Leaking Butt

Hello,

I am having a terrible time with my cat, Aurora. I took her to the vet two Fridays ago because she had diarrhea (which had gotten increasingly less formed over the last month) and was licking her butt excessively. It was a terrible experience for me. The vet proceeded to shove his finger up her butt while she screeched in obvious pain, something she has never done before. He expressed her anal glands and used what he found for a sample and injected her with a steroid, two antibiotics, Vitamins B and C, and an anti-diarrheal.

After I brought her back home she was a lot worse than before I took her. Not only was she licking her butt more, she had a complete personality change. She has always been a very friendly cat who can't get enough attention. When I brought her home she slinked around and didn't want anyone to touch her. Also, she had started leaking poop from her butt, something that hadn't been happening before. The next day the test results were back and we found had she had Giardia and the vet proscribed flagyl. A week later, she is still leaking from her butt and doesn't want to be around people and she still has diarrhea although her poop seems to be firming up a little. I'm concerned that maybe something the vet did to her caused her to start leaking from her butt (certainly what he did irritated her butt because she licks it constantly.)

On Thursday I took her to my regular vet that I use for my dog (my cat is horrible in the car and the vet is kind of far which is why I didn't take her there in the first place) and she gave me more flagyl and another medicine to get rid of the Giardia since recently they've been finding that it's become resistant. I expressed my concerns about the first vet but the second one seemed to think all of her symptoms were caused by the Giardia. I'm still not convinced. I know that her personality changes probably have to do with not feeling well but I was wondering if anything the first vet did could have caused her butt to start leaking when before it wasn't and also cause her to lose control of her bowel. Before I took her to the first vet she could always make it to her litter box despite having diarrhea. Now if she has to go a little bit she just seems to go where ever she is. Could the anal gland expression or the act of sticking his finger up her butt have caused these symptoms? Could he have harmed something up there? Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm worried that the first vet might have torn her sphincter muscles when he did her initial anal gland expression. Not a common occurance, but entirely possible. I honestly don't know how you would be able to check it without sedating kitty and having an anal exam done. I hope that once the giardia is cleared up and her diarrhea is under control, that she doesn't have any more problems.

My sewers backed up several years ago, and I ended up with three cats with giardia. All three kitties had uncontrollable diarrhea (and my carpet is ivory!) I know that they all had a terrible time making it to the litter box in time, while they were ill. Once they had been on Flagyl for a week or so, there were no accidents, so that may be all your kitty needs to begin making it to the box in time. I will keep your sweet kitty in my prayers.

My Cleo get her anal glands expressed every 6 months. While she does seem uncomfortable immediately after (grooming her bottom a lot), she is usually back to normal by the next day. She's never had an issue with fecal incontinence after expression.

Oh, I am so sorry that Aurora hasn't fully recovered I am attaching a recent thread about diarrhea in which River posted an interesting article regarding Giardia and trying a different approach to getting rid of the infection when other drugs didn't seem to work. I hope this helps!! (Your kitty may need another cycle of metronidazole, but check out the article.)
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=151694

Giardia is the worst. I had a cat that had this. Luckily the others didn't get it. He had the same medicine you describe, plus I had to give him pepto bismol. However, I would NOT recommend giving your kitty that now. The ingredient list includes salycitic acid, which is the same thing as aspirin, and toxic to cats.

I think even Kaopectat has the same thing in it.

The constant licking is likely due to a raw, irritated bottom from the acid in the loose stool. You might get some unscented pampers baby wipes to try to help keeping the cat's bottom cleaner so it can heal.

While the vet was unkind to hurt your kitty, it is possible that she complained because her bottom feels raw from the diarrhea.

Thank you for your responses. I wish I could read up more on torn sphincter muscles but there doesn't seem to be anything about the consequences of anal gland expression or torn sphincter muscles when I search for it. It's Christmas and I just got home and when I picked her up she had pure liquid diarrhea come pouring out of her butt. It seems like the diarrhea is getting worse despite the flagyl which she's still on (the second vet did prescribe more) and the panacur which she just finished her last dose of today. Honestly, I don't know what to do. The vet bills are getting very expensive and nothing is working. I'm looking into alternative approaches to getting rid of giardia but I'm feeling very hopeless right now.

Originally Posted by witchkitten

Thank you for your responses. I wish I could read up more on torn sphincter muscles but there doesn't seem to be anything about the consequences of anal gland expression or torn sphincter muscles when I search for it. It's Christmas and I just got home and when I picked her up she had pure liquid diarrhea come pouring out of her butt. It seems like the diarrhea is getting worse despite the flagyl which she's still on (the second vet did prescribe more) and the panacur which she just finished her last dose of today. Honestly, I don't know what to do. The vet bills are getting very expensive and nothing is working. I'm looking into alternative approaches to getting rid of giardia but I'm feeling very hopeless right now.

