Poor Mr. J

Oh poor, Mr. J. If it can go wrong, it will go wrong with this guy. Hit by car...check. No owner...check. The one Viking picks on...check.

On Wednesday morning I was doing my usual round of blogs on the computer while eating my breakfast and I kept hearing rustling in the litter box. I didn't think much of it because the cats just ate and they were just doing their business. Well, after the 3rd or 4th time of rustling I decided to take a look at what was going on. Come to find out it was Jax coming and going from the litter box. He'd go take a few drinks of water from the waterer then would head back to the box. So this is when my tech side kicks in and my mind starts going crazy thinking of what could be going on. More than likely one of two things....either he's blocked or has a urinary tract infection. Blocked meaning he can't pass urine due to a stone/crystal that would be blocking the path or urine out of the body. This would not be good...something that requires anesthesia and catheterization, etc.

So I observe him in the box and decide for sure that he is trying to urinate and not defecate. I grab a clean gladware cup and attempt to collect urine. For anyone that's tried this before it's close to impossible to do with cats. But Mr. J being the best cat ever didn't think twice about me attempting the catch. I had success but he only passed about 2 drops. Okay, well at least if he's blocked, he's not totally blocked and has a partial stream. Then I go to palpate (feel) his bladder. Nothing there that I can palpate. Now this is all happening within a 5 minute period. I then decided I have to take him to work that day but have no access to the carrier to take him in. So I patiently wait for David to wake up and ask him to get it down for me. I place Jax in the carrier and off we go....even in time for work.

On Wednesdays we are open all day but only have practice hours in the afternoon. So I waited a bit and decide to call Dr. B to let her know about the situation. Come to find out she was planning to come in early to do something with her dog, so Mr. J's in luck. When she came in she did and exam and we snapped a quick radiograph and found no stones...whew! Upon viewing the radiographs and palpation we found his kidneys to be healthy...normal size and shape. We tried to collect urine via cystocentesis (using a needle and syringe and poking through the body wall into the bladder) but weren't too hopeful since his bladder was only about the size of a walnut. No luck with that. So we placed him on antibiotics in hopes of clearing up whatever type of infection he has going on. He's been on antibiotics for the past 2 days and his visits have become less frequent to the box...hopefully we're moving in the right direction.

But for anyone that has ever had a urinary tract infection, I'm sure you can feel for this guy. And in the midst of all of this he's still the loving cat that he always is and still eating and drinking normally. And he's so tolerant of me picking on him doing the "tech thing" of over analyzing him and always checking on him. Hope you feel better soon Mr. J!