Constipation - Feeling the Colon

Does anybody know how to feel the cat colon? My kitty's having constipation issues and I'd like to learn how. I've found out the general area from internet articles, but I can't tell if I'm feeling the colon or not. Are there any signs? What does the colon feel like?

Hi Raintyger!

Here's a 101 for you...of course( ), that's the book version, and learning this may require a practicum of sorts...a little coached hands-on learning courtesy of your Vet.

Geez I'm sorry...you've had a heck of a time!

The only advice I can give is to be careful when palpating her. You don't want to damage the bowel or cause a perforation.

That's a great article White Shadow provided, but it didn't help me at all    Maybe my fingertips are too used to feeling the keyboard and not sensitive enough to feeling intestines .

All laughter aside, what I would do is have the Vet show me next time I'm in their office.  As a matter of fact, I'm going to write that down right now, 'cause it's a good thing to know!

In the meantime, Raintyger, how much egg yolk lecithin are you giving her?  I know right now during hairball season, some of us are giving at least one full capsule, if not more, per day.  Additionally are you making sure she is getting plenty of water.  Can't recall what she is eating, but are you adding more water to it? 

mrsgreenjeens said:

That's a great article White Shadow provided, but it didn't help me at all

   Maybe my fingertips are too used to feeling the keyboard and not sensitive enough to feeling intestines

.

All laughter aside, what I would do is have the Vet show me next time I'm in their office.  As a matter of fact, I'm going to write that down right now, 'cause it's a good thing to know!

In the meantime, Raintyger, how much egg yolk lecithin are you giving her?  I know right now during hairball season, some of us are giving at least one full capsule, if not more, per day.  Additionally are you making sure she is getting plenty of water.  Can't recall what she is eating, but are you adding more water to it? 

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Yeah, I can come across that article before, but I couldn't find the colon, either, that's why I posted here, hoped someone else might be able to help out. (Thank, you, though, White Shadow!) I think I need someone to take my fingers, place them on the colon and say, "See? Right here..."

I had been giving Poppy one tablet/day of egg yolk lecithin. I'm currently in a state of confusion, though. Last year we just let Poppy spit them up, and we had no constipation issues. Poppy had a UTI about the same time one year ago. We switched her to 100% wet food. In June and July there were hairballs, I'd say 1 every 2 weeks on average. Then nothing until December, when we got 1. I started Poppy on egg yolk lecithin in late February, and that is when we started having constipation issues. I am wondering if the egg yolk lecithin actually has unintended consequences for Poppy? Maybe my little furball just can't handle that much fur working its way through the digestive tract and it is better for her to get rid of them out the other end? The vet tech that administered her most recent enema verified that she had a lot of hairballs when she got her waste out. My vet is out right now (due back Wed. afternoon), but I have a phone call in to talk about Poppy's x-ray.

The water is another factor I thought of. I add about 1 tablespoon water to each of her meals, 1-3/4 oz. Wellness pate-style. I heard too much water can cause potassium deficiency and constipation. I do keep track of how much she urinates, and it is more than average, but I didn't worry about it until now because I knew I was giving her extra water. So maybe too much of a good thing? I did catch Poppy in what looked like a muscle spasm in her leg a couple times over the past 2-3 months. Not much evidence, but I've never seen it before.

Out of curiosity, do vets get annoyed if the owners call back a lot with questions? I get the feeling my vets do. It's not like I'm calling everyday, but 2 calls after a visit would not be unusual for me. I don't feel the questions are unwarranted, sometimes I have to call if, for instance, the antibiotics gave diarrhea or something. But other times I call with non-emergency questions and it sounds like I'm being labelled as an overprotective mom.

I don't see how 1 tablespoon of water to each of her meals would cause a problem, and the problem you are mentioning electrolyte problems in refers to water intoxication.

Does she have a motility issue? As in her gut peristalsis is altered?

peaches08 said:

I don't see how 1 tablespoon of water to each of her meals would cause a problem, and the problem you are mentioning electrolyte problems in refers to water intoxication.

Does she have a motility issue? As in her gut peristalsis is altered?

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At her last vet visit Poppy had x-rays. The vet said that her colon looked to be a "good size" and said that the problem would lie more in getting water in the stool. He said that because I had previously had cisapride and asked if I should continue with it.

Funny thing, though, the vet did not say anything about the hairballs, which I assume would show up in the x-ray. He was not my regular vet, as I had brought Poppy in on a on-demand appointment for not eliminating.

All very mysterious .   IMHO, hairballs should NOT be upchucked, but should go out the back end.  Too much upchucking cannot be good for their esophagus, etc., and I don't honestly think nature intended those hairballs to came out the front end .  But it IS awfully strange that she didn't have a constipation problem until you started her on the egg yolk lecithin.  And that's not supposed to bind the hair together, so don't understand how it could cause constipation .  Plus I agree that just 1 T water added to each meal shouldn't be nearly enough to cause potassium deficiency/, although that's not to say she couldn't have that issue, caused by something else, like an intestinal blockage, or some other reason...just don't think it's from that added water. 

The Vet's comments about needing water in her stools is exactly the point of using Miralax.  So...since she's already on that, what else did he advise.   When WAS that xray?  AT the same time as the enema when they found lots of hair in her "output"? 

As far  as calling the Vet, MY Vet tells me to call with any and all questions, so I guess it just depends on the Vet.  Believe me, when Sven was in the final stages of kidney disease, I was constantly called to discuss things that were happening, needing to know if they were "normal", whether or not we should up his fluids, increase his pepcid A/C, try adding this or that, etc.  They never seemed to mind. 

mrsgreenjeens said:

All very mysterious

.   IMHO, hairballs should NOT be upchucked, but should go out the back end.  Too much upchucking cannot be good for their esophagus, etc., and I don't honestly think nature intended those hairballs to came out the front end .  But it IS awfully strange that she didn't have a constipation problem until you started her on the egg yolk lecithin.  And that's not supposed to bind the hair together, so don't understand how it could cause constipation

.  Plus I agree that just 1 T water added to each meal should be nearly enough to cause potassium deficiency/, although that's not to say she couldn't have that issue, caused by something else, like an intestinal blockage, or some other reason...just don't think it's from that added water. 

