Hello,
Have you directed these questions to your vet? Have you asked them to help you cate for your cat at home? I teach my clients how to palpate and I also have them give lactulose. Miralax and cat lac along with watered down wet food only. I try to avoid dry food. I also think the fat cats need to get healthier with walks exercise and this helps the gut stay active and make constipation less likely. I always believe constipation is secondary to something else. Like obesity or poor diet or lethargy. Cats should be at a good weight with good muscular body condition. I encourage walking on a harness, playing and using food as a way to encourage activity. Try a feeder ball or scattering small amounts of food across the room so they have to “hunt” for it. Also car grass and cat hip might help. These cats are too often too fat and too sedentary and that compounds the problems.
Our 5 month old male kitten has severe obstipation. After xray he was admitted to Vet Hospital on Mon Nov 7th. Treatment has been sub cutaneous fulids ( no IV’s) several saline enemas with sedation, oral miralax, and recent start of lactulose. No stool results as confirmed by xray. My question is 1) can a mineral oil enemas soften the hardened stool and 2) is there a way to aspirate the stool with a small suction catheter. I have limited finances and cannot keep him in the hospital much longer. Thanks for any suggestions you might have.
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Good evening,
My wife and I are struggling trying to help our cat with megacolon and obstipation. He was diagnosed over 4 years ago but he had been put on a Royal Canin GI diet that worked wonders. It suddenly became unavailable and our cat deteriorated rapidly. He had to be hospitalized for a week to remove the blockage and we’ve gone back and forth with the internist on how to move forward. He’s currently on miralax, Lactulose, Cisapride. We recently introduced an anti-nausea medication and appetite stimulant as he stopped eating a few days ago. The suspicion being that he just becomes backed up again. At this point it’s been multiple hospital stays and several thousands of dollars trying to help our guy.
I watched the video on regular palpation – it’s difficult in our cat, both personally and from the vet, due to his large size. He’s a very long cat and also a chunky boy.
Do you have any guidance on palpation in obese cats? Suggestions we can explore with our vet?
I’m worried we’re looking at the colon surgery to remove part of it – but the vet noted many cats are unable to form or control stool following that and have constant diarrhea.
At this point if we can’t get him stimulated at home and eating a little and defecating a little we’re likely headed back to the animal hospital.
I appreciate any guidance or suggestions.
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Hello Dr Magnifico
I watched your video on Beerus the cat (Megacolon/ Obstipation) on YouTube! Currently my 8 year old English bulldog was diagnosed with megacolon. My dog is my life. The last week I’ve spent $4000 which included a deobstipation. The deobstipation wasn’t successful as there is a hard piece deep in the colon. They stated they removed a good amount but couldn’t reach the hard piece deeper in the colon and he will need two more procedures. I truly can’t afford to spend any more money and I don’t want anything to happen to my dog. Each procedure is about 2500 in the area and that only includes 24 hour care. Right now he is feeling much better but that piece is still in there. I’ve increased his exercise to 2-3 short walks. I’ve also changed his diet. Chicken, very little rice, raw liver, flaxseed, watermelon, blueberries, coconut oil, green beans, carrots and pumpkin. He’s feeling much better and is having diarrhea which I hope is chipping away from that hard piece. Can you recommend anything? Days ago he was vomiting, shaking, couldn’t walk, didn’t eat or drink and was lethargic. It was so scary! I literally would do anything for this dog. But I can’t keep shoveling out thousands of dollars and not get any results. Anything would help, I can’t have anything happen to my boy. You also mentioned to learn how to palpate the abdomen. Can you explain how that is done. Any help or recommendations would be much appreciated. Thank you!
Hello,
In cases like this it is imperative to figure out who this is happening. No amount of removing the feces is helpful if you cannot resolve why it is occurring. Fluids, warm water enemas and even manual extraction are all options (you cannot suction it out as it is too hard to do so). Diet change and exercise are the best places to start if (big IF) this is resolvable. If your cat has an underlying problem that has to be addressed. Call and ask for help from every rescue and shelter and put out a social media plea for help.