abigail414's diaryland diary
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Small Penis Problems
(Sung to the tune of �Tiny Bubbles�)
Tiny penis - on the cat - can stop working - just like that.
Male cats have disproportionately small penises, as you can see from the above picture. It is a marvel that they are so good at reproduction with such minimalist equipment.
This week I saw two �blocked cats� � meaning the penis has something (mucous/crystals) in it preventing urination, causing a large painful bladder, and eventually an electrolyte imbalance that leads to death by cardiac arrest.
Which is what the first blocked cat did in the waiting room of the clinic. The owner brought him in early while I was still at lunch, and the excitement of the trip caused the cat to let out a big yowl and die suddenly. I arrived to a dead cat in the treatment area, and our resident cat specialist telling me with a wry smile �this is your 2 o�clock, I didn�t do very well with it�. The poor guy must have spent days crying out in pain to get to that point - I think everyone with a male cat should learn the above song.
The second cat was brought in because it was �constipated� and kept the owner up all night. Upon exam, his bladder was a firm baseball - just like the dead cat's. I managed, with help, to unblock it as shown below.
Yes, that is a tiny catheter going up an anesthetized cat - I needed my reading glasses to find it. Once his penis was unblocked, his bladder was drained and flushed a few times, the catheter sewn in, and he was hooked up to a high rate of IV fluids for a couple days. On Sunday, he managed to destroy both his urinary and IV catheters. So, I squeezed his bladder regularly to be sure he wasn't re-blocking - no camera available, but he did in fact pee in a cup. He's eating and drinking and urinating on his own and looks like he�s going home Monday morning on antibiotics and a special urinary diet. We'll re-check his blood and urine in a week to be sure he's out of the woods. But, yay. One 'small' victory in a sea of veterinary chaos.
9:16 p.m. - 2006-09-10
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