Painful urination (not a UTI)

[Blue]

Maisie has been squeaking/whimpering while peeing. She was on Clavamox for 2 weeks, and yesterday at the vet they got a urine sample and it was found to be clean. Yay! But just now, she whimpered again

Her pee is clear and is a normal amount. Her bloodwork came back good on all counts: glucose, liver, kidneys. She had an xray relatively recently and they didn't see any stones -- although they weren't looking for that specifically, so maybe they could have missed small ones?

The only other thing I can think of is that since she has lymphoma, there could be tumors (or wall thickening?) in her bladder (or elsewhere in the urinary tract?). She was checked yesterday for tumors. The one in her neck has disappeared (!!!) but the vet thought maybe he felt some in her leg/groin area. Her belly was too tight/fat for him to be able to palpate there without hurting her, so he didn't.

So what do you guys make of this? What could it be?

- tiny stones? but wouldn't there be blood in her pee?

- tumors in her urinary tract?

- something else?

We have another appointment in two weeks. I'll also e-mail the vet on Monday. Are there any other possibilities you can think of for us to check? Thanks for any help you can provide !

[Heather]

Stones usually show up very clearly in the bladder with an xray. I can't see how they'd miss them. Any tumours in the area should have come up as a shadow in the xray, especially if they were looking for them. Do you have access to an ultrasound?
She may still have a urinary tract infection. It may be it's resistant to the antibiotic or was deep enough that it requires another round of antibiotic

ciao

[Sherry]

One thing that may be possible is bladder spasms due to the bladder wall thickening, if it is.

[Blue]

Thanks Heather! Her last x-ray was a couple of months ago, and we were looking at her lungs at the time. And the last ultrasound was a couple of months before that, so probably outdated now. So it sounds like new ones might be helpful. But would the urinalysis come back clean if she still has an infection? She's on Clavamox for another 10 days, though at a lesser dose (0.1 instead of 0.3 mg).

Thanks Sherry! Bladder spasms seem like the best-case scenario here. Is bladder wall-thickening common for lymphoma? Or would it be due to the infection? Or something else?

Her pee puddles have seemed larger in the last couple of days, I don't know if that's symptomatic of something. The bloodwork indicated that her kidneys were fine. I was so happy that the tumor in her neck had disappeared! And she seemed to be walking better. But I know this isn't really going to have a happy ending. One day at a time, I guess, and as little pain as possible is the goal. Thanks for your help, as always.

[Heather]

I would be tempted to do a follow up xray....but that's just me
ciao

[Blue]

Thanks! We're seeing him again next week. In the meantime he bumped her Clavamox back up to 0.3 ml, so I'm hoping that will fix it. Otherwise... to the machine!

[Sherry]

I agree on another xray at least. And yes, the cancer can cause it to thicken. Which then means the bladder has to work much harder to push out the urine.

[Blue]

I'm following up, just because I think any information adds to our database of ferret knowledge... We saw the vet this morning, and got an x-ray. No stones, but Maisie has a large tumor, a little bigger than a golf ball, right above her bladder. So it's probably that. It's not entirely unexpected, she's had lymphoma since January. It's just that I'd been so encouraged when the tumor in her neck shrank. We're increasing her prednisolone and her pain meds.

She also kindly provided them with a pee sample (and a poop sample!) so we're doing a urinalysis... although that was before we knew about the tumor. So maybe not much point to it. But who knows.

In the meantime, she's still quite happy, she loves her food, and even managed to walk on the hardwood floor briefly instead of just scrabbling. We're enjoying our time together and cuddling lots.

[bandit]

Are they able to do surgery to remove the tumor?

[Blue]

Sadly it wouldn't make sense to do surgery, although I did briefly consider it anyway. She already has other (much smaller) tumors in her neck and probably her legs. Lymphoma generally isn't a good candidate for surgery because it's in the lymphatic system, which is throughout the body. She was diagnosed in January. I've been lucky to have so much extra time with her. Until now she had been responding really well to the prednisolone. It shrank the tumor in her neck. I'm hoping the higher dose will help with this one but it seems unlikely at this point. Thanks for asking.

[bandit]

I'm so sorry. I will pray the higher dosage helps.

[abbeytheferret6]

I am sorry about your Maise. Bless her heart. May the rest of her time with you be happy ones.

[Sherry]

She's a fighter for sure. Hoping the increased pred does the trick this time as well.

[fuzzysmama]

I’m sure this isn’t helpful in this particular fuzzy’s situation, but in case anyone else encounters this, our girl did the same (whimper when urinating), but has stopped since the lasix started working. It appears painful urination can be due to excess fluid in the belly. (Vet suspects heart issues as the cause in her case; she had lung fluid as well).

Just wanted to mention in case it’s helpful to anyone, and I hope Maise and her family are at peace.

[msav]

Taz had this issue, for a couple of years, took him to 3 different vets, they could not find an issue. I turns out it was cardiomyopathy. he passed away last year due to heart complications