Hiya everyone,
As I mentioned here and there (for those who have been following me for some time), Milou has been going to the vet regularly for the past two years, due to constipation issues. We tried adding fibers and the vets prescribed laxatives, and it helped for a while, but it now seems that the problem is more serious than that.
Milou, on his human’s lap
Milou has to go to the vet almost once a week to have an enema. With Thanksgiving, our new vet even taught the humans how to perform one just in case.
Our vets in New York diagnosed IBD or cancer (they had to make a biopsy to know for sure, but the humans decided not to go for the biopsy because it was a very invasive surgery, Milou is 14, and at the time he had lost a lot of weight if you remember, plus the vets told our humans that the treatment would be more or less the same anyway).
Our vet here in Texas thinks that Milou has a case of Megacolon: basically, Milou’s colon is dilated so much that it cannot process the poop out anymore. Feces stay stuck inside and become larger and very dry and hard.
According to our vet, there are but two solutions: a surgery by a specialist vet to take away part of the colon (the dilated part that cannot function anymore) or… the worse solution ever. Neither my human, nor me can resolve ourselves to write it here :-(
Milou has an appointment with a specialist vet next Monday. In the meantime, the humans are doing some research on the health issue. If any of you has had this problem in your furry family, please feel free to share how it went. Thank you in advance.
This is not a furry nice time of the year, in some respects. There are several kitties that need purrs, including our furriends at Brian’s Home. We too are purring for them.
Graphic by Zoolatry
Oh Texas my friend…..I’m so sorry about Milou……I know he’s had problems as long as I’ve known you but let’s hope that the new specialist has some ideas to help him cope. Poor guy – I know that has to be super uncomfortable for him too. I asked my Mom and she doesn’t have any info on coping with something like this – none of her kitties have ever had colon issues including me. I do wonder about getting older though and all the things that come along with that – I’m Milou’s age and Mom and I just hope that I’m lucky enough to avoid anything serious. We both hope and purrray that Milou gets a solution. I know you and your humans hope the same.
Special Hugs, Sammy (and his Mom)
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Just sending purrayers for you all.
Sundae and her Motor Mommy
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Poor Milou and poor you. Thankfully so far Cody has only been blocked up once and that was due to meds he was taking for allergies. When he is on the meds now I use canned pumpkin and so far so good. Praying for a solution for Milou that is in the best interest of all of you. Sending healing purrs and love.
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I know this sounds silly but maybe ask your vet but an old horse trick for impacted colon is stale cola. It helps break down the matter. Not sure if it would help as we are not cat owners but any avenue? We know how worried you must be.
Best wishes Molly
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We had never heard of this before but it does sound very nasty. We are sending purrs and love to you all.
Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx
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Oh no, we are sorry to hear about Milou’s troubles. We haven’t heard of a mega colon before now so we are no help. Hope that isn’t what it is. We sure send tons of purrs and prayers. Take care.
Marg recently posted…Thankful Tuesday
Poor old Milou, can’t be fun for any of you having to go through these procedures. Haven’t had experience with similar issues but hope you can find a soltion. xxx
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Molly has a good idea, poor Milou, we are thinking of you all and sending our love. xxooxxx
Mollie and Alfie
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Poor old Milou huge hugs xxxx
Poor Milou huge hugs xxxx
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So many sick kitties right now. I sure hope they can find a solution to help this situation. It sounds quite awful.
emma recently posted…Day Three | Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers
Oh no, that is so sad. This is not the best time of the year after all. We are sending Milou (and you) special piggy kisses for strength.
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Oh Texas, that sounds SO unpleasant and painful/uncomfortable for Milou. I know your peeps will do the best thing for this dear one. We’re purring for you, sweetie, and will look for updates to this situation from you.
Big hugs, my furriend.
Love
Selina & MomKatt Laura
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Oh Milou! Our grandma’s cat had that and they periodically did the same – leaving him at the vet for enemas. They told the same thing to them. Purring that the specialist will have more options for you. Our grandma’s kitty was on wet food only plus pumpkin when he would eat it.
Maxwell, Faraday & Allie recently posted…Toon Tuesdays: When animals exercise
Milou has been on wet food only for a little more than a year too and we do add pumpkin, which he seems to like.
