Ugh - End of our rope with constipation...

Cheryl wrote:

And even better and more accepted, some tuna water. My cats love
the water that's drained from a can of tuna, and if any of them
were having pooping problems, I would freeze the water from a can
in ice cube trays, and thaw it out and give it to them regularly. I
had a cat with megacolon and by the time it was diagnosed, he
required surgery and I opted to not do it. The prognosis was bad,
and the missing part of his lower intestines meant poor digestion
for the rest of his life. I wouldn't do that to him.

Cheryl,

Our cat just had mega-colon surgery and the surgeon and our regular vet
said cat's digestion is not affected, but since the colon is missing the
cat may have diarrhea (the colon draws the water out at the last stage
to form solid feces.) They also said some cats even form more or less
normal stools afterwards, that cats can cope amazingly well.

What did your vet mean by "poor digestion?" Sweeter's surgery is done,
but I'm interested in another opinion.

How is your cat coping with mega-colon without surgery? They worked on
Sweeter for over a week with 3 enemas a day and other awful things, and
nothing worked for her. Even if they could have dug the stuff out, I
couldn't bear the thought of her having these problems for the rest of
her life. As I understand it, once the colon is stretched out enough to
be mega-colon, it probably will never work correctly again. It loses
it's elasticity and ability to push the stuff through.

Rhonda

Us wrote:
Hi again everyone...

Thank you all very much for the prompt and informative responses... I
have answers to a couple of questions...

- The litter we use is standard Wal-Mart special kitty scoopable and
we've been using the same brand for years.
- The canned food is MediCal Weight Control Soft.

this is probably part of your problem. A lot of these diets are high
in fiber which can actually be constipating. I would switch him to a
high-protein low-carb canned diet and suplement it with cooked chicken
and turkey (fat included).

-L.

On Sat 12 Aug 2006 12:08:02a, Rhonda wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav ):

How is your cat coping with mega-colon without surgery? They
worked on Sweeter for over a week with 3 enemas a day and other
awful things, and nothing worked for her. Even if they could
have dug the stuff out, I couldn't bear the thought of her
having these problems for the rest of her life. As I understand
it, once the colon is stretched out enough to be mega-colon, it
probably will never work correctly again. It loses it's
elasticity and ability to push the stuff through.


Rhonda, I deliberately didn't write during your ordeal with
Sweeter, because Marley wasn't a survivor of megacolon and I didn't
want you to lose hope. And I'm glad to read that she's doing well
post-surgery.

When I wrote "poor digestion" I meant that the surgeon said he'd
have chronic diarrhea.

When given the option of surgery to remove most of his colon to
relieve the megacolon, and the possible side-effects, since it was
an urgent decision to be made (he couldn't ****, so no time to
waste) I decided to have him put down. I think if I knew what I
know now I might have gone forward with the surgery, but what I was
told, it sounded like a horrible life. Please know, this was pre-
Usenet for me. I think I found these groups just as he was getting
bound up.

--
Cheryl

Ah, that's so sad. It was a scary decision for us too, and I'm very glad
the surgeon sounded so confident. He told us that he gets the most
thank-you gifts from owners of cats that have this surgery. That helped
with my attitude about it.

It was a tough road, especially since Sweeter was his first patient to
get a septic infection. She's doing so well now, and is able to get to
the litter box before she cuts loose! She recently had her stitches out
and I asked the vet to examine her throat area, because I could feel
swollen glands. She's on antibiotics again, possibly with a tooth or
some other kind of infection. I hope that's all it is, she's been
through enough. The vet said having a couple of surgeries like that may
have weakened her system enough to let another bacteria, like in her
teeth, get a strong-hold. I'm thankful that she's flopping on her side
and enjoying life though. I guess we never know what's in the future for
these guys.

Thanks for telling me about your cat. I had never even heard of this
problem before Sweeter got sick.

Take care,

Rhonda

Cheryl wrote:

Rhonda, I deliberately didn't write during your ordeal with
Sweeter, because Marley wasn't a survivor of megacolon and I didn't
want you to lose hope. And I'm glad to read that she's doing well
post-surgery.

When I wrote "poor digestion" I meant that the surgeon said he'd
have chronic diarrhea.

When given the option of surgery to remove most of his colon to
relieve the megacolon, and the possible side-effects, since it was
an urgent decision to be made (he couldn't ****, so no time to
waste) I decided to have him put down. I think if I knew what I
know now I might have gone forward with the surgery, but what I was
told, it sounded like a horrible life. Please know, this was pre-
Usenet for me. I think I found these groups just as he was getting
bound up.