# Samantha's surgery kitty bladder stones



## mom2a&b (Mar 14, 2014)

I realize it has been months since Samantha's surgery, but I just saw your post. How is she doing now? What kind of stones did she have? My cat Willie had struvite crystals. About a month ago, he was hospitalized for a partial urethral obstruction. He's doing much better now on his prescription food. 


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## Heart O'Gold (Jul 31, 2012)

I just saw this thread now, too. Sam is so beautiful! I hope that she has healed well and is okay now. How did you know that she had stones? I always worry about Prim, she's our 1st cat and I feel like I don't know what to look for as far as health issues.


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## Heart O'Gold (Jul 31, 2012)

mom2a&b said:


> I realize it has been months since Samantha's surgery, but I just saw your post. How is she doing now? What kind of stones did she have? My cat Willie had struvite crystals. About a month ago, he was hospitalized for a partial urethral obstruction. He's doing much better now on his prescription food.
> 
> 
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I'm glad Willie is feeling better. Can the crystals be detected before they get very ill? Or do these things usually present themselves when the cat is showing signs of illness?


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## mom2a&b (Mar 14, 2014)

Heart O'Gold said:


> I'm glad Willie is feeling better. Can the crystals be detected before they get very ill? Or do these things usually present themselves when the cat is showing signs of illness?


Thank you. Willie had several symptoms. I use a Breeze litter box system. It has off-white pellets in the top basket and a disposable pad underneath that is similar to a puppy pad. I saw one bright red drop of blood on the pellets. That got my attention so I started watching him in the litter box. He seemed to be spending more time than usual in the box. Then, he would hop out suddenly and cry, and then lick himself. I've had my share of bladder infections so I was pretty sure that it was a UTI. I took him to the vet. She did a urinalysis with a sediment stain. It indicated that he had a bacterial infection and crystals. She sent us home with an anti-inflammatory and antibiotics. For a few days, he was feeling better, but then he took a turn for the worse. The blood drops were back, and he seemed to be straining to urinate. He would get out of the box. Then, he'd go right back in. Also, he was producing little or no urine. My vet had warned me to watch for that kind of behavior because the crystals often cause a urethral obstruction in male cats. It can be very serious. It is important to get them to the vet ASAP. If it is left untreated, it can cause kidney damage/failure, which results in electrolyte imbalance that can lead to heart failure in less than 24 hours. The condition that produces the stones/crystals is called Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD). 

Anyway, I hope that was helpful. I've had three cats. The first two lived to be 17 and 18 yrs. old. They both died of kidney disease. This is the only one that has had FLUTD. Best of luck to you and your cat! 


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## Heart O'Gold (Jul 31, 2012)

Thank you for the information, it's good to know what to watch out for. I'm glad you were able to help Willie before it became even more serious.


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## abradshaw71 (Jan 13, 2014)

Just saw this post, as well. My cat, Finley, passed away in November from stones in her bladder. The vet said even surgery wouldn't help her, so made the hard decision. She was in so much pain before she died.


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## Heart O'Gold (Jul 31, 2012)

I'm so sorry for your loss of Finley. They are so special to us. <3


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## caseypooh (Dec 30, 2010)

I'm so sorry about your Finley, abradshaw71. I've lost a few cats, buttons at only 12. He was born with a whole in his heart and I never knew it.


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## caseypooh (Dec 30, 2010)

Samantha is the first one with bladder stones, it was pure luck that we found out about it. I had a mat under her litter box but took it away because it's easier to sweep kitty litter. Her box is in my bathroom. That's how I saw droplets of blood. She went a few rounds of antibiotics but when it didn't stop, we knew to do an ex ray. She's great now and on special food too, thank goodness she likes it. They took 28 stones out. Cats are tricky, I knew she laid around a lot but never thought something was wrong, now she's playing a lot more. Now, no mats so I can keep an eye on it.


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## caseypooh (Dec 30, 2010)

She's a very sweet girl, please post your kitty pictures if you can. I would love to see them.


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## Heart O'Gold (Jul 31, 2012)

I'm so glad Samantha is okay now. She is such a pretty girl!  Here is a picture of Prim (Primrose) sleeping on my daughter's iPhone. She loves electronics, we call the cable boxes "kitten warmers", lol.









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## abradshaw71 (Jan 13, 2014)

Here are a couple of pictures of my Finley with Josie. I miss her. She used to sit on my bathroom sink while I was taking a shower. Those first few weeks after she passed away, it was very hard to pull back the shower curtain and not have her sitting there waiting for me. Getting ready to adopt a new kitty this spring/summer. They need rescuing, too. 

Finley was found on the side of the freeway with her four siblings and mama. A friend happened to see movement on the shoulder of the road as she was driving home. She got off at the next exit and turned around to see what it was. It was 90 degrees that day, a 70 mph freeway and kittens were only a couple of days old. The mama kitty came crying over to her, and she scooped them all up and took them home. 

Finley had the most beautiful green eyes. I did the best I could in saving her, but in the end, she was in too much pain. She wasn't the nicest kitty to people, but she did love me.


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## Helo's Mom (Oct 16, 2011)

I had cats all my life as my dad wouldn't let us have a dog. I haven't had a cat in the past 10 years and I really miss having one so I love all the kitty pictures and posts. My little Marilyn hates cats so I can't have one for now. I don't know how Helo would be with a cat. When I go to Petsmart I always have to check out the cats that are available for adoption. One day I will get another cat...or two!!!!


