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I'm so exhausted, and I've looked at a lot of info on surgery, food, for cats with megacolon. I just sprung my cat Booberry from the vet specialist after 4 days of enemas and golyte treatments to clear out a colon blockage. I was worried foremost about his survival and not far behind, the cost. If it happens again, I don't think I can spend thousands more. So naturally, I don't want to make the wrong decision on treatments and foods from here on out. I've looked at the board and some threads are older than Booberry so I thought I'd renew the megacolon discussion again to see what other folks strategies are.
Booberry is already a Cisapride and Miralax cat with extra water in his food. We managed the constipation for over 2 years this way without a need for an enema. We did have to increase the Cisapride concentration in the compounded liquid which he gets 2x a day and he wasn't a consistent 1 time a day pooper.
My Booberry is a rescue. He arrived at our house, injured with what turned out to be a fractured pelvis. We took him in, and with a lot of vet intervention, got him healed up. At that time, he needed an enema because his colon was full. Certainly it was because it was far too painful for him to assume the pose for enough time to have a BM.
The vet was initially concerned that the fractures and injury destroyed nerves, or blocked passage. At the time in 2013, the consult with a specialist showed that his pelvis was marginally smaller but not enough to obstruct. Until 2014 he got canned cat food which he enjoyed with gusto. Typical for a megacolon cat, his feces were larger than normal cat size. He had to have an enema. After that I had to come up with a variety of solutions that included increased water that he would eat and that's when his medications had to start too. We did great until now.
Today I just sprung him from the vet specialist for a $2,400 worth of enemas, golyte treatments over 4 days. I was referred to them by the regular vet who felt that the problematic feces placement was too precarious to dislodge there.
As he is a terrible water drinker, I have fed him food with water mixed in. He had been doing fantastic on Stella and Chewy's and especially Primal freeze dry raw but the varieties are quite limited. I would alter it with Rad Cat often because I liked that their calcium source was not the ground up bone. I introduced a bag of Northwest Naturals and boom obstipation. The food had psyllium husk fairly high up in the ingredient list and the ER doc thought it was either that, or maybe a bone ratio in the food that was too high for my particular cat because of the pelvis challenge. While he enjoyed that food, it is off the list.
I was very concerned the specialists prescribed Royal Canin Fiber Response which seems like terrible food. I see all sorts of positive reviews of how it helps their megacolon cats and a few that show cats have experienced terrible health problems.
My regular vet called me this afternoon and told me that she really didn't think I should use the food because, as I had suspected, bulking up stool in a cat with a narrowed pelvis seems like a bad idea. The specialists are well aware of it, and had briefly mentioned a surgery to widen Booberry's pelvis. And of course, we discussed the colon removal surgery (which may not matter in a cat with a narrowed pelvis).
My regular vet said "You've been managing this pretty well for him with wet food." We discussed maybe high energy food that is low residue instead but he isn't fond of canned food after his 2 years of luxury food. Although after 4 days of enemas, he was very eager for canned food today in small quantities throughout the day.
I'm also considering slippery elm bark but can't find scientific info on that. Lots of anecdotal stuff. I have read that Slippery Elm and Marshmallow root are okay to give cats.
Booberry is already a Cisapride and Miralax cat with extra water in his food. We managed the constipation for over 2 years this way without a need for an enema. We did have to increase the Cisapride concentration in the compounded liquid which he gets 2x a day and he wasn't a consistent 1 time a day pooper.
My Booberry is a rescue. He arrived at our house, injured with what turned out to be a fractured pelvis. We took him in, and with a lot of vet intervention, got him healed up. At that time, he needed an enema because his colon was full. Certainly it was because it was far too painful for him to assume the pose for enough time to have a BM.
The vet was initially concerned that the fractures and injury destroyed nerves, or blocked passage. At the time in 2013, the consult with a specialist showed that his pelvis was marginally smaller but not enough to obstruct. Until 2014 he got canned cat food which he enjoyed with gusto. Typical for a megacolon cat, his feces were larger than normal cat size. He had to have an enema. After that I had to come up with a variety of solutions that included increased water that he would eat and that's when his medications had to start too. We did great until now.
Today I just sprung him from the vet specialist for a $2,400 worth of enemas, golyte treatments over 4 days. I was referred to them by the regular vet who felt that the problematic feces placement was too precarious to dislodge there.
As he is a terrible water drinker, I have fed him food with water mixed in. He had been doing fantastic on Stella and Chewy's and especially Primal freeze dry raw but the varieties are quite limited. I would alter it with Rad Cat often because I liked that their calcium source was not the ground up bone. I introduced a bag of Northwest Naturals and boom obstipation. The food had psyllium husk fairly high up in the ingredient list and the ER doc thought it was either that, or maybe a bone ratio in the food that was too high for my particular cat because of the pelvis challenge. While he enjoyed that food, it is off the list.
I was very concerned the specialists prescribed Royal Canin Fiber Response which seems like terrible food. I see all sorts of positive reviews of how it helps their megacolon cats and a few that show cats have experienced terrible health problems.
My regular vet called me this afternoon and told me that she really didn't think I should use the food because, as I had suspected, bulking up stool in a cat with a narrowed pelvis seems like a bad idea. The specialists are well aware of it, and had briefly mentioned a surgery to widen Booberry's pelvis. And of course, we discussed the colon removal surgery (which may not matter in a cat with a narrowed pelvis).
My regular vet said "You've been managing this pretty well for him with wet food." We discussed maybe high energy food that is low residue instead but he isn't fond of canned food after his 2 years of luxury food. Although after 4 days of enemas, he was very eager for canned food today in small quantities throughout the day.
I'm also considering slippery elm bark but can't find scientific info on that. Lots of anecdotal stuff. I have read that Slippery Elm and Marshmallow root are okay to give cats.
I am looking for ways to treat it but vet say it is not curable.It gave me hope when i read your cat’s colon is returning to normal! That’s awesome!
