Feline Friday

On July 5, Lily and I found ourselves at the ER vet again -- NOT the place to go the day after a noisy holiday.

Lily seemed to be doing fine until about 3pm that Sunday, when I found her suddenly vocalizing in a tell-tale way, then repeatedly squatting outside the litterbox. Since we've been here before, I could see that she was having a problem urinating. I scooped her up and put her in the bathroom with her litterbox and towels. She hovered over all of them, producing no urine, and finally was able to go in the bathtub.

While not ideal, the advantage of her going pee-pee in the tub was that I could see definitively what was going on. This picture clearly shows blood in the urine and is something which needs prompt attention. It could indicate a urinary tract infection (UTI), cystitis, or even a blockage which can be dangerous. 

 Lily has used the bathtub now on three separate occasions and it's my understanding that cats will often do so when suffering from a UTI. It's worth keeping an eye on your tub for spots like this.

While this was happening, I called the ER vet to be sure they could see her and off we went.

 

 I'm very grateful for the good care she received while there but it took nearly four hours before we were back home and feeling better. During the time I sat in the parking lot waiting on her, I saw dog after dog being taken in for emergency care, some being carried in the arms of obviously frantic owners. The vet later told me they'd had lots of cases that day requiring urgent attention. 😔

 

As it turned out, Lily was diagnosed with a UTI which, according to the bacteria present, indicated that she hadn't been cleaning her girl parts sufficiently. The vet says this is due to the way her "parts" are tucked in, probably due to her size. 😟 Lily is not huge but she's definitely a couple of pounds heavier than she  should be.

Surprisingly, even though her anal glands were enlarged, the ER vet could not express much fluid from them, and obviously the UTI was unrelated to her chronic gland problem. The ER vet told me that this is concerning as they both have an abnormal, almost lumpy, presentation. This is consistent with what our own vet clinic observed at her May appointment. At that time, we talked about doing surgery to remove her glands and the ER vet agreed it needs to be done. In addition, she was concerned that the abnormal presentation could indicate a malignancy, although my vet clinic seems less concerned about this possibility -- especially since both sides seem to be affected and cancer typically shows up in just one. Anal gland cancer in cats is extremely rare, so I'm hoping the ER vet was just being overly cautious.

At any rate, Lily was soon feeling better and was weaned from her pain medication after about three days. Meanwhile, I spoke to our vet and arranged for her surgery next week. I'm very worried about Lily but am hopeful this surgery will provide her with much-needed relief from this chronic problem. And I'm praying that, as my vet believes, her anal glands have just developed a fibrosis and not anything worse than that.

So I'll update next week on how things are going. Let's hope this surgery, although it comes with risks, allows this sweet girl to live a more comfortable life. I'll do anything I can to make that happen for her. 💓