Emergency Vet Jenny, Kitchener, ON (2026)

10/16/2026

POV: investigating a blocked male cat… and finding part of the problem 👀🐱

In this case, I’m extruding the prepuce and you can see a buildup of debris in the distal prepuce. This can be made up of:�🟡 dried urine/crystals�🟡 inflammatory debris�🟡 mucus/urethral plugs�🟡 dirt/litter contamination

Important to note — this wasn’t the actual blockage, but it definitely wasn’t helping. The true obstruction was further up the urethra, which is much more typical.

Male cats are unfortunately very prone to urinary blockages due to their long, narrow urethra. Common contributing factors include:
* urinary crystals or stones
* inflammation (FLUTD/FIC)
* stress
* diet (especially low moisture intake)
* obesity

A cat that cannot urinate, or is having difficulty urinating is a life-threatening emergency 🚨

10/16/2026

What you’re watching here is a cat’s urinary bladder on ultrasound, filled with debris (those tiny white flecks floating around). It looks a bit like a snow globe ☃️ I’m flushing it with sterile saline through a urinary catheter placed to relieve a urethral obstruction—a painful, potentially life-threatening condition we commonly see in male cats, known as being a “blocked cat”

Typically when a blocked cat comes in we:
* Confirm the obstruction with a physical exam and ultrasound
* Immediate pain relief is key—these cats are hurting
* Place an IV catheter, and connect them to ECG monitoring
* Bloodwork is performed to check for elevated kidney values (azotemia) or high potassium (hyperkalemia), etc
* Emergency meds may be needed to stabilize the heart if potassium is dangerously high
* Next we sedate and place a urinary catheter to relieve the obstruction (sometimes in more emergent or severe cases a relief cysto may be performed prior to unblocking and sometimes sedation may not even be needed)
* Most stay hospitalized for about 72 hours, with the catheter removed around the 48-hour mark. If they’re urinating on their own, they can head home with meds and a plan for lifestyle changes

Blocked cats need emergent care, if your cat ever has difficulty urinating seek care from your veterinarian immediately!

10/14/2026

Another day, another blocked cat 🚨🐈‍⬛

Not a day goes by that I don’t see a male cat with a urinary obstruction. This is an ultrasound of a distended bladder.

When a cat can’t urinate, urine backs up and the bladder becomes dangerously distended. As waste products and electrolytes build up in the blood, potassium becomes one of our biggest concerns. When potassium gets too high (hyperkalemia), it can interfere with the electrical activity of the heart, causing dangerous arrhythmias and potentially cardiac arrest.

Male cats are much more prone to urinary obstruction because their urethra is long and narrow. Female cats can obstruct, too, but it’s significantly less common (I’ve only seen one thus far!)

🐾 So, how do we treat a blocked cat?

🏥 Hospitalization: Most uncomplicated cases need around 48-72 hrs or longer

🩺 Urinary catheterization: We place a urinary catheter to relieve the obstruction and allow the bladder to drain

💧 IV fluids: These help restore hydration, support the kidneys, and help correct electrolyte abnormalities

🧪 Monitoring: We recheck bloodwork, particularly kidney values and electrolytes like potassium, to ensure they normalize

Around 48 hours, depending on the case, we remove the urinary catheter and monitor closely to see if they can urinate on their own. If they can, they go home with pain/anti-anxiety medication, and antibiotics if needed

⚠️ A blocked cat is an emergency. Watch for frequent trips to the litter box, straining, crying while trying to urinate, producing little or no urine, vomiting, or lethargy. These signs can initially look like constipation, so don’t assume your cat is just having trouble pooping.

If your cat is straining to urinate or producing little to no urine, don’t wait!

10/13/2026

Happy Thanksgiving 🦃 🎃

I surprisingly didn’t have any thanksgiving themed cases this weekend. No ingestions of any thanksgiving food! Just ingestion of tulip bulbs 🌷 not really a thanksgiving theme LOL

10/02/2026

50k friends on the internet! 🥰 thanks for being here ❤️ if you ever have any specific things you want to see, let me know!

-xoxo Jenny and Josie (all the cats love you guys too but they’re too busy causing trouble rn)

10/02/2026

POV: You’re a cat bite abscess and today is not your day 😬💀

This cat came in with a painful, swollen abscess caused by a bite wound. Cat bites can look tiny on the outside, but those little punctures can trap bacteria underneath the skin, creating the perfect environment for an abscess to form.

After draining and flushing the abscess, we can treat the infection with antibiotics and help get this kitty back to feeling well again.

