Mega Bowel/Colon in Cats

[lara4unow]

Hi,
I posted this in the euthanasia thread but after doing so, I felt it was not on topic. Anyway, my cat Dust developed a condition the vet labeled "mega bowel". Does anyone have any suggestions? I feed him very rare pieces of low sodium beef and I give him small amounts of dry kibble in his daily small bowel. He has access to a big bowl of filtered water and a clean cat box. My vet said a little half and half will help him pass stool. Sometimes he drinks this and sometimes it just sits. He is going on 14. If it gets really bad, it requires him to have an enema flush. I can do this because I have the equipment and a solution that has worked well it the past. He is much more comfortable with me doing this. Plus, it saves me $100 for the vet to do it.

I would really appreciate any input from members who have had experience with this problem.

Thanks

 

[Z...]

Hi laura4unow,
while enemas will relieve the cat this condition is said to be irreversible. It is termed idiopathic, which means that there is no known cause, but some evidence definitely suggests impairment of colonic smooth muscle. It is very important to maintain the clean colon as I have seen neglected cases which caused such severe impaction in the colon that it felt like a concrete slab in the intestine. These cases could be relived only with colonic resection which is extreme measure that usually results in constant diarrhea because of shortening of the colon. Colostomy is usually not the solution as the condition tends to return if the sections of dilated colon are not removed.

As with most of the pathological conditions it is my opinion megacolon is the result of inadequate diet.

There are two school of thoughts in veterinary medicine- one that advises a lot of fiber and the other that advises highly digestible diet which will produce scant stools. I personally believe its the high content of fiber in the diet that causes this condition in the first place.
Therefore I would limit the diet to good quality animal protein and fat and stay away from any carbs whatsoever. According to the medical doctors who wrote Life Without Bread - similar condition in humans can be completely reversed by low carb diet. Hope this helps.

added: later on when I have some more time I will post Dr. Pitcairn's recipe for enemas.

 

[ScioAgapeOmnis]

My girlfriend's cat was sick and unable to pass stool recently, and she was rather impacted as we saw in an xray. They gave her an enema and prescribed some meds for appetite (she wasn't eating much, but I wouldn't either if I couldn't do the deed) and some other meds I'm not clear about. So I did some research and discovered the same thing that Herr Eisenheim said - that the natural cat laxative crowd is split between the high-fiber and no-fiber camps. I'd go with low fiber because fiber is a menace!

After deciding that the vet is a scam artist that prescribes anything and everything just to get the most money out of you, we took matters into our own hands. Here is what seems to be helping the kitty pass stool and get better, which I found with a bit of research:

Make sure your kitty is getting plenty of liquids (not milk though, it's just as unnatural for cats to drink cow milk as it is for humans). So feed him only canned "wet" food, and you can even add water to his food. Low-carb, low-fiber, high in fat and proteins. Cats don't drink much water, so make sure they get it from their food and always has water available to drink. Dehydration is a big contributor to constipation.

Try mixing these into the kitty's food and watch for changes, and lower dose or stop when things are good, or bad:

- 1 teaspoon of canned plain pumpkin twice a day.
- 1 tablepoon of wheat bran, once per day.
- 1 teaspoon of rice bran, once per day

For humans a good natural laxative is higher dose of vitamin C and an increase dose of magnesium. Cats, like most animals, make their own vitamin C (unlike humans), and probably doesn't need extra - tho you may want to look into giving it anyway if it helps soften stools but doesn't harm cats. I also didn't find anything definitive on whether it is safe or useful to give magnesium to a cat, but feel free to look into that as well.

The above foods seem to have worked for our cat, but do your research and watch your kitty carefully for any signs of issues with the brans and pumpkin. It sounds like your kitty may have an issue with the way the gut processes food. I'd look into pro-biotics and anti-biotics with respect to the effect they have on stool. Anti-biotics can cause constipation OR diarrhea, and pro-biotics have been known to relieve constipation. If the cat has a bacterial infection, adding a teaspoon of colloidal silver mixed with a teaspoon of DMSO with water/food/soup might help, followed by pro-biotic formula. On the other hand, if she simply has low good gut bacteria, then some pro-biotics may do the trick.

 

[Z...]

Try mixing these into the kitty's food and watch for changes, and lower dose or stop when things are good, or bad:

- 1 teaspoon of canned plain pumpkin twice a day.
- 1 tablepoon of wheat bran, once per day.
- 1 teaspoon of rice bran, once per day

IMO this is not a very good idea, except perhaps for the pumpkin

 

[mcb]

That didn't sound too good to me either. We have given organic pumpkin to our Cassie, and it appeared to help, but bran is abrasive and has caused me personally a lot of trouble in the past (I am still healing after eliminating it a year ago) and I wouldn't think of giving it to my cats!

