Daggone it...urinary calculi

[cmjust0]

When I got home last night, he seemed to have responded to the dibenzyline.. He was still hurty, but we saw him stretch out and get a thin but persistent stream going without too much trouble...it was actually the best we've seen out of him in more than a week.

Needless to say, we were pretty stoked!

I went ahead and hit him with about 0.6ccs of Ketofen, 2.5ccs of Dex, and about 2.5ccs of penicillin. When I went to run some hay out there for them late last night, he literally RAN across the kid pen and practically attacked me for it.



I went out this morning and gave him about 0.3/0.4ccs Ketofen, another 2.5cc penicillin, and another drench with 7.5mg dibenzyline. It was raining a bit, so he was laying in the shed/hutch when I went out.. Then he saw that I had hay and jumped right up.. I had to skewer and waterboard him before I laid the hay down, but in the meantime I saw him pee again....another low-ish effort/high-ish production whiz.

So, he got his meds and promptly attacked the hay.

I haven't seen him this peppy in the morning since...jeez...I don't even know when.

I'm going to call the vet back today and get more dibenzyline.. I only have enough for one more dose, which he gets this evening.. I'm going to try to get enough to take him through the end of the week, if possible...they may not have enough...he gets 3 caplets 2x/day, which means he'll burn through in a week what would last a cat forever.. I don't think they keep too much of it on hand.

I'm also going to basically ignore the fact that he *seems* to be doing better (knock on wood) and hit him with at least one more shot of Dex -- I have two left -- and I'm going to put all 6ccs of Ketofen through him.. My fear is that if I don't get him to the point of effortless or near-effortless urination before stopping the meds, he may kick off more inflammation.

I don't wanna jinx anything, but I feel more positive today than yesterday...but more than that, I'm just glad to see the little guy acting like HE feels ok!

 

[Mini-M Ranch]

Sending you good vibes

I have been following your story with rapt attention. Everytime I see that you have posted again, I think, "Oh, I hope it's good news!"

Hopefully you are nearing the end of this crisis.

You're a good goat dad!

 

[cmjust0]

I was just reading another article about urinary calculi in goats, and it was talking about the shape of the 'sigmoid flexure,' the location of the bladder, etc.. Apparently, the bladder is up high in the back and the penis makes a pretty severe S bend at the sigmoid flexure...

No wonder the catheter wouldn't run all the way to the bladder! I'm sure the vet knew this, but I sure didn't... I actually thought we were in the bladder for the initial catherization, but we must not have been.. Oh well..

For future reference...and in any future events (none, hopefully)...I think I may skip the catherization/backflush unless they're TOTALLY blocked.. Seems like the risk of rupturing the urethra is greater than the value of the backflush, considering that you really can't get into the bladder anyway..

Instead, I'd go straight for a hard knock of Acepromazine to really loosen things up, a pizzle-snip whether he needed it or not, a shot of Baytril, penicillin, and a big shot of Dexamethasone with some Ketofen to finish.. I'd follow that with ketofen @ about 1.5-1.7mg/kg twice a day, dibenzyline @ +/-15mg/100lbs twice a day, 2x/day penicillin @ 1mg/15lbs, and daily drenches of ammonium chloride @ 300mg/kg -- all for about a week.. I'd add Dex @ 1mg/20lbs probably every other day or so after the initial blockage, too...plus fairly regular ultrasounds (every 3 days, at least) to monitor the progress of the dissolution of the calculi.

That way you're physically removing that last stricture, treating for pain and inflammation, preventing further inflammation, relaxing the sigmoid flexure, and dissolving the crystals -- and there's really nothing in all that's superduper expensive.

I know it wouldn't be successful all the time, but I really think a lot of bucks could be saved with the information that's come out of all the time and $$$ I've put into this little guy. I hope so, anyway..

I haven't heard any updates from my wife today.. I feel pretty good about it, though..like he's probably pretty OK out there. I'm by no means "cocky" about it, mind you...he could turn off bad, plug completely up, rupture his urethra or bladder, and wind up irretrievable at any moment, I know that...it's just that he seemed to be in rare form when I left him.

Little goat's name is Frank, btw...dunno if I mentioned that. He kept that newborn blue tint in his eyes for a long time, so we named him after ol' blue eyes...

Go Frank, go!



Edited to revise my plan of attack...got to thinking about all that Dex and all that Ketoprofen and decided that was probably a surefire way to start battling a GI bleed in the middle of the UC war.

 

[cmjust0]

Little guy was doing pretty well yesterday evening when I got home. Not too much effort, decent little stream.

I didn't get to see him pee this morning, but he was out and about and came for hay. He's looking a little rough around the edges at this point, and has lost a fair amount of condition...he's getting a lot of meds, though. He's also had two or three shots of dex and has been on penicillin for a long time. Dex really screws with their immune system..

I'm thinking he needs to be dewormed, could use some probios, maybe some b-complex, and probably needs some better quality hay.. I helped a buddy load a bunch of nice alfalfa a few weeks ago and he said he'd give me a few bales....might collect on that this evening.

Other than that...not much to report.

 

[cmjust0]

Wife just called and said she had a chance to go visit the little guy.. Brought them out some hay and he came running over and attacked it, as he's been doing the last few days.. She watched and watched, but never saw him make any attempts to pee. That's good, I think, because when he's full and blocked up, that's all he does. She did see him drink some water, so he's clearly moving liquid.

Said she left him eating hay and went to get the mail, then came back and sat a little longer...just wanted to see him try to pee. Instead, he decided he wanted to eat the mail.

Seems to be doing pretty well.

Ya know...It occurs to me that they need a big rock out there in their pen, or something like that.. Something to climb around on and play king of the mountain.. There's just nothing "interesting" in their lot, and I think that might do him some good...cheer him up, so to speak.

I think I'll see what I can scrounge up this evening, if it's not raining.

 

[cmjust0]

Went back to dribbling/straining again last night.. I'm just not sure what's going on anymore.

Gave more ketofen, and went ahead with another shot of Dex.. Drenched him with ammonium chloride, too, just in case it's a remnant stone. I'm out of dibenzyline, but there's more waiting at the vet's office. That helped him last time.

I saw him get another tiny stream going again this morning, but I'm really starting to think this is a losing battle. Can't keep him on meds forever, afterall.. What sucks so bad is that he was improving nicely, then BAM..

Still...part of me says he's come too far to go down now. Just doesn't seem right.

 

[cmjust0]

No real change over the weekend.. He's still moving urine, but it's drippy. I'm out of everything but dibenzyline.. No more Ketofen, no more Dex.. No more ideas..

Almost out of hope, too.

He still eats...he's still active... That's something, I guess.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

 

[m.holloway]

hang in there

 

[cmjust0]

Seems to be struggling more day by day without anti-inflammatory meds, but the meds didn't exactly seem to have him on the road to recovery either... I think they were just keeping him in limbo...no better, no worse. He can't stay on them forever..

Not very hopeful at this point.