Emergency care of a cat with a ruptured bladder
Clare Jones
Sunday, April 2, 2023
A 7-month-old domestic short-hair male neutered cat, Crumble, arrived at hospital after falling from a first floor window. He had vomited after the fall, presented as tachypnoeic, with pale pink mucus membranes and poor peripheral pulses. Crumble required shock rate intravenous fluids, methadone (Comfortan; Dechra) given at 0.3 mg/kg for analgesia, diagnostic imagining and blood tests. Blood tests showed uremia which indicated uroabdomen. Diagnostic imaging was limited because of pain. Additional analgesic methadone was given at 0.2mg/kg. The serosanguinous fluid drained from abdomen confirmed ruptured bladder. Continuous rate infusion (CRI) of fentanyl (Dechra) running at 3 mcg/kg/hour was initiated, and a plasma volume substitute as a bolus of gelofusine 5mg/kg bolus over 15 minutes was given to help stabilise hypotension. A urinary catheter was placed in preparation for surgery and noradrenaline CRI was started once under anaesthesia. Intravenous fluids were continued to help with uremia, and the broad spectrum antimicrobial co-amoxiclav 20 mg/kg was given, as well as fentanyl CRI for further analgesia. The patient remained in hospital to monitor uremia, hypotension and pain, as well as urine output. He was discharged after 3 days and seen back after 2 days to review.
Subscribe to get full access to The Veterinary Nurse
Thank you for vising The Veterinary nurse and reading our archive of expert clinical content. If you would like to read more from the leading peer-reviewed journal for veterinary nurses, you can start your subscription today for just £26.
Subscribing will enable you to:
- Stay up-to-date with current thinking and best practice in veterinary medicine
- Enhance your knowledge and understanding of all key clinical topics
- Achieve the mandatory requirement of 45 hours' documented CPD over a three-year period