Help Pay OJ’s Veterinary Bills
Donation protected
OJ’s Story:
OJ (yes, short for Orange Juice!) was born about 3.5 years ago, in a cat colony (supervised by a local rescue) just outside of Ottawa. Unfortunately, he was bullied by the other cats. They would attack him, which resulted in him losing all of his front teeth and part of his tongue. Because of the bullying, he ran away from the colony.
He eventually returned to the colony and was subsequently taken into the care of the supervising rescue. They put him into a foster home where he stayed for about 6 months. Nobody wanted him because he was too shy around people.
I adopted him just over a year ago. He has really come out of his shell since then and things were going great for him until last weekend.
The Problem:
On Saturday, January 27th, OJ was using his litter box and started crying out in pain. I took him to the vet and he was diagnosed with a urinary obstruction. This is considered a medical emergency - left untreated it will lead to kidney failure and eventually death.
To determine the cause of the obstruction, OJ was given x-rays and blood tests. These showed that he had struvite crystals in his urethra (caused by excessively alkaline urine).
The veterinarian anaesthetized OJ, placed a catheter, and performed urohydropropulsion (essentially flushed out the crystals with a saline mix).
He presented us with several options from here: 1) take OJ home and treat from there, 2) leave OJ at the veterinarian for 24-36 hours to receive IV fluids and have the urohydropropulsion done repeatedly ($2500), or 3) surgery to permanently widen his urethra (over $3000).
Because OJ’s blood test results were okay afterwards, we headed home with antibiotics, pain meds, muscle relaxants, a Feliway diffuser, and a special prescription diet (intended to change his urine pH).
OJ peed properly when we returned home, ate some food, and seemed in a good mood.
Unfortunately, this didn’t last. As the night went on, he was once again unable to urinate.
So, we returned to the vet at around 4am (approximately 12 hours after first arriving). A vet saw him right away and confirmed he was re-obstructing. The crystals had already come back.
She performed the urohydropropulsion procedure again and we went home. Before we left, she warned that we would probably have to come back if they were growing at this rate.
She was right.
We returned about another 12 hours later. OJ was only able to pee a drop or two whenever he went. His urine was also becoming bloody.
However, this time was not directly because of the crystals. The problem was that his bladder wall was becoming extremely irritated (from the crystals and from having been catheterized several times). This was causing him pain which was leading to increased tension in his muscles, decreasing his ability to urinate. The vet suspected this whole process was also making him anxious, making the muscle tension worse, and exacerbating the situation. She performed the urohydropropulsion once more for good measure and sent us home with yet another medication.
This was not the end of the saga, unfortunately. About 24 hours later, OJ began exhibiting symptoms similar to those of his original obstruction. We returned to the vet at about 2am.
After examining him, the vet suggested he get another x-ray since she believed he was constipated. The images confirmed this and he was treated with an enema as well as given a laxative to continue at home. The cause of the constipation was unclear (medication side effect, infection, and stress are all factors to consider) but the fact that it was not another urinary obstruction was good news.
OJ’s condition steadily improved until just over 24 hours later. His urine was increasingly bloody and he was yelping in pain after using the bathroom. For the fifth time in as many days, we went to the vet’s office.
Fortunately, he was not obstructed but his bladder wall and urethra were very inflamed. He was prescribed a steroid to combat the inflammation. We were given the good news that there were no new crystals but the vet was a bit concerned about the speed of his recovery. She said that things seem to be going slowly and that if we cannot get over this hump we may need to seriously consider pursuing surgery.
The End: (hopefully!)
As of this afternoon (Wednesday, January 31st) I am hopeful that he is finally on the mend and that we will not need surgery (although only time will tell). What I am left with now, regardless of the outcome, are the veterinary bills. Even though I initially chose the cheapest treatment option (other than euthanasia, which I was not interested in pursuing) the bills are unfortunately very expensive due to numerous re-visits and prescription medications.
So far, the tests + procedures + medications have cost about $1500. Additionally, OJ will need to remain on the prescription diet (about $3/day) indefinitely. Because stress can worsen the development of crystals, the vet also recommended continuing to use Feliway spray (about $30/month) even after OJ has recovered from this acute incident.
Because I’m a student (only doing a part-time research job on top of my studies) these bills are almost completely unaffordable. A single $5 donation (or even a few $1 donations) would be much appreciated.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read all of this. If you’re not in a position to donate, sharing this link and sending good vibes would also be really great!!
