HELP needed for 6 week old kitten with mega colon.

Hi, we are new to this site. We run a small private rescue for abandoned cats and kittens here in Florida. We recently picked up a 4 week old kitten from a young girl who said the kitten was sick. Took her directly to my vet, where it was discovered that there was a membrane over the rectum from an infected bite wound. The kitten had not been defecating and was impacted. My vet surgically opened the rectum and cleaned her out. Since then this poor kitten has been thru hell and back. We have her on 2mls lactulose twice daily, 1/8 tsp miralax mixed in with her canned food three times daily. She was back at the vets yesterday and thru x-rays determined she has mega colon. Poor thing is miserable. She has had two enemas in two weeks and still is straining and posturing with no results. On top of everything she is a little white kitten with blue eyes and yes is deaf. She is quite vocal.
A little background, I worked in the vet field for over 20 years as a CVT in an emergency clinic and as a surgical technician for an orthopedic vet.
I am researching all options and want to do the right thing for this kitten. Would love to speak with anyone who can help us make the right decision for this little girl.

Wow, megacolon at 6 weeks?????  I've never heard of a kitten having it so young, poor thing.  I know miralax is a great product to have with constipation, but it's the motility that seems to be her problem.  Isn't there a drug that helps with that?  Seems like there is, but I can't think of the name of it.  Cisapride, I think.  Have you tried that?   

I'm wondering why the Lactulose AND miralax together?  I would think one or the other, but I guess that's neither here nor there since they aren't working.  And have you tried adding pumpkin to her diet.  It's fiber, but shouldn't bulk up her stools, which would be disastrous (IMHO). 

mrsgreenjeans,

Thank you for replying. According to Dr. A my vet, who I truly believe in this mega colon was acquired as a result of a infection from a bite wound as a tiny kitten. The swelling from the bite wound caused a membrane to form over the opening to the rectum, thereby causing a backup of fecal matter which in turn caused the mega colon. So she was not born with this as far as we can tell.
I don't know what to do. What I am doing is a result of research. You are right, maybe the miralax and the lactulose together is overkill, but this kitten is miserable. Finally, as a last resort we gave her a Fleet enema (10ml). To our joy and hers the results were incredible. No diarrhea but enough formed stool for an entire litter of 6 kittens!!! She feels better, eating and playing.
Our regimen right now is 3ml lactulose am & pm. Pumpkin 1/2 tsp mixed with canned kitten food 3x daily. Miralax 1/8 tsp added to food in am only. Cisapride 1/2ml at bedtime. Am I missing anything? She has almost doubled her weight since she came into foster almost 2 weeks ago and now weighs 28 ounces. When I picked her up she weighed 15 ounces.
Again thanks for all your input I really want this little one to make it!

Would love to hear an update on this little kitten when you get the chance.

liquid diet and antibiotics until kittten grows and intestine can shrink to normal, motility may come back but it needs to not get full and stretched again

Pictures if you have time. Some of our rescues that had bowel problems we put on what they used to call a “quiet diet” which consisted of boiled chicken and canned pumpkin. Of course not for prolonged periods so ditto on the pumpkin.
Poor baby. I know parents of children with mega colon...very painful.

Glad she seems better. Please keep us updated as you can.

I just wanted to point out that this thread is five years old. Hopefully the issue with the kitten was resolved.