PLEASE help we are desperate!!!

[Geeviee]

Hi all. I am currently freaking out.
I have a 6 year old male Maine coon cross named Felix. He’s always been optimal health. Noticed last Tuesday he was straining to poop, pee was fine. took him to his regular vet. They did Sedation (he gets aggressive at vet), X-ray, showed he was fully blocked up. They performed an enema but apparently only got one of the first hard pieces of stool out, and sent me home with stool softeners and laxatives. Felix didn’t poop for 6 days after that, nothing. I took him to a new vet. He sedated him, put him on IV fluids, in the vein, sent us home, hopeful it would work. He still didn’t poop. I took him back to the vet. I showed them the X-ray from first vet (I showed them first time too). Doctor said they will try enemas one more time or else he would need surgery. He was there 4 hours. They performed 3 back to back enemas and manually extracted the rock hard feces.
I took Felix home and he was a mess, from the sedation this time, he couldn’t walk was falling over like he was drunk. This went on for a few hours then he slept. Yesterday morning he finally came out from under the bed. He peed in litter once. No eating or drinking. He’s walking fine now, but he seems to be in EXTREME pain. He growls and cries when I try to pick him up to move him. Or if I press softly on his belly, near his bum.
He’s absolutely miserable. It’s like I took home a totally different cat. I lost my job due to covid 4 months ago, I just spent $800 I didn’t have in vet bills. I feel like this is my fault. I struggle with severe mental health and Felix is my best friend and the only family I have left. Is pain after enemas normal? Will he get better? I’m terrified.
I did see him drink a bit of water a couple hours ago. And he peed in the litter. But he seems to be in so much pain and just lethargic.

 

[Geeviee]

Here is his x ray that showed the extent of the backup. Also my sweet angel boy.

 

[di and bob]

Keep trying to get some water in him, that will help. Of course, he is sore back there, so many enemas are bound to cause pain. I give my cats 1/4 teaspoon of human Miralax mixed in a little wet food, treat, or beaten egg yolk, it is a laxative that works very well. you might ask your vet about it. ask how much and how often, you don't want diarrhea either. Pain like this should be addressed, ask your vet if any pain meds can be administered at home, be aware that pain meds can cause constipation too. I would recommend getting a water fountain for him or encourage him to drink more by setting many small bowls of water around to tempt him. Going poop now is going to hurt him for a while, I hope his stool softens up with water or the Miralax.

 

[di and bob]

Oh my goodness, he was really backed up! It can take at least 24 hours for them to fully recover from anesthesia, and of course, he is hurting. Just give him comfort and maybe a heat pad to lay on, (low setting if human pad) covered with a thin layer of blanket. Get as much water as you can down him, or water from canned tuna, any kind of liquid.

 

[Geeviee]

Thank you for your reply!!
He was not eating or drinking really so earlier I blended up some wet food, with some water, and a little bit of canned pumpkin, and syringe fed him a little bit. He took that down very well. He also licked a bit of his wet food but didn’t actually chew any. I did see him drinking from his water fountain which I recently got him, and he has a bowl of water in every room. The first vet gave me some lactulose to take home, will that be useful to finish or should I look into grabbing some miralex? I didn’t get a secondary X-ray, but the vets seemed confident they cleared him out. So I am not too worried about him not pooping for a few days until he starts eating normally again and something builds up. Mostly worried about his pain levels and the complete change in personality. My little best friend hates me now and just seems frankly depressed. :-(

Keep trying to get some water in him, that will help. Of course, he is sore back there, so many enemas are bound to cause pain. I give my cats 1/4 teaspoon of human Miralax mixed in a little wet food, treat, or beaten egg yolk, it is a laxative that works very well. you might ask your vet about it. ask how much and how often, you don't want diarrhea either. Pain like this should be addressed, ask your vet if any pain meds can be administered at home, be aware that pain meds can cause constipation too. I would recommend getting a water fountain for him or encourage him to drink more by setting many small bowls of water around to tempt him. Going poop now is going to hurt him for a while, I hope his stool softens up with water or the Miralax.

 

[di and bob]

Yes, he most likely won't go for a while. I would have some Miralax on hand just in case. They recommend 1/8 to 1/4 tsp. mixed in something twice a day, but check with your vet for sure. I'm sure he IS depressed. just keep loving him and give him time, he will come around. Cats HATE vet trips and he has been through a lot. If he doesn't go in 4-5 days call your vet again. Don't let him get so compacted. I know this is hard, but earlier is easier!

