of my LJ?). I won't go into details, but if he keeps eating the SD and taking his medicine he should be fine!

He's on two new meds now, actually; another relaxant (..it has a long name. Phenoxybenzamine?) for 2x a day and metacam as an anti-inflammatory to just be given once every other day til his next appointment on Wednesday. Plus the diazapm and the clavamox - Wyn's a real trooper. He takes all the pills so well (well and the liquids - the metacam and the other pain thing are both liquids) and hardly even fusses. Dr. Bradley gave us some pill pockets, but I doubt we'll use them - he hates treats, heh, but the meds are really easy to give him.

We go back on Wednesday, and hopefully by then he'll be peeing normally - Dr. Bradley's visits have been MUCH cheaper than the emergency vet visit, but still, we're at about $475 total now - it's starting to add up fast @_@ Hurry and get better, Wyn!

[Seerow]

Nice to hear he's still doing good, hopefully he can stay that way! He sounds a little like my cat when he goes to the vet, who loves everybody and doesn't care what they do to him as long as he's getting some loving.

Wyn should be feeling mighty fine soon with that metacam in him

[Cranberry]

Orange tabbies always seem to be such sweeties -- mine are good with being pilled/having claws clipped/whatever, too. Glad to hear that Wyn's doing better! It also sounds like you have a really nice vet, which is awesome and makes all the difference when your pet's not feeling well.