Diet to manage megacolon

kattiekitty · Oct 2, 2009

Hello all,

I am new to this forum, but my name is Becky and I am a veterinary technician. The cat in question is actually our hospital cat, who I share a special bond with. She follows me everywhere in the clinic and everyone there calls her my cat. The doctor on more than one occasion has even told me I should take her home. It may happen in the future

. Anyways, Kattie is a long haired tabby that we estimate to be about 5-6 years old. She has always had issues with hairballs and now constipation that has gotten pretty severe. She also has a history of severe allergies that contributes to her overgrooming which makes her get hairballs and therefore the costipation occurs. I have a very good gut feeling that this may all be diet related and that if we change her diet it might help alot. She is on Hills Science diet W/d which I am not a fan of. I actually dislike all science diet foods and think that they are overpriced subpar food. The W/D is a very high fiber food which in the past has been used to treat megacolon, which is what the doctor is saying she has. He is also saying if the w/d isn't working then the only thing that can help her is surgery to take out the colon and resect the small intestine to the rectum. I think there are still many medical and dietary avenues that we can try before that. I suggested lactulose which we have never tried and he has never used. He agreed to that aeven though he thinks that it won't work. He is an old school vet and is pretty set in his ways and reccomends science diet for everything. I believe that a low fiber diet might help her more because the stools that she tries to produce on the w/d are huge and rock hard. I have decided that I am going to purchase a higher quality food that both our hospital cats can eat, even if I have to pay for it. I know that canned is better which we will give everyday, but I want to get a better quality dry as well. I was looking at innova, which is what I feed my allergic dog with success. the fiber on the dry is 1.5%. The california natural is also really good. I just need some suggestions on good foods that will help a megacolon allergic kitty. Any other advice on supplements as well will be appreciated. That way I can have some suggestions to give the doctor to help little Kattie.

Thanks in advance,
Becky

babz · Oct 2, 2009

Hi Becky! I have a cat with Megacolon and severe constipation. He started just a little while back to start to really go down hill and it also created other issues for him. We tried Lactalose and it stopped helping him after a very short period of time. Many different vets, even specialists were telling us the next step would be removal of the colon if he had to keep being "put out and dug out". Now things have seem to really change for him

..... at least so far!

Two major things I learned:

1. Megacolon kitties actually need to be on a no grain diet. Not high fiber like you'd think. We use Wellness Core dry and wet.
2. Miralax, Miralax, Miralax! Way better than Lactalose and much much easier to get into the kitty. Miralax has been our lifesaver! If your vet is old school I bet he has never heard of it since even today's vets are few and far between. There is info on it at the Yahoo Feline Megacolon Group that you can print out and take with you to your vet. I highly recommend that you visit this group! There is so much helpful info there for steps to take before your last resort (surgery). The people in this group all have kitties with Megacolon or severe constipation and are wonderful about answering questions from their own experiences with this issue.

Got any questions let me know and I'll be happy to help!

Babz

sharky · Oct 3, 2009

I have dealt with IBD in cats, dogs and humans...

with the cats and dogs a RAW and canned diet seemed to work here... of course you need to discuss that with a vet at work...

denali · Oct 4, 2009

A Raw diet worked great for my IBD cat but not with my megacolon cat. For some reason it made the problem worse no matter what trick I tried. And added fibre had her at the vet for enema's. A low fibre grain free canned food (MAX 1 to 1.5% fibre content), miralax and cisapride have been life saviours for her. Lactulose stopped working for her as well.

otto · Oct 4, 2009

Since this cat is only five or six years old, the best avenue would be the surgery. Megacolon in a cat that young is facing a lifetime of medications that have to be continually increased.

however I advise you to take the cat home, so she is yours, and you have control over what happens to her, and take her to a vet experienced in this surgery.

Lactulose is at best, ineffective, and the doses have to be constantly increased. She WILL need some sort of laxative though, either mineral oil or Miralax. She will need Cisapride, which is very expensive, and again, has to be continually increased.

I agree about the low fiber foods to keep the stools smaller, but I think surgery is the best avenue for this cat. There is no other cure for megacolon, and she has years ahead of her.

My Ootay had megacolon, but by the time it was properly diagnosed she was too ill in other ways to manage such an invasive surgery. But if she had only been 6 years old I would have had the surgery done, no question. By the time I lost her she was taking medicine 8 times a day, just to poop. she was at the maximum dose of all of them. Your kitty is to young to be dealing with all that.

