Potty Problems for Jack the Kitten

Jack strains and strains to poop, but only little drabs come out.
The drab is dark with a clay-like consistency.
Here's his history:
At 5 weeks old Jack became impacted from constipation - probably from KMR - and was given an enema by the vet. Not much came out. Started Jack on Laxatone.
At 8 weeks Jack was moved to another foster home - he's a rescue - no laxatone.
At 11 weeks impacted again. Went to a new vet for another opinion - started on Albon - no relief for 3 days
Went to a 3rd vet for another opinion - vet kept Jack for enemas and to completely clean him out - did barium xrays to look for obstruction or physical deformity causing problem - found nothing
Switched to only canned food on return home. After 3 days with no poop, switched to raw food and started laxatone again
Jack is now 12 weeks old and poops little drabs everywhere he goes - drabs are not runny - and has a constantly dirty and sort butt.
Jack is very small in stature and weighs less than 2 pounds - looks like a 7 or 8 weeks old kitten.

Any thought on what might be going on with him? and how to work with it?

Thank you...

When Jack goes to the bathroom does it appear as though he's in pain? When he goes does he try to go several times before he actually defecates? Are his stools hard and dry? Have you noticed any other symptoms such as vommiting?

Sorry to ask so many questions, just had a thought and those questions needed to be asked before I mentioned anything.

I would start adding a little bit of mineral oil to his wet food, and take him off dry for awhile until his bowel has a chance to rest. I would make sure that the fosters are not feeding this kitty milk, it is an easy thing to do with a cat, seems perfectly natural cats should like milk but some cats have this type of problem when given any type of dairy product.

I would also take him in and get x-rays done so the vet can see if there is any obstruction or something he swallowed that has not passed. I assume he has been wormed as well? Anyway, that would be my course of action, this kitty sounds like he needs a vet's attention pretty quickly.

Originally posted by BadHabit
When Jack goes to the bathroom does it appear as though he's in pain? When he goes does he try to go several times before he actually defecates? Are his stools hard and dry? Have you noticed any other symptoms such as vommiting?

Sorry to ask so many questions, just had a thought and those questions needed to be asked before I mentioned anything.

Click to expand...

He definitely strains a lot and yes, he does cry at times.
His stools are not hard and dry, but the consistency of clay
No vomiting
Eats very well - good appetite

Thanks for taking the time....

Originally posted by hissy
I would start adding a little bit of mineral oil to his wet food, and take him off dry for awhile until his bowel has a chance to rest. I would make sure that the fosters are not feeding this kitty milk, it is an easy thing to do with a cat, seems perfectly natural cats should like milk but some cats have this type of problem when given any type of dairy product.

I would also take him in and get x-rays done so the vet can see if there is any obstruction or something he swallowed that has not passed. I assume he has been wormed as well? Anyway, that would be my course of action, this kitty sounds like he needs a vet's attention pretty quickly.

Click to expand...

He hasn't been eating dry food for over a week and I switched him to natural raw food a few days ago. Jack is living with me now and he's definitely not getting any milk - not cow, goat or KMR.
He's already had x-rays - no obstructions were found and no physical abnormalities either.
Yes, he's been wormed - no problem there
He's seen 3 vets already and that's why I'm here

I was thinking Megacolon when I first started reading your posts that's why I was asking those questions. Usually with Megacolon the stools are very hard and dry and if they can defecate at all it's painful for them. Sometimes they will vommit with this condition and they tend to lose weight and are lethargic. However Megacolon is more common in older cats.

I would suggest if there hasn't been already, having a complete blood panel run on him. It also helps to keep the kitten active and this can help him to defecate more.

Yes, I had read about megacolon, but the vet confirmed that it would extremely unusual in a kitten - this is a cat only vet.

I don't believe complete blood panel has been done. I'll look into that. Is there anything in particular that you think the vet should look for?

Since I'm keeping him in a condo to contain the mess, I let him out to run and play twice a day. He takes good advantage of that time.

