Pet Of the Month

August 2010 - Simmie

Simmie

Meet Simmie - a beautiful cat who spent a lot of time with us last month. He had a problem called Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (or FLUTD) which mean he was unable to urinate because his urethra was blocked.

The cause of FLUTD can be complicated. Sometimes, an infection causes inflammation and swelling. It can change the pH of the urine, and allow crystals to form. These crystals can irritate the urethra and bladder, causing more damage, and allowing more infection. They can also wedge in the urethra, blocking it completely. When this occurs, the cat is unable to urinate, and the back log of urine can damage the kidneys. As you can imagine, it can also be very painful, as the bladder becomes quite full and hard.

In the clinic we used a catheter to unblock Simmie, and allow the urine to flow through. We changed his diet to a special one which dissolves crystals by changing the pH of the urine. We also gave him some antibiotics to counter the bacterial infection. Unfortunately, despite all of this, Simmie blocked up again. Dr Brigid was able to help Simmie using acupuncture, and we continued to use a catheter to allow him to urinate. Simmie was in hospital over 2 weeks during this period.

The day came when we could no longer pass a catheter to allow Simmie to urinate. He had developed a stricture – a point in his urethra that was so damaged from the infection that it was becoming scarred. This meant it was too small for the catheter to pass through. If Simmie blocked again, it would require radical treatment -an unusual surgery known as a perineal urethrostomy. This is a bypass surgery where we divert Simmie’s urethra so that he no longer urinates out of his penis and we create an artificial opening a little higher.

We suspect however that Simmie heard us and thought we were really going to amputate his penis! With the threat of surgery hanging over his head (or perhaps it was a combination of all the treatments he had been receiving) Simmie took great care not to become blocked again. He has gone home to a loving family- and so far he has not blocked again.