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- Jul 25, 2012
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Hello Everyone! I'm glad to be a new member of this site, and hope to help as much as be helped.
We recently rescued a kitten that someone found in a dumpster (he works for NYC department of sanitation). The kitten was about 3 days old when it was found. Trying his best to do what he thought was right for this kitten, he kept it, and was feeding it all the wrong things. He was letting his dog stimulate it to go to the bathroom, but the dog went wayyyy overboard causing extreme swelling and irritation. We couldn't even see the genital area or anus when we got him.
Enter us. My mother works as a vet tech, and was able to get him living in the vet for the first several weeks of his life, with fluids around the clock (he was beyond dehydrated). The other 2 of his litter did not survive due to the dehydration issues. He began to get bigger, and showing signs of vast improvement, and we wound up fostering him for awhile. While in our care, he hadn't defecated in 2-3 days, so we took him to our vet here in Brooklyn (my mom had to go on vacation, etc etc). X-rays showed that he had megacolon, most likely caused by the swelling and pain of his rear end, causing him not to defecate, backing him up, and ultimately stretching his colon. I'm hoping since he is now only about 4 months old he will grow into / out of it eventually... but that's long down the road.
We have since named the little guy Dylan and decided to keep him. He was getting 1/3 of a 5mg cisapride chew 2x a day, with 1/8 teaspoon of miralax mixed in his food. It seemed to work decently, although he continuously had feces on his rear end. We attributed this to him not being able to clean himself - I forgot to mention earlier - he had an e-collar on for quite awhile so he could not further the irritation on his backside. He's had the cone off for about a week now, does not appear to be over-irritation his backside, but it does still have a fecal coating on it almost constantly. His bowel movements have changed yet again, most likely because he is growing and we will need to adjust the dosage of the cisapride as he does... He went about a full 2 days with no BM, and then a bowel movement that was about the length of his body.. the poor thing. The consistency of it is good, but the frequency is not. I think that 2.5mg of Cisapride 2x a day is too much, as when we had tried that 2-3 weeks ago it caused a constant leakage. The vet also has us feeding him only 2x a day, but based on a few other posts I've read on this site, it appears that maybe smaller amounts of food more frequently may be beneficial.
My question is - does the Cisapride always have to be given with food? My vet advised to keep playing with the dosages / amounts of the Miralax and Cisapride until we find the right balance... and keep adjusting it as he grows. I think the Miralax is good at this point, but I don't want to jump to the 2.5mg of Cisapride 2x a day just yet... I'm thinking maybe doing 1/3 3x a day. Which would be the most effective to help him pass his stool? 2.5mg 2x daily, 1/3 3x daily? Is it the concentration of it that goes into him initially that would make him go? Meaning a higher dosage but less frequently (2.5x2) would be more effective for his defecation?
I'm researching around the web really trying to understand how to get this down pat for him. I know that the surgery is also something that may come into play in the future if the Cisapride stops working for him.. which I could probably get done fairly inexpensively thanks to being friends with the surgeon - but I also know that's a last resort. Do they become incontinent after that surgery?
Sorry for all the questions, we have just had our healthy Timothy for about 8 months now, and I've never had to go through such issues as these with a cat before. I guess these are the woes of people who rescue eh?
I'm sure there is a plethora of information on this site about megacolon (I've already read a bunch) but I don't see much about megacolon in kittens. I'm going to continue browsing, but thought I'd get my question in here early, since he hasn't gone to the bathroom since late Monday night.
Thanks in advance for any help/advice you can give.
Jason
We recently rescued a kitten that someone found in a dumpster (he works for NYC department of sanitation). The kitten was about 3 days old when it was found. Trying his best to do what he thought was right for this kitten, he kept it, and was feeding it all the wrong things. He was letting his dog stimulate it to go to the bathroom, but the dog went wayyyy overboard causing extreme swelling and irritation. We couldn't even see the genital area or anus when we got him.
Enter us. My mother works as a vet tech, and was able to get him living in the vet for the first several weeks of his life, with fluids around the clock (he was beyond dehydrated). The other 2 of his litter did not survive due to the dehydration issues. He began to get bigger, and showing signs of vast improvement, and we wound up fostering him for awhile. While in our care, he hadn't defecated in 2-3 days, so we took him to our vet here in Brooklyn (my mom had to go on vacation, etc etc). X-rays showed that he had megacolon, most likely caused by the swelling and pain of his rear end, causing him not to defecate, backing him up, and ultimately stretching his colon. I'm hoping since he is now only about 4 months old he will grow into / out of it eventually... but that's long down the road.
We have since named the little guy Dylan and decided to keep him. He was getting 1/3 of a 5mg cisapride chew 2x a day, with 1/8 teaspoon of miralax mixed in his food. It seemed to work decently, although he continuously had feces on his rear end. We attributed this to him not being able to clean himself - I forgot to mention earlier - he had an e-collar on for quite awhile so he could not further the irritation on his backside. He's had the cone off for about a week now, does not appear to be over-irritation his backside, but it does still have a fecal coating on it almost constantly. His bowel movements have changed yet again, most likely because he is growing and we will need to adjust the dosage of the cisapride as he does... He went about a full 2 days with no BM, and then a bowel movement that was about the length of his body.. the poor thing. The consistency of it is good, but the frequency is not. I think that 2.5mg of Cisapride 2x a day is too much, as when we had tried that 2-3 weeks ago it caused a constant leakage. The vet also has us feeding him only 2x a day, but based on a few other posts I've read on this site, it appears that maybe smaller amounts of food more frequently may be beneficial.
My question is - does the Cisapride always have to be given with food? My vet advised to keep playing with the dosages / amounts of the Miralax and Cisapride until we find the right balance... and keep adjusting it as he grows. I think the Miralax is good at this point, but I don't want to jump to the 2.5mg of Cisapride 2x a day just yet... I'm thinking maybe doing 1/3 3x a day. Which would be the most effective to help him pass his stool? 2.5mg 2x daily, 1/3 3x daily? Is it the concentration of it that goes into him initially that would make him go? Meaning a higher dosage but less frequently (2.5x2) would be more effective for his defecation?
I'm researching around the web really trying to understand how to get this down pat for him. I know that the surgery is also something that may come into play in the future if the Cisapride stops working for him.. which I could probably get done fairly inexpensively thanks to being friends with the surgeon - but I also know that's a last resort. Do they become incontinent after that surgery?
Sorry for all the questions, we have just had our healthy Timothy for about 8 months now, and I've never had to go through such issues as these with a cat before. I guess these are the woes of people who rescue eh?
I'm sure there is a plethora of information on this site about megacolon (I've already read a bunch) but I don't see much about megacolon in kittens. I'm going to continue browsing, but thought I'd get my question in here early, since he hasn't gone to the bathroom since late Monday night.
Thanks in advance for any help/advice you can give.
Jason
