# Bowel Obstruction Uh oh (kinda gross)



## MelissaK (Jan 24, 2009)

Hi all!

Yesterday I went to move Nitemare (male cat, 7 years) from the couch so I could sit down. Well I went to scoop him up from the butt to move him. Well he hissed,growled, then swatted at me. I was really confused and upset.. he has never done this before ever, so I just let him be figuring he was just in a cranky mood. Later that day I noticed he was acting kinda lathargic. I didn't figure it was anything though because he had ate his normal breakfast (wet food every other morning). When I got home later that night by husband had said the nitemare had thrown up his wet food in the closet. At this point I'm kinda getting a little worried because this isn't normal for him.. He also had been sleeping in the chair all day.

I tried to feed him a little wet food later on but he wouldn't take that. I just figured ok, maybe he has a touch of stomach flu, I'll just leave him alone with water beside him. I heard him later on throwing up, I went to check and he had thrown up some clear fluid. 

Ok fast forward to this morning and he still is sleeping in the chair and not moving much. So I picked him up and placed him on the floor to see if he could move aroudn a little and he wouldn't. As I'm getting ready to call the vet I noticed that he was licking himself alot down there so I went over to see if maybe his area was inflammed ... well when I got near him I smelled something horrible.. it seemed that his whole bottem was full of poop.. like his anus was just full of poo and it couldn't come out and the base of his tail area was enlarged.. sure enough from hearing stories from my sister (vet tech) I knew what was wrong.. he was impacted. 

I thought uh oh.. here we go, I've been out of work for some time, my husband just returned to work from being off from a surgery, I thought this is gonna cost us.. not that we have much to spare.. I call up the vet and tell her what's wrong and she says bring him right in. When we get there, sure enough I was right and the vet said that he was extremely bound up. She gives us a few options on what to do but the main one was to sedate him and remove the impacted fecal matter. I thought great how much though? She wrote us up a estimate of 293.00.. which I though wasnt' bad at all.. if we had that much.. I figured I could spare about 160. So to my amazment the vet is allowing us to make payments!!! I'm soo happy  So he got his surgery done and everything went pretty well.. She did remove a softball size thing of feces. I'm so worried now though that it will happen again. I did switch his food about 2 months ago and she said that mightve been what caused it, so I'm changing him back to his other dry food. I was going to switch to all wet but my vet brought up a good point about needing the dry food to keep his teeth healthy. I'm going to follow her advice but propably feed wet for a good portion of his diet. 

Has anybody else had this happen to their cat? any advice? This is the first major problem I've had to deal with since owning cats (about 7 years).


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

I'm sorry that your cat is having such troubles, but I'm so glad you were able to get him to the vet and clear the impaction. There isn't much that can make a cat feel sicker than constipation. It's extremely painful for them.

I'm afraid, though, that I couldn't disagree more with your vet about feeding dry food. Constipation is often caused by dehydration (not enough fluid in the digestive tract to adequately moisten the digesta). Cats' bodies are designed to acquire most of their fluid through food. That's entirely contrary to what happens when they eat a dry diet. Dry kibble sucks fluid out of the digestive tract, leaving the cat's body in a constant state of mild dehydration. If the cat doesn't drink enough supplemental water to compensate for the fluid loss caused by the dry food, you're going to get constipation. 

I know of no veterinary nutritionist who recommends dry kibble for cats anymore. They have all figured out that canned or homemade meat-based meals are far superior for the immediate and long term health of the feline body. Do a Google search on feline nutrition and research it for yourself. Your vet is behind the times if she still believes dry is better.

Go with your gut instinct to feed canned to your boy. Your instinct is absolutely correct. Better yet, mix the canned food with warm water and feed him canned food gruel. The more water you can keep flowing through his system, the healthier his digestive AND urinary tracts will be.

If you switch him to all canned food and increase his fluid intake, and he still gets constipated, take him back to your vet for a full blood chemistry to check his organ function. It's not terribly common for a cat as young as yours to have renal problems, but it can happen, so you'll want to rule that out.

I'm guessing, though, that a dietary change to canned food and more water intake will resolve this problem.

All the best,

Laurie


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## Kobster (Feb 1, 2007)

So sorry to hear about nightmares ordeal. I'm glad he seems to have come through it okay. I have to agree with Laurie though about the canned food. Its absolutely critical that he be taken off the dry so he doesn't dehydrate and get impacted like this again. The myth that dry food cleans their teeth is just that, a myth. First of all, cats don't typically chew their food. When he throws up his kibble, it looks just like it did when you put it in his bowl, right? Here is an excellent article that debunks the dry food myth. http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?a ... antheteeth. Check out that website in general, its full of great information. 

Seriously, if you are worried about his teeth, you could start brushing them, or provide him with raw chicken wings to chew on, but put him on the canned food. He really needs it for his continued health and wellbeing. 

Good luck!


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## Heather102180 (Nov 19, 2003)

Melissa - What a scary ordeal! I'm glad he's doing better though. You did the right thing by taking him in right away. Think of the relief he has now! That's nice the vet will let you pay in payments too.

Do you have pictures to post of him?


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## nanook (Jun 12, 2005)

I'm so glad you got him in and he's doing well. So scary!
Sometimes, an impaction like that can be caused by too much fur too. Does he have long hair or shed a lot? If so, regular brushing and a weekly dose of fur ball remedy will help.
I will also pipe in about the dry food and "third "what has already been said. I too can not disagree with your vet more! Sadly, most vets have not kept up on feline nutrition, or studied it at all! The myth of dry food being good for their teeth is complete nonsense and has long been disproven. In fact, some say it's actually worse for their teeth! All that starchy sugar sticking to them...and a cat that has a tendency for impacting MUST be on a wet food diet. Moisture, moisture, moisture!
I would go with your original instinct and feed wet food for sure. It's better for his all around health anyway.
Yes, pictures please!


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## MelissaK (Jan 24, 2009)

I think I agree with feeding wet food. How would I go about feeding 4 adult cats? Like how much and how often? Poor nitemare is still feeling the anethisia though.. he did eat a little of his wet food which is a good sign. I will update tomorrow morning with some pics..

Oh he's a short hair cat. I think it's because I switched his food and it didn't have as much moisture as his last.. That and I don't think he was drinking enough water. He loves when the bathtub is full (he drinks out of it) so I think I will fill it a little before I head to bed for the night. Anything to help my kitty


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## nanook (Jun 12, 2005)

It depends on the cats and your schedule. I feed my guys twice a day (breakfast and dinnertime) about 5-6 oz each of wet food and then a small snack (usually dry) right before bed. I buy the 12.5 oz cans cause they're cheaper.


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

Rather than filling the bathtub, which would waste a lot of water and in which he could accidentally drown, try filling the bathroom sink with water, instead. He may be perfectly happy to drink out of it. Some cats also love to drink running water and will enjoy a slowly dripping faucet. There are also pet water fountains that some cats really love. My cats drank a LOT more water when I had a couple of goldfish in a wide-mouthed, 2 gallon bowl on a cat-accessible table. I was constantly having to add more water to the fishbowl.

Laurie


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## MelissaK (Jan 24, 2009)

LOL.. I don't actually Fill the bathtub.. just enough to put maybe a inch around the plug. I'd rather not have the cat up on the counter near the sink because I have alot of creams and stuff I don't want him getting into. I used to have a freshflow fountain for the cats but I found it started to leak after a while. I think I might get another one though.


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## Mom of 4 (Jul 29, 2006)

Another thing you could do is add some water to the wet food. We do it for the extra water for our cats.


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