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

pbmaltzman said:

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.

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

Pam Maltzman

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Call the Animal Control where you dropped Callie off and see if they still have her ASAP!  Chances are she has not been euthanized if you just dropped her off last night.

I tried calling and couldn't get through.  OMG, it's now about 12 hours later.  If she's still alive, will get some Prep H right away.

pbmaltzman said:

I tried calling and couldn't get through.  OMG, it's now about 12 hours later.  If she's still alive, will get some Prep H right away.

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If it isn't too far a drive, head on over in your car.   I would drive across the country to save one of my babies. 

Do you get voicemail or a menu?  Try pressing 0 on your phone.

Thanks for your post!  I DID finally talk to someone live at Animal Control.  She told me that Callie had been euthanized this morning.  I had surrendered her at about 11:30 last night.  If she had not been euthanized, FOR SURE I'd have driven across town to retrieve her. 

Pam Maltzman

I don't expect anyone to work for free, but I was shocked at the expense of such an operation.  $5,000, and over $200 just to euthanize.  I expected to be turned down by Care Credit.  They don't run a request for credit for a low amount such as $600 or even $1,000, but $5,000.  I think Care Credit is a crock of poop, if you ask me.  I applied once before for care for another, much older cat for whom nothing more could be done, regardless of whether or not I'd had enough money (she had a chin tumor and stomatitis).

I'm grateful for low cost spay/neuter and vaccinations, though.

Pam Maltzman

I am sorry to hear the sad news.  I have been checking this thread hourly for an update.  I am so sorry for your loss.

At least she had a nice home full of love while she was here on this earth.  Thank you.

Out of curiosity, do you know why they euthanize so quickly?  Do they euthanize all animals surrendered or only those that might not be adoptable due to medical issues.  If due to medical issues, it might be a comfort to know that her condition was too severe to be able to live a good quality of life.  If so, you gave her a gift of freedom from pain and suffering.

(((Hugs))) to you.

THanks, tjcarst.  Because she was obviously in serious discomfort and there seemed nothing more I could do for her, I took their advice and took her to Animal Control.  I brought her there about 11:30 (had to stop off and cash a check so that I could get gas and take her there).  Whatever guy was coming on at midnight was going to take her and one other cat over to whatever vet handles this stuff for them.  They couldn't guarantee any time, but said as soon as they took her there, she'd probably be euthanized.

Thanks for your concern.  I did finally reach a human, and she said Callie had been euthanized.  If they hadn't done that by the time I called, for sure I'd have retrieved her and taken her to the regular vet I'd used before. 

Well, if this ever happens to another cat of mine, for sure I will try Preparation H before giving up and having them euthanized.

She had been licking her rear end for some days before I noticed that anything was wrong, and she had breath that smelled like feces, and I remember wondering why such a young cat would have poopy breath.  Now I know.  When they were examining her at the animal ER, there was some liquid in the protruding part of the anus/rectum. 

I like to think I took reasonably good care of her (I fed her as much as she wanted to eat... she was making up for missing meals); but obviously I was ignorant of a lot of stuff.  Who knows, if I'd thought to take her to my regular vet when I noticed the poopy breath, maybe something could have been done before it got bad.  She had more tissue protruding than what was shown in the other photos.

I had also found some barf on the carpet... it was kind of white and spongy-like, didn't really look like barfed-up food.  Don't really know which cat barfed it up.

I'm really sorry to lose Callie, but hopefully will be more careful in the future.

Pam Maltzman

Okay, in my wanderings today, I picked up a tube of Preparation H ointment, to keep around "just in case."  Hopefully it won't be necessary any time soon.

Okay, RIP Miss Callie.  Thanks again to everybody who commented on this thread.

About a month after I had Callie put down, I adopted another tiny short-haired tortie from an ad on Craigslist.  The girl who had her touted her as an "ugly cat who needs love."  She's not ugly at all!  And she's very sweet.  I forget what they were calling her, but she now answers to Millie.  She was only 9 or 10 months old at the time, maybe now about a year old.  She was pregnant with her second litter (she must have been bred during her first heat).  She gave birth to 5 beautiful kittens, one of whom didn't make it, and now I have 4 six-week-old kittens who will be given away in another couple of weeks.

