Hi Catherine,

In your situation where you cannot crush the pill I would make my vet teach me how to put it in his mouth – it is not that difficult if you have the right technique – I just hate to do it!

If you ever have a situation where you can crush the pill though - I have a somewhat good idea. Mix the furball paste with the crushed pill and smear it on his front paws. Cats of course likes to be clean so they will lick it off. This has always been my last case solution if I cannot trick my Cartman.

Otherwise making a hole in a shrimp and putting half the pill in it sometimes work here.

Good luck!

Giving you all an update on Ollie, he has got 7 pills left (had 20), so far I am thankfully managing to get him to eat it whole in amongst some tuna! I am struggling with the drops in a syringe though, (meant to help tighten the muscles to stop him urinating all over/incontinence). It is very hard to get his open mouth enough to get the stuff in, it is pretty nasty oily in texture so he doesn't exactly appreciate it!

For about 4 days I started to think maybe he was getting better, not so much peeing in his beds and no big puddles of pee, just the odd drip here and there. So I got my hopes up. Now the last 2 days he has started peeing puddles again, this morning twice when he is just squatting down to eat from his bowl, totally unaware I think

I am starting to worry that he is not going to get better, he still seems sore if I try to touch him on his lower right side by his tail. The hair is now so matted there but he won't let me groom him even lightly with my hand. Do you think matted hair could make him this sore?

He is eating wet Bozita & Grau (with grain), I think maybe he peees a bit more on the floor if I give him Grau, but he eats more of the Grau (with Bozita he likes the gravy off more than eating it all)

He is also still not pooping in the litter tray either

I guess I will need to finish the last week of anti-biotics and then back to the vets. It is a worry because I have got a holiday back home to England booked in 2 weeks time and the in-laws will be looking after them!

Catherine & Ollie,
x

I know this may sound very odd, but when they did a scan, did they see any masses? I'm just asking because you mention he is sore, and his fur is matted in a specific area. He might not be cleaning the area because it's too painful, and I'm sad to say something I had forgotten that Sooty did until now when you mentioned it. Don't be scared though, I'm fairly sure they would have seen something if it was obvious, I'm wondering however because they might not have been looking for odd masses then they might have missed it? xxx

__________________
Mummy to;

Sooty 9.6.1996 - 28.04.2011 Rest in peace my love!
Storm (Sueragdandy Phantom) 28.02.2010
Benji (Kassaro Benjamin Franklyn) 08.03.2011

Catherine I wouldn't worry just yet since he's only through 2/3s of the course of antibiotics and it sounds as if this infection went undiagnosed for quite some time, in which case it may take an additional course to eradicate it completely. Also if you've had problems with administering the drops - it's effects would be weakened in a sense. However, it does sounds as if he's made an improvement so don't depair just yet!

Additonallly until this infection and consequent discomfort has been cleared completely he's still associating the litter tray with pain! Of course, you've also got the added problem with the areas he's soiled outside the litter box-these will have to cleaned and all urine traces removed!


And yes, most definitely the matted areas ( pulling and pinching of the skin ) are also adding to the problem making him sore, so I'd try and eliminate these as soon as I could.

Thank you for the support Ianthi. I will try to deal with the matting, it's tricky because he moves away as if it really hurts and often pees when I try! I'll do little by little. x

Hi everyone, well I am now at a loss for my little Ollie. He has now had two lots of anti-biotics (2 lots so 40 days in total), so the vet says the bacteria would be dealt with. Sadly he is still incontinent (as the scans had shown that the flap that should normally stop the pee coming out was open, see previous posts), peeing sometimes in the litter tray but mostly as he walks around, in his bedding... all over really. He also stills poops outside his litter tray, sometimes as he walks along, othertimes holding tight to his large water bowl as if it still hurts to go. His fur is less matted than it was on his lower back, but still as I try to touch him there on his sides or by tail, his fur goes up and it clearly hurts a bit/is uncomfy...

I was given drops (Propalin) that were meant to help his incontinence, but it is a nightmare to give, he spits it out if I can ever get it directly in his mouth which is not often. He will not go near his food if I put it in that. I tried putting it on his paws together with his anti-furball paste to make him lick it off which he does sometimes. But the vet said these drops generally help females more than males.

This has now been going on for months and months and the vet has said there is no more that can be done for him, after all the tests and results. I am really at a loss of what to do and am worried about having to make a decision for him. Can anyone offer me any advice please? Catherine

Catherine-Sorry to hear this but I thought he had started to show improvement once treatment had commenced.

I think you'd have more luck if you had managed to give him more of the Propalin so I would persist with this. It has very good success rate with dogs! It works on the urethral muscle and sphincter-sounds as this case with Ollie. Also there's something not quite right about the soreness you describe now that the mats have been removed. There's a good chance he may have infection, arthritis/inflammation despite what the vets says. I wonder if a painkiller might help. Incidentally some infections take multiple courses of antibiotics before they clear up! I would be inclined to restart the antibiotics.

Hi Ianthi, I have now started on Metacam for the pain he appears to have. I was a little worried about using it but right now I'll try anything! I just can't get him to take the Propalin, no way in any food and yet the Metacam he will eat in food. Can't get it directly in his mouth either, just spits or dribbles it out, don't think he gets much when I try it on his paw. So very tricky. Is Propalin a medicine that you have to give forever to keep the muscles tight or does it cure the problem after a certain time?
Thanks for all your help, x

Propalin - I think it depends on the individual animal but I've heard of some dogs who are on it longterm.

I'd be interested to see how effective the Metacam is. Just be very careful when measuring out the dosage level. Hope it helps.