A Happy Mystery

Renn’s latest visit to the veterinary produced unexpected but good results. My big boy was treated to an ultra-sound examination which revealed that the mass that was in his bladder is gone. His bladder was empty. There was not a trace of the mass.

This mystified the doctor, as she frankly admitted. She had not thought, you may recall, that the mass was either a tumour – due to where in the bladder it formed – or bladder-stones – because of the shadow that it threw. (Furthermore, Renn had gained a little weight since his last doctor’s visit, evidence against a tumour.) Yet the veterinary stated that a polyp usually doesn’t disappear in quite the same fashion, or so quickly. The most she could diagnose is that the mass was caused by ‘idiopathic cystitis’: in other words, an inflammation of the bladder without a specific cause; the internal equivalent of a ‘fever of unknown origin’.

Nonetheless, there does seem to be some continuing irritation of Renn’s bladder; it may be chronic. He had been given three units of Meloxicam anti-inflammatory medicine every day. I reduced that to two a day, as per the doctor’s prescription, to see if Renn’s body could be weaned off the drug. He then showed signs that the reduction was mildly harmful: he started leaving tiny urine spots in the litter, indicating that, as previously, he felt he had to wet but had nothing much to give. The situation was not as bad as it had been before he started on the anti-inflammatory, but it was headed in the wrong direction.

Now, Renn is receiving his usual three units, but only every second day. He is visiting the boxes with more purpose, leaving larger deposits less frequently. It is not quite as good as the results achieved from three units every day, but close enough to justify the reduction. These are the practical signs that whatever had occupied his bladder may have staged a minor return under the two units, but doesn’t care for the three, even if they come every other day.

Renn will stay on the Meloxicam for the foreseeable future, though next week, I plan to reduce its frequency to, perhaps, once every three days, while maintaining the same amount. However that works, my big boy is substantially better now, and we have medicine to keep him that way.