Thanks for sharing!
I don’t have any personal experience with megacolon, but I’ve seen it quite frequently in the veterinary practices I used to work at. I would start with lifestyle changes, but even if Milou needs surgery, the success rate is high. Here’s more information on megacolon: http://consciouscat.net/2013/08/05/megacolon-in-cats/
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Thank you so much for the info. It is reassuring to know that the success rate is high.
My human would love to try and start Milou on raw food and she’s pretty sure he’d love that but he has his special diet for his urinary problem. Years ago (like 10 years ago), when he was eating anything other than his special diet, he was having huge urinary problems, so the humans stuck with his special food. But lately, despite all their work not to have him eat our food, there are times when he succeeded and never had a problem lately (well, on that urinary issue).
Thank so much for stopping by!
I have heard about megacolon and have an internet friend who has a cat with megacolon but haven’t talked to her in quite a bit. Just sending you all prayers and hoping the specialist can find a treatment for Milou.
Texas! I’m writing about Rocky’s issues here, too, and the post comes out tomorrow. He’s been having the same thing with constipation and weight loss. He hasn’t been diagnosed with megacolon, but we’re still doing fluids and b12 shots to make sure he has all his needs met nutritionally. Also, I had this bachelorette named Goldie that has megacolon. She’s being treated at Tabby’s Place. If you like, I can ask my friend at Tabby’s Place if they have any information for you. Just email me! Here’s the link to Goldie. It will lead you to more information on their page. Oh, my best to Milou!!!! http://catinthefridge.com/2013/10/31/botw-goldie/ Please send me an email or come to my page if you have questions I can help with!
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Thanks so much Crepes! I will check your page about Goldie and let you know if I have questions.
Purrs and Prayers for you dear Milou. Hugs to your Mom. Love, Cali,Andy, Tater and Cali
I think megacolon is a pretty reasonable diagnosis… I remember lots of kitties who came to us for enemas on a regular basis. Some kitties even had to be anesthetized for us to “manually evacuate” the feces… that’s when the enemas didn’t work. There are some pretty good specialists in Austin. Milou should be in good hands :)
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Milou has been anesthetized a couple of times too.
Our vet directed us to the Central Texas Veterinary Specialty Hospital.
Thanks for your support!
Wow…another sick kitty. This is becoming an epidemic. Mommy says she would have the surgery for sure. We know the vets say a cat is a senior kitty somewhere around nine or ten years old, but if Milou is healthy otherwise, Mom says she’d get her the surgery. Good luck with making the decision that works for your family. We will add her name to our 24/7 purr-a-thon that we are having for all the currently sick kitties, and Mom will add her to her prayers. Purrs and hugs, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo
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Abby has issues with constipation too. Some Manx in general just have problems in that regard. After a severe bout of what the DR called IBD which I didn’t think was accurate I began a diet with pumpkin and slippery elm and very finely ground organic flax that did the trick for her. She only had one more episode where she got stuck and we had to take her to the Vet for an enema but I suspect just these measures are not too helpful for Milou. We are purring so much for dear Milou and hope your Doctor can offer up some more options.
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I remember you told us about slippery elm and I realize now that it was probably some time before our move and the human completely forgot about it :-/
The pumkin helps a bit but is not sufficient unfortunately. My human is definitely putting the slippery elm on her list though. Thanks!
Sending a constant flow of prayers and love to all the sick kitties! Me-Ommmmm
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Precious Milou, I know you have had this problem for a while. It must be getting pretty tiring for you my pal. Your human and my Mom talked about you at BP. We will ask our friend who used to be my vet…she is retired now. If she has anything new to add, Mom will email Moss Carine. Paw hugs, Savvy
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Thanks so much Savvy!
Me and my mom-person are sorry to hear about Milou’s troubles :(
Can´t give you any suggestion´s on what to do , we don´t know anybody who had this problem.
My mom-person gives me Cat-malt once or twice a week , but it´s moore for anti-hairball treatment than my poop consistence :)
Hope efurrything will work out OK !
XOXO
We’re sorry Milou may have megacolon. :( We hope the Specialist vet will be able to give you some answers.
Whisppy recently posted…Tutu Tuesday
Oh dear, I hope the specialist is able to help Milou with minimal ouchies! We’ll purr for health!
