Help!! No Bowel Movement After Spay, + Liver Issues Discovered & Prior Bowel Issues

[Adelei]

Hi all! My 9 month old cat was just spayed yesterday (Monday) afternoon. It's Tuesday night now. She hasn't had a bowel movement since at least Sunday night, if not before. The vet felt her before the surgery and said that she had some stool in her intestines, but her bladder was empty. If she already needed to poo and it's been over 30 hours, shouldn't she have gone by now, even if she hasn't eaten much?

Now for a few details: I'm in China. The vets here are pretty terrible, but I've got the best one in the city. I found Ever when she was 3 months old w/ terrible injuries to her head and leg. She spent about 10 wks in a cage, prior to and following surgery to have her femoral head removed. She was only just recently cleared for the spay surgery.

When they ran the blood work b4 the spay, they were very concerned b/c her ATL levels were high. Everything they tell me is through a translator app, then I answer them in broken Chinese, so communication is a bit iffy. I'll attach a photo of the blood test results. They asked me what food I fed her, I told them, they ran another blood test and told me it wasn't clear yet if the liver problem was due to the food or something else. They sold me some hepatic Royal Canin food that I'm supposed to feed her for a month. They also gave me some pills to give her with food. And they kept her for 3 hrs after the surgery to do an IV drip w/ hepatic medicine in it. I had to take her back today for another 2.5 hr IV drip and I'll have to take her back tomorrow as well. After that, they'll retest her liver levels in 1 month.

Before the blood work, I had told them that I was concerned b/c it takes her about 30 minutes every night to have a bowel movement. She meows continuously, moving from one litter box to another (I've got 5 spread around). Sometimes she'll even lay down in one, like "why bother going anywhere? I'll just wait here till I'm ready." They just said to keep her separate from my other cat for a few days and pay attention to her litter box usage.

Last night when we got home, she did her potty routine for almost 2 hours. She strained while peeing and stood there for almost 30 seconds a couple of times, like she was trying to poop, but only peed. She peed a lot overnight and in the morning, probably 6-7 times, probably from the fluids they gave her. She slept the whole evening and all of today (aside from when we went out) in the litter box, something she used to do when she was caged.

I told the vet today that she hadn't had a bowel movement and she didn't seem the least bit concerned. She said maybe she'll have one tomorrow or the next day. The next day would be 72 hours after the surgery!! Today after the 2nd IV infusion, she's just been sleeping. I think she's eaten even less after the second treatment than she did yesterday. I know cats are masters at hiding pain, but up until the spay surgery, I had a hyper 9 month old kitten who loved running around and playing with her brother. Now she's just sleeping, all day, not eating, didn't even pee as much this evening as she did yesterday and still not had a bowel movement! I've let her brother join us (watching him like a hawk so he won't use her litter boxes) and she's still just sleeping! Is this normal? I'm already concerned enough about the liver test results, I'd feel a whole lot better if she'd poop and start eating! She actually seems worse today than she did last night!

 

[kittyluv387]

That bowel movement issue is not normal. Poor girl. I wonder if she has a muscle or nerve issue if she's having trouble. I dont know how to help with that unfortunately. Do you have access to miralax there? If so you can give about 1/8 tsp of it mixed in water and put it on top of her food or something. Most of us here probably can't read those test results though. :/

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Poor baby! Is she on pain meds - is that what the pills are that they gave you? Sometimes they will cause constipation, on top of the anesthesia that was used during surgery.

Try the Miralax as kittyluv387 suggested, but if that doesn't work, you need to push the issue with the vet. Perhaps demand an x-ray of her bowel? And by all means, tell the vet about her behavior in the litterbox.

I also cannot read the blood tests - sorry. Keep us posted please.

 

[stephanietx]

If you can't find Miralax, use plain pureed pumpkin in wet food. That's full of fiber and helps keep things moving.

 

[Adelei]

Thanks all, I will have to ask the other foreigners if they know whether miralax is available here. I'm not sure.

She's getting pain shots, but I have no idea what the medication is. They said they put it in with her fluids.

I know probably no one can read the Chinese, but they do have the letter abbreviations, so didn't know if anyone was familiar with those. I used ALT to look up briefly on Google and everything I saw was pretty horrible, so I stopped looking.

Edit: Typed ATL, meant ALT.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I zoomed in on the blood test results - the only high level was the ALT, as you said. One of many articles on the internet had this to say:

• Changes in liver enzyme values are relatively common, and while any abnormal value should be investigated or at least closely watched, there are several variables to consider, including which values have changed, how much they’ve changed, and whether the change is temporary or persistent.
• The liver values most commonly measured in animals include alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), bilirubin and albumin. These enzymes can indicate that the liver is stressed, but they don’t tell us why. Sometimes additional testing is necessary.
• If an animal is showing signs of liver disease and the veterinarian cannot determine why, a definitive diagnosis often requires a biopsy. Many veterinarians will first try to rule out non liver-related diseases or underlying reasons that might contribute to abnormal values, or see if the animal responds to supportive therapy and recheck the abnormal values to see if they are improved. But if your pet is seriously ill and other diagnostic tests return indefinite results, a biopsy may be the only remaining option to insure your furry family member receives the help he or she needs.
• If your pet has no symptoms of disease and you opt to provide a holistic liver support protocol, rechecking liver enzymes to ensure they’ve returned to normal is important to identify progressive liver disease before a crisis occurs.

I think from the above, until a pattern of an elevated ALT level is revealed, it would appear that the vet is taking a wait and see attitude, which seems to be what the information above suggests to do.

I would not worry about the ALT at least until you see what the next blood test results are in a month.

For now, if it were me I would focus on her recovery from spay surgery and getting the constipation issue taken care of.

 

[Adelei]

Yeah, I actually saw that so I have been trying to not worry too much about the liver issue. They said they will retest in a month. Right now, I just want her to have a bowel movement!

 

[FeebysOwner]

If you can't find Miralax, see if you can find Laxatone gel which also has calming effects as well. If she is not feeling great, Laxatone might serve two purposes.