We have a cat who is quite young. He’s only 4 years old. Over the last two years, he’s started to strain to poop and started pooping outside the box. We had it under control by mid 2023, but then this summer we went on vacation. The family member who we paid to house sit the cats was given explicit instructions about his constipation and to make sure he was drinking enough as well as syringing him his pumpkin mix to help him keep regular. Instead, about halfway through the week, she up and left and our cats did not have any water for 3 or 4 days. What we came home to was rough and extremely upsetting. That has had, what we think is, a significant impact on our baby. Since then we have not been able to get him back to where he was health wise. He has developed full on Megacolon, needed 2 enemas(he had never needed them before) and an even more intense care treatment plan has been implemented. We have spent around 1500+ dollars on him. Unfortunately, this second enema didn’t get all of it and the ER vet said he will likely need surgery to remove it. She gave us lactulose, instructions to keep up the MiraLAX, to introduce a fiber supplement twice a day and a probiotic, as well as discontinuing dry food in favor of wet. We have done all of that, and a week later he is straining to poop again. He has a vet appointment tonight that quite frankly, we can’t afford but we need to take him, and I’m afraid they are going to say he needs surgery. If he does, we cannot afford it. We have other animals as well… this is devastating. It’s devastating. He’s so young and I don’t know what more we can do for him. I’m afraid if we can’t afford the surgery they’ll suggest euthanasia. Does anyone have any thoughts or advice?
-
Too many ads? Join our community of cat lovers now to reduce ads by 90%! Click here to join for free!
Megacolon in Cats
- Thread starter Bee888
- Start Date
Hi
You may want to wait until you have a chance to hear what the vet has to say and have a discussion with them. Ask them if that fiber supplement is helping or not.
Hi, do you live where you can utilize Rover.com, for the future?
You may want to wait until you have a chance to hear what the vet has to say and have a discussion with them. Ask them if that fiber supplement is helping or not.
I have never had a cat with megacolon, but I have had cats with chronic constipation. Hydration is definitely key, so switching to a wet food diet is good, and I even add extra filtered water to my cats wet food - at every single meal. One thing I noticed when I upped their fiber is that now my cat is straining again and the poops he produces are HUGE. No wonder he is straining trying to get them out 
. So now I have cut back on the fiber to try to help him out because, frankly, it's got to hurt trying to poop out something the diameter of a golf ball!
I'm wondering, are you constantly seeing an ER Vet, or do you have a regular Vet that you normally see. ER Vets are much more expensive than regular Vets, so you can save a lot of money going to a regular one. Of course, I realize that sometimes you have no choice. Emergencies do come up. But I'm also wondering what surgery they are talking about? I do know that sometimes one can get impacted and that requires manual evacuation, but that isn't considered surgery. I'm sure with a cat it would require sedation, but no cutting.
In addition to the Lactulose and Miralax, there are other drugs for Megacolon. One is a motility drug, which helps the colon move things along. It's called cisapride. Has that been discussed with you yet?
Before your Vet visit, take a look at this: Feline Megacolon and Deobstipation
. So now I have cut back on the fiber to try to help him out because, frankly, it's got to hurt trying to poop out something the diameter of a golf ball! I'm wondering, are you constantly seeing an ER Vet, or do you have a regular Vet that you normally see. ER Vets are much more expensive than regular Vets, so you can save a lot of money going to a regular one. Of course, I realize that sometimes you have no choice. Emergencies do come up. But I'm also wondering what surgery they are talking about? I do know that sometimes one can get impacted and that requires manual evacuation, but that isn't considered surgery. I'm sure with a cat it would require sedation, but no cutting.
In addition to the Lactulose and Miralax, there are other drugs for Megacolon. One is a motility drug, which helps the colon move things along. It's called cisapride. Has that been discussed with you yet?
Before your Vet visit, take a look at this: Feline Megacolon and Deobstipation
.
Hi B Bee888 and a warm welcome to the forum !
THIS CAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN PUT ON IV FLUIDS from the moment he began to receive the vetcare you've described.
My suggestion would be to arrange for this as soon as you possibly can!
The IV therapy is the very best way to thoroughly hydrate a constipated cat and should be action #1 when enemas are thought to be necessary (and begun).
If started (even) now, that could save the day!
Keep us posted!
.
Hi B Bee888 and a warm welcome to the forum !
THIS CAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN PUT ON IV FLUIDS from the moment he began to receive the vetcare you've described.
My suggestion would be to arrange for this as soon as you possibly can!
The IV therapy is the very best way to thoroughly hydrate a constipated cat and should be action #1 when enemas are thought to be necessary (and begun).
If started (even) now, that could save the day!
Keep us posted!
.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #6
Thank you everyone for the advice and kind words! The vet advised we do an enema when we got home and that if he didn’t poop, to bring him back in the morning. So, we gave him the enema and he didn’t poop. We brought him back this morning and they have sedated him, got him on fluids, and are doing enemas to try to clean him out. The vet said she will do as much as possible to avoid something more invasive and that she will work with us on price bc we’re pretty tapped at this point. So it’s just a waiting game now. We’ll pick him up between 5 and 6 today. We’re really hoping this works.
