Cat Reviews and News

Toulouse Surgery Update

Toulouse was rushed to the After Hours Vet on Monday night at 2.30 a.m. and then stayed at our local veterinary surgery for two nights to monitor his recovery before coming home for a night. Then things took a serious turn so you are getting a major Toulouse surgery update sooner than we expected.

As you can imagine this turned our world and our sleep patterns upside down but he is OK. Here’s what happened…

Sunday Selfie graphic and a cartoon lady and her cat

Toulouse Last Monday

He was not healing as he should.

The kind of blockage that caused our overnight vet visit usually follows a set path. Pain relief is administered and then a catheter is put in to allow the cat to pee. This then flushes out a lot of the crystals and debris that blocks up the cat. With the help of urinary food the cat’s issues often resolve. (Yes, it is longer and more complicated…)

Tabby with medicinal cone

After two nights at our local veterinary surgery with vets we absolutely trust, Toulouse was not getting any better and our vet Dr. Alice felt he might need more serious surgery or the painful problem would recur often and could easily put his life at risk.

Toulouse needed a perineal urethrostomy (see description below). This is major surgery but, thankfully, Lower Hutt has New Zealand’s finest feline veterinary surgeons who visits locally to operate.

Our local vets insisted Toulouse would be totally safe with Dr. Andrew, who has a lot of important qualifications, and who they value very highly indeed. So, we moved all our commitments around and turned the world upside down to make sure he could attend the Friday clinic at PetVet for an operation that would save him a lot of pain and future suffering.

Tabby with medicinal cone

A perineal urethrostomy (sometimes referred to as a PU) is a surgical procedure that is most commonly performed on male cats with a urinary obstruction. This procedure removes the narrowest part of the urethra (the tube that transports the urine from the bladder to the exterior of the body), allowing easier urination along with a lower risk of re-obstruction.

VCA Animal Hospital (explainer)

Toulouse was delivered (nil by mouth from 9 p.m. the previous evening) to Dr Andrew who spoke to us about what he would be doing and how we would need to monitor Tooly when he went home. Then we left the boy at PetVet for his perineal urethrostomy and an overnight stay for monitoring at the clinic.

Medication

After coming home Tooly is on Gabapentin (2x per day) and Meloxicam (x1 per day) with a Fentanyl patch (for stronger pain relief) that will be removed in four days time by our local vet.

‘This Cone Shall Not Pass’!

Cone of Shame Struggles

Saturday we were able to collect Toulouse from PetVet.

Apparently he caused much amusement to the vet nurses as he is a wriggler, and he charmed them all in spite of not liking his ‘cone of shame’! The nurses said he would need the hard plastic cone to avoid licking his incision so armed with this, we took him home.

  • The first thing he did was bolt straight out the cat flap and across the garden but, being woozy I managed to grab him and bring him back inside!

You can see from the photograph that the cone stayed on for a bit….. OK it stayed on for about three minutes then he wriggled out of it and we had to rethink the protection of his incision and the Fentanyl patch he might be able to lick.

Tabby with medicinal cone

We reverted to the more flexible circular collar (blue in the photos) and bandaged a trainer sock firmly on to his paw with the patch.

We had a packet of two of the socks (you know the kind that look too small to fit a human until you put them on and they stretch?) This stops him nibbling at the patch and keeps him away from the incision although we are keeping a close eye on his behaviour and later added a second sock to make absolutely sure.

Hungry Toulouse

When we got him home Toulouse ate and ate and ate. Two full sachets of urinary food with his Gabapentin! The medication makes him slightly spaced out and keeps him less agitated while he is on crate rest which is no bad thing.

  • The crate rest will be for three weeks; with two more weeks of house arrest.

Patient of the Day

The nurses awarded Toulouse a certificate for being their brave Patient of the Day after his serious surgery. We are very proud of this and I will get it framed for him.

I will report further as Toulouse gets better.

Certiciate for a cat from Vet Surgery

Savannah Pawtracks

This week saw the passing of our great friend and blogging colleague Savannah from Savannah’s Paw Tracks. She along with Seville and Dash had several adventures together that crossed three blogs over a period of time. They were fun and her loss is a truly sad one.

16 thoughts on “Toulouse Surgery Update”

  1. He must be feelin’ way better if he’s eatin’ and eatin’. YAY!!! And I love how the nurses and doctors recognised him as bein’ such a great kitty by awardin’ him Patient of the Day. PURRS

    Reply
  2. I pray he recovers well. I get the feeling the next few weeks will be the hard part for all of you, keeping him quiet and still, but once that’s over, he will be fine.

    My condolences to all who knew and loved Savannah.

    Reply
  3. What a time Toulouse has had…and not a good one! I hope he heals quickly and is back to normal soon. He deserves that award.

    Reply
  4. I have been out of the loop a bit lately and didn’t know of Toulouse’s problems. I am glad he has had the surgery and hope he heals well.
    Thank you for your lovely card and good wishes which came during the week.

    Reply
    • Don’t worry. It came on quite suddenly. We thought a simple UTI but it developed suddenly into this! You are caught up fine 🙂

  5. Mee-yow Miss Marjorie wee did not nose that poor Toulouse was havin health issuess! Wee apawlogize!!
    Toulouse you were so brave an strong….wee sendin you tripeel POTP an purrayerss an <3 <3 <3 an Whit eLite of Healin'.
    Rest lotss an eat well an hydrate an rest sum more OKay???
    ****purrss**** BellaDharma an ***blowss kissess*** BellaSita Mum

    Reply
  6. dood….me unkle boomer had thiz pro seedure when him waz bout two yeerz oh age ~~
    sendin mor st francis’ blezzingz two ewe buddy, eye noe ewe will bee aye oh kay way better
    …boomer sure waz !!! ♥♥♥

    mackerull

    Reply
  7. Oh, poor Toulouse. What a brave kitty you are! Purring for you, and wishing you REFUAH SHLEMA (a complete healing).

    Reply
  8. Thank goodness for your excellent Vet service team and surgeon. Now the long haul to freedom and good health for the lad, and peace of mind for you and Paul. Such devoted and caring parents, hopefully at the end of this good karma will reward you. If it hasnt already with that car repair going so well.
    Best wishes to all
    ERin & Mrs H

    Reply
  9. Wow, what an update. Poor Toulouse and all of you have really been through it! Brian’s right, Toulouse — you surely DID earn that award. We’re continuing to send love and healing purrs your way. XO

    Reply
  10. Oh my, that does sound like serious surgery and a lot for a kitty to go through. We’re sending a chorus of purrs for Toulouse to have a rapid recovery!

    Reply
  11. Your poor guy, that’s a lot to go through and he sure deserves that patient award. Heal swiftly sweet boy, you got this!

    Reply
    • Thnk you Brian and Terry. He has a road to travel but he has us and a great vet team to help.

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