There are two red tabby boys, one light-orange girl, and one solid gray girl.  Have had to clean the little faces several times with eye wash because of goopy eyes.  They are starting to eat a little bit of their mom's dry and canned food, plus some goats' milk.  They seem to recognize us.  They attack my feet and even draw blood.  They also love to attack the cat scratching posts in the apartment.

I'm going to rehome them to people who will spay or neuter by the time they're about 6 months old, and who will hopefully keep them indoors.  I just want to find them good homes; not charging any money for them.  I just got them some Iams Kitten Food tonight and moistened it before giving it to them.  The mama cat was eating it too.  I give them about 3 cans of cat food per day.

If anybody wants to see my cat pictures, look me up on Facebook and see my photo albums.  I'm "Pamela B. Maltzman."  Thanks again for your advice and kind words, everyone!

Hi Pam:

Please start a new thread that mentions you have kittens and you will most likely get much more views.  Congrats on the new kitty and babies!

Thanks, will do that.

Pam Maltzman

I see that this has worked out for you - and i'm glad. I'm going through the same thing right now. My poor guy is just 5 months old.

I started him on high quality biologically appropriate raw and dried (orijen) from the first and that set off a parade of issues... possibly from transitioning too fast but i think ore likely from a food intolerance.

The Orijen was too "something" for him and he got bloody stools so I backed off a bit and tried just raw (Primal Pronto) before it occurred to met that it might be the protein source issue. It had only been poultry and poultry/salmon(primal) so far.

Over a few weeks we've transitioned to rabbit mostly (primal) and canned limited ingredient lamb. the limited ingredient duck seemingly not as digestable... which leads me to think, his system and poultry just don't jibe. In the past week he's been 90% can and 10% raw rabbit because it seems to be helping him get a break from the prolapsing.

My vet is not pro-raw by any means (she calls it marketing hoo ha) so it's been a struggle to balance worry over his partial prolapse versus highly digestible foods (she's a fan of the crap filled Hi'lls prescriptions that I just can't make myself feed him). While i try to value her opinion as knowledgable - It's been weeks of stress to get him calmed down internally..

Thus far the limited ingredient canned seems to be helping him "hold it in" while still "coming out" okay at long last.  I'd like to bring him back to raw, but the hard stool results seem to be anti-intuitive for a little guy's whose inners are coming out. I'd love to get some vets who are pro-raw to chime in here...or know if anyone else has had the issue... I've searched all the raw and commercial raw sites and noone seems to have had the same issues. But wouldn't a harder stool be a bigger problem right now? And has this problem come back for you?

I have a cat that we adopted from fostering at 8 weeks old who is now 12 weeks. She had prolapse from the minute we got her. They did 2 surgeries where they suterated her. Both times it didn't work. Her name is kisses! So then they cut the tissue and caturized it. We thought she would be ok. We adopted her and now it has popped out again, it's red and bleeding. We will take her back to the foster place to hopefully see what they can do. I'm so worried, the entire time we have given her stool softners and other medications for this and soft foods. They tested her for parasites and it was negative. We love her but are hoping we won't have to pay a ton for all this now that we adopted her.

lhayes said:

I have a cat that we adopted from fostering at 8 weeks old who is now 12 weeks. She had prolapse from the minute we got her. They did 2 surgeries where they suterated her. Both times it didn't work. Her name is kisses! So then they cut the tissue and caturized it. We thought she would be ok. We adopted her and now it has popped out again, it's red and bleeding. We will take her back to the foster place to hopefully see what they can do. I'm so worried, the entire time we have given her stool softners and other medications for this and soft foods. They tested her for parasites and it was negative. We love her but are hoping we won't have to pay a ton for all this now that we adopted her.

