Our Cat, Roary's Bladder Stone Journey (So Far...) #HugYourCatDay

Today is National Hug Your Cat Day (which obviously in your home and mine it's celebrated  EVERY DAY)

Today we are hugging our Roary much, much closer than we ever have!

A HUGE thank you to Ann
at Zoolatry for this beautiful graphic!!!

Some of you know that Roary had emergency bladder stone surgery almost two weeks ago...more about that later, let's flashback to around March of 2023.

The only GOOD thing
about Roary's condition
is he is now cuddling with me
on the couch. He previously only cuddled with Lenny

I had noticed that Roary didn't seem to be passing enough urine and contacted the Vet. Roary is only two years old so our Vet rightfully assumed that he wasn't getting enough fluids and advised that I increase his fluid intake. One way to do that was to offer him chicken broth.

I remembered having featured broth for pets that was made by Caru quite some time ago. I reached out to them and told them about Roary's situation and they kindly offered to send me quite a few boxes of their wonderful broth!

****Rest assured while Roary is now on a special diet and can't have the broth, thankfully Levi loves it too and he is enjoying it in HIS food! Thank you Caru! We love you!

For a while that worked, Roary seemed as if he was back to himself. He absolutely LOVED the broth!!! Then, things got worse near the end of April. Roary's urine output had greatly decreased. We knew he HAD to be seen at the Vet!

Dr.Lewis's assistant, Dominique
was BEYOND GENTLE, LOVING AND KID
with our sweet boy.
You can tell she has cats of her own!
She brought Roary so much comfort!

We took him to the Vet and were shocked to discover that Roary had bladder stones. The Vet said he was FULL OF GRAVEL. Frankly, we were only shocked due to Roary's young age, he had most of the classic symptoms of bladder stones in cats:

Straining to Urinate 

Frequent Urination

Roary had MANY, MANY trips to the litter box with little output

Genital Licking

Passing Urine in Unusual Places

Roary NEVER urinated outside of the litter box until these occurred.

Blood In The Urine

One of Roary's favorite places to urinate was the bathtub where I discovered blood in his urine.

"It is believed that neutered male Burmese, Persian and Himalayan cats may be genetically predisposed to developing calcium oxalate stones."

Our Vet advised that we switch  Roary's food to Royal Canin Urinary S/O, all of us were hoping that the food would dissolve the stones which commonly happens. So Far Not in Roary's case.

His urine output became worse and worse and I became increasingly more worried during the month of May.

Right before Memorial Day our Vet decided it would be too much of a risk NOT to remove the stones surgically.  Memorial Day was right around the corner and no one wanted a Vet emergency during a holiday. We were blessed that our beloved and fabulous "Dr. Smiley" also known as Dr.Lewis consulted with the amazing and incredible surgeon, Dr.Corey and she agreed to do the surgery the next day.

From Left: Dr.Lewis, fat me, Lenny and Dr.Corey
This photo was NOT taken that day!
It was taken May 13th, 2023 at DePorre Veterinary Hospital's 65th anniversary
a post about that will come later!

Our fabulous Vet, Dr. Lewis and Roary's incredible surgeon, Dr.Corey make the BEST TEAM!

Dr.Corey said Roary was a "rock star" with his surgery, as well as his general demeanor whenever he is at the Vet. She was able to remove all the stones and sent them out to be cultured. Dr. Corey has been beyond gracious and sooo patient when I contacted her after the surgery with TONS of questions!

Recovery at home has NOT been easy. As most of you know it is incredibly difficult to keep a young cat inactive. He can't jump, run, etc. We boarded Levi for 3 days and 3 nights to give Roary peace and quiet. One of the girls at Levi's daycare suggested I get puppy pads. THAT was a brilliant suggestion, I went through about 30 in the first day Roary was home. (That was due to blood/leaking urine for the first few days.)

Roary has been a champ through ALL OF THIS!

I had two feeding areas set up for him and two litter boxes, (one in each room he would be in). He had two bowls of water and his water fountain in the kitchen.  He has been  cooperating and hasn't had much activity. Wish I could say I was doing as well.

I have stayed home (whenever Lenny can't be with Roary), virtually every day but twice to go to WW. Keeping he and Levi separate and trying to keep them both happy has been quite challenging!

Roary and Lenny ("Daddy")

Roary's sutures will come out this Thursday but we aren't out of the woods yet. The stone analysis came back and we were told that Roary has calcium oxalate stones (NOT good). The chance of the stones returning are roughly between 20 and 50%. Had they been struvite stones the food would more than likely dissolve them, with calcium oxalate stones there is a chance he will be like me and have stones all of the time which will more than likely involve another surgery to increase the size of his urethra so he can pass the stones on his own. That is an extremely intricate surgery and we are praying that doesn't happen!

Purrs and Prayers are most welcome to help prevent those nasty stones returning!

Roary is a champ and the best natured kitty!

We couldn't be more proud of him!

We fully intend to hug him not just today, but EVERY DAY that we are blessed to share our lives with him! Love our brave boy soooo much! He is gentle, kind and such a TROOPER!! Like Dr.Corey said, "He's a ROCK STAR!!" (I guess in more ways than one lol)