07/10/2025
Pet of the month for September is the very handsome Lawrence!!
Unfortunately, poor Lawrence came to us as an emergency. His owners noticed him having trouble urinating and he was crying out in a lot of pain, so when they called our emergency line we told them to come straight down to us. He was first triaged by our nurse, who agreed he needed emergency treatment. Our vet examined him and diagnosed him with a blocked bladder, a very serious condition that can happen suddenly in male cats where they are unable to urinate. He was immediately admitted to our hospital, where he received strong pain relief and was placed on a drip to manage his dehydration. Blood tests revealed he had dangerously high kidney values, and had a life threateningly high potassium level! Luckily for Lawrence he had our brilliant team of vets and nurses to manage his electrolyte imbalance, and monitor his heart with our ECG machine. He had a sedative injection and an epidural to make sure we could comfortably place a urinary catheter directly into his urethra, and then his bladder was drained and thoroughly flushed. He then had a collection bag attached to his catheter so that his ongoing urine production could be measured. Once he had recovered from his procedure and was comfortable enough to travel, he was transferred to the RVC our out of hours provider for close ongoing monitoring over the weekend.
Lawrence spent three nights in hospital before his catheter was removed and he was discharged to continue his recovery at home. We are very pleased to report that he has been back to see us for his recheck appointments and he has been doing very well at home. His repeat blood tests show that his kidneys are functioning normally! He is on a special diet to help prevent future bladder problems. We are all so pleased that he is doing so well after his ordeal and wish him and his family all the best for the future!