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Is she constipated and straining to go...is that what is causing this?  Or does she have constant diarrhea.  Some parasites aren't seen on a normal fecal float, that's why I ask, so if she has pretty much constant diarrhea, she might still have one of those harder to see parasites that need a PCR test to detect.  If she is constipated, that might account for the bleeding, but hopefully there is not much of it.  Is she bothered by the prolapse and licking at it?  Have you tried using Preparation H on it?  Did you read the article referenced above (they say Prep H is ok to use )  https://www.vetinfo.com/cencyclopedia/ceprolapse.html#ixzz1idulWuqN

I sure hope Kisses will be ok when all is said and done

Thanks for responding. She never has diarrhea, she must be straining but it doesn't seem like it! She has a bowel movement and it's not hard. She has been on a stool softener everyday! Yes she does lick at it and no haven't tried the preparation h but I will re read that again. She is again having surgery for the prolapse.

I adopted two blue tabby kittens, a brother and sister, from our local Humane Society on my birthday two weeks ago. Both were ten weeks old and were spayed or neutered. Both were treated for diarrhea. The male kitty was also found to have a slight anal prolapse but was not visible when we adopted him. We were unaware of this until he had shown symptoms. I took him to a walk in clinic and they gave me probiotics, ointment to put on it, and dewormer. He then saw his regular vet. He gave us some canned food, a cone to prevent him from licking the area. It is starting to clear up. Just wondering how long it would take to completely heal? He goes back in a couple days for a follow up. He still seems to have difficulty with pooping. His poop is looking better. Also, I do rinse the area with warm water. I have included a picture. Is he on the right track of healing?

petersenclan2 said:

I adopted two blue tabby kittens, a brother and sister, from our local Humane Society on my birthday two weeks ago. Both were ten weeks old and were spayed or neutered. Both were treated for diarrhea. The male kitty was also found to have a slight anal prolapse but was not visible when we adopted him. We were unaware of this until he had shown symptoms. I took him to a walk in clinic and they gave me probiotics, ointment to put on it, and dewormer. He then saw his regular vet. He gave us some canned food, a cone to prevent him from licking the area. It is starting to clear up. Just wondering how long it would take to completely heal? He goes back in a couple days for a follow up. He still seems to have difficulty with pooping. His poop is looking better. Also, I do rinse the area with warm water. I have included a picture. Is he on the right track of healing?

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I would say if you are putting an ointment on, you wouldn't want to rinse it off, BUT, did your Vet advise you to also use a warm compress? I think you probably want to address your question TO your Vet? Also, every cat heals at a different rate, same with humans, and, of course, it really depends on just how bad he was t begin with. With anal prolapse, too, as long as he's having a hard time pooping, he may not heal as quickly . MAY not...hard to say. When you have your Vet check-up in a few days, they'll let you know how things are coming along. I know it's hard to wait, but some times that's all you can do

mrsgreenjeens said:

I would say if you are putting an ointment on, you wouldn't want to rinse it off, BUT, did your Vet advise you to also use a warm compress? I think you probably want to address your question TO your Vet? Also, every cat heals at a different rate, same with humans, and, of course, it really depends on just how bad he was t begin with. With anal prolapse, too, as long as he's having a hard time pooping, he may not heal as quickly . MAY not...hard to say. When you have your Vet check-up in a few days, they'll let you know how things are coming along. I know it's hard to wait, but some times that's all you can do

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The first vet said warm compress and then a cool compress. My kitty vet suggests that I just rinse it off and pat dry. I rinse before applying ointment.

At the beginning his anus was swollen. And when he pooped there was blood. Since he started the wet food, probiotics, and ointment its not swollen or traces of blood in poop. If I have gotten the ointment from the shelter, would this have been preventable? I only had him for almost 2 weeks

No way to know if this could have been prevented or not. The original blood in his poop may have been from being constipated...hard to know that either, but if a small amount of fresh blood, often that's an indicator of constipation. When is his follow-up? Tomorrow? Keep us posted!