OJ (yes, short for Orange Juice!) was born about 3.5 years ago, in a cat colony (supervised by a local rescue) just outside of Ottawa. Unfortunately, he was bullied by the other cats. They would attack him, which resulted in him losing all of his front teeth and part of his tongue. Because of the bullying, he ran away from the colony.
He eventually returned to the colony and was subsequently taken into the care of the supervising rescue. They put him into a foster home where he stayed for about 6 months. Nobody wanted him because he was too shy around people.
I adopted him just over a year ago. He has really come out of his shell since then and things were going great for him until last weekend.
The Problem:
On Saturday, January 27th, OJ was using his litter box and started crying out in pain. I took him to the vet and he was diagnosed with a urinary obstruction. This is considered a medical emergency - left untreated it will lead to kidney failure and eventually death.
To determine the cause of the obstruction, OJ was given x-rays and blood tests. These showed that he had struvite crystals in his urethra (caused by excessively alkaline urine).
The veterinarian anaesthetized OJ, placed a catheter, and performed urohydropropulsion (essentially flushed out the crystals with a saline mix).
He presented us with several options from here: 1) take OJ home and treat from there, 2) leave OJ at the veterinarian for 24-36 hours to receive IV fluids and have the urohydropropulsion done repeatedly ($2500), or 3) surgery to permanently widen his urethra (over $3000).
Because OJ’s blood test results were okay afterwards, we headed home with antibiotics, pain meds, muscle relaxants, a Feliway diffuser, and a special prescription diet (intended to change his urine pH).
OJ peed properly when we returned home, ate some food, and seemed in a good mood.
Unfortunately, this didn’t last. As the night went on, he was once again unable to urinate.
So, we returned to the vet at around 4am (approximately 12 hours after first arriving). A vet saw him right away and confirmed he was re-obstructing. The crystals had already come back.
She performed the urohydropropulsion procedure again and we went home. Before we left, she warned that we would probably have to come back if they were growing at this rate.
She was right.
We returned about another 12 hours later. OJ was only able to pee a drop or two whenever he went. His urine was also becoming bloody.
However, this time was not directly because of the crystals. The problem was that his bladder wall was becoming extremely irritated (from the crystals and from having been catheterized several times). This was causing him pain which was leading to increased tension in his muscles, decreasing his ability to urinate. The vet suspected this whole process was also making him anxious, making the muscle tension worse, and exacerbating the situation. She performed the urohydropropulsion once more for good measure and sent us home with yet another medication.
This was not the end of the saga, unfortunately. About 24 hours later, OJ began exhibiting symptoms similar to those of his original obstruction. We returned to the vet at about 2am.
After examining him, the vet suggested he get another x-ray since she believed he was constipated. The images confirmed this and he was treated with an enema as well as given a laxative to continue at home. The cause of the constipation was unclear (medication side effect, infection, and stress are all factors to consider) but the fact that it was not another urinary obstruction was good news.
OJ’s condition steadily improved until just over 24 hours later. His urine was increasingly bloody and he was yelping in pain after using the bathroom. For the fifth time in as many days, we went to the vet’s office.
Fortunately, he was not obstructed but his bladder wall and urethra were very inflamed. He was prescribed a steroid to combat the inflammation. We were given the good news that there were no new crystals but the vet was a bit concerned about the speed of his recovery. She said that things seem to be going slowly and that if we cannot get over this hump we may need to seriously consider pursuing surgery.
The End: (hopefully!)
As of this afternoon (Wednesday, January 31st) I am hopeful that he is finally on the mend and that we will not need surgery (although only time will tell). What I am left with now, regardless of the outcome, are the veterinary bills. Even though I initially chose the cheapest treatment option (other than euthanasia, which I was not interested in pursuing) the bills are unfortunately very expensive due to numerous re-visits and prescription medications.
So far, the tests + procedures + medications have cost about $1500. Additionally, OJ will need to remain on the prescription diet (about $3/day) indefinitely. Because stress can worsen the development of crystals, the vet also recommended continuing to use Feliway spray (about $30/month) even after OJ has recovered from this acute incident.
Because I’m a student (only doing a part-time research job on top of my studies) these bills are almost completely unaffordable. A single $5 donation (or even a few $1 donations) would be much appreciated.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read all of this. If you’re not in a position to donate, sharing this link and sending good vibes would also be really great!!
Organizer
Anna Gow
Organizer
Ottawa, ON