 

[NewOrleans]

My sweet old black cat died about a week ago from heart failure. My friend who is a doctor said he'd heard irregular heart beat for several weeks and there was nothing to be done. Died sleeping next to me which is probably the gentlest way to go for his advanced age. His diet his whole life was meat-centered, no rice or grains or vegetables. I was always reading the sides of cat food cans and there have been some new brands on the market. Authority Brand was our recent discovery. But I've returned all the unopened cans now to the pet store and with the refund I've sent that off to my old friends at the Louisiana SPCA, being a rescue cat from there. He would have liked that.

I would suggest you have a meeting with your vet and go over strategies for helping your feline. Not sure about enemas for cats. Possible though. But maybe research on foods that are more gentle on the digestive system. Years ago, I had one cat with impacted bowel syndrome and immediate help from her doctor saved her life. Lived to a ripe old age.

Best wishes to you and your little buddy, Lara4unow.

 

[ScioAgapeOmnis]

That didn't sound too good to me either. We have given organic pumpkin to our Cassie, and it appeared to help, but bran is abrasive and has caused me personally a lot of trouble in the past (I am still healing after eliminating it a year ago) and I wouldn't think of giving it to my cats!

Interesting that the brans were listed after the low-fiber discussion I noticed on some sites, though if I look it up specifically it seems to contain quite a bit of fiber. They do seem to be a popular suggestion for cat constipation, but I suppose it's the same idea for humans - that fiber is commonly recommended for "good bowel movement", and we know it's not necessary. Since cats are carnivores they don't really need it. Pumpkin also has some fiber, but overall it does seem less evil. I'd still look into vitamin C and magnesium, since this is the only thing I know of that is healthy and works for humans. But also nothing happens for no reason - no one gets constipated "just because", so I guess switching up the diet is a good place to test what might be at the root.

 

[suelarue]

Hi lara4unow,
This is a very timely subject as my 20 year old cat Puck has the same condition so I can very much sympathize with what you are going through. It is not fun and it is incredibly hard to watch him go through this. He has trouble passing any stool, and when he does, it is hard as a rock. The impaction got so bad a couple of times that we had to take him to the vet to have it manually extracted. :( Like Herr Eisenheim said, the condition is irreversible, but I can tell you what we are doing which seems to have helped "move things along" for Puck.

He is on a grain free, low fiber diet of mostly meat and we try to keep the moisture content high in the food we give him. I make bone broth and mix a bit of that in with his canned food (Wellness brand). He likes most meat so we give him some from our meals and also some deli chicken/roast beef. One of the other things he likes is tuna mixed well with a lot of water (like tuna soup). Whatever we give him, we try to keep the fat/moisture content high. He has got to be the most finicky eater of all the cats I have ever had so it really is whatever works at the time (as long as it is low fiber/grain free).

However, the diet alone was not helping to move the stool along well enough and he was still becoming impacted so out of desperation we resorted to giving him a laxative (at the vet's direction). We give him a small amount (about 20 - 30cc) of Docusate Sodium liquid (liquid Colace) and it has definitely worked. He was able to pass a LARGE blockage of stool that was lodged really high in his colon and once that was passed (NOT a happy cat when that happened!) he started passing stool daily again. We only have to give it to him occassionally when we see that his bowel movements are slowing/stopping again. I would have preferred to find a more natural way to ease the problem, but this is really the only thing that has worked for us.

I hope this is helpful and that Dust starts seeing some relief!

My sweet old black cat died about a week ago from heart failure. My friend who is a doctor said he'd heard irregular heart beat for several weeks and there was nothing to be done. Died sleeping next to me which is probably the gentlest way to go for his advanced age. His diet his whole life was meat-centered, no rice or grains or vegetables. I was always reading the sides of cat food cans and there have been some new brands on the market. Authority Brand was our recent discovery. But I've returned all the unopened cans now to the pet store and with the refund I've sent that off to my old friends at the Louisiana SPCA, being a rescue cat from there. He would have liked that.

So sorry to hear that NewOrleans. It sounds like his passing was peaceful and also comforting that he was lying next to you at the time. I don't know if that is your cat in your profile picture, but my cat Puck looks JUST like him! He also likes to sleep next to me so I can only hope that when the time comes, his passing will be just as peaceful.

 

[Duke palatine]

Your cat is quite old and it's metabolism will have slowed down, I'd suggest cutting out the dried food if your little creature can be persuaded to eat high quality protein.
Some plain boiled white fish each day will help the stomach create a bacterial balance.
I have no experience with enemas on cats, does your cat show signs of stress as a result of an enema treatment. Pissing in the house, scratching for example.
Kittens can be induced to crap by gently rubbing their anus, doing this with some ph neutral cream may help your cat.
Good luck I hope it goes well, im very fond of all animals especially cats.

 

[lara4unow]

Hi all,
Just returned from a trip. Dusty is Ok for now. He seems to do better on the high protein diet that Herr Eisenheim suggests. Kibble (Taste of the Wild lamb or trout) and Wellness chicken pate with a little pro-biotic powder for animals by Jarrow. He has lots of good water and because he is 14, this condition is irreversible. Dr. Pitcairn's recipe for enemas would be great when you have a moment Herr Eisenheim.
thanks for all your input.