Manx Syndrome??

[willowlock]

I have a 12 week old kitten named Bunny. She was found out in the middle of nowhere with no tail, and was otherwise healthy until about 2 weeks ago when she got a prolapsed anus. We took her into the vet and they placed a purse string suture. 3 days later she couldn’t defecate so we had to take her back in and have the suture removed early. She did great for a while, until her recheck appointment on Tuesday when the prolapse returned. They placed another suture and put her on stool softeners. 2 days later (yesterday, Thursday) she still hadn’t pooped and we had to bring her back in and have the suture removed again so she could defecate. Now, the next day, her prolapse is back, and the vet wants to place another suture on this upcoming Tuesday. Im beginning to suspect she has Manx Syndrome (spina bifida in tailless cats) Does anyone have any experience with Manx Syndrome or kitty prolapses? Any advice? We’ve still been giving her stool softeners, she’s on a limited ingredient diet and gets plenty of fiber and hydration. Im not sure what else I can do for her and don’t want to keep putting her through all these vet appointments ˙◠˙

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. Your kitten is adorable. I would imagine you are feeding a canned diet only. If not, you should be.
I think, if not already done, x rays are in order to make sure there isn’t a skeletal abnormality.

 

[fionasmom]

Search Results for Query: rectal prolapse
TCS threads on rectal prolapse

Repeating Rectal Prolapse
Current thread from J Jabzilla

I agree that you need to determine if there are skeletal abnormalities which would add a new twist to the rectal prolapse, which can occur without Manx Syndrome. If it is the latter, there is the possibility of some management which might have to be put in place to help the kitten.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

And here's another thread where they think food is the cause of repeating anal prolapse in a kitten: Kitten anal prolapse surgery

 

[Jabzilla]

Hey Willowlock,
What a beautiful kitten! <3 Has your vet done a PCR test on a fecal sample to rule out parasites in the form of worms, bacteria like clostridium perfringes, and protazoa? Has Bunny also been tested for toxoplasmosis? The internal medicine specialist my cat, Cosmos, is seeing for his prolapses said she has another patient who's been prolapsing and tested positive for toxoplasmosis, so that would be something to rule out as well. When Bunny prolapses is it a small rounded section that comes out or is it a long piece? And is she straining when she poops?

Also, when she prolapses does Bunny try to lick the area? I ask that because for the first month or so of Cosmos's prolapses he would desperately try to lick his bottom when it happened. Once he was put on Gabapentin every 12 hours he no longer seemed to notice when the prolapse happened. He wouldn't try to lick it and the tissue went back in on its own. So if Bunny is trying to lick her bottom when she prolapses, it's possible that she's in pain and some medication for that should help.

 

[willowlock]

Hi thank you for the replies When Bunny prolapses it’s a small round button, and she tries everything she can to lick it ˙◠˙ we’ve tried putting a cone on her, but she’s so little it slides off or she tries to rip it off and gets her arms stuck inside of it and so that’s proven useless. She does strain when she poops, and she meows and chatters which leads me to believe she is in pain. We had to do a drop off vet appointment today as the prolapse got worse and was bloody around the outside and she had liquid diarrhea. They put her on lactulose at her last visit so im wondering if she’s too little for the dose they suggested. Waiting to see what they do at the vet today; hoping we get some answers. And about the parasite, she was treated for roundworms at her initial prolapse appointment and we thought that was the cause, but the worms are long gone so clearly something else going on ˙◠˙

 

[willowlock]

And here's another thread where they think food is the cause of repeating anal prolapse in a kitten: Kitten anal prolapse surgery

We do feed her Carna4, which is a synthetic free, grain free, limited ingredient kibble and in the last 3 days have only given her Reveal (limited ingredient wet food [chicken and chicken broth or tuna and tuna broth]) to try to help with the poops. Was there a specific ingredient that the kitten was sensitive to?

 

[Jabzilla]

That sounds similar to what Cosmos has been going through. Hopefully the vet will have some more answers when you pick her up. Multiple purse strings, him not being able to poop with them in, etc. He was also put on Lactulose to try to soften the stool to pass through the purse strings. Per the guidance of folks here, I switched from giving Cosmos Lactulose to Miralax. It's much easier to give, since you just mix it with water and can add that to their food. There's no taste and it doesn't have to be syringed into their mouth. Miralax also doesn't draw liquid from the body into the colon, which is what Lactulose does. Instead, Miralax uses the water its mixed with to go into the colon to soften the poop.