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## caseypooh (Dec 30, 2010)

They are both so pretty, I have a real soft spot for kitties. Finley has beautiful eyes, I've never seen any so green. Primrose looks just like our friends kitty named Oreo cookie. I've always rescued too. I found a few weeks old, blind kitten in my work's parking lot. Took her right to the vet any they nursed her to health. I wanted to keep her so bad but we just lost my husbands cat after 19 years. He wasn't ready so I found a nice home for her. I was so upset, needless to say a month later...Samantha came home with us.


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## ArchersMom (May 22, 2013)

I come from a long line of cat ladies  haha at one time growing up we had 6! I have 1 of my own now. He's a feral rescue that was living behind a grocery store. I know several of my parents cats have had kidney problems and for a long time they were on a special diet. The last three have died of cancer, much too soon. The youngest was only about 8 and the oldest was 10.

Here's my kitty, Thistle. He's big on stealing things.


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## caseypooh (Dec 30, 2010)

I love his name, Thistle, he looks a lot like my first kitty, Kitty. That's funny he's a thief, I guess you have to really hide snacks! 

I never knew this but our vet said the ash content in food can help contribute to kidney/bladder stones. Makes me wonder what's in the rest of us food that we don't know about.


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## ArchersMom (May 22, 2013)

Cat food has ash in it?! That's a bit frightening. I feed Thizz TOTW cat food and he supplements with frogs and birds. Thistle raised both of my puppies and I think that's the way to go, or maybe if you had an older dog that was really relaxed you could add a cat in. I'm tempted to get a kitten whenever I see one but I think he has a hard enough time putting up with two puppies.


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## abradshaw71 (Jan 13, 2014)

When Finley went through her bladder stone issues, my vet said she needed wet food supplemented with her dry food to help with the stones. He said it's important that cat's get a variety of raw foods in their diet. That made total sense to me. The cat I had growing up lived to be 20 years old because she mostly ate fish and liver and occasional bird and mouse. My dad would always cut up fish and liver for her when he was cleaning fish or deer and then put it in the freezer for a once a week snack for her. She would go nuts when it was on the counter thawing. She never had any health problems and basically died of old age. My next cat, which will hopefully be soon, will get wet food added into her diet as well as the raw fish and liver.


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## caseypooh (Dec 30, 2010)

ArchersMom said:


> Cat food has ash in it?! That's a bit frightening. I feed Thizz TOTW cat food and he supplements with frogs and birds. Thistle raised both of my puppies and I think that's the way to go, or maybe if you had an older dog that was really relaxed you could add a cat in. I'm tempted to get a kitten whenever I see one but I think he has a hard enough time putting up with two puppies.


I know! I checked her old food and sue enough ash is in it.


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## caseypooh (Dec 30, 2010)

abradshaw71 said:


> When Finley went through her bladder stone issues, my vet said she needed wet food supplemented with her dry food to help with the stones. He said it's important that cat's get a variety of raw foods in their diet. That made total sense to me. The cat I had growing up lived to be 20 years old because she mostly ate fish and liver and occasional bird and mouse. My dad would always cut up fish and liver for her when he was cleaning fish or deer and then put it in the freezer for a once a week snack for her. She would go nuts when it was on the counter thawing. She never had any health problems and basically died of old age. My next cat, which will hopefully be soon, will get wet food added into her diet as well as the raw fish and liver.


I'm with you and your vet. I never thought about wet food. I think back and Oscar, our other kitty, lived to be almost 20 and he only ate wet food. No health problems at all.


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## abradshaw71 (Jan 13, 2014)

After losing Finley last November, I took the plunge yesterday and went to a no kill cat shelter and adopted Mia. She is a 3 year old Maine **** mix and has one of the sweetest personalities I have ever seen in a cat. She has TONS of hair.  I thought cleaning up after Josie was bad.  I had looked at the shelters website so many times and had written down the names of 7 other cats I wanted to look at yesterday. Mia was not one of them. After holding about 10 cats, I went into the room where Mia was located and she instantly ran over to me and her motor was just a running. She purred the whole time I was holding her and never asked to be let go. I was hooked!  She took the 30 minute drive home all in stride and proceeded to check out every single room in my house when we walked in. She is still a little unsure about Josie, but I'm seeing lots of progress in the past few hours. I know that takes time. Josie is a bit jealous, so I'm spending lots of quality time with her today. It helps that Mia prefers my sister's bedroom (my sister lives with me) instead of mine. That is still Josie's space.

The most unique thing about Mia is that all four of her paws are different colors.  You can see the front two in the pictures.

Just wanted to share Mia with all of you!  Looking forward to many years with this beautiful girl.


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## caseypooh (Dec 30, 2010)

Oh My Gosh!!!!! Mia is beautiful! I'm so glad you got her, kitty's are so special and she picked you, I'm so glad you posted. Every time we go to Petsmart I have to check in on the kittys that need homes. I wish I had more time, I would volunteer to play with them. She will become best friends with Josie. Please keep posting when you can, congratulations new mom!


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## abradshaw71 (Jan 13, 2014)

It was very hard to leave all of the other cats behind. They just wanted a home, too. They are well cared for at this shelter, so that makes me happy, but some of them have been there for so long.  

I ran home on my lunch hour and Josie was cat-sitting. Josie typically sleeps on my bed all day, but she decided to spend the day in my sister's bedroom to be near Mia. Not sure Mia was wanting that.


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