Please help Biggie with his Urinary Surgery! (so he can pee)

Dear family, friends, and animal lovers,

My name is Rubi and I am the fur-mom to Biggie. I adopted Biggie in the winter of 2019 when he was abandoned at the local rescue with his litter, and he was the runt of his litter. He became one of my emotional supporters during the lockdown, and he helped me through some difficult times. He is an energetic little cat who is full of spunk, energy and life. I have been on medical leave from work for the past year and am in a financially difficult place.

On July 2nd, my partner and I noticed that Biggie was straining and having issues urinating so we rushed him to our regular vet for a check up, and from the exam and an urinalysis test, we were told Biggie has a condition called “Feline Idiopathic Cystitis” which is a type of feline lower urinary tract disease that causes inflammation of the bladder. Since his inflammation was severe, he had developed bladder crystals in his urinary tract that had caused a blockage leading to his inability to urinate. We were given some medication for pain, as well as some to help dissolve the blockages in hopes he would be able to urinate on his own; as well as a prescription for urinary food to help with future blockages. But we were told that he would have a high chance of having a blockage again. Biggie finished his course of medication and seemed to be back to his normal self and was able to urinate.

About 2 weeks later (July 21), we noticed again that he had begun to strain, having difficulty urinating, as well as urinating in places where he shouldn’t be - which is a sign that he was experiencing a blockage again. We rushed him to the Vancouver Animal Emergency Center where he received an emergency treatment to drain his bladder as it had become extremely full and firm, and was given fluids as he was quite dehydrated. We were able to take him home that night, but we just had to monitor him carefully to make sure he was able to urinate on his own.

The following day (July 22), we brought Biggie to our primary vet for a follow up as the emergency staff told us that he needed to get an X-ray on his bladder, as well as another bladder drain since he was still unable to urinate. Biggie was catheterized at the vet in order to drain his bladder successfully. We again were able to bring him home that night, but were told to monitor him closely. Biggie was doing fine after that vet visit. We monitored him closely the next day, but he was still straining a lot to urinate and not producing more than a couple drops which had blood in them. He seemed to be in a lot of pain despite being on pain medication, and was growing extremely frustrated after multiple trips into his litter box, and had begun to start growling as he exited the litter box.

Biggie was rushed back to our primary vet (July 24), they did an emergency exam and bladder drain with a catheter. We were told that the best course of treatment for him was to have him stay overnight so that his bladder could be flushed out continuously in order to ensure that all of the formed crystals were flushed out as well. Our primary vet wasn’t able to keep Biggie overnight and suggested that we bring him back to the VCA and have him admitted for monitoring. When we arrived at the VCA, they took Biggie in right away to have an emergency exam, and after speaking to the vet, Biggie needed to have a few more tests done to make sure his kidneys were functioning properly from all the bladder stress. After all the tests were done, the vets told us that Biggie needed to be hospitalized for 48hrs because he had been blocked twice already, and he needed to be monitored closely with a catheter so the bladder crystals could be flushed out.

We were able to pick him up on Friday night (July 26) as he was doing better and through all the bladder flushing he didn’t seem to be blocked anymore. The vet explained to us that Biggie was making attempts to urinate on his own, but still needed to be assisted in expressing his bladder due to the fact that his bladder muscles were having difficulty contracting on their own from all of the catheterization. They showed us how to do it at home in case he was still having issues with urinating and to bring him in the next day just to check to make sure his bladder was okay. When Biggie returned home, he seemed like his old self again, he did make some attempts to pee on his own but still wasn’t producing any urine. My partner and I tried to express him a couple times, but had much difficulty as Biggie wouldn’t allow us to and would wiggle out of our arms each time. We brought him back to the VCA that night just to make sure his bladder wasn’t full, and the vet examined him again and his bladder wasn’t full so we were able to go home that night.

On Saturday (July 27) he still hadn’t been able to urinate or be expressed, so we brought Biggie back in for his follow up check up on his bladder that morning, after his examination the vet told us that he had another blockage and would need to be catheterized, but since this was the 3rd time he had been blocked that they would need to perform a “Perineal urethrostomy” surgery on him to help with the urinary obstruction. At this point, we had already exhausted all of our emergency funds on his treatment, and we didn’t know how we would be able to afford the cost of the surgery. We were faced with the choice of having the surgery or to euthanize him to make sure that he wouldn’t continue suffering with urinary blockages. This was an extremely difficult decision as Biggie is only 4 years old and has so much life to live, and we were stuck in an extremely hard place. When they brought Biggie back into the exam room, we took one look at his face, and knew that there was only one choice to make, and it was to get him the surgery.

As Biggie would need to be hospitalized until the day of his surgery to ensure that his bladder was being drained, it would add another large cost along with the surgery. Luckily, the final vet that saw us that night - after we had admitted him for his stay prior to the surgery this week - was able to express him after he was sedated and told us that the reason he was having difficulty urinating was because his urethra muscles were spasming from all the catheterizations and not a blockage like they had originally thought. We were able to pick him home Saturday night for at home recovery, but he is still at a very high risk for developing another blockage which would mean that he would need the surgery. Although the vet was able to express him, we were advised to bring him in the following day (July 28) for another manual expression if he hadn’t urinated - which we ultimately needed to do. He was still experiencing the muscle spasms which wasn’t allowing him to urinate. We were told that we could continue to bring him in for another couple manual expressions to be done by the vet, but the surgery was still on the table, as it would potentially solve all of these issues.

We had previously tried to apply for pet insurance after his first vet visit, but were denied due to his condition being an incurable pre-existing condition which was not covered under any pet insurance companies. My partner applied for a 3rd party loan through the VCA that offered payment installments, but due to the high cost of the surgery, it would only cover a portion of the costs as we had used a big chunk of that up from all the visits to the ER the past week. This was the estimated cost for the surgery Biggie would need:

Perineal Urethrostomy Surgery → $7000

Along with all the surgery costs, hospitalization, emergency exams, medications, bladder drainages and tests since Biggie was first treated for his condition, we’ve accumulated almost $14,000 in vet bills.

As of right now surgery is his best option and only option, as he has had so many visits to the ER already and the problem is still ongoing. He was admitted this morning (July 28) for his urinary surgery. If anyone is able to help in any way with a donation to help pay off some of the bills we've accumulated, or even just a share, it would be so greatly appreciated by our little family.

We will be updating you all on Biggie's condition and recovery through this whole time. And we hope that he will be able to live a full and long life.

Love of love from,

Rubi, Che, Potato & Biggie