Woodee, Cancer Survivor 5 years..Impacted Anal Glands

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Jean and Charcoal

Jean and Charcoal

Member Since 2009
Hi Everyone,

I just lost my Ketchie last Thursday, on Feb. 21, 2013, and have three cats left.

Thought I might get a respite, but last night, my Woodee was having a bowel movement and scraping along the throw rugs and floor afterwards. I figured he had something wrong. Also, Jibber, and Cookie got into a fight with him. I don't know if it is because he did not feel well, or they are fighting over who is going to be the Alpha male in the house now that my sweet Ketchie is gone. She was the 'queen' of the house.

I took Woodee to my vet's this afternoon, and he had severely impacted anal glands. I had the vet do a full blood panel on him, and also a urinary check to see if he had protein (a little she said) or blood in his urine. He has had problems in the past with urinary troubles.

A friend of mine had told me that I should put cortisone cream on his rectal area, but I asked the vet about using cortisone, and she said definitely not, because he might lick it off and it could cause problems if he got too much in his intestines. Does anyone here use cortisone on their cats?

I know that I used to think it was okay to put Hydrogen Peroxide on my cats' ears when I checked their blood glucose each day before their insulin, but then found out that was bad to do. The peroxide causes the skin to thin out, and also my cats' ears were turning red (they were both black cats).

Just wanted to see if anyone here uses cortisone cream on a regular basis. She said she rather keep him on Buprenex, for the urinary and anal pain when needed.

Any comments? She is going to call me on Thursday morning with his bloodwork results.

I will update. Please pray for my boy. He is an orange tabby boy. He had fibrosarcoma and was only given one year to live, and that was over five years ago!

Woodeesincisionanddrain.jpg
Woodee in December of 2007

Jean and Charcoal (GA)
 
Poor little chap! He's been through the wars!

I can't help you with the cortisone Q, I can only wish him well. He's hoping it's just his glands that are the problem.
 
Just what "cortisone cream" are you talking about?
I have used, with vets approval OTC hydrocortisone cream for my Thunder when he lick the fur off his back.
 
No advice to share but you know you can count on prayers for poor lil Woodee and for YOU too! I love Woodee's name it reminds me of Woody Guthrie.
j.
cat_pet_icon
 
A warm, wet compress applied to the area may help the anal glands discharge properly ... if he'll let you do it.
 
imho, I would only put that on an area that he could possibly lick while wearing a cone of shame. That way the medicine could soak in
but he couldn't get to it.

Poor Woodee... I hope the vet was able to express them and he doesn't need multiple visits...
 
Thanks, everyone for your words of advice and comfort for my little Woodee boy.

Hey, Jeanne, he was named Mr. Orange when we first adopted him in 2004 when he was only one year old. When he came into our house with the old wooden pine floors, he blended right in, and thus I chose to call him "Woodee" for that reason. Plus, my cats have the double ee's sometimes, in remembrance of my first dear cat, named "Squeegee". When we brought him inside as a stray in 1992, he was so sweet, and he appeared to be a female, so my husband started calling him "Sweetie", and then the vet let us know he was a neutered male, so I saw a little Squeegee thing I had to wash windows, and turned his name into that since he would not get too confused.

Since then, even Heather and Seasaidh on this board, who knew me back when I had Squeegee, since we both had FIV+ cats, named one of her cats Squeegee Honey Cat Jr. I believe. She loved the name and did it in memory of my boy. I always thought that was nice.

Well, I have not heard from my vet's yet. It is one pm almost, so I may wait another few minutes and then call over there. Maybe she had surgery, or the bloodwork results were not in yet. Won't hurt to call.

8e610594-ab81-4e2f-bb05-b64c11ce861b_zpsc52fc915.jpg
 
Jean

Woodee is so pretty. I hope he gets to feeling better soon. Did they express his anal glands? What did they say about it? You sure have had a hard time lately and I hope things start looking up.

Terri
 
Thanks, Terri and Jeanne!

Yes, Terri, she expressed his full anal glands. She said they were packed. Do you know if there is anything that specifically causes that in some cats moreso than others? I remember my Smokey and Charcoal and Speckles (all siblings) always did the anal squirting thing, that STUNK like crazy, and so they never had a problem.

To BJ, yes I think a warm compress on him, maybe once or twice a day, may help. Thanks for the tip.

I have a lousy stye on my left lower lid I just noticed yesterday. I dug Ketchie's grave this past week, and my eye goes goofy. When I dug my May-Belle's grave in November, 2012, my right eye went whacky. Maybe something in the dust from the dirt? Or just stress. I put warm compresses on my eye, and I am using Erythromycin meds I have for my teeth. My daughter is a PA and she said they give people Erythromycin cream for these things. Usually caused by staph. Ugh......

Called the vet's. She should be calling soon.
 
Just heard from vet. Woodee's bloodwork is great she said, and he only had a little protein in his urine. She wants me to keep him on Buprenex for the urinary troubles he has, but otherwise, he is doing well, for his age of almost 10.

:)
 
Jean

I don1t know what would cause impacted anal glands in a cat. I have never had a cat with that before. Your probably are having stress from losing Ketchie. My goodness you sure have been through a lot lately. I hope it gets better soon and Woodee get better. Are Jibber and Cookie doing alright?

Terri
 
Late to this thread, Jean!!
So glad to get an update on Woodee - I was wondering how he got on. Hope the problem is over now.
Good news about his blood work!

Love the photo of Woodee on the floor - gee, you could easily step on him by accident! :shock:

I'm sure you got your stye and other eye problems from stress, over having to PTS and then bury your cats, each time.

Please God, you will have a time of peace.... and the same goes for your cats, who need to get their hierarchical issues sorted out without a fuss!
 
The anal gland thing can be recurrent for some cats.
Deborah and Shasta in trforum.... she has learned to express them herself and has to do it fairly often for Shasta.
She might have words of wisdom.
 
Thanks everyone!

I don't know if I could do that gland expressing myself. The vet had to go up his rear end from inside to do it. UGH.... It took me FOUR tries to get him into the pet carrier just to go over there yesterday! He is very strong.

I will try to find Deborah and Shasta and ask her about her cat.

Thanks for the info and prayers! Hard to believe it is March 1st already!!!
 
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