The Vet's comments about needing water in her stools is exactly the point of using Miralax.  So...since she's already on that, what else did he advise.   When WAS that xray?  AT the same time as the enema when they found lots of hair in her "output"? 

As far  as calling the Vet, MY Vet tells me to call with any and all questions, so I guess it just depends on the Vet.  Believe me, when Sven was in the final stages of kidney disease, I was constantly called to discuss things that were happening, needing to know if they were "normal", whether or not we should up his fluids, increase his pepcid A/C, try adding this or that, etc.  They never seemed to mind. 

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Well, she didn't upchuck that often. During hairball season, yes, once every couple of weeks, once a week if it got bad. But that only lasted a month or so. Last year I remember in June there were about 3-4 hairballs, one in July, and then nothing until December, when there was one.

Does anyone know if constipation due to hairballs is treated differently than megacolon or chronic constipation? I've been researching and everything seems to point to slow digestion and hairballs. What I'm thinking is that the egg yolk lecithin could be clogging up the digestive tract--instead of it getting spat out, it has to travel down the digestive tract. But if I've been adding pumpkin to her meals, the soluble fiber might be slowing it down too much, then we have a hairball buildup.

A couple weeks ago Poppy had to go in for a GI infection. According to a fact sheet from Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, WA, insoluble fiber helps to "prevent infections of the gut." Insoluble fiber is also supposed to keep the gut contents moving along.

Last year Poppy had a UTI. Previous to her UTI, I feed her awful--dry food mainly. Dry food that would have more insoluble fiber. So possibly I was avoiding a constipation problem in my terrible feeding habits?

In June I switched Poppy to 100% wet with added water. She didn't have any issues until she had a dental in January--in fact, she was quite regular. After the dental, she was stopped up and I eventually had to take her in for an enema. When I noticed she was slowing down I started adding the pumpkin, and shortly after, the egg yolk lecithin.

I do believe Poppy has a problem in getting water into the colon, so I will keep giving her Miralax. But I'm beginning to question the pumpkin (which I have switched to Benefiber since Poppy started rejecting pumpkin) and egg yolk lecithin. I know it sounds terrible, but she may be better off getting rid of those hairballs the old way. I also have a Furminator on order.

Sorry, forgot to note that the x-ray was the same day as her last enema.

Scatterbrained today.

The reason I thought of the potassium is that twice within the past couple months I have seen Poppy have a muscle spasm in her leg.

Well, you're talking to your regular Vet tomorrow, right?  I'd mention the leg spasms, and discuss the whole soluble fiber theory.  I've heard the same thing as you, though, about insoluble fiber helping with good bacteria. 

What I still don't understand, though, is the egg yolk lecithin is supposed to help BREAK UP the hairball, not cause it to glom together.   I know other people feed the EYL together with pumpkin, and don't recall them having any problems. 

Poor Poppy...she she still constipated, even after her enema?  Or are you just asking these questions for preventative measuresso she doesn't have to go back for another one? 

My experience with the EYL was that there were still hairballs coming through. I did post when I first started the EYL, asking if the hairballs were just supposed to pass through easier, or if the hairballs would be broken up and spread throughout the stool more. I think one member said the latter. But since Poppy got constipated, I initiated "output exams." Meaning that I make observations about her stool, measure stuff like volume and time passed, and write it all down. One of the observations I make is if there are hairballs present. She consistently outputs hairballs, little mini ones about 1" to 1.5" on average, about .375" in diameter, even after the EYL regimen.

I don't know if the EYL is causing Poppy's hairballs to glom together. My theory is that now there's more hairballs getting into her intestine, maybe smaller ones, but also maybe too much for my little kitty to handle.

I'm asking these questions because it's evident that I have an ongoing problem. Poppy had an enema in February, and then was put on cisapride for a while (not on it now), MIralax, and pumpkin. But she had to go  in last week again. Even though Poppy does poop now, if I don't do something different, I think the problem isn't going away. Adding pumpkin and Miralax did not resolve it, so I have to try something else, and the evidence all points to hairballs. Trouble is, the ways to fix hairballs are: 1. Laxatone/Petromalt, which Poppy doesn't like and there's some controversy over anyway; 2. Grooming - Furminator is on order, and; 3. High fiber diet with insoluble fiber. But all I hear about insoluble fiber is that you don't want it, at least not for chronic constipation/megacolon. So I'm wondering if constipation due to hairballs is entirely different? Plus the fact that a lot of insoluble fiber means grains (I think I'll give Poppy flax seed powder if conclusions are that she needs insoluble fiber.)

The constipation issues wear down mommy, too, so I really want to figure this out. Since one of the symptoms for Poppy is that her appetite decreases, lately I've been worried if she doesn't eat or gets picky about her food. She usually has a hearty appetite, so even the smallest variance makes me worry. So everyday I have to worry about her appetite. Then I have to worry about what's (not) going on in the litter box.

By the way, even though my friend laughs at me and everyone else thinks it's disgusting (and it is), the notes have been invaluable. Through my notes I see trends and can speculate as to the cause--I saw through my notes that shortly before the problems started I gave EYL and started pumpkin. I noticed before the last enema that there weren't any hairballs for a while. So if anyone is having kitty health issues, I urge you to take notes. The vets love it, and I will hopefully be able to pinpoint the cause much faster.