Click to expand...

The only reason I mentioned it, is because I'm an Operating Room nurse, and I work with a Colo-rectal surgeon. I doubt there would be much literature about torn sphincter muscles following an anal gland expression, but I have seen torn sphincter muscles in humans (usually from vaginal deliveries without episiotomies) that cause fecal incontinence, much like you've described. I imagine that the trauma of a large human finger inside a tiny feline rectum, could tear the sphincter muscles, especially if said finger wasn't well lubricated. Please remember...this is only a guess, not a certainty.

I'm so sorry that your sweet little girl doesn't seem to be getting any better. I remember that it took at least a good week for the Flagyl to clear up the diarrhea when my kitties had giardia. You might want to start adding 1/4 teaspoon of Metamucil to her canned food, to see if that will help firm up her stool. My Cleo has IBD, and will occasionally have flareups of diarrhea. My vet recommended adding Metamucil to her wet food, as well as prescribing Flagyl. The combination usually works quickly for her.

I will continue to keep you and sweet Aurora in my prayers.

I thought metamusil was fiber, doesn't that help you go more??
Well anyway, I hope your kitty is getting better or will soon!! Good luck to ya both!

Originally Posted by glitch

I thought metamusil was fiber, doesn't that help you go more??
Well anyway, I hope your kitty is getting better or will soon!! Good luck to ya both!

Click to expand...

Yes, Metamucil is fiber, but it sort of 'gels' up the liquid-y portion of the stool to help make it firmer.

I also did a search, but was not able to find much information. Here's a link the the Merck Veterinary Manual re: anal sac disease.

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/in...m/bc/20602.htm

Treatment:
Impacted anal sacs should be gently manually expressed. A softening or ceruminolytic agent or saline can be infused into the sac if the contents are too dry to express effectively. Infected sacs should be cleaned with antiseptic, followed by local and systemic antibiotic therapy. Hot compresses, applied every 8-12 hr for 15-20 min each, are beneficial for abscesses. Repeated weekly flushings combined with infusion of a steroid-antibiotic ointment may be needed. Adding supplemental fiber to the diet may increase fecal bulk, facilitating anal sac compression and emptying. If medical treatment is ineffective, or if neoplasia is present, surgical excision of the sac is indicated. The closed technique for excision is preferred and has the lowest complication rate. However, fecal incontinence, which is a common complication of anal sac surgery, may result from damage to the caudal rectal branch of the pudendal nerve and may be complete if damage is bilateral. Chronic fistula formation may be seen when sac removal is incomplete or when the sac ruptures. Scar formation in the external anal sphincter may result from surgical trauma and result in tenesmus.

It only mentions damage to the sphincter during surgery to remove anal sacs, but it isn't unreasonable to assume that the sphincter could be damaged from a forceful expression.

I will continue to keep Aurora in my thoughts and prayers, that the Flagyl will get her diarrhea under control and that she gets better.

~~Hugs~~

Here is my update. On Thursday I started Dr. Jean's enzyme treatment for giardia and magically Friday Aurora was acting completely normal. So normal in fact, that she tried (and succeeded) in escaping the kitchen/back porch/bathroom area of the house that she had been confined to because they have hard floors unlike the rest of the house which has carpet. Her poop seemed to be improving. She had one completely solid well formed poop and the rest has been soft and definitely not normal but it's also been clumped together, unlike the puddle of diarrhea she was having. She also hasn't leaked from her butt since Thursday. I thought that she was on her way to recovery until tonight. She escaped her prison for the millionth time (she's the smartest cat I know which makes her very frustrating at times) and when I put her back she vomited a lot. It looked like she had a lot more food in her stomach than just one meal since she hadn't eaten much that night. She vomited about 5 times in a row, each time having less and less food until there was none left. Then she vomited a sixth time maybe 15 minutes later. She's acting completely normal though, she's still trying to escape. I'm still very worried. It seems like it's just getting worse no matter what I do. Also, none of the sites I've found on Giardia list vomiting as a symptom. I'm wondering if maybe she had assymtomatic Giardia and something else is causing all of these intestinal/digestive problems. She's on the I/D diet but she doesn't really like the food all that much but she's been on it for two weeks and this is the first time she's vomited. This could be unrelated but I've also noticed that she's scratching her face more than I think she should be but it could also be that I'm really sensitive to her behavior and I'm just noticing it more. I'm just not sure what to do.

I sure hope Aurora gets better soon. Yes, that first vet should have been more gentle. I would have given him a piece of my mind for hurting the little one. There is no excuse for causing pain to a sick kitty unless it is to give an injection.

I've never heard of the enzyme treatment for giardia. Perhaps Aurora is sensitive or allergic to something in it, which caused the vomiting. I'm glad that her stools seem firmer, and that she isn't leaking as much. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic! It does sound like things are getting better! Thanks for the update. You both remain in my prayers!