I was scanning today when a potentially blocked cat came in on emergency and it dawned on me that I had never scanned a blocked cat.
I was scanning today when a potentially blocked cat came in on emergency and it dawned on me that I had never scanned a blocked cat.
- Is there any benefit in scanning a blocked cat?
- Can you visualize a urethral plug or only stones blocking the urethra?
- Wouldn’t it be a good idea to scan to assess the bladder wall, stone/sediment, or rule out TCC?
- Does anyone routinely scan these blocked cats as part of their diagnostic work up?
Thanks for your answers in advance! 
Comments
Lots of blocked cats have
Lots of blocked cats have urethral and bladder calculi or also interstitial cystitis or even small bladder rents. You can image the pelvic urethra 3-4 cm caudal to the CUJ to see distal obstructions and having scanned tons of blocked cats I can tell you that proactively knowing the whole story before simply unblocking a cat will help manage the case much more efficiently and avoid surprises.
Scanning all blocked cats
Scanning all blocked cats does not seem to be the norm, at least in clinics I have worked in. Although with more clinics coming on board with ultrasound in their practices, maybe it will be. There is just so much that can be going on in those crazy bladders!
I scan all cases. Recent
I scan all cases. Recent case: managed as for urethral obstruction. Turned out to have bladder wall tumor with a hematoma causing the obstruction.
That would be my biggest
That would be my biggest concern, bladder tumors.
Young cats very very rarely
Young cats very very rarely get tumors.. unless bladder lsa. Mosty presentations that look like tumors are bad innterstitial cystitis wiht tumor like appearance. The youngest tcc cat I have ever seen was 10 years old. If you search cat bladder tumor you get this:
http://sonopath.com/members/case-studies/search?text=cat+bladder+tumor&species=All
look at the histopath trends…. so be very very careful calling a cat bladder mass if he/she hasnt had a good long life:) When in doubt get histopath because some of these bladder masses are LP chronic inflammation… feline inflammatory bladder disease and can perforate and some are manageable on steroids but have to get histopath first. Nothing published but its there and I have some cases. Problem is noone gets histopath on these so tough to put up numbers. Blocked cats will often have this scenario and some have clean bladder walls one day and thick ugly ones a week later wiht sand and stones that come and go… so also always scan right before the cystotomy so you know that things have not changed.
Its an out of the box disease… because they are cats:)