Duchess is home

[cjsmith]

They didn't get a urine sample. Her bladder simply does not fill. But she's straining a lot, and she did pass

several chunks of pinkish-white tissue

at the vet's this afternoon. He started her on antibiotics, gave her an anti-inflammatory to calm down the whole likely-infected area, and is sending the tissue to the path lab. I've got ten days' worth of antibiotics to continue. We'll figure out what ELSE needs to be done when the lab report comes back. I wish they'd started on the antibiotics yesterday, but I do admit they wouldn't have the tissue sample now if they had sent me home with pills yesterday.

Duchess is now in the bathroom, where I have taken up all the rugs, and she is, in vet parlance, "soiled". She's also obviously uncomfortable. I can't decide whether I want to bathe her because she'll be happier clean, or let her be because a bath is the last thing she wants to deal with right now.

I hope this is just a bad infection. A bad enough case could cause her to shed damaged bladder lining or urethra lining. The most obvious other possibility, sadly, is "a tumor" (I think my vet didn't want to say the C word).

Comments

[kennita.livejournal.com]

Not like I can understand just how much kitties hate water, but...

Might she find warm water with Epsom salts soothing, once she got over freaking out over being wet? Maybe in a container that would let her sit with her hindquarters in the warm water and her forepaws outside? Temperature and breeze control would be key, I'm sure, as would making sure that a warm fluffy towel was available immediately after getting out of the water.

Do soft strokes on her belly seem to hurt, or do they seem to feel better? Can she eat? Might catnip pleasantly distract her from the pain?

I hate thinking there's nothing I can do, so I keep trying to think of something, even about things I know next to nothing about -- like cats. I can only imagine how it must be for you. Hang in there. *pets* and *comforts* for both of you.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

She's going to have to have a bath (the damp cloth didn't do everything, not by a long shot). So I may as well try to make it soothing! She'll hate it, but it WILL soothe her tissues a bit.

She eats and drinks just fine. I'll toss in a catnip mouse and see what she does! Cool idea! That will tell me how perky she's feeling.

Thanks.