Advice needed on Anal Prolapse in a kitty - a little long and pics included

Hi everyone. 

I recently agreed to foster a kitten who was 6.5 months old. I was told she had been dewormed etc etc. The next day after she was dropped off we got worried because we did not see any poop in the litter. So i decided to look at her butt. I found it to be strange. below is a picture of her butt that day after she was dropped off at my house. Sorry if it's not that pretty to look at

 

I sent that pic to the lady for whom i was fostering for and apparently she did not find anything odd about it. Strange. Anyhow this was on a Sunday. So on Monday morning I called my vet and scheduled and appointment for her that same day. My husband took her since i was at work. At that time they did a fecal and realized she had 3 different parasites. So they gave us dewormer and wanted to see her back in two weeks.  We then decided to adopt her because she is a sweet little cat and besides we paid for her vet bill which was not that cheap. She is now free of parasites however her butt looks like this now:



I think it looks slightly better but I am very concerned. I did some research and from what i found it seems she has anal prolapse, which is caused by straining usually due to parasites or just constipation in general. The vet gave her a shot of vetalog in her butt and said to put preparation H, which we have been doing for 3 days now. I've read that they can fix anal prolapse by putting her under anesthesia and massaging her butt back in then placing a stitch to hold it inside. However we are concerned about any complications that may occur from such surgery. I feel so bad for her, Rosie, because she wants to play and hang out with my other cats but I only allow her when she is supervised since one of my cats likes to sniff and lick butts lol.

I'm so pissed off at the lady i fostered, then adopted her from because she had her in her house for month and obviously failed to notice she had a problem or parasites even though she claimed she dewormed her. Then she had  the nerve to ask me if she was drinking water because when she was at her house she didnt have that! The nerve! I sent her a picture of her butt the very next day and she hadnt even pooped yet so it couldnt have just occurred overnight. Anyway, so far we have spent 400 in her vet bills and it seems we will have to continue spending more, which we don't really care about spending the money because if it is spent to help her feel better than its worth every penny. I just want her to be okay so she can play with her brothers and sister =( Which i must add she acts like a regular kitten. Doesn't seem to be in pain and poops with no problem. 

Anyway she has a follow up appointment on Monday and I guess we will decide what is the next step then. The Dr was a bit hesitant about surgery and said he would leave that for the last option. Which makes me worry even more. 

Sorry for the long rant! My question is...has anyone had a cat who had anal prolapse? if so, how have they treated it? if the cat had surgery, how did they recover? any complications?

Thank you in advance!

I have no experience with this condition with my cats. However, I found this article that maybe of interest to you http://www.petplace.com/cats/rectal-prolapse-in-cats/page1.aspx

Thanks Julie. Luckily from what I have read it seems she may have anal prolapse rather than rectal prolapse. I found another article stating that anal prolapse is more of an irritating problem for the cat and the owner than it is a life threatening condition. We look for problems that causeirritation in the anal area and try to resolve any that we can find. Tapeworminfestation, other intestinal parasites, anal sac irritation, allergies,fleas, an inability to groom in obese cats, hair entrapment in long haired cats and persistent diarrhea or straining for any reason can lead to analprolapse. Sometimes local treatment with topical cortisone ointments or even Preparation H (tm) can be helpful. Elimination of any and all causesof irritation in the anal area usually will resolve the problem if it canbe accomplished

Read more: Prolapse - VetInfo

On Monday, Jan 2 she was found to be free of parasites. I started applying preparation h that day. I just hope that since the problem was taken care of it will get better with time. 

I can't offer any advice, but I wanted to share with you that my cat Taz had the same problem as a kitten. I'm not sure of her age when I got her, but her eyes were just starting to transition from blue to yellow, so I'm thinking maybe 10 weeks?

This started for her as soon as I got her - she may have had it before but the man I got her from (she was a feral rescue) is fanatical about animal health care and would not have let it go without a vet checking it out. Taz's seemed to be due to constipation & straining - she was parasite free - and I was worried she would really hurt herself while trying to go to the bathroom! I fed her wet food and kept a close eye on her. On the wet food she started to have loose runny stools for about two weeks, during this time the tissue receded gradually until it was normal. Later, when about 8 months old she had a similar short bout where it looked like a protrusion could happen again, but it didn't. Constipation was the culprit then, too. Nine years old now and she has her share of problems, but has never had another anal protrusion.