Andrea and the Celestial Kitties recently posted…Tingling Surprise
it’s so sad to hear about that!! Poor Milou… I send very many prayers and big hugs to Milou, you and Kitshka…
Oh my gosh! This is serious indeed, and I really hope the specialist will bring some good news about how to cure Milou. I keep my paws crossed and Indy her fingers. Purrs! Kisses!
Eirwena recently posted…Pipolino : jeu, set et match nul !
We don’t know anout mega colon Texas but, we know your folks will be anxious. We wish we could help, we want to wave a magic catnip sprig and make Milou, and Brian’s family well.
Much love
Harvey and everyone at Team Dash Kitten
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Oh my word. This is just terrible news. I am so incredibly sorry for you and for Milou. I hope the specialist vet has some encouraging news for you and I will be thinking of and praying for you. My thoughts are with you during this difficult time.
Long Life Cats and Dogs recently posted…Rescue Reveal – FORA
Purrs to Milou, and to you! One of our blogging friends, Goma, has been dealing with this, and she created a page on her blog about what she is doing: http://mycatgoma.com/p/megacolon.html
I am sure, since you’ve been dealing with this issue for a while, you are already doing some of these things, but things like the massage never occurred to my human before.
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Oh thank you, Sparkle! I didn’t know about this site! I am sure Milou would appreciate the massages ;-) Seriously, he loves tummy rubs!
Thank you so much. My human is going to read this page and I am going to follow the blog.
Thank you.
I was going to suggest getting in touch with Sachie and Goma too. They seem to be managing it so far.
Good luck!
Oldcat recently posted…Baby Steps
dood…pleez ta chek out thiz site
http://ibdkitties.net/
we haz known Lisa for yeerz….and trust de info she haz on this site…de site covers manee aspects oh bowel disease; furst hand with her kitty Alex, second with vet info and advise and third frum others sufferin with it….we be bee troooly sorree ya gotta go thru thiz; az all ways, de blessings oh St Francis two ewe…..
Thanks for the link and for the blessings! It sounds very interesting. My human is going to read all about it. It is always useful to read about first hand experience
Thank you so much!
Oh no! We are so sorry to hear that Milou may have megacolon. WE are sending purrs, prayers and all good thoughts your way, dear friends.
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Oh my poor friend. So sorry to read about Milou. Let’s hope the vet finds a good solution. Sending you lots of purrs and love.
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On croise nos doigts et pattounes pour qu’une solution soit trouvée pour petit Milou et on vous souhaite beaucoup de courage pour ces moments difficiles. Caresses et gros ronrons.
I am sorry to hear that Milou has megacolon and send my purrs.
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We’re sorry to read about Milou. We send you tons of purrs !
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On est vraiment désolées et de tout coeur avec vous.
Nat à Chat elle a regardé sur des sites français, et partout c’est écrit que l’opération d’un mega colon fonctionne bien, sans trop de suites opératoires.
Mais nous on croise les pattes pour que ça s’arrange sans opérations.
On envoie plein de ronrons pour Milou.
Hisia et Loustiquette
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Merci les chamies !
Oh, this is sad news about dear Milou. Have you looked into any alternative options? there’s a great Yahoo group for feline megacolon http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070616092529AAjrcD6
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My human thought about acupuncture but to our knowledge, it is hardly – if ever – practiced on cats in France, so she doesn’t know much about it for kitties. Thanks for the link, we are going to look into it!
Oh we are so sorry to hear about all this and will purr extra hard that they can help you to feel better soon friend.
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We see that lots of folks had advice and links for you…we are purring that Milou will be able to live many more years with this condition, it appears to be manageable, if not the easiest thing to deal with.
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How scary for your whole family! It looks like lots of people have already given you advice and links to places to read up, so there’s no much we can add except that we’re purring for Milou, and for you, too, Texas.