By the way. The prescription foods your vet sells are not Science Diet. They are Prescription Diet. Hills makes two lines, their grocery store formulas (Science Diet) and the special prescription formulas for specific health concerns, Prescription Diet.. It's true the Prescription Diets are not the best as far as ingredients, but they are sometimes neccessary for certain illnesses.

However I agree with you that this, your kitty's megacolon, is not a case for the high fiber prescription diet. Bring her home, get her to another vet, and have the surgery. You'll be glad you did!

denali · Oct 4, 2009

Originally Posted by otto

Since this cat is only five or six years old, the best avenue would be the surgery. Megacolon in a cat that young is facing a lifetime of medications that have to be continually increased.

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I am not 100% sure I agree with this statement. This cat was obviously being given the wrong treatment for megacolon. I think before she goes the route of surgery - because the surgery DOES NOT guarantee a life free of megacolon - she should try the low fibre canned food, Miralax and Cisapride (if need be). And if these avenues do not produce good results then she may have to consider the surgery. This cat may not be very far along with megacolon (who knows if the cat even has megacolon or is just reacting badly to the added fibre) at all and may not even need Cisapride.

take her to a vet experienced in this surgery

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.

I agree

She will need Cisapride, which is very expensive, and again, has to be continually increased.

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Are you sure it has to be continually increased? In some cats maybe. Depends on how severe the case is and how soon you catch the megacolon and start treating it properly with diet and the proper stool softner (not lactulose). My 9 year old megacolon cats dosage of Cisapride and Miralax has continually been decreased since we started it in April.

I think surgery is the best avenue for this cat. There is no other cure for megacolon, and she has years ahead of her

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.

But she can have many happy and healthy years ahead with proper management with diet and if need be medication. Once again - the surgery is not a guarantee that the cat will not have complications from the surgery or the megacolon. Just go on the Feline Megacolon group on yahoo and you will see first hand that the surgery is no guarantee.

My Ootay had megacolon, but by the time it was properly diagnosed she was too ill in other ways to manage such an invasive surgery. But if she had only been 6 years old I would have had the surgery done, no question. By the time I lost her she was taking medicine 8 times a day, just to poop. she was at the maximum dose of all of them. Your kitty is to young to be dealing with all that.

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I am so sorry to hear Ootay went through all of this. Unfortunately it sounds like she was sick in other ways as well. And her body may have shut down. And was too week to respond to the treatment and this was why she was at the max dosage?

One day if the medication stops working for Lexus (she is nowhere near the max dosage the doctor allowed for her) then I may consider the surgery. But for now she is happy and healthy and pooping on a regular basis with the right dosages and diet. It may take a bit of time to understand what works for your kitty (it has been a journey for Lexus and I) but it is worth it in the end.

kattiekitty · Oct 4, 2009

Thanks all for your input. I really do want to take Kattie home, but it might be a bit before I can. In the meantime, I want to make some changes at least to her diet and the medications we give her to see if they work first, before surgery. The times of true imapaction seem to have a pattern by looking at her chart. The first time we put her under was back in Oct of 2007, then she was fine until Jan of 2008. Then again Oct 2008, Jan 2009, now Oct 2009. It seems to coincide to when her allergies seem to get really bad and she start grooming more. She gets catlax every day for the hair, oddly enough she doesn't seem to throw up many hairballs. After every single clean out, we go back to putting her on Feline W/D which if you look at the ingredients they are very high in grain and other nasties. I finally told the doctor, that what we are doing isn't working, so lets try something different and I suggested getting completely away from Hills food. I went out and got California Natural, which, I know still has grain, but the fiber content is only 1.5% for the dry! I also got a bunch of canned food as well, all the higher quality foods, and my local petstore who admired what I was doing even gave me free cans of food

. I brought it to work yesterday, and gave a 1/4 can of the food and she loved it. She hates w/d canned and probably only eats it to survive. She was chowing on this food and purring at the same time. I am going to try the lactulose but keep in mind that it might not work. I will definately look into the miralax. I will keep you all updated to what I find.

otto · Oct 4, 2009

Denali;2736807 said:
I am not 100% sure I agree with this statement. This cat was obviously being given the wrong treatment for megacolon. I think before she goes the route of surgery - because the surgery DOES NOT guarantee a life free of megacolon - she should try the low fibre canned food, Miralax and Cisapride (if need be). And if these avenues do not produce good results then she may have to consider the surgery. This cat may not be very far along with megacolon (who knows if the cat even has megacolon or is just reacting badly to the added fibre) at all and may not even need Cisapride.