 

[Mr. Meow]

My only recommendation (everything else was nicely covered by others) is to hold off on the pumpkin for about 3-5 days. You'll want his body to try and do what it needs to do naturally before anything else, and if you're going to use laxatives, the pumpkin won't have much use anyway.
Keep the pumpkin around once you stop the laxatives and you can add it in his food every now and then as a sort of "treat".
As for his personality, he'll come back around. Anyone with that much activity back there would be grumpy, lol

 

[Geeviee]

Yes, he most likely won't go for a while. I would have some Miralax on hand just in case. They recommend 1/8 to 1/4 tsp. mixed in something twice a day, but check with your vet for sure. I'm sure he IS depressed. just keep loving him and give him time, he will come around. Cats HATE vet trips and he has been through a lot. If he doesn't go in 4-5 days call your vet again. Don't let him get so compacted. I know this is hard, but earlier is easier!

Sounds good thank you! I did just order him some miralex (in Canada it’s called restorelax, that was confusing for a minuet lol) so that will come by Saturday. I will continue to gently love on him and I love the heating pad idea! I have a soft one he really likes. Once he come out from under the bed I will set it up for him. <3

 

[Geeviee]

My only recommendation (everything else was nicely covered by others) is to hold off on the pumpkin for about 3-5 days. You'll want his body to try and do what it needs to do naturally before anything else, and if you're going to use laxatives, the pumpkin won't have much use anyway.
Keep the pumpkin around once you stop the laxatives and you can add it in his food every now and then as a sort of "treat".
As for his personality, he'll come back around. Anyone with that much activity back there would be grumpy, lol

Thank you for the advice! I will hold off on the pumpkin. I did just open a large can. Wonder how it freezes lol.
As for his pain,
I can only imagine! I know I wouldn’t want that happening to me, poor thing!

 

[klunick]

I had a cat that needed an enema and remember how despondent he was afterwards. I can't imagine going through multiple ones in a short period of time. I am sure he will come around and love you again.

 

[di and bob]

Yes, you can freeze the pumpkin, maybe in tiny single servings. Your Lactolose should work well too, it is very sweet tasting. They all work in different ways, you might research it. I'll pray your sweet boy recovers soon, keep us posted!

 

[Colleen12]

Hi all. I am currently freaking out.
I have a 6 year old male Maine coon cross named Felix. He’s always been optimal health. Noticed last Tuesday he was straining to poop, pee was fine. took him to his regular vet. They did Sedation (he gets aggressive at vet), X-ray, showed he was fully blocked up. They performed an enema but apparently only got one of the first hard pieces of stool out, and sent me home with stool softeners and laxatives. Felix didn’t poop for 6 days after that, nothing. I took him to a new vet. He sedated him, put him on IV fluids, in the vein, sent us home, hopeful it would work. He still didn’t poop. I took him back to the vet. I showed them the X-ray from first vet (I showed them first time too). Doctor said they will try enemas one more time or else he would need surgery. He was there 4 hours. They performed 3 back to back enemas and manually extracted the rock hard feces.
I took Felix home and he was a mess, from the sedation this time, he couldn’t walk was falling over like he was drunk. This went on for a few hours then he slept. Yesterday morning he finally came out from under the bed. He peed in litter once. No eating or drinking. He’s walking fine now, but he seems to be in EXTREME pain. He growls and cries when I try to pick him up to move him. Or if I press softly on his belly, near his bum.
He’s absolutely miserable. It’s like I took home a totally different cat. I lost my job due to covid 4 months ago, I just spent $800 I didn’t have in vet bills. I feel like this is my fault. I struggle with severe mental health and Felix is my best friend and the only family I have left. Is pain after enemas normal? Will he get better? I’m terrified.
I did see him drink a bit of water a couple hours ago. And he peed in the litter. But he seems to be in so much pain and just lethargic.

I’m so sorry you are going through this. I can only speak from my experience with my cat who had mega colon and constipation for years, but know that it’s most important to get all of the hard feces out. Sometimes it takes 3-4 enemas and they usually X-ray to be sure it’s out. Then your cat may find a daily dose of lactulose helpful. My cat was also on cicapride daily which strengthens the intestinal walls. Did they see anything they might call megacolon? Do you have a vet in your area that specializes in cats? My cat didn’t have extreme pain after his enemas, only when he was still constipated, which might be the cause.

