Owners of cats with Megacolon: Question about aging cats

Hello all!

I am still trying to figure out what is going on with my beautiful boy Bandit. He will be 17 in December and was diagnosed with sluggish bowel/megacolon at age 2. He was managed on diet, ciscipride 3x daily and lactulose.  When I heard about PEG (Mirilax or Restoralax), I switched him to that and wow! What a great product for him.

This year, in February, he had a second attack of Pancreatitis (both he and his sister were about 2 weeks apart).  He bounced back and was his normal self within a few weeks after hydration/pain meds/ antibiotics and steroids. However, after that bout of pancreatitis, he began drooling any time he had to pass stool and strain to do so. That was never something he did. I spoke to his vet and he checked Bandit's blood work (pancreatitis was gone), and we figured it was due to Bandit's age.

In June, Bandit had a very bad injury to his leg---I don't know what happened--likely he fell when I wasn't home--I just remember noticing the huge hematoma and he was grooming it. I took him to the vet and we put him on prednisone to prevent itching and antibiotics. They suspected it was cancer, but it healed perfectly and not a spec lingered.

While this was going on, I noticed Bandit was starting to show signs of 'aging'. They did run more blood and his and his sister's kidney levels checked in normal after checking in elevated in February after their second pancreatitis issues. I had put them on a kidney diet (for slowing down the process).

The biggest confusion is in June/July, Bandit started having diarrhea. Now, he's had diarrhea before with megacolon, but nothing like this. The only time he had it that bad was with pancreatitis the first time. Even his bout in February wasn't as bad as this. Again, tests show slight pancreatic elevation, so back to supportive therapy and metronitozole to control diarrhea (fluids etc). 

Bandit has been on prednisone since then and it seems to control his issues with diarrhea, but what I find odd is that, ever since all this, his megacolon has changed. Normally, his stool was hard as a rock. Now? Nothing like it was.

Can a cat with megacolon/sluggish bowel have this as they age?? Has anyone here with a megacolon cat had this issue? The vet said it was highly unlikely that Bandit could have megacolon AND IBD given both conditions are the opposite of the other---but if something weird is going to happen, it would happen to me  

I don't really care about the condition, but I am more looking for solutions to help Bandit live a happy, comfortable senior life. He currently is doing ok, but he is very tired. And it saddens me because he was such a lively cat before this all happened. Even back in June, with his leg issue, he still had his happy 'run abouts' and he ran around and talked to his imaginary friends. After July, he stopped doing that.

But Bandit wasn't ready to call it quits and neither am I. My main focus now is to make sure he's happy so I figure asking other people with cats with megacolon what their experience was as their kitties aged would be job 1.  Bandit is currently on prednisone 2x daily, pepcid ac 2x daily as needed, ciscipride 2x daily (I backed him off his 3rd dose as he doesn't seem to need it atm), and he is on the gastro hard food that has been cited as a good food for cats with megacolon, but he's very fussy with food still. Eating well, but I am also wondering if he has a serious dental issue that is somehow being missed with all of these other problems.

I will post the dental issue in another thread.

Thanks!

Just bumping this up for you. 

From what I understand of the drugs, the cisapride is really a motility drug, right.  It assists the stool in moving along the digestive tract?   And the prednisone and Pepcid are for the Pancreatitis? 

Maybe it's the steroid that's making him tired?  and subduing his personality?  I think these are documented side effects

Did the vet do an Xray of Bandit's gut?  Our 18 yo cat had severe constipation that our regular vet did not recognize as serious as it was. Our cat kept getting bloated (our vet thought it was early kidney disease and her Xray machine showed only a small mass that might be a tumor or fatty liver disease.) and the diarrhea more severe (like Bandit, she used to pass small, hard stools),  It took going to another vet in a larger, more modern facility to get the problem solved. Their Xray machines found very large and numerous small stools and so they did rehydration therapy, added stool softeners and gave 7 enemas (they kept her overnight and all the next business day). Our cat came back so thin and her kidneys are functioning well, but she is much more alert and active again.  She is on Iams Intestinal Plus wet food, Laxatone paste and lactulose and her stools are mostly normal,, with the occasional small, hard stool.  In a couple of weeks, we go back to the newest vet for a check up and to investigate the mass.  At 18, every extra day with Christy is a special gift and it is her quality of life that is paramount with us.

Prayers and vibes that Bandit gets the blessing of better health so that you may enjoy the remaining moments together 

Thanks folks!

Yes, ciscpride is a propulsid--it moves the bowel/contracts it since his body does not do this on it's own. The prednisone is supportive for pancreatitis--and when I try to drop that, he goes back to pancreatic issues. Thing is, the vets say pancreatitis is a secondary condition to a larger issue--which means something is going on that is missed. It's usually IBD that causes pancreatitis, but how can a cat with megacolon/constipation develop irritable bowel disease??? Constipation AND Diarrhea (leave it to my cat to have something mega weird).  The only other condition would be small intestinal cancer, which we aren't going to pursue because the diagnostics would be expensive and disruptive to him and I don't want him upset. He hates needles, and the reality is, the prognosis of such a diagnosis is pretty much how long he'd have left anyway, given his is 17 in December. But, to my very core, I KNOW it's not cancer--I can't explain how I know, I just do. There is something else going on internally that has been missed---and perhaps something very simple. I just can't figure out what else to look at---I have thought about going to my first vet that I worked for as a teen and who took care of my first kitty, but a) he's a bit of a drive (hence the new clinic) and b) cost----the same tests to run for the same results? I mean, sometimes a fresh perspective is helpful, but I don't have that kind of money. Plus my vet clinic is amazing and have been SO thorough with running tests and not over testing/running unnecessary tests.

I'm seeing the vet Saturday morning with Bandit for his b-12 shot and hopefully I can find some possibilities--I know that long term use of prednisone can cause cushings and diabetes so I may have him get blood work run to rule that out. And I may see what other vitamin therapies there are. 

When Bandit was given prednisone this past February, he was BONKERS! I've never seen him have so much energy!! I was glad when I took him off it! But, this last time was not the case...which again baffles me.....