 I don't know what course you will have to take, but I certainly hope it can correct itself!

 

Thank you coatfetish. I feel a little better now. I really dont want to have her go through surgery. I've been only giving her wet food and i now even started to put some water in her wet food to make sure she is consuming enough water. We monitor her constantly to the point i even scoop her litter daily, sometimes even twice to observe her stool. What stool softner would you recommend? She doesnt seem to be straining too much now that is she with us, but i do know she was being fed only dry food while she was at the house of the lady who runs the organization i adopted her from. Unfortunately she was there a month and obviously was constipated at some point not to mention the fact she had 3 different parasites. I'm just glad we decided to take her in because any other person may just have returned her. I really appreciate that you took time to respond to my post.

Thank you!! Glad your kitty has never had it again.

Carrie

I don't have any experience with this, just sending out some vibes that like Taz, this kitty's issue will "self correct" itself. 

ohhh poor baby Rosie! I don't have experiences with that so I can't really help   I'm just glad she is pooping normally and she is not in pain, she isn't, right?  I hope not, she is such a cute baby.  What an irresponsible person, the one that had her before, obviously she wasn't caring for her properly because she didn't notice the problem.  I hope everything goes well for Rosie on Monday and I hope she doesn't need surgery

Thanks Tammy! She is doing a lot better!!! I think surgery is not in her future! Its almost back in and she is having lots of fun playing with the other cats! I've been letting her out every night so she can play. Hopefully soon she can always be out with the other cats and not stuck in a room. How is Lucas doing?

Great news! 

UPDATE: Vet said that it looks 30% better than last week. He gave her another shot of vetalog and prescribed other medication that might help with the swelling. He did mention that it can take a while it to get back to normal if it ever really does. He said it probably will get a lot better but if her butt was like that a while it may be longer. Which is what pisses me off since she was at the rescuers house for a month without her noticing the problem apparently. But at least no surgery is in her future it seems and its not life threatening.

That's excellent news! No surgery = less stress on your kitty, too. Is she still acting normal and playing? Hopefully this is the road straight to recovery.

 I can't help but wonder about the condition of the other animals kept by the lady you got her from - if you fostered from her, what does that make her? Does she rescue? Sounds like she's overwhelmed & needs to pay more attention to what she has...perhaps now that you've brought this to her attention she will be more aware.

I was so worried about whether she would need surgery or not but at least i can breathe a little. She is still playing and eating like nothing is wrong. I guess it was meant for us to foster her because this was the first and needless to say the LAST time i fostered for this lady's organization. Supposedly her organization just traps/neuters or spays and then they return the cats to their colony.  I mean it was pretty obvious something was wrong with her butt.  I was amazed because someone who has been around cats for so long should know better. Kittens always usually have parasites of some sort, especially those off the street. I always look at their butts because that is an indication there are some inside the kitten. I think she is definitely overwhelmed with the amount of cats she may have but she should consider paying more attention so something like doesn't happen again. I'm not giving her back to her but any other person might have.

I hope she will recover from this. The prognosis looks pretty good.  I'm just glad its not life threatening and she will still be able to live a happy life. 

This is my little baby

Oh wow! What  a cutie! 

aww my heart melts with Rosie  I'm so glad she is doing better, she is a cutie and she deserves  to be with her brothers and sister and I'm sure she will be able soon, Hugs!

Oh, isn't she just adorable .  So glad the prognosis is looking good

BMW Kitty Cat,  I'm so glad you posted the photos!  One of my kitties has the exact same problem but when I searched the internet, most photos were not nearly what my kitty was experiencing.  They were much worse.  Did your kitty overcome her situation?  My kitty is 15 yrs old with a few major medical problems to go along with this anal prolapse.  He has intestinal lymphoma (cancer), diabetic, heart disease & hyper thyroid.  He's always had a history of straining while pooping, even way before diagnosed with cancer.  He was brought up on dry & can food but now mostly on the wet.  He still wants his dry food every once in a while though.  I have even started putting Benefiber in with his wet food.  This helps a lot.  Do you feel the meds your vet gave your kitty helped along with the wet diet?  Any information would be deeply appreciated.   

p.s.  your kitty is just adorable!!

OMG, I wish I had found this site and discussion first.  I had a tiny short-haired tortie who was barely a year old, had only adopted her at the end of March 2012.