🐈‍⬛ Cat bite = always take it seriously! Even a tiny puncture wound can turn into a nasty infection

10/01/2026

🚨 When feline asthma becomes an emergency🚨

This cat presented with severe difficulty breathing and marked abdominal effort that had been progressing for days.

He had a known history of asthma and was using a Flovent (fluticasone) inhaler twice daily, but did not have a Ventolin (salbutamol) inhaler at home.

On examination, his respiratory effort was severe, with prominent abdominal push and harsh lung sounds. Interestingly, TPOCUS and APOCUS were unremarkable — there was no obvious pleural effusion or pulmonary edema to explain the severity of his respiratory distress.

So we took radiographs… and this is what we found 👀

🫁 1. Mild bronchial pattern with secondary pulmonary hyperinflation The changes are most consistent with feline asthma/chronic bronchitis, likely driven by allergic or inflammatory disease. Infectious disease is considered less likely.

🫁 2. Right middle lung lobe collapse This is most consistent with mucous plugging — a common complication of chronic lower airway inflammation. Thick mucus can obstruct an airway and cause the portion of lung beyond it to collapse.

🦴 3. Chronic right-sided rib fractures There were also multiple chronic rib fractures, and he did not have a history of trauma, so chronic respiratory disease and repeated forceful respiratory effort likely contributed to this injury.

He was given Ventolin, a bronchodilator that rapidly relaxes the airway smooth muscle, and he improved almost immediately. His respiratory effort decreased significantly and he was able to come out of oxygen.

This case is such an important reminder that feline asthma can be that serious. Honestly, when he first came in I automatically assumed pleural effusion (fluid in the chest) or cardiac (heart) or neoplastic (cancerous) origin since he had such severe symptoms.

And while inhaled corticosteroids like Flovent are an important part of long-term asthma management, they don’t provide the rapid bronchodilation needed during an acute asthma crisis. He went home with a Ventolin inhaler to use in a respiratory crisis as well as oral prednisolone for longterm use.

09/30/2026

My sweet little Jingle 🥹🖤 (one of the two formerly known as the “basement cats”) has been having some coughing issues lately.

I had a really bad feline asthma case at work yesterday, and then this morning I heard Jingle cough and immediately thought, K.. I should probably take some chest X-rays of my own cat 😂🫠

Ever since she developed pneumonia after her spay, she’s had an intermittent cough. But recently, I’ve noticed that it’s been happening a little more often.

I took some not-so-straight chest X-rays today (with the help of my tech friend, obvi 👯‍♀️) and sent them off to a radiologist. The report came back most consistent with chronic lower airway disease, with differentials including feline asthma, infectious bronchitis, or parasitic bronchitis.

And honestly, this is one of those cases where the X-rays give us some information, but they don’t give us the whole answer, as is the case with lower airway disease.

A next step could be a BAL (bronchoalveolar lavage), where we collect samples from the lower airways to look for infection, inflammation, parasites, etc. I would absolutely pursue that if Jingle needed it — but for now, I don’t think we need to jump straight to an invasive diagnostic procedure without trying a simpler treatment first.

So for now, we’re going to trial a Flovent inhaler and see if it helps control her airway inflammation (and, equally importantly, see if she’ll actually tolerate having an inhaler held to her face…she was a stray cat so thoughts and prayers are needed)

If she improves, amazing! If she doesn’t, I’ll reassess and potentially take the next diagnostic step.

This is also a good reminder that cats can have asthma/chronic airway disease without looking obviously sick. Sometimes all you see is a persistent or intermittent mild cough.

09/12/2026

This is Piano, my patient. Piano and her kittens were lucky to be in the care of Ottawa Kitten Rescue when she suddenly became critically ill with septic mastitis, a severe and potentially life-threatening infection of the mammary glands.

Piano required multiple blood transfusions, prolonged hospitalization, intensive medical care, and surgery to give her a chance at survival.

She was incredibly lucky to be in the care of Ottawa Kitten Rescue, who spent over $20,000 fighting to save her life ❤️

Thankfully, Piano made it through. But her case is a powerful reminder that the repercussions of not spaying/neutering your pets can be serious, from unwanted litters to potentially life-threatening complications for mom.

Spaying your cat helps prevent unwanted pregnancies and eliminates the risk of pregnancy-related complications like this. Please talk to your veterinarian about the right time to spay or neuter your pets.
And Piano? She’s one very lucky mama. 🥹🐾❤️

Emergency Vet Jenny

10/16/2026

10/16/2026

10/14/2026

10/13/2026

10/02/2026

10/02/2026

10/01/2026

09/30/2026

09/12/2026

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