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Location: Hertfordshire, UK
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 2,156
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'Bagheera'
I would like to introduce you to Bagheera
Bagheera is a four year old neutered male cat who was brought into our clinic about three weeks ago with a blocked bladder which needed urgent attention. Unfortunately, his owner was unable to afford the treatment he would need, especially as he was likely to have a lifelong condition, and at that point, our only option was to put him to sleep. In a desperate bid to save his life, we contacted the cat rescue that we work very closely with and explained the situation to them. Thankfully, they immediately aggreed to take him - and so his road to recovery began!
The first step was to unblock his bladder under GA, which our vet thought would solve the problem pretty quickly. It soon became apparent, when he still hadn't passed urine 24 hours post op that he would require further care. Our next step, was to empty his bladder twice daily by catheterising him. The problem was, we couldn't possibly anaesthetise him twice a day, so this was having to be carried out concious. With two nurses holding him, and the vet catheterising he would scream the place down
after three days he was still not improving, so we decided to give him one last chance. We anaesthetised him again and inserted an internal catheter which inflates inside the bladder, and a tube is passed out through the cats side. The urine collects inside the catheter instead of the bladder itself, and drains out through the tube. A urine collection bag was fitted to the end of the tube, so Bagheera was constantly emptying his bladder with no trauma to the urethra. To begin with his urine contained massive amounts of blood, but after a couple of days, the blood began to decrease in quantity, and after a few days of emptying his bladder this way, our vet decided to clamp off the tube, to see if he could pass urine on his own.
After about three attempts, where he was passing very small amounts of bloody urine in tiny spurts, he finally urinated properly! We kept the catheter in place for another two days, just incase we needed to attatch the bag again. We finally removed the catheter last week, and he has been doing fantastic ever since (apart from pulling his staples out of his wound when it was healing perfectly well
) he is on daily medication and a special urinary diet, but other than that, he is a perfectly happy boy! He went to his new home with our cat rescue yesterday and has now started out on his journey to find his forever home