#1  
Old November 27th, 2012, 03:26 PM
maurorless maurorless is offline
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Location: Unfortunately, Texas
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Mega colon

Hello,
If my writing becomes unreadable it's because I''m crying again. I cannot lose another cat this year because of a vets' incompetence.

Delphia is a tiny cat (always has been) who is about 16 years old. A few weeks ago I noticed she was in the litter box about every five minutes straining and straining. I called the vet and made an appt. I thought maybe she had a UTI. They can't figure it out. She came home supposedly cured and on a special urinary diet. She had also been having diarrha. The first thing she did upon returning home was start having little squirts of diarrhea all over, usually the litter box, but not always. I cringe to see her strain. Back to the vet. They kept her for almost six days. I kept asking about an enema as athe vet thought she was constipated. He stated she didn't have colon cancer (how he figured this out without tests or xrays I don't know). They put her on lactulose, too much and she had diarrhea all over her little cage at the vets, so they adjusted it. The vet said she had 8 inches of feces in her intestine which is a lot for a tiny 6 pound cat. He said she might have megacolon since she may have been constipated for a long time. I disagree as she used to have firm stools daily. She is still straining and now not even diarrhea is coming out. I can't tell if she is urinating because of the type of litter. She is still on the UR food. for a megacolon? The vet said the diarrhea explosion had blood and mucous in it, but stated that it might be from the pressure on her intestines and rectum. They did not give her an enema until she had been there for almost four days. She came home still sick. I am not taking her back to that vet. I had such great hopes that he was a good vet, but not now. She eats the UR food, and once in a while I see her drink water. I read about low residue food which makes sense to me. I don't understand the UR diet at all. I owe this guy $159 for keeping her for so long. I don't know what ato do . I liv eon disability and my babies Buster Brown and Cutie died this year as well as a cat I tried to rescue (too late). My big dog had cancer and needs her teeth cleaned. All of my animals except for two are 10 or older. Jack just had his teeth cleaned and eleven pulled as he had a horrible gum infection. $800 (almost my entire monthly income--thank you to a certain company that helps with an expensive credit card--no interest if paid off in 24 months) Delphia, my sick little girl had an abscess pop from under her chin. It was an infected tooth, I think. The vet that saw her that time couldn't get her mouth open so she just guessed. sigh. I think Delphia's teeth may be one of her problems also.

Does anyone out there know any kind of low residue diet I can feed Delphia. Does anyone know of a site I can get some assistance at? Though I have read that vet will usually work with a client about paying off a bill I haven't met that vet yet. I did read that cats with megacolon should get 1ml of lactulose 3x a day so I upped Delphia's from 2x a day to 3x a day.

1. I need to find a low reside cat food and I'm so upset I'm having trouble understanding all the information offered on the web.

2. I need to find a new vet, but what do I pay her/he with? Acorns, pecans?

I probably sound like I am stark raving mad, but truly just very tired and suffering from an illness that isn't going to go away and causes 24/7 pain. Worrying about Delphia makes it worse. Also my oldest dog, Mandy, has cancer. She had surgery and is on pill-form chemotherapy that eats into my food budget (ha ha play on words) at $75 a month. So far it's helped and she's still her two years later. Daisy had her eye almost ripped out by Mandy and the vet didn't do anything but give her a pain shot. Now it is getting infected though I wash it out every day and put cyclosporine 1% in both eyes every day. Daisy is the product of backyard breeders; deaf, dry eye(s) and cataracts, (she has had her teeth cleaned, but I paid that $800 off last year) she doesn't have hips and has skin problems. She is the sweetest little dog I have ever met but her eye needs help. So far everyone else seems to be semi-OK. Suzy, the youngest is morbidly obese. I can not walk her as I can barely walk myself and can't afford to pay someone to walk her. Even though she gets about 3/4 of a cup of food a day she isn't losing weight. She runs around outside and isn't a couch potato, but for some reason she doesn't lose weight.

thanks for having this forum/post/blog. I had to vent to someone. My grown children are just critical about the five dogs and two cats though three of the animals were 'gifts' from my children.

Once again. Thank you for listening; I don't know if you're as bored as I am with my saga, but if you are please don't tell me;-)
Maureen
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  #2  
Old November 27th, 2012, 03:57 PM
Love4himies's Avatar
Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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First off, you need a giant . Wow you have a lot on your plate.

You didn't mention if the Urinary diet was canned or kibble, if it's kibble, stop feeding it. Canned will help with constipation enormously (and your obese cat). Second, the food is probably overly priced, not so great quality and shouldn't be fed to a cat.

A great food is Wellness, grain free, canned, and you can buy it in the larger cans to help with the cost. It will also be a low residue food as it is a higher quality. If you want the lowest residue food, then raw is the way to go. Their feces become quite small when fed it.

A quality food will also help with all of their immune systems.

I have to run, but will be back for more advice. Hopefully Sugarcatmom will also be on to help you out.
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Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs)

Jasper RIP (2001-2018)
Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014)
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  #3  
Old November 28th, 2012, 09:37 AM
Love4himies's Avatar
Love4himies Love4himies is offline
Rescue is my fav. breed
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Boating in the 1000 Islands
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Here is a great website on cat nutrition:

http://www.catinfo.org/

An article by Dr. Becker:

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites...megacolon.aspx

You can also try adding crushed kitty grass to their food to add some dietary fiber.

Other quality foods:

Nature's Variety Instinct, canned

Weruva (has lots of water)

Go, Grain Fee canned

Organics, by Nature.

Here is a good website that has links for financial help for vet bills (I agree with you that you need to see a different vet):

http://voices.yahoo.com/financial-or...y-4272151.html
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Cat maid to:


Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs)

Jasper RIP (2001-2018)
Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014)
Puddles RIP (1996-2014)
Snowball RIP (1991-2005)

In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb

“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Stephen R. Covey
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  #4  
Old November 29th, 2012, 11:57 AM
pattymac pattymac is offline
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My first Manx developed that, part of their problem is with a shorter spine they can develop poop issues when they get older. I took my boy to a holistic vet and she gave him an acupuncture treatment and it really worked for him, I think now though there are more regular vets that can do it so maybe that's an option for your kitty. He didn't seem to mind the needles either. I'm just really hoping my Manx now doesn't develop the same problem as he's now 12.
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  #5  
Old November 29th, 2012, 07:10 PM
Izzie Izzie is offline
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Pumpkin
http://suite101.com/article/pumpkin-...pation-a192270
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  #6  
Old November 30th, 2012, 06:33 AM
maurorless maurorless is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Unfortunately, Texas
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thank you so much for the message. What a lot of information you provided. I think I am going to take Delphia to the one holistic vet in town. The lactulose isn't working. Though this will make my ulcer worse as I don't know who to 'rob', Peter or Paul;-) Delphia deserves to be taken care of and not put to death. i agree with you that death is the solution for a lot of our 'babies', especially if poor. I read online that most vets will work with a client about repaying the bill.....really? I'd like to know where they live;-) thank you so much for all the infor and the HUG. I can really use one or more. Will do more research tomorrow as I am having severe lower back problems that are affecting my legs, to my ankles. I know what it is and I need to fix it. My ability to walk is being affected and I don't need to fall as I've had thoracic surgery and after about five falls the contraptions they inserted are crushing my spinal cord. I don't need any of this to get worse. I have responsibilities for seven furry kids;-)
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