# anyone ever manually extracted feces themselves?



## maggie23 (Mar 10, 2012)

i've got some pretty OUT THERE questions here:

we had the emergency vet stick her finger in lucy's rectum at the clinic to remove the feces that lucy had been straining to get out all morning, and i'm wondering if she gets really plugged up again, is this something i MIGHT be able to do myself at home???

has anyone else ever done this with their cat? if so, any advice? precautions? tips? dire warnings? etc? stories of success perhaps?

or has anyone else ever tried to sorta manipulate the colon/rectum itself to "shape" the feces into something that will go through the anus easier?


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## scottd (Jun 28, 2011)

My vet had me do an enema with a syringe on my 4 week old kitten (3 weeks at the time) because she wasn't pooping. I just injected .5cc of warm water each time I had to do it a few times and it worked each time. Another thing you can is 5-6 drops of mineral oil in your kitties food. It's found in the human medicine section.


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## maggie23 (Mar 10, 2012)

thanks for the quick reply!

so was the warm water the enema itself? nothing else? i always figured enema meant some other drugs. and did you coat her anus with a little vaseline or something beforehand? and how long did it take for her to poop after you injected the water?


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## scottd (Jun 28, 2011)

I didn't add anything to do it. I put a little drop of KY jelly on the end of the syringe. I had a syringe used for intranasal vaccines so it had a TINY opening on it. Umm, it was about 2 hours later I think.


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## maggie23 (Mar 10, 2012)

thx again, scott. i may give this a try instead of, or, in addition to the good ole finger when the time comes...


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## scottd (Jun 28, 2011)

I would really suggest you buy some nitrile gloves and KY jelly (or equivalent) then.


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## LaurulFeatherCat (Sep 16, 2011)

I had a cat in the 1980s who had very dry and hard stools. My vet showed me how to give an enema of five to ten ccs of saline to help her pass her stool if she started straining to defecate. Dr. Gratson had me buy infant sized pre-filled enemas for the job and it worked great. It is definitely a two person job, however.


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## kty78 (Mar 18, 2012)

Yikes! Good luck with that! I personally would leave that to the vet, as I prefer to keep all my skin. LOL! Let's hope she doesn't need it again anytime soon.


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## maggie23 (Mar 10, 2012)

thx again for all the advice and words of support! :grin: i'm getting cold feet about the finger thing cuz i'd really hate for lucy to associate ME with such an alarming thing! but i may have to do the enema thing someday. i'll be sure to have some of those vitrile gloves and ky jelly on hand. good luck to me! and lucy!


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## chuck72 (Jan 30, 2012)

I'm trying to eat!!! And no you're not sticking your finger up Lucy's butt!!:roll:


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## coyt (Jul 15, 2012)

not sure what the issue is here exactly but if it's just regular ol' constipation there's other home remedies for that, too..


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