Food wise, does her food contain things like gums, carrageen, rice, corn, peas, potato's, carrots, thickeners, etc? Those things are common causes of digestive upsets. Cosmos used to eat canned food as a kitten and had soft pudding poop pretty often. That's resolved completely since switching him to a homemade raw diet. Now if he eats canned food, which seems to inevitably have some form of gum/thickener it gives him diarreah. So it's definitely worth checking the ingredients of Bunny's food and seeing whats in there aside from the chicken and fish.

I can share the things that Cosmos takes to help with his ongoing prolapses. His started out being bloody, puffy, bright red tissue that was round as well. Now it happens as a small round bump of tissue that goes back in within 30 seconds to 5 min. Perhaps its worth trying the supplements that the specialist put him on and see if they help Bunny.

He currently gets Nordic Naturals fish oil (not the cod liver oil) Omega-3 Pet | Fish Oil for Dogs and Cats | Nordic Naturals

S Boulardii for clearing out any possible bad bacteria and its anti inflammatory effects. He doesn't have diarreah, but S Boulardii also stops that very quickly too. Renew Life BoulardiiMAX, Intestinal Targeting, Antibiotic-Associated Diarrhea, Travel Support Probiotic, 30 Vegetable Capsules, 1 Count : Amazon.ca: Health & Personal Care

Adored Beast Gut Soothe for more anti inflammatory action Gut Soothe | Adored Beast Apothecary There's a feline version as well, but it contains beef liver enzymes and Cosmos can't have beef. Feline Gut Soothe | Adored Beast Apothecary

And a probiotic Renew Life® Probiotics Ultimate Flora® Colon Care™ Probiotic, Reduces frequency of constipation, nausea, and flatulence, 80 Billion Active Cultures, 30 Vegetarian Capsules : Amazon.ca: Health & Personal Care

All of those products are good for helping with gut issues and with inflammation specifically. Fingers crossed that your vet figures out the cause of Bunny's prolapses! If they dont prescribe it, maybe you can ask about them giving her some Gabapentin since it very much sounds like she's in pain. The Miralax or Lactulose should also help with making her poop soft and hopefully reducing her need to strain. If she needs a higher dose, I would definitely go for Miralax over the Lactulose due to the difference in ways that the two bring water into the colon. When he was taking it, I would give Cosmos 1/4tsp of Miralax powder mixed with a tablespoon of water.

 

[willowlock]

Thank you so much!!! I’ll link her food ingredients, but Im definitely open to giving her a raw diet and any supplements we need to give her to get her better!! From the sounds of it, im thinking the lactulose was giving her diarrhea from it being too high dose for her little body, so going to ask the vet about switching her to miralax and about the gabapentin! We give my other cat Flora4 which i also put a pic of, wondering if Bunny would benefit from it also. Bunny is such a special cat and has brought so much joy to my life i just want her to be comfortable and live a long happy life!

 

[Jabzilla]

Oh yeah, sorry I misread your post. I thought you'd said the Lactulose was too little of a dose, but it was the other way around. Yeah, giving too much of that can indeed cause diarreah. Since she's a kitten, 1/4tsp of Miralax is probably also too much since thats for my 15lb guy. You could try 1/8tsp of it once a day, if your vet gives the go ahead for switching to it.

I've never heard of Flora4, but if its helping your other cat then maybe Bunny can benefit from it as well. You can try giving her a small amount to make sure it doesn't cause any stomach upsets. Her food also looks pretty good. I side eye the beans, sweet potatos, peas, and potatos, but the lack of gums/rice/thickeners is great! If it turns out the cause of her diarreah is the Lactulose, then there may not be any reason to change her food (for now) if she's doing well on it. I say for now because if the vet can't find any parasites then the next thing will probably be a food trial to see if she has an intolerance which could be causing the prolapsing. That was the standard next step in each vet Cosmos went to. If that's what happens, know that you can do a food trial without feeding Bunny the Hills or Royal Cannin food that many vets sell. Those brands have a lot of crap ingredients in their food and it's very possible to find higher quality options for a food trial. I mention that because every vet my cats have seen has always tried to push either of those two foods since thats what they're taught in medical school to do.

