# Impacted stools! Kitty can't poop It's a clean update!



## myfamilia (Aug 5, 2004)

Hi, I had Bugs on Lactulose for awhile, and it worked ok but it gave him alot of gas and his belly was always making noises. I could tell he had a belly ache alot of the time. So, I stopped it for awhile and started him on pumpkin. That seemed to be working ok, along with belly rubs.

Until, about 2 weeks ago after he did a wild sprint up the pine tree. I saw him do it and thought it was ok cause he seemed to land allright. But I noticed he had a bit of a swagger in his hind quarters when he walked afterwards. Well, ok, he is 16 and he does have arthritis of the spine with the worst of it at the base. There, he has spurs which complicates things whenever he needs to take a poop.

Last Monday was the worst Monday I think we,d both ever had. I'd changed his diet just about a week prior and that probably didn't help things...especially if he injured himself...but he wasn't pooping.

I was just about to call the vet when I saw he was trying to go. Alot of the time I will assist him by rubbing his belly from front to back while he stretches out and then he does a poop. It's just something I started doing awhile back and now he's gotten to the point where he's actually quite relaxed with it and welcomes the 'assisted bowells service'. That's what we call it at the vets. Actually, that's what the vet started calling it first!

He's had a problem with painfull bowel movements for a few years ( because of his back) and tends to hold it, thus causing him to get constipated and making it worse. But, last monday was beyond worse. Nothing I did helped and it didn't take long for me to realize my friend was in trouble. He was squatting everywhere and nothing but one or two drops of wet stool. He was running from me and before the moaning started I had already called and was on the way to his vet. He had pushed his insides out and could not pass poop that was to large.

The vet took him around the corner (cause I was a paniky mess) and had to manually remove a large rock hard piece of poop. She said he had some normal size stool left and the rest of his colon was clear. She said he should have no problem passing what was left once he was home. She was right.

Well, that freaked him out so bad that he barely wanted to come out of his favorite hiding spot for a couple of days and he definately does not want to go anywhere close to either one of his litterboxes. It's Saturday night and he has not had another poop since last monday. Today he attempted but only succeded three very small marble size rocks. I can tell he is very uncomfortable (not near as bad as he seemed last week) and needs to go. I am afraid he might have the same problem again. My vet is at a horse convention until the ninth. My vehicle is in the shop until the ninth. All of my neighbors speak a different language and the only person I can ask for help is my 70 year old mother who lives 10 miles away and can't drive at night.

I'm not a vet, but would I be able to do what she did if I had to? What is the risk of injury? I mean I've never thought that I'd ever be considering this...but I can't watch him suffer...or worse! Does anyone know what the proceedure is? What or how do I feel for? This is crazy! So far he is not acting like he was that day. But he is showing signs that he could. Would vaseline help or K-y? The belly rub thing does not work for something that's stuck. I'm pretty confident I could do it if I knew how. If he starts being like he was...I'm not going to have a choice. And he's giving me some weird looks. Crap, I got to go, please say a prayer for us.


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## Sky Eyes Woman (Feb 26, 2006)

Wow, this could wind up being really serious. I hope he's OK. I had a cat that had megacolon for the last 4-5 years of her life and we managed it pretty well with twice daily doses of cisapride and a 1/2 tsp. of mineral oil. Maybe mineral oil will help keep things greased up inside so he can go a bit easier. I mixed it with a dollop of plain meat baby food, if you want to try it with your cat don't just squirt the mineral oil in his mouth because if he inhales it that could really be bad. If you're tempted to use an enema on him, don't. The kind made for people could kill him.

Since it's going to be a few more days until your vet will be back, consider taking him to another one now. This really isn't something that can wait, especially since he's 16. Good luck. Let us know how he makes out.


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## Zalensia (Aug 25, 2003)

I just wanted to add aswell if you can't get to a vet because of your car what about getting the vet to come to you?
It will cost more, but the poor cat needs it.
Please keep us updated!


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## gizmocat (May 22, 2006)

Since you live in California presumably your neighbours speak Spanish.

Write out what you need in English. Go to a free translator service on the Web and have the request translated into Spanish. Then ask your neighbour for a ride to the nearest emergency clinic for cats.

Or if you mother can drive you in, have her do it in the daytime.


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## gizmocat (May 22, 2006)

Here is the BabelFish, one of the best online translators.

It's a bit literal so keep your English very simple. Then hand the Spanish translation to a neighbour and they can be asked very easily.

Good luck.

http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/


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## myfamilia (Aug 5, 2004)

Thanks to all of you. He made it through the night with no more straining. He is still quite uncomfortable, as he has not yet used the box...or gone anywhere else for that matter.

He does have another very good vet, not open until tomorrow. He's a bit closer and quite good with cats, also. The emergency hospital really sucks where I live. I have only had bad exsperience, causing more harm than good for my pets. They are more set up for trauma situations than with chronic problems in animals that need emediate attention. My poor kitty got treated, with something that I knew he didn't need, and then got seriously infected by it. I didn't know what they had done until after the fact. I really try to avoid them if at all possible, even up to the point of kitty going into shock or poison or something along those lines. I'm not kidding...I wouldn't want them to do anything but stablize my friend until my vet was in.

And, yep...I live in a predominately spanish neighborhood, where everyone but me speaks spanish. I'm enrolled at the local college, fall semester, so I can try to learn. I am the only white person as far as I can see around here. But I should be able to pick it up pretty easy, since that's the language where I live.

I wonder if I doubled his lactulose, for now, if it would be able to get to the hard stool that won't pass? Does anyone know of something that would? He is passing alot of gas, and that's a good thing...I think.