 

[Juniper_Junebug]

Thank you for the advice! I will hold off on the pumpkin. I did just open a large can. Wonder how it freezes lol.
As for his pain,
I can only imagine! I know I wouldn’t want that happening to me, poor thing!

I freeze pumpkin in ice cube trays and then keep the cubes in a freezer bag so I can thaw them in the fridge one at a time.

 

[Talien]

What does he normally eat? To be that backed up, and with hardened poop, it sounds like he may not be getting enough water. If you're feeding him dry food consider switching to wet food, yes it's more expensive especially if you get something that's not full of carbs and junk, but if it keeps this from happening again isn't it worth it?

If he's already eating wet food add some water to it and mix in a teaspoon of powdered dietary fiber (any brand will work, even a cheap generic or store brand since it's all the same stuff) once a day and see if that helps him be more regular.

Not sure if Pumpkin is a great idea since that's usually given to Cats with diarrhea to help firm it up, and he has the opposite problem.

As to why he's in a lot of pain.....

They performed 3 back to back enemas and manually extracted the rock hard feces.

Pretty sure that's the cause.

 

[Colleen12]

I’m so sorry you are going through this. I can only speak from my experience with my cat who had mega colon and constipation for years, but know that it’s most important to get all of the hard feces out. Sometimes it takes 3-4 enemas and they usually X-ray to be sure it’s out. Then your cat may find a daily dose of lactulose helpful. My cat was also on cicapride daily which strengthens the intestinal walls. Did they see anything they might call megacolon? Do you have a vet in your area that specializes in cats? My cat didn’t have extreme pain after his enemas, only when he was still constipated, which might be the cause.

 

[Colleen12]

I just wanted to add that if your cat is in that much pain, you may want to call the vet again. If he’s re-impacted, the poop just remains hard inside. The large colon’s job is to take water out and return it to his body so it could require more enemas. Is he eating?

 

[Alex_ayye]

I have never dealt with severe constipation in any of my cats, but from time to time they do have minor constipation and when that happens, I put them on somewhat of a liquid diet. Puréed food, chicken broth, and tons of water. That’s always helped them. Once the really hard stool has passed, I would give the broth a try and then introduce some puréed food into the diet so there is more fluid coming in. Best wishes to you and your baby.

 

[Geeviee]

I’m so sorry you are going through this. I can only speak from my experience with my cat who had mega colon and constipation for years, but know that it’s most important to get all of the hard feces out. Sometimes it takes 3-4 enemas and they usually X-ray to be sure it’s out. Then your cat may find a daily dose of lactulose helpful. My cat was also on cicapride daily which strengthens the intestinal walls. Did they see anything they might call megacolon? Do you have a vet in your area that specializes in cats? My cat didn’t have extreme pain after his enemas, only when he was still constipated, which might be the cause.

The first vet didn’t mention anything about mega colon, the second vet said it’s a possibility when they looked at his X-ray. There is a cats only vet in a few towns over but it has scary reviews online I try to research as much about a place as I can before I take him there, he’s already stressed, can’t imagine making it worse for him!

 

[Geeviee]

I freeze pumpkin in ice cube trays and then keep the cubes in a freezer bag so I can thaw them in the fridge one at a time.

This is very smart! I am going to do this right now. Thank you

 

[Geeviee]

What does he normally eat? To be that backed up, and with hardened poop, it sounds like he may not be getting enough water. If you're feeding him dry food consider switching to wet food, yes it's more expensive especially if you get something that's not full of carbs and junk, but if it keeps this from happening again isn't it worth it?

If he's already eating wet food add some water to it and mix in a teaspoon of powdered dietary fiber (any brand will work, even a cheap generic or store brand since it's all the same stuff) once a day and see if that helps him be more regular.

Not sure if Pumpkin is a great idea since that's usually given to Cats with diarrhea to help firm it up, and he has the opposite problem.

As to why he's in a lot of pain.....


Pretty sure that's the cause.

He was eating only dry food since he was 1 so I believe that’s the culprit! He never really got wet food. I’ve since switched him to only wet food and I’m also looking into and researching raw food for him. I’ve been mixing in water to his wet food and definitely think he wasn’t getting enough water. At the old house he would only drink out of the toilet he wouldn’t even consider a bowl of water to drink from. We moved 2 weeks ago into a new place and he thankfully has broken the toilet habit, and I now have bowls of water in every room, and I got him a cat fountain he seems to really like