Echoing
mrsgreenjeens
here - Cisapride may be the key to avoiding surgery. My Daisy has megacolon and has been on it for six months or so. She's only six, so I totally feel for your situation. The Cisapride works well. I only put her onit when probiotics, slippery elm and lactulose proved ineffective. Its drawback is that it won't work forever - she will eventually need surgery, afaik cats with megacolon always do - and it costs a small fortune, because it has to be compounded. Key there is to search for any compounding pharmacies that handle it and compare prices. It costs me about $100 AU per bottle of 100 pills, and given she has to have two a day that's expensive. She also has a 1/4 teaspoon of Osmolax twice daily (Miralax by another name). But they work well. She's not regular, in that she may not do a poo every day, but they're moist and smooth and she isn't straining or making repeated visits to the litter at all, she just does them when she's ready.
All the best wishes for you and your boy. I'd never speak to that family member again, that's utter neglect.
mrsgreenjeens
here - Cisapride may be the key to avoiding surgery. My Daisy has megacolon and has been on it for six months or so. She's only six, so I totally feel for your situation. The Cisapride works well. I only put her onit when probiotics, slippery elm and lactulose proved ineffective. Its drawback is that it won't work forever - she will eventually need surgery, afaik cats with megacolon always do - and it costs a small fortune, because it has to be compounded. Key there is to search for any compounding pharmacies that handle it and compare prices. It costs me about $100 AU per bottle of 100 pills, and given she has to have two a day that's expensive. She also has a 1/4 teaspoon of Osmolax twice daily (Miralax by another name). But they work well. She's not regular, in that she may not do a poo every day, but they're moist and smooth and she isn't straining or making repeated visits to the litter at all, she just does them when she's ready.All the best wishes for you and your boy. I'd never speak to that family member again, that's utter neglect.
I know this is an old thread but I wonder how the cat is doing?
I literally cured mine with Miralax. As someone else said here Miralax is an option. Lactulose did NOT work for my cat at all. I wanted to share my experience with megacolon. It was some of the more stressful times in my life when my cat got sick. My cat went through a VERY rough time with constipation, when I thought I was going to lose him is when he could barely eat or walk, it was so painful to see him that way. The doctors kept giving him the sugary solution I had to get a prescription for and/or from them directly and barely helped. I was having to give him enimas often just to clear him. Surgery was a solution they said and I was planning on how to raise the $ to do that since I have to pay before insurance will cover (yes i have insurance for him). The time he got diagnosed, I saw his exray and he was so backed up, i had no idea a cat can hold sooooo much poop, it broke my heart. He had to stay at the vet for 2 days for them to clear him out. It was awful.
Well, i had been researching as everyone would i'm sure on this topic and came across a forum of people that talked about using miralax on their cats. since nothing was working, including the vet prescribed laxative, i decided to try it. 5 years later, he has NEVER ever had an issue again!!!! I don't understand why vets wouldn't recommend this? it could have gone as far as surgery that required cutting up the pet yet this simple tip completely resolved my cat's issues. I give him a quarter teaspoon with his meal morning and night meals. The suggestions I remember seeing in that forum even went to 4 times a day for even higher dosages for extream cases i guess, i'm not remembering that part of the detail now. My cat is 15 pounds and on a more muscular larger side.
I literally cured mine with Miralax. As someone else said here Miralax is an option. Lactulose did NOT work for my cat at all. I wanted to share my experience with megacolon. It was some of the more stressful times in my life when my cat got sick. My cat went through a VERY rough time with constipation, when I thought I was going to lose him is when he could barely eat or walk, it was so painful to see him that way. The doctors kept giving him the sugary solution I had to get a prescription for and/or from them directly and barely helped. I was having to give him enimas often just to clear him. Surgery was a solution they said and I was planning on how to raise the $ to do that since I have to pay before insurance will cover (yes i have insurance for him). The time he got diagnosed, I saw his exray and he was so backed up, i had no idea a cat can hold sooooo much poop, it broke my heart. He had to stay at the vet for 2 days for them to clear him out. It was awful.
Well, i had been researching as everyone would i'm sure on this topic and came across a forum of people that talked about using miralax on their cats. since nothing was working, including the vet prescribed laxative, i decided to try it. 5 years later, he has NEVER ever had an issue again!!!! I don't understand why vets wouldn't recommend this? it could have gone as far as surgery that required cutting up the pet yet this simple tip completely resolved my cat's issues. I give him a quarter teaspoon with his meal morning and night meals. The suggestions I remember seeing in that forum even went to 4 times a day for even higher dosages for extream cases i guess, i'm not remembering that part of the detail now. My cat is 15 pounds and on a more muscular larger side.
I’d be so happy if Osmolax (same as Miralax) would be all Daisy needed!