I had noticed her licking her rear end a week ago, and that she had really foul breath.  Wondered why a cat only a year old would have bad breath like that.

Well, she came back in last night from outside, seemed a little subdued.  Didn't eat much last night, even though cooked de-boned salmon was on the menu.  Today she was sitting on the landing on the inside stairway, seemed lethargic and uncomfortable.  PIcked her up and she was a little on the limp side.  She seemed a little warm. 

I checked her over, saw a butt that looked like the pictures above, and got scared.  I took her to an animal emergency room.  Rectal prolapse.  I didn't know what else to do.  The doc said he could operate, for a fee of about $5,000.  I didn't have that kind of money and no hope of getting it, and Care Credit turned me down.  Even to have them euthanize her would have cost over $200.

If she hadn't seemed to be in pain (she cried when examined), I could have had them give her a pain shot, and taken her to my regular vet Thursday (later today).

Since I couldn't afford any services at the animal ER and thought I would have to have her euthanized, they suggested I take her to the night window at Animal Control.  That I did, and surrendered her.  By now she has probably been euthanized.

I didn't think to try Preparation H on her, didn't know if it would correct by itself with a little care.  I figured it might also get infected, and that idea wasn't appealing either.

Sheeit.  Now I wonder if I jumped too soon.  I paid for an office visit at the animal ER, and at that I had to beg them to hold on to the check until Friday, when I get paid again.

I spent most of this evening crying and telling her how sorry I was, and what a good girl she was.  I didn't realize there was anything I could do for her.  Oh, jeez, maybe I could have saved her if I'd known.  She was a really personable cat.  Tiny but spunky.

They did tell me that she could have gotten this from being constipated.  I adopted her from a vet clinic in Littlerock, where she had been taken after having been caught as a tiny feral.  I don't know if anyone ever checked her for parasites, but I didn't see any parasites on her butt.  She was undersized and starving when I adopted her, and she would literally eat anything!  Cooked meat, canned food, dry food, etc., and she wanted anything I was eating as well.

OMG, did I just get a cat killed whom I could have saved?  RIP, Miss Callie.

Pam Maltzman

Well, at least if this ever happens again with any other cat, I will definitely try Preparation H first before jumping to euthanize.  I miss Callie.  I was going to update vaccinations on my other cats before we move out of California this year.  Now I think I better have fecal tests done to check for parasites, since that apparently can also be connected to rectal/anal prolapse.

My oldest tortie, Friday, seemingly had parasites when I got her nearly 11 years ago; I tried mixing in with her food some OTC worming med I got at a feed store, but I don't know if she got enough into her.  She didn't much go for the food after the worming med was mixed in.  I haven't found parasites on the butts of the other three.

Well, I have three cats left:

1.  Friday, a long-haired red tortoiseshell, going on 11 years this July.

2.  Mocha, a long-haired tortie-and-white, going on 7 years.

3.  Harvey, a long-haired brown tabby male, whom I rescued from some neglectful people and just had neutered.  Those dingbats had let their 4 cats piss up the apt., and the litter box was overflowing with poop.  I had the two 2-year-old brother cats neutered at a local vet's that offered low-cost spay-and-neutering.  The father of that family was squeamish about the very idea of a cat being castrated.  I told the teenage girl to remind her dad that it wasn't HIS balls that were being lopped off.  At any rate,  Harvey is responding to his new name and is handsome.  He has horrible knots in his fur, so I will let him heal more from his neutering surgery, and then perhaps carefully trim away the knots with scossors, or perhaps will take him to a groomer to have him shaved.  If I have his knots shaved down this summer, he will still have plenty of time to grow the fur back in time for winter.

Well, I am glad to have found this website.  I see that there is a lot of information to be learned here.  Thanks again for having me as a guest on your website!

Pam Maltzman

I will say that after discovering Callie's rectal prolapse, I did do butt checks on the other three, and found no sign of it.

Every once in a while, they do barf up either food or a hairball.  Have also found some white, spongy/wet material on the floor sometimes; have no idea what the heck it is.

I will say that after discovering Callie's rectal prolapse, I did do butt checks on the other three, and found no sign of it.

Every once in a while, they do barf up either food or a hairball.  Have also found some white, spongy/wet material on the floor sometimes; have no idea what the heck it is.