Well, I'm going to go check on him and I'll check back in a bit. Thanks again.


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## SneezerCallie (Aug 29, 2005)

Oh no, I'm really sorry about your kitty. As for actually getting to the vet, do you have a cab service in the area? I don't have a vehical so we always go by cab, not the most pleasent trip but it gets us there.


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## myfamilia (Aug 5, 2004)

You know what, Sneeze, I did think about the cab idea and definately I would do that. I just hope, even as uncomfortable as he is right now, that he can maintane his current condition until tomorrow morning. I will just have to take him to his second choice vet. He's not as good as Bugzy's lady Dr., but he,s definately better than the emergency staff. And, I trust him.

So far Bug's is still holding it back and not crouching to strain every few minutes, like he was last night. He's still drinking and peeing...taking walks around the house... letting me brush him so long as we don't do the regular full brush routine...and grooming himself. He still has an appetite but I'm not so sure he should eat to much right now.

I'm just praying he doesn't get prolasped again. I'm going to have to look into stool softening alternatives cause this is just unacceptable. Twice in a row might as well be the same as chronic...and once is more than too much!

I'll keep updating, thanks for the input


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## myfamilia (Aug 5, 2004)

Well, I got Bugs in to see the vet. He had to have two enemas and will now be on the lactulose for awhile. Until he gets it in his head that he can have a pain free soft stool poop, he can't have any more pumpkin. 

She said he was really a good boy cosidering all that he'd been holding back and all that he had to go through while there. 

I said, " I'll bet he thinks your real good too!!" 

THANKS DOCTOR SHEAHAN FOR BEING SO GOOD!!! :yellbounce


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## gizmocat (May 22, 2006)

I'm glad to hear that Bugs is better. Why did the doctor ban pumpkin? Is it not recommended for constipated cats?

I hope he's well now and doesn't have a repeat vet visit, but at least you seem to have a good doctor.


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## Sky Eyes Woman (Feb 26, 2006)

This sounds so much like the time I realized Pearl had a problem.
<-- That is Pearl, BTW. She was 8 when she was diagnosed with megacolon.

Did your vet tell you his poop blockage was really big? If it was I would ask her if megacolon is possibly what's wrong with him. If he does have megacolon look into getting him on cisapride. It was a godsend for Pearl, she almost never got blocked again while she was on it. At first my vet suggested lactulose and pumpkin too but it only helped for a little while. I then did a lot of reading about megacolon online and found out that the pumpkin adds fiber to the diet and bulks up the stool, but Pearl had plenty enough 'bulk'. The trouble was getting it out. My regular vet was out one day when Pearl had a blockage again and the other vet at that clinic was the one that put her on cisapride. I told him what I read about using mineral oil to help move things along and he said try it. It worked great. The pharmacy that compounded the cisapride for me made it in a liquid and I just mixed it with the mineral oil and plain meat baby food. She ate it up like a treat.


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## myfamilia (Aug 5, 2004)

Skye, I will talk to my vet about the things you have mentioned. He, so far, does not have megacolon. It's basically his spine that causes him to not go. He will hold it for how ever long he can and, because of that, his stool backs up and then what's been backed up the longest...dries out. 

There's where the constipation problem begins and only gets worse from there because it gets harder and harder to push because the painful back issue.

The vet doesn't condone pumpkin. She wants to get him in a mindframe where he's not afraid to go because of the spine pain. So, by making sure the stools are soft enough, where he won't have to strain, then he may become more regular. Once that is accomplished he can go back to the pumpkin.

See, he's a fairly healthy cat in all other areas. He had a neglegent vet treat him for something that was unessassry two years ago. That caused acute vestibular disorder that he will always have somewhat slight problems with. But for the most part he has recovered quite well for all that he went through. He also, has permanent hearing loss in one ear due to what that vet did.

He is 16 years old and has arthritis, but his blood panels are A+++ GOOD for his age.

Just got to make it more compfortable for him to puuush :mrgreen:


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## Sky Eyes Woman (Feb 26, 2006)

> He also, has permanent hearing loss in one ear due to what that vet did.


What did that vet DO to him?! I realize that's a whole 'nother thread, but wow! Sounds like unbelievable incompetence! 8O


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## gizmocat (May 22, 2006)

I, too, would like to know how a vet makes a cat go deaf and unable to defecate.

And why does your current vet dislike pumpkin? What is recommended instead?

I certainly hope that your cat's health improves and he is no longer tormented by what obviously was a preventable problem.


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## myfamilia (Aug 5, 2004)

It's a bit of a story, what happened to my cat, but here's the thread. There are a couple more that have more information on his progressive recovery, but this will explain what happened 

http://www.catforum.com/viewtopic.php?t ... vestibular

It is not related to why he has a chronic constipation problem. That is due to the arthritis and bone degeneration as the end of his spine. As he gets older, and the progressive degeneration worsens, it becomes more and more painful to have to hunch his back in the position a cat must take in order to push the bowels enough to empty the stools. There are severe bone spurrs where he needs to use his balance to work the muscles to be able to properly/easily defecate. That is my cats reason for not wanting to go when he feels the need and as a result the backed up stool gets hard and dry. Then, it gets even harder and more painful for him to push and he ends up in even more trouble from the strain and stress of needing to go but, by now, has become impossible to go. You cannot force a cat to do a daily poop if it pains him. And I am not going to put him on pain killers if there is an alternative. It is the alternative that I am still seeking as I elliminate that which does not work.

My vet has absolutely nothing against pumpkin, except at this time, it is not working for my cat.


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