digger is sick again like last time

digger has the same crystals (not quite stones) of all sizes forming a sludge in his bladder and urethra as last year that formed a blockage last friday. the burbank vca had done a urinalysis just the day before and bladder xrays on friday and knew this but sent him home and told me to change his diet. when he couldn't pee and I was back at the vet just hours after they had released him they merely placed a catheter to relieve his bladder, removed it again and gave him back to me. when I questioned whether this would be enough "treatment" the doctor very rudely said "I wasn't listening" and that placing the catheter should have displaced the blockage.

of course it didn't. saturday mike had to rush him back to burbank where they repeated friday's exercise of merely relieving his bladder and speaking very condescendingly about placing digger on muscle relaxers.

of course the prescription that was nearly impossible to fill didn't work either. sunday mike took him to the eagle rock emergency pet clinic where they finally assessed his condition, started trying to flush out the crystals with saline, putting him on an iv, and most importantly not inserting and removing a catheter over and over.

the emergency clinic however closed monday at 8am so at 7am we picked him up and took him, fingers crossed, to studio city animal hospital where they continue to have him on an iv and a catheter. even though it was sutured in he manged to pull it out yesterday and last night.

there still seems to be a blockage and a large amount of crystals so who knows how long he will be at the vet. poor poor little guy.

UPDATE:so the doctor seems to think the bladder has less or no crystals, it's just the blockage in the urethra that's gotten worse and worrysome. plus digger's not eating and acting really uncomfortable. the doctor ordered a mini panel to make sure he's doing ok and his kidney's aren't backing up but those came back fine, so they think it might be the pain meds and are going to back off on those. next steps are another xray and an ultrasound to see what's going on in the urethra. hang in there little guy! Posted by nanapodes at June 22, 2004 9:16 AM