Anyway, if you're curious about feeding Bunny a homemade raw diet I highly recommend the Raw Fed & Nerdy course and the Google Spreadsheet that they offer. That's what I use to make my two cats food and love it because it calculates every vitamin, mineral, protein, and fatty acid that your cat needs based on their weight, age, and energy level. You just plug in your various meats and then add vitamin/mineral supplements until all of the requirements are met. Their raw feeding course is in depth and can be overwhelming, but the information is excellent and important. Raw Fed & Nerdy | Science Based Raw Feeding for Dogs and Cats (rawfedandnerdy.com)

 

[Jabzilla]

Lastly, I wanted to share this wonderful resource as well. They're where I learned about things like S Boulardii, using probiotics, etc. Constipation in Cats - Raw Feeding for IBD Cats It's a great site even if Bunny doesn't have IBD, as they also talk about treating constipation, nausea, vomitting, hairballs, and diarrhea.

Oh yeah, adding this as well. You can also use something like EZ Complete if you want to do a simple version of a homemade raw diet. I forgot about it because it uses chicken liver and Cosmos doesn't eat chicken. EZComplete Premix Information (foodfurlife.com) EZ Complete is super simple, you just mix it with raw meat and water.

 

[willowlock]

I will definitely be doing that course! I’d rather have both girls on a raw diet if I can anyways! I really appreciate all the information. I was beginning to feel like so had no options left and this definitely helped me tons!

 

[Jabzilla]

You're welcome. I'm glad all of this info is helpful! I've definitely been there with trying desperately to search for answers and turning over every single stone to find them. <3

 

[willowlock]

Small update: Bunny had a 3rd purse string suture put in on Monday night (by a different vet than the 1st two times) and since has passed 2 bowel movements which is 2 more than she did the first 2 sutures combined!!!! We are (cautiously) hopeful for this working, and have made adjustments to her diet and have found she isn’t licking or crying as much so i’m super hoping she’s on the mend!! She’s my soul cat and I am so appreciative of all the suggestions, and so is she 🤍

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I think this is a huge update And what a cutie potootie she is

Fingers crossed that the third time is the charm

 

[willowlock]

Update on Bunny!!!
She kept her suture in for the full 2 weeks and is doing so well we are leaving it in for another week! She’s eating, drinking, her #2s seem more solid and formed but she’s not straining and she’s been doing great on her new diet! Thank you for all the advice and ideas!!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Wonderful update! Thanks for letting us know.

 

[willowlock]

Not so great update on Bunny…
We made it 3.5 weeks with the suture in, she passed a harder poo and the suture started coming out, so she had it removed almost 2 weeks ago. Up until today, she was doing really well, going to potty and no prolapse.. This morning we woke up, and sure enough she’s prolapsed again. The vet believes it’s a combination of nerve damage and low muscle tone in her tear end from not having a tail, and not so much about her diet or gut health (although we’ve switched her to a frozen raw diet and that seemed to fix the diarrhea/constipation episodes the kibble was giving her) did ask about skeletal issues and other organs being affected and she said the only nerve or organ that is damaged is the rectum itself, and isn’t concerned about spine/skeletal issues. We have an appointment tomorrow for another purse string suture as the vet believes she will be a “chronic prolapser”. It’s an ongoing battle but if anyone else has any experience with their kitty prolapsing due to not having a tail, let me know, I could use any advice! She’s now 4 months old and growing like a weed, my sweet baby!

 

[willowlock]

My little prolapsing teenager

 

[Jabzilla]

Hey Willow,
I'm glad to hear the new diet has been helping Bunny and that her poops are consistently good now! Was this morning's prolapse the same as the previous ones? The same in terms of size/swelling and color? When it happened, did the prolapse go back in or does it have to manually be replaced at the vet's clinic? If it does go back in on its own, it would be worth timing to see how long it takes. I ask all of those questions because Cosmos (despite not having manx syndrome) went through multiple purse strings and none of them solved the problem. It got to the point where his specialist said not to have the purse strings replaced the next time he prolapsed through them. If this is something Bunny will have for the rest of her life, then it would be good to know if her prolapse also resolves on its own or if it always needs to be put back in by a vet. Having to be sedated over and over to have new purse strings put in will eventually put a strain on her heart.

If her prolapse from today was the same as the previous ones, it might be worth using something like the Adored Beast Gut Soothe and/or adding fish oil to her food to help reduce inflammation in her rectal area so that the prolapse is smaller when it comes out and goes back in faster. That would make her life and yours more livable via not having to go to get new purse strings over and over for the rest of her life. There's also a surgical procedure called a colopexy (they attach the prolapsing tissue to the walls of the abdomen to try to stop it from coming back out) which has been used in other cases of repeating prolapses. It doesn't always work permanently though and whether or not it can be done depends on the size of the prolapse.