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Texas, we’re sorry to hear about Milou. Zoey has constipation issues. She only poops about once a week (though lately she’s been going a little more often *knock wood*). The vet suspects she has the beginnings of megacolon. Zoey takes cisapride and gets miralax and probiotics mixed in her foods. She only gets wet foods and the mom mixes lots of water in with it. The thing about Zoey is that when she does go, it’s not all hard and dry…it’s normal looking…just a lot of it (as you can imagine). So the vet isn’t as concerned about it. The vet says as long as Zoey is eating, drinking, not vomiting and acting normal otherwise (which she is) there really isn’t anything else to do at this point. The mom didn’t want to take Zoey to get an enema regularly because Zoey would have to be sedated for them to do that. She did have a couple at first. The mom keeps a close eye on her now and keeps a record of when she poops.
We hope the specialist can help Milou. We’d be interested in knowing what he/she says. The mom was going to take Zoey to a specialist, but Zoey does not do well at the vet.
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Milou – except for the period I linked to on my post a few months ago – was always eating (always been a big hungry kitty). But he has vomited twice recently, which is really not like him. The humans were also concerned that Milou was often sedated for the enemas, it is not very good for him. And he came back really weird (because of the sedation, although after about 12 hours he went back to normal).
We will let you know what the specialist says.
Thanks for sharing Zoey’s problem!
Oh dear Milou, I am so sorry you are having problems. I have a horrible constipation problem too and the only thing that has kept me regular is Royal Canin Fiber Response. It was like a miracle for me. Anyways, we all send our best healing purrs and prayers to you.
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Texas, I’m with Ingrid on the raw diet as well as other dietary changes–if you’re concerned about urinary issues, the raw diet is the key. Jelly Bean blocked even on the food I’d tested out on other boys, and even when he wasn’t blocked he was in the box straining three weeks out of four. On the raw diet he writes his name on the back of the litterbox and other fancy things, no problems at all.
Also, Kelly had been diagnosed with IBD a few years ago and during her last year, right after we lost Cookie, Kelly just quit eating and had been having issues with diarrhea that turned to constipation. I knew she liked raw food so I just changed her over and she completely turned around in a month–she was 19 at the time.
I also have geriatric kitties for whom this is also an issue for loss of muscle and coordination. Hydration is key as well as the pumpkin, but feeding a grain-free food is essential. Good luck with him!
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The only thing stopping my human really is the urinary problems. But then no vet has been able to tell my human what’s so special about the Hill’s Diet. So yes, she might try to carefully introduce raw food to see what happens.
My human remembers reading about Kelly changing to raw food and how it helped. Thanks for the reminder. We’ll let you know of course.
So sorry to hear about Milou. Have you tried pumpkin? My neighbor’s dog had similar constipation issues and pumpkin solved it. I even started to feed any rescue kittens so they grow up loving it. It has fiber and moister.
Purrs for Milou.
Christine
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Yes, Milou has a little pumpkin added to his wet food (he’s only on wet food now) and it helped a bit but it doesn’t seem enough :-/
Thanks for your purrs.
I sometimes give Gus a tiny (less than an ounce) treat of whole milk to help get fluids in him. If lots of milk gives a cat the runs, a little might make it softer and easier to handle.
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We thought about doing that too, but were concerned it wasn’t too good for him. But indeed, as a little treat, it might help.
Thank you!
get well very soon little Milou, your family and friends love you!
and you are precious to me, I have two cranky tabbies like you, and they are my little furry babies.
kisses and many best wishes little one!
Poor Milou! Purdey is sending purrs too. It’s horrible when any pet is ill and I really hope you will see a happy outcome soon.
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O no I am so sorry to hear that. Keeping Milou and all of you in our thoughts!!
Poor Milou :( Homeopathy can help him feeling better and get rid of the poop in a natural way. Please consider this. Healing Pawkisses are on the way!
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Unfortunately, my human is not sure homeopathy can help. This is nothing against homeopathy – she uses it herself – but if the colon is dilated and unable to function, an intervention might be necessary. That’s what they are going to try and find out with the specialist.
Thank you so much for your healing pawkisses!
Nous espérons que tu guériras vite, Milou. Sans intervention ce serait bien. Graous graous de soutien.
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We all hope he is better soon!
Frimousse recently posted…Soir de décembre
Oh dear that sound yucky but good if he can ge made better,snuggle to Milou,xx Speedy
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Dear Tex and Milou — This sounds like quite a tightrope-walk for you all. Your wonderful commenters have sure put lots of options on the table. Many many pawpats to you. Health challenges are so tough.
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