Hi! I have a male cat of 1 year and 4 months. About 7 months ago, he had constipation- the vet thought it was liver shunt. Every 6 or so weeks, I'd take him back to the vet because he was backed up. We got him lactulose, miralax and even some wet/fibre foods. They didn't even seem effective.
I don't have enough money to keep doing this. I can't afford 200$ every 6 weeks for the rest of his life to take him to the vet. All of the symptoms of liver shunt seem to have faded, except for the constipation. It now looks like it could be megacolon. Feces seems to build up right under his tail, into a hard ball. Is there something other than this that it could be?
So I was wondering- is there a safe way to effectively remove the built-up stool from his rear? I tried doing this, but it was painful for him. It worked, though, as he wasn't constipated for several weeks after it- I just want to know if this can be done without anesthesia, or is this really painful for him?
I was also wondering how I could go about in treating this. I see lots of things about low-fiber foods, using many laxatives to decrease the stool size and frequency.. but I've also heard about using a lot of fiber to make the stools soft, feeding him canned pumpkin, raw fish and lots of articles on "cisapride."
I have a huge bottle of lactulose in which I squirt 2½ ml into his mouth twice a day. It doesn't seem to do anything. Can I safely increase this amount? Will this be effective at all? And miralax? I give him 1/4th teaspoon daily. This is hard to do, as he doesn't like any soft foods I give him. Mixing it into milk and dumping hard food onto it seems to work.
There is also the surgery- but I don't think I can come up with 2000-3000$ anytime soon. Should I put him down? He's so young, and I don't know what I should do.
I know that the best choice would be to ask my vet, yes, but that would be another 200$; 200$ which could be saved to treat him via food/etc for several months.
Please help me, and thank you.
*as a side note, he has an undescended testicle. Could this be interfering with his colon/bowel movement/etc?
*I have enough to take him to the vet, but I'm unsure as to if I can afford x-rays, blood tests, etc
I don't have enough money to keep doing this. I can't afford 200$ every 6 weeks for the rest of his life to take him to the vet. All of the symptoms of liver shunt seem to have faded, except for the constipation. It now looks like it could be megacolon. Feces seems to build up right under his tail, into a hard ball. Is there something other than this that it could be?
So I was wondering- is there a safe way to effectively remove the built-up stool from his rear? I tried doing this, but it was painful for him. It worked, though, as he wasn't constipated for several weeks after it- I just want to know if this can be done without anesthesia, or is this really painful for him?
I was also wondering how I could go about in treating this. I see lots of things about low-fiber foods, using many laxatives to decrease the stool size and frequency.. but I've also heard about using a lot of fiber to make the stools soft, feeding him canned pumpkin, raw fish and lots of articles on "cisapride."
I have a huge bottle of lactulose in which I squirt 2½ ml into his mouth twice a day. It doesn't seem to do anything. Can I safely increase this amount? Will this be effective at all? And miralax? I give him 1/4th teaspoon daily. This is hard to do, as he doesn't like any soft foods I give him. Mixing it into milk and dumping hard food onto it seems to work.
There is also the surgery- but I don't think I can come up with 2000-3000$ anytime soon. Should I put him down? He's so young, and I don't know what I should do.
I know that the best choice would be to ask my vet, yes, but that would be another 200$; 200$ which could be saved to treat him via food/etc for several months.
Please help me, and thank you.
*as a side note, he has an undescended testicle. Could this be interfering with his colon/bowel movement/etc?
*I have enough to take him to the vet, but I'm unsure as to if I can afford x-rays, blood tests, etc