.

I agree

Are you sure it has to be continually increased? In some cats maybe. Depends on how severe the case is and how soon you catch the megacolon and start treating it properly with diet and the proper stool softner (not lactulose). My 9 year old megacolon cats dosage of Cisapride and Miralax has continually been decreased since we started it in April.

.

But she can have many happy and healthy years ahead with proper management with diet and if need be medication. Once again - the surgery is not a guarantee that the cat will not have complications from the surgery or the megacolon. Just go on the Feline Megacolon group on yahoo and you will see first hand that the surgery is no guarantee.

I am so sorry to hear Ootay went through all of this. Unfortunately it sounds like she was sick in other ways as well. And her body may have shut down. And was too week to respond to the treatment and this was why she was at the max dosage?

One day if the medication stops working for Lexus (she is nowhere near the max dosage the doctor allowed for her) then I may consider the surgery. But for now she is happy and healthy and pooping on a regular basis with the right dosages and diet. It may take a bit of time to understand what works for your kitty (it has been a journey for Lexus and I) but it is worth it in the end.

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Thanks for sharing another opinion! In my opinion, a cat of 5 or 6 years old should have the surgery.

That is of course, after a competent knowledgeable vet has been consulted, and proper diagnostics and other health tests done. I was not advising anyone to just jump in with surgery without proper diagnosis and overall health evaluation.

Ootay was diagnosed by x-ray with megacolon at age 12 after several years of messing about with an incompetent vet. By then my new vet felt her system had been too weakened to do well with such an invasive surgery.

Yes, I am sure the cisapride, and laxatives, have to be continually increased. Just like many other medicines, a body gets used to the medicine, and more is needed to be affected. She was started on 1/4 of a 10 mg tablet a day, with darn near miraculous affects. Four years later, with gradual increases as the medicine lost it's effectiveness, she was up to 15 mg a day.

Ootay was on them for 6 years, and maxed out on the dosages by the fourth year. She did not begin developing the other illnesses until she was just past 15.

kattiekitty · Oct 8, 2009

Just wanted to update you guys on Kattie. She is actually doing really well this week since her poopy extractions last week. I am still working on taking her home with me but I see that happening eventually. Anyways, I have her on California Natural Dry which has 1.5% Fiber. She is also getting a quarter can twice a day as well. The canned foods are Innova, Natural Balance, Ca Natural ect. All these foods are highly digestable and lower fiber. I also have her on a starting dose of lactulose three times daily and she is having a nearly normal stool once daily. The first few days she didn't have any, but that is normal after the manual extractions. She is acting much more playful and back to her normal self. I am going to keep what we are doing but also am keeping the miralax in mind for the next level if the lactulose stops working. She is also getting catlax because she is grooming herself more now and I am worried that the hair might build up and cause issues. Also I read somewhere that mineral oil is bad long term for cats but can't find the reason why, does anyone know? Anyways, she is doing great so far so I'll keep you posted.

otto · Oct 9, 2009

Mineral oil can interfere with the absorption of nutrients. Any laxative can., so be sure to give the lactulose on an empty stomach an hour before a meal.

Prolonged use of mineral oil can cause deficiencies of certain vitamins. On the other hand, cat lax is made with cod liver oil. Too much cod liver oil can cause a vitamin A toxicity in cats.

Because of these issues, I use three different kinds of hairball remedies, rotating them.

thanks for the update on Kattie. I'm glad she's doing better, she is lucky to have you there!

kattiekitty · Dec 10, 2009

Well I haven't been on for a while but I just wanted to let you guys know that Kattie my clinic cat at work is doing great on her new treatment. She is eating California Natural Chicken and Brown Rice dry with 1.5% fiber and Natural Balance and California Natural Canned. She is also getting Lactulose three times daily. So far so good and her bowel movements have been normal with only the occasional day without stool. I do want to take her and still will try if I ever leave that job but for now I think it is under control. On another note I was adopted by a semi stray but I will talk about him in another thread.

