Gonzales Texas- Gonzales Animal Shelter Has Manx Kitten with elimina
Fri Aug 29, 2008 10:43 pm (PDT)
Arcas is about 12 weeks old and is the most loving, snuggly kitten we have. And his large, liquid eyes will melt your heart. In fact, he's perfect except for one little flaw. Arcas is totally tailless and does not have control of his eliminations. The vets don't think he will gain control, and we just don't know what to do for him. If someone with a giant heart and the right home setting can help, please call us. Or if you know of anything we can do to help him, we'd be willing to try.
Friends of Gonzales Animal Shelter
Gonzales, TX
830-857-1616
Manx baby, TX
Forum rules
PLEASE READ the Forum Guidelines here.
If the pet you posted is rescued or adopted, please click EDIT on your original post and check the Saved
icon.
PLEASE READ the Forum Guidelines here.
If the pet you posted is rescued or adopted, please click EDIT on your original post and check the Saved
icon.
Re: Manx baby, TX
I'm off today from work so I had a chance to call the shelter in Gonzales, TX.
Arcas died about 10 days ago.
She said they came in one morning and found him dead. : (
They had taken him to a vet and he had said there was nothing they could do for his incontinence. He did not suggest that they attempt to empty his bladder or bowel. The volunteer I spoke with said that he leaked urine and stool continuously.
IMO he likely died of a massive infection brought on by either a bladder infection or stool impaction. He never had his bladder adequately emptied so the urine pooled in his bladder and created an infection.
The volunteer said that he never showed any sign of illness. But, paralyzed pets never do.
They said he was the most playful and affectionate "baby." At least he knew love in his very short life which is something many cats never experience.
I kinda feel like I let him down. But, Mari, MC and I had tried to help him but i guess it wasn't met to be. : (
The volunteer said that she is glad to know about the site and will visit it in the future.
The Volunteer thanked us for our interest. /Jean
PS: The shelter is busy taking in pets from surrounding areas in Texas and praying that they don't have to evacuate themselves.
Arcas died about 10 days ago.
She said they came in one morning and found him dead. : (
They had taken him to a vet and he had said there was nothing they could do for his incontinence. He did not suggest that they attempt to empty his bladder or bowel. The volunteer I spoke with said that he leaked urine and stool continuously.
IMO he likely died of a massive infection brought on by either a bladder infection or stool impaction. He never had his bladder adequately emptied so the urine pooled in his bladder and created an infection.
The volunteer said that he never showed any sign of illness. But, paralyzed pets never do.
They said he was the most playful and affectionate "baby." At least he knew love in his very short life which is something many cats never experience.
I kinda feel like I let him down. But, Mari, MC and I had tried to help him but i guess it wasn't met to be. : (
The volunteer said that she is glad to know about the site and will visit it in the future.
The Volunteer thanked us for our interest. /Jean
PS: The shelter is busy taking in pets from surrounding areas in Texas and praying that they don't have to evacuate themselves.
Re: Manx baby, TX
I lost a Manx baby very suddenly too. I woke up one morning and she had died under my bed. I had fallen asleep with her snuggled into my neck. She was only three months old but was skinny likely due to intestines which did not work properly thanks to Manx Syndrome. I had only had her for a week and she had spent most of her life already at the rescue group's vet. Sometimes these Manx babies are so hard to help, even when we do EVERYTHING for them. I lost Millie but then again I had Harry, who survived his dreadful Manx Syndrome as a baby, only to die at age 4 from cardiomyopathy. I guess in the end what I am saying is that it sounds like Arcas was just too ill. At least he had love.
Re: Manx baby, TX
Sorry to hear about Millie and Harry. It must have been very difficult to loose them. I'm sorry for your loss.
I guess with Arcas there could have been complications from the Manx syndrome BUT the negligence of the Vet is what upsets me. He should have provided the rescue group with information for expressing this kitten. So many Vets including the Vet who saw Kolbe Sue never suggested that they needed to empty her bowel or bladder until our group informed the owner and made her aware of what she needed to do. (Kolbe Sue is the paralyzed kitten I adopted this summer) By the time I finally got her she had a terrible bladder infection and major problems with stool impaction.
Surely Vets know how to care for these cats with incontinent issues. Although, my Vet told me that before Jaime he never had had a paralyzed cat in his practice.
I don't mean to be negative but I feel that many of these Vets just don't want to deal with educating the owner because they see no value in these less than perfect cats. As a result, these babies die a needless and often painful death.
Sorry I'm a little down today. I really wish I could have helped Arcas. But, I guess you can't save them all. /Jean
I guess with Arcas there could have been complications from the Manx syndrome BUT the negligence of the Vet is what upsets me. He should have provided the rescue group with information for expressing this kitten. So many Vets including the Vet who saw Kolbe Sue never suggested that they needed to empty her bowel or bladder until our group informed the owner and made her aware of what she needed to do. (Kolbe Sue is the paralyzed kitten I adopted this summer) By the time I finally got her she had a terrible bladder infection and major problems with stool impaction.
Surely Vets know how to care for these cats with incontinent issues. Although, my Vet told me that before Jaime he never had had a paralyzed cat in his practice.
I don't mean to be negative but I feel that many of these Vets just don't want to deal with educating the owner because they see no value in these less than perfect cats. As a result, these babies die a needless and often painful death.
Sorry I'm a little down today. I really wish I could have helped Arcas. But, I guess you can't save them all.
/JeanRe: Manx baby, TX
No they don't. They catheterize and look at solving the problem immediately but are unsure on how to advise for long-term care.Jean wrote:Surely Vets know how to care for these cats with incontinent issues.
Too true