Hello, I recently did a thread about alternative urinary foods to Hill's while my Bumble was staying overnight for a blockage in his bladder. We've now swung all the way around to that he is having his penis amputated this afternoon and I'm to call at 4pm to see how things went. This whole thing has been a very stressful and upsetting 9 WEEKS for Bumble, my husband and I.
This is just a very long account of what we have all been going through and costs.
The first we noticed anything was wrong was I kept seeing him trying to pee in places he shouldn't (and doesn't). We took him to the vet, we were told he had stress cystitis and we paid the £60, took his Nutracys+ home and did as suggested - transition to a wet food diet (we started with whiskas pouches and worked our way up to Animonda Carny and Smilla). He was an absolute nightmare to pill. We tried mixing it in with his food, giving it to him straight, wrapping in ham, mixing with tuna, kitty burrito. Not happening. It was getting him so upset that we stopped. We tried to keep everything calm and stress free. I upped the amount of brushies he gets and it's like heaven for him. He seemed to improve for a little while until one day I catch him trying to pee in the bath. And he growled at me when I tried to shoo him away and that's when I knew this was serious. He was moaning and clearly in a lot of pain. 3am, arguing with my husband, we are off to the emergency vets 30 minutes away. When we got there, there was pee EVERYWHERE. His box was absolutely soaked and he was clarted in it from sitting in it. I felt extremely stupid. She told me it was stress cystitis, gave us a few more tips that we followed - extra litter box where he was trying to pee, so we added one permanently to the bathroom, never let him eat dry, Pet Remedy, try enrich his life more. He got an injection for some pain relief, Metacam for 5 days and she said keep trying with the Nutracys+ but if we can't get him to take it, then just to leave it as it would be causing him more stress. We forked out the £240. His personality for those 5 days was back to his old self, bouncy, vocal, fussy and playful and I was so relieved. We started his garden excursions again (he didn't like going out in the snow so it had been a while). Then the day after the metacam was done, he began straining again. Not to the point where he when we rushed to the emergency vet but he was obviously uncomfortable, unhappy. We had resolved to get him on the Nutracys+ and all three of us came out with injuries. I told my husband we needed to get him back to the vet for pain relief again and then maybe he would be easier to pill and it would give the tablets some time to build in his system. We argued for a few hours about it and then he saw for himself that Bumble was struggling and called the vet. We were told to get down there ASAP. They took him from us, we didn't get to go in with him, didn't know what was happening. They came out, told us he was blocked and to sign a form and then basically sent us on our way. It was very abrupt and startling and I just couldn't think straight to say anything. I got my husband to call again when we got home because I was practically in hysterics and we were told he was on a catheter, was comfortable and would probably come home in the morning. They said he had a large stone blocking him that they had managed to push back into his bladder. Two days later we finally got him home and a bit more information, that he would be on a special diet for life and that there is a risk he will block again before the food has time to work. I said about a payment plan to get the surgery done now and was told they don't normally do that, that they need half upfront, etc. I said if he could give me a quote, I can pay half. It was all very dismissive. Anyway, he was ok for a little bit, in a better mood but not quite himself. By 3 days later, he was re-blocked. I had my hand in the cat litter three times yesterday to check I wasn't just being paranoid about there being no pee. I took him back in yesterday afternoon and they kept him overnight.We paid another £250 upfront and the rest will go on a payment plan, I dread to think how much it will be. I got a call around 1pm to say that the x-ray showed that he had a lot of sediment in his urethra and that they felt that penile amputation would be the best course of action for treatment. Supposedly if all goes well, I can have him home tomorrow.
He will have the cone collar on for a few weeks and we will be restricting him entirely to the living room for the first week so we can make sure his litter is always fresh and he can't strain himself too much and we'll be using a paper pellet litter until he is healed. I just wish I could jump time to the point where he is better. I wish it hadn't cost so much money. I wish the surgery had been done when he was first blocked.
I just want my baby back home and well
This is just a very long account of what we have all been going through and costs.
The first we noticed anything was wrong was I kept seeing him trying to pee in places he shouldn't (and doesn't). We took him to the vet, we were told he had stress cystitis and we paid the £60, took his Nutracys+ home and did as suggested - transition to a wet food diet (we started with whiskas pouches and worked our way up to Animonda Carny and Smilla). He was an absolute nightmare to pill. We tried mixing it in with his food, giving it to him straight, wrapping in ham, mixing with tuna, kitty burrito. Not happening. It was getting him so upset that we stopped. We tried to keep everything calm and stress free. I upped the amount of brushies he gets and it's like heaven for him. He seemed to improve for a little while until one day I catch him trying to pee in the bath. And he growled at me when I tried to shoo him away and that's when I knew this was serious. He was moaning and clearly in a lot of pain. 3am, arguing with my husband, we are off to the emergency vets 30 minutes away. When we got there, there was pee EVERYWHERE. His box was absolutely soaked and he was clarted in it from sitting in it. I felt extremely stupid. She told me it was stress cystitis, gave us a few more tips that we followed - extra litter box where he was trying to pee, so we added one permanently to the bathroom, never let him eat dry, Pet Remedy, try enrich his life more. He got an injection for some pain relief, Metacam for 5 days and she said keep trying with the Nutracys+ but if we can't get him to take it, then just to leave it as it would be causing him more stress. We forked out the £240. His personality for those 5 days was back to his old self, bouncy, vocal, fussy and playful and I was so relieved. We started his garden excursions again (he didn't like going out in the snow so it had been a while). Then the day after the metacam was done, he began straining again. Not to the point where he when we rushed to the emergency vet but he was obviously uncomfortable, unhappy. We had resolved to get him on the Nutracys+ and all three of us came out with injuries. I told my husband we needed to get him back to the vet for pain relief again and then maybe he would be easier to pill and it would give the tablets some time to build in his system. We argued for a few hours about it and then he saw for himself that Bumble was struggling and called the vet. We were told to get down there ASAP. They took him from us, we didn't get to go in with him, didn't know what was happening. They came out, told us he was blocked and to sign a form and then basically sent us on our way. It was very abrupt and startling and I just couldn't think straight to say anything. I got my husband to call again when we got home because I was practically in hysterics and we were told he was on a catheter, was comfortable and would probably come home in the morning. They said he had a large stone blocking him that they had managed to push back into his bladder. Two days later we finally got him home and a bit more information, that he would be on a special diet for life and that there is a risk he will block again before the food has time to work. I said about a payment plan to get the surgery done now and was told they don't normally do that, that they need half upfront, etc. I said if he could give me a quote, I can pay half. It was all very dismissive. Anyway, he was ok for a little bit, in a better mood but not quite himself. By 3 days later, he was re-blocked. I had my hand in the cat litter three times yesterday to check I wasn't just being paranoid about there being no pee. I took him back in yesterday afternoon and they kept him overnight.We paid another £250 upfront and the rest will go on a payment plan, I dread to think how much it will be. I got a call around 1pm to say that the x-ray showed that he had a lot of sediment in his urethra and that they felt that penile amputation would be the best course of action for treatment. Supposedly if all goes well, I can have him home tomorrow.
He will have the cone collar on for a few weeks and we will be restricting him entirely to the living room for the first week so we can make sure his litter is always fresh and he can't strain himself too much and we'll be using a paper pellet litter until he is healed. I just wish I could jump time to the point where he is better. I wish it hadn't cost so much money. I wish the surgery had been done when he was first blocked.
I just want my baby back home and well