kattiekitty · May 4, 2010

Well I am bringing up an old post, but it has relevence. I am finally going to be taking Kattie home! It is a bittersweet moment though as i am leaving my job to move to Wa state. It will be neat to be closer to my family, but sad as I am leaving my job which I consider my second home and family. The doctor was really nice about it and excited for me as I will finally be closer to my own family. He also said that I could take Kattie because I am the one keeping her poopy issues under control. She has been doing really great lately. She is still eating the Ca natural and canned food. She is also on lactulose three times daily. She hasn't had an issue with constipation since my first post in october which is great, as she was technically due to be cleaned out in January according to her pattern lol. Anyways, she has a stool about once daily to every other day which I read is normal.
I do have another cat who is very laid back, unfortunately I am going to have to introduce them in a shorter period of time than I like as I am moving the first week of June. Kattie is very particular about litter boxes and so I worry that she will hold it because she won't have a kennel to poop in at night. ( we put her in a kennel with a litter box at night to monitor her stool) I will have three litterboxes for 2 cats which I hope is enough. Also my male cat is on Blue Wilderness Chicken and Rice which is grain free I was going to do half Ca Natural and half Blue plus canned food for both. I do a mix of good quality canned mixed with select varieties of Fancy Feast, as my male is picky about canned food. I have a drinkwell fountain for water plus the dog bowl which Oscar likes as well lol. I hope I am doing the right thing. It is soo stressful to move. I just hope the stress doesn't bring out issues in the cats. Well will be driving which will take two days with an overnight stop in a motel. If anyone has any other advice let me know.

Thanks,

Becky

xocats · May 16, 2010

I just found your thread Becky.

I am glad that Kattie is doing so well.
Thank you for taking her with you when you move.
I found that dehydration was the biggest danger when I took long road trips with my cats.
It is important to give the kitties plenty of fluids, maybe add water to their wet food.

You might want to consider stariing another thread about your move in our behavior forum, with a link added to this thread.

Good luck..
be sure to keep us updated.

anniekitty2000 · Feb 13, 2011

Hello everyone --

I feel so lucky I stumbled upon this forum and this specific thread! My cat Baylor is 5.5 and has been diagnosed with Megacolon for a little over a year. We never noticed any problems with him until about a year ago, and he was getting so backed up and having extensive vomiting and lost a bunch of weight. After trying two vet's offices unsuccessful with a diagnosis, we finally were told at the third office that Megacolon was Baylor's issue. He has received a steroid shot every 8 weeks for a little over a year and has been on the Hills Prescription W/D dry cat food. I would like the intervals in between shots to be longer, but around 8 weeks is when he backs up again, starts vomiting, and needs some relief.

We have always fed our cats Innova, but the vet has us now on W/D. I have read about the California Natural food on this board and am interested in trying it and incorporating some canned food also for him and his sister.

However, I would really like him off this steriod shot. He has been monitored with labwork to ensure his body is fine after a year of the shots and everything on the labs was fine and within the ranges, but I still am not a fan. Would the Lactulose three times daily maintain a cat like Baylor and keep him off the shots? Does anyone else's cat get shots? Is there a different approach for maintaining Megacolon without shots? The only info I get from our current vet is shots with the W/D Diet or surgery, so that is all I can get out of them.

Glad Kattie is doing so well! I loved reading her story and everyone else's comments.

Thanks,
anniekitty2000

otto · Feb 13, 2011

Hello and welcome to the forum. I've never heard of using steroids to treat megacolon before. Usually vets turn to cisapride, a motility drug.

Absolutely Baylor should be on an all canned diet, with as low carb and as low fiber as possible.

I would opt for surgery in a 5.5 year old cat if he was otherwise healthy. 10 or 12 years is a long time to take laxatives, and as time goes on the doses of the laxatives have to be continually increased. As would the cisapride, if he was to start taking that. I have a special dislike for lactulose.

I would do the surgery now while he's strong, not wait until he's older and less able to withstand it.

denali · Feb 13, 2011

Baylor is 5.5 and has been diagnosed with Megacolon

How did this vet diagnose Baylor with Megacolon? Did he take an xray? Was the colon really enlarged?

He has received a steroid shot every 8 weeks for a little over a year

Why is the vet giving Baylor steroids to treat Megacolon? In all my research and hearing from other people regarding feline megacolon I have never heard a cat put on steroids to treat megacolon. This is really sad to hear. Steroids is not something to just throw around. It suppresses the immune system and can cause other problems on top of the megacolon.

and has been on the Hills Prescription W/D dry cat food. I would like the intervals in between shots to be longer, but around 8 weeks is when he backs up again, starts vomiting, and needs some relief.

This diet is VERY high in fibre. Many vets will prescribe this because the old school way of thinking for treating megacolon is a high fibre diet. Granted this may work for some cats but many do not do well on a high fibre diet. A lower fibre, grain free, wet food diet is best. It sounds like Baylor does not do well on a high fibre diet as well. I look for canned food that has a MAX fibre content of 1.5%. Anything higher and my cat blocks.

