Simba Raspicuim of Doctors...

Hello, friends! Today I'm here to tell you about our family's odyssey with our beloved Simba Raspicuim. We started to notice that Raspicuim wasn't urinating enough and, for him, he was very quiet; that made us concerned, apart from the fact that, as many of you know, I have lovely friends who are mothers to many kittens, such as Hive account@actioncats and Hive account@annafenix, who recommended that I take him to the vet immediately, which we did.

The vet we took him to gave him treatment to help him go to the bathroom and sent him for an abdominal ultrasound. That same day, we took him to another center where they performed this test, and then we took him back to the vet. According to the test results, he had crystals in his urine, or what we know as grit. His recommendation was to operate, which made us very nervous. Following the recommendation of my friends, we decided to seek a second opinion, so we took him to Aproa, a well-known pet care facility here in my city.

We took him there, and after the consultation and examination, they advised us to have a catheter inserted, which would allow them to drain him without performing surgery as such, so we decided on this second option. We were all very nervous because any procedure involving general anesthesia and everything else has its risks, as the veterinarian explained to us, but it was either that or his condition getting worse, and, in truth, a more invasive operation was his last resort...

The doctor concluded that the reason for his urinary obstruction was his diet, as we used to alternate between wet food and dry food, and it was the latter that caused him this discomfort and complication... We thought we were doing the right thing, but we weren't. That's why I'm sharing this information with you, friends, so that you can take precautions, because there's nothing worse than seeing our pets suffer.

Apart from the financial aspect, since the tests that were performed, the surgery, and the medication, plus the medication they sent for his subsequent treatment, cost a lot of money, and at this time of year in my country, the economy is not doing well, we preferred to sacrifice other things for the health of our beloved Raspicuim. It was just when they put my beloved Raspicuim to sleep to insert the tube that I realized how much we loved him. I couldn't hold back the tears, and right then they took me out so they could attend to him.

Fortunately, everything went well. After he recovered from the procedure, they medicated and hydrated him. They didn't discharge him to go home, but with his IV for hydration and his catheter, and under strict instructions for his care and medication, we went home. We had three days of care, where we had to monitor his urine output, hydrate him, feed him, and watch him. At home, we took turns caring for him and bought his medicine, but we made a mistake: we should have bought him an Elizabethan collar, but since my daughter knew how to make one, we decided to make one to fit him, and that's what we did. Everything was fine up to that point.

At night, when he was more active, he struggled so much with that makeshift Elizabethan collar that he broke it, and in the early hours of the morning we had to make him another one out of a more resistant material until dawn, when we rushed out to buy him the collar they had prescribed. We had a terrible night with him, as he was very restless. We bought his collar and everything was more relaxed because, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break it or take it off; we breathed easier.

On the third day, which was this past Sunday, when it was time for him to be discharged, we took him to have everything removed, but since his treating doctor wasn't there, we finally decided that his doctor should be the one to see him; so it wasn't until yesterday that they removed everything. He was discharged for good, still on treatment and a diet for home, but he is much better now. We are now keeping him under observation to see how he is doing, but one thing is certain: Simba Raspicuim was happy to be free of everything they had put on him, including the infamous Elizabethan collar. Please take care of your pets and watch what they eat. Best regards!