After reading your posts over Jack's problem sounds strikingly similar to what my cat, Fallon went through. She was brought into the veterinary clinic by her previous owners because she hard a hard time defecating and often dibbled stool without even knowing it. When she tried defecating she was in a lot of pain and the owners could not deal with her dribbling stool around their house.

They gave her up to the clinic when she was about 4 or 5 months old. She was set to be put to sleep but my boss, the head veterinarian dislikes putting kittens to sleep unless it is necessary, took her to his house and hoped things would straighten out. Unfortunatly it didn't and back to the clinic she went and the next plan for her was to live there since after numerous meds, special food and tests that never showed a thing, she was deemed unadoptable.

Then I started working there and feel in love with the little 4 pound black and white peanut who would reach her paw out of the cage and smack at you until you petted her. After learning of her problem I cringed thinking that this poor girl would never find anyone crazy enough to want to take on that mess. A few weeks later a co-worker and myself were discussing how nice it would be if "Skunky"(Her name at the time) could find a home. She mentioned that if someone had a big cat condo they could keep her in the cage for a bit and then let her out when they were able to watch her.

So the lightblub went off in my head and that night I checked into how much it would cost to buy one of those cages. I found a 5 foot tall cage that was 4 feet long in a catalog that was fairly priced so I went ahead and ordered it. The day after it arrived I brought "Skunky" home and renamed her Fallon.

For 6 months she had to be kept in the cage while I was at work and when I came home I let her out while I was able to watch her. She did have many accidents and I went through many bottles of carpet cleaner. It got frustrating but I had to keep in mind that she was much happier in a home and she could not help what was going on.

Her doctor suggested putting her on Eukanuba low-residue formula so I did and a few months later her stools did not leak as much and she was having a easier time defecating. The downside to the food was that it was not meant for long term use and she lost a lot of weight and her coat became dull and her skin was very dry.

No matter how much I fed her she wouldn't put on weight but her stools looked better than they ever had and she was not having as many accidents so I hesitated switching her food. When I moved into my boyfriend's house with her, Xavier and Mitzi our other 2 cats were eating Purina ONE so I went ahead and slowly started mixing that in with the Eukanuba. I did this for 3 weeks to ensure that she wouldn't have any bouts with diarrhea. Luckily the switch succeeded without any stomach upsets and she was doing even better on the Purina. I have since switched her food to Wellness without any troubles as well.

She put on 2 pounds, her coat became shiney again and best of all no more runny stools or painful defecation. Her doctor was stunned when he saw her almost a year later. He had no explaination on why this condition cleared up or what exactly it was. I was told it was Hirchsprunger's(sp?) then was told by another vet that it was Megacolon but none of those conditions added up right.

Her doctor thinks it may have something to do with her "growing" out of it and her increase in exercise when she moved in with the other 2 cats.

Although in most cases like this it is unlikely that anything significant will show in the blood panel but they should be run to rule some causes of Jack's constipation such as deydration, Low potassium levels and elevated calcium levels.

I hope everything will work out for Jack. Good luck!!

Here's the reason, I need to find an answer:

Well now, this is interesting. It does sound like Fallon and Jack have similar problems.

I'll work on him getting more exercise. If I'm out in the back yard, he comes with me - make the other cats who are indoor only jealous and really runs about quite a bit. I'll try to get him out there more often.

I'm a born-again raw pet food advocate, so I'm going to give the change to raw food a couple of weeks before I try another food. I've used raw food to control irritable bowel snydrome in two cats. In addition, I give it to all of my cats and have seen definite positive changes in every one of them.

I've heard good things about PurinaOne DM for cats with digestive disorders, but haven't been able to find it.

Thank you for the info.

I don't have any advice, but had to tell you what a beautiful boy Jack is. I can definitely see why you need to solve this. He stole my heart with just a picture!

Jessica-I have a good friend who did her thesis on Hirschprung's disease among the Amish. If I remember correctly, megacolon is one of the symptoms of Hirschprung's, but can occur separately. It's when, during development, the nerves fail to enter a portion of the colon. This portion is unable to contract, so fecal matter can't move along. Eventually, this portion of the colon stretches, making megacolon. Since it's a genetic disease it's incurable.