However, I would really like him off this steriod shot. He has been monitored with labwork to ensure his body is fine after a year of the shots and everything on the labs was fine and within the ranges, but I still am not a fan.

If the only reason he is on it is for Megacolon then get him off the steroids. You are in control of your cats health. This vet does not sound like he is very versed in Megacolon. When a cat has megacolon this means their colon muscles are not working properly to push the stool out. So, this is usually helped by giving the cat a motility drug called Cisapride. The Cisapride helps contract the muscles to push the stool out. Usually megacolon cats also have harder drier stools and require a stool softner alongside the Cisapride. Miralax is a wonderful stool softner. Lactulose is a stool softner as well but I have had much better success with the Miralax. Miralax is a odourless/tastelss powder you can add to the cats canned food to eat.

The only info I get from our current vet is shots with the W/D Diet or surgery, so that is all I can get out of them.

Not uncommon for a vet to be so clueless on how to treat megacolon.

There is a group on yahoo that deals strictly with constipation/feline megacolon. It may be a good idea for you to join this group for some support on getting Baylor to poop on a regular basis without blocking every 8 weeks.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Feline_Megacolon/

kattiekitty · Mar 18, 2011

Well I found this old post on Kattie and thought it was neat if others can help there kitties from my experiences. Well as this post started, Kattie was a chronic constipation, opstipation kitty that my boss eventually diagnosed with beginning megacolon. We treated her with w/d and the problem worsened with the bad food. I researched megacolon a bit as the dr scared me with saying surgery was her last resort. Well I got him to try lactulose on her and a low fiber diet which I tried ca natural to start. That worked for a while, but she still got constipated and needed more lactulose.
Well after taking her home with me last May, I finally had complete control over her diet and medications. I did switch her diet to a mix of a grain free and grain in food. Currently, I use wellness and blue wilderness, with the occasional orijen or Acana thrown in. I also feed a lot of canned twice a day and the kibble is really only a small amount of the diet. I also started miralax, the wonder drug. I started out giving it twice daily, and that gave her runny stools, but not constipated so that was good. I went down to once a day, and as of the last few months I have been giving it every other day, to every few days. I monitor the litterbox and if ther is no stool for more than a day, I give her miralax. She has not been constipated since October of 2009. I almost want to say that her megacolon is cured or lessened. Her coat looks amazing on the new diet and if we stay away from duck, her allergies are nonexistent. I think it is amazing what diet can do, and I will never feed science diet crap unless absolutely necessary which I hope is never. Wd was the worse thing for her. Being a vet tech, it makes me shudder when I half to sell these foods. I know they have their place in certain disease management scenarios, but they really are low quality foods. Yes I went to those awful hills seminars where they try to get the vet community to swallow their marketing campaign lol. That is for another post.

otto · Mar 18, 2011

Hi Becky, thanks for the update on Kattie. Wow, has it really been that long already. I remember wondering what on earth a vet would prescribe w/d for a constipated cat for.

I'm really glad Kattie is doing so well with the canned low fiber mostly grain free diet and miralax when needed. This is a very inspiring story!

kattiekitty · Mar 18, 2011

Yeah I'm amazed at how well she is doing too. The doctor I worked for was pretty old school, but still a good doctor. The high fiber diets were how they treated the issue in the past. I just researched and played around a bit with the protocols. I believe that her case is pretty mild so a cat that has a more severe issue wouldn't be able to do this. As of lately she gets the miralax about 2 times a week, although I upped it a little as she is grooming a lot and getting hairballs. That sucks because I can't put her on the hairball diets because they are higher fiber. We are doing miralax and petromalt and it is under contol.

leslie21 · Jan 31, 2012

Hello! Our cat (6 years old) was diagnosed with megacolon 3 years ago. We went through a tough time of trial and error with many products. I can say that now for about a year she is at a healthy weight and going regularly. The life saver (literally) is a prescription formula through the vet call Royal Canin veterinary diet Gastro Intestinal Fiber response. We mix it into a small amount of wet food with water

( always trying to add liquids!) We also use 5mg cisapride twice a day, about a 1/2 teaspoon of vaseline mixed in with wet food once a day, and 100ml IV fluid once every three days. Sounds like a lot, but worth it. Our cat is doing great, only needed one enema in the past 12 months. Good luck. Leslie

Diet to manage megacolon

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