My kitten is constipated.

Hi, my cat Mufasa also has a mega colon same thing. They thought of operating as well but I heard of this stuff. Miralax. His been using it for almost a year now, and I have no problem ever since I've started using it 1 ml on 1 ml water 2 a day. Please consider trying it first.

You both will be in my thoughts!!!

You have people way over in Indiana USA pulling for you!

Thanks for answering but, unfortunately, laxatives haven't worked at all. Only enemas have. And that's not something we can keep doing. Unfortunately, subtotal colectomy is the only solution... I hope your cat stays well!

Thanks, lisa! I just really hope everything turns out well...

Ok, then. I'm really sorry that you don't want to try Miralax. But I really hope everything go's well with the Operation.

Lisyna, how's your baby doing?

After the problem is diagnosed, check out Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Fiber Response for felines- no constipation, ever! When you use this product. 

Have you tried a liquid diet for a couple of days and see how that works? Tri things like low salt chicken broth or beef broth. Ask your vet about that. I know when ever my dogs had hard stools I would be told liquid diet and pumpkin.

hope he feels better. Did your vet do a X-ray to see about a blockage?

~donna

Wanda, as I explained above I'm in Greece, I couldn't try Miralax anyway. But it's not like I wanted to operate on the poor kitten. It just didn't look like there was anything else that could be done. The poor things got daily enemas for over 10 days and even they didn't work. Laxatives just weren't cutting it.

He had idiopathic megacolon after all. You didn't even need an x-ray to see how obstipated he was. You could almost see hardened stool in his left side. His colon was huge, the vet showed me pictures. It was probably due to the broken pelvis but we can't know for sure. We went ahead with the surgery. He had most of his colon removed and he was also neutered. I'd asked his vet if he could do both at the same time but he wasn't sure. He decided to go ahead and do it because the kitten did so well during surgery. The thing is, he didn't inform me first, so I was going crazy wondering why the surgery was taking so long. But all's well that ends well. I just visited him (again). He's in a good mood. He's already trying to open his cage and he's chewing on his tubes. He's bleeding a bit, which is expected and he smelled like poop, which is a very positive sign. Hopefully, this will be the last of his troubles...

Thanks for your interest, everyone!

My goodness, Lisyna, your poor little baby! How did Kitten do on his surgery?? You've got prayers for him in Texas, USA! 

By the way, he looks like a little Apollo!  

Big hugs! Let us know how everything turned out! 

I think the worst is ove Lisnya. Don't let anyone make u feel bad about the surgery. U are doing the best u know to do. That's all any of us can do about anything. I wish him and u a speedy recovery. U must have been so nervous. Be well.

Shannonmari1, that's actually one of the names I've been considering! He is blond-haired and blue-eyed, after all and I only have him because I fostered him for a local animal welfare association called Artemis, who was Apollo's twin sister.

Thanks for the prayers. He's going to need them during recovery. The first time I visited I saw him for a few minutes and he was just starting to come out from anesthesia. This time he was completely awake and alert. I asked his vet how he was doing and he said that he was hissing just fine, haha. Then I spoke to him and he got scared but as soon as he figured out it was me, he started screaming at the top of his lungs. I got to help his vet administer his meds so I could hold him. I can't wait to bring him home!


Here's a more recent picture. He and his bff, Olivia, had just finished trashing the living room and he was giving himself a bath.

Lisnya,

Bless you for everything you had done to help this little one--he's definitely a cutie and I'm sue will grow up to be a very handsome boy!   Personally, I'm happy to know that there are people all over the world who care and are willing to go the extra mile to help animals that have no voice of their own.   I will continue to send positive thoughts your way.  Hope you're able to share updates as time goes one--I'm sure we would all like to know how he's coming along.    Thank you for caring.

Ok, I'm in South Africa. So we imported the Miralax. But I really glad to hear the Op was a success. Hopefully he can lead a happy normal life from now on. Keep me posted on his progress. Regards

Make sure to give the Miralax correctly - dissolve the powder (a cat dose is 1/4 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon) in a tablespoon or two of water, then mix it all into canned food. This will prevent the Miralax from dehydrating your cat (it works by drawing water from the body into the digestive tract) and futher causing problems.

Hi guys, he's gotten worse again... He had a bit of hardened poop left in his colon. The vet opened him up again, removed it and he hasn't pooped since. It has been going on since Monday. He got an enema yesterday, the poop that got completely liquefied came out but he won't poop or even strain anymore... Apparently, there are two things that may be going on now: either his pelvis is narrowed or the nerves on his colon are dead. Our vet x-rayed him and if his pelvis is narrower than it should be, it doesn't show up on the x-rays. He needs a cat scan and he can't get that anywhere in my town. So, I'll be taking him to a university hospital on Friday. He can probably get surgery if it's his pelvis. If his colon is dead, I guess we're screwed. I can only hope that I'll be able to express his bowels... I've started him on probiotics, on the off chance it might have something to do with all this constipation. He's been on antibiotics for 1.5 month so far, so I figured they might help. I don't even know what to do anymore, I'm just getting desperate.

He's been at the vet's since Monday morning and I just got him back a few hours ago. As the vet prepared him so I could take him, he was meowing up a storm and trying to bite at his iv catheter. He commented on how he keeps acting like a healthy, pain-free kitten despite everything he's going through. Well, that's exactly why I can't just sit around giving him laxatives and waiting for his life to get miserable enough that he'll have to be put to sleep... Anyway, I brought him home, he gave himself a good bath, he ran around a bit, ate some and went right to sleep. I keep worrying that he's getting worse but he jumps up and looks fine. He even chased Morgana away from her box because it's his now (except he's now sitting on Olivia's blanket). I guess he's just tired. He must've gotten too stressed at the vet's... He went to his litterbox and dug around a bit and it gave me hope. I think that he's getting the urge to poop but he refuses to. He's done that in the past.

I'm prepared to do anything to keep him alive. He's going to have surgery on his pelvis, if he needs to. If his colon is dead, though, I guess there's nothing we can do. Can you express a kitten when he's bowel's not working? If so, that's what we'll do. If not... I don't want to think about that. Any suggestions? Any chance some probiotics and some lack of stress might work? Any idea if expressing his bowel will work? Any advice would be more than welcome. We're getting to the point where vets won't be helpful anymore and it's scary. And I'm going to stop rambling now...

Anything you can do to help the cat, you should

:Bathing

Etc

:Food

:Almond milk (cats like how it tastes)

Lisnya said:

Hi guys, he's gotten worse again... . He got an enema yesterday, the poop that got completely liquefied came out but he won't poop or even strain anymore... Apparently, there are two things that may be going on now: either his pelvis is narrowed or the nerves on his colon are dead. Our vet x-rayed him and if his pelvis is narrower than it should be, it doesn't show up on the x-rays. He needs a cat scan and he can't get that anywhere in my town. So, I'll be taking him to a university hospital on Friday. He can probably get surgery if it's his pelvis. If his colon is dead, I guess we're screwed. I can only hope that I'll be able to express his bowels... ...

I'm prepared to do anything to keep him alive. He's going to have surgery on his pelvis, if he needs to. If his colon is dead, though, I guess there's nothing we can do. Can you express a kitten when he's bowel's not working? If so, that's what we'll do. If not... I don't want to think about that. Any suggestions? Any chance some probiotics and some lack of stress might work? Any idea if expressing his bowel will work? Any advice would be more than welcome. We're getting to the point where vets won't be helpful anymore and it's scary. And I'm going to stop rambling now...

Click to expand...

How will a vet be able to determine if the nerves in his colon are dead? (Your story is unique to my own experience so I am ignorant on that part)

Will he be getting an ultrasound?


Your kitten is quite young so I am unsure if certain prescription medications should be given to him, but what about [colon] motility drugs, like cisapride? I think this is quite a strong drug, though, so maybe it is not for use in kittens and that's why your vet has not tried such a thing? I am not sure which seems more intense to me, surgery or a drug such as this (in his weakened state)?

Best wishes to you, good luck!!

He's going to get a cat scan, so we can see if his pelvis is narrower than it should be. If it is, he'll probably be able to get surgery for it. If his pelvis is fine and he still won't poop, we'll know that his colon is dead.

He is young and he's thin, too. He weighs ~4 lbs. I'm not sure we have cisapride in Greece. I'm trying to find out what the active ingredient in it is, so I can see if we have anything similar to it. But even if we do, I'm not sure I'll be able to give him the right dose and even if I do manage it, I don't know how he'll cope with it.

I'm pretty sure that he'll do fine during the next surgery, if he has to have one. You wouldn't believe how well he's been coping. He's like a healthy, active kitten. It's why I keep trying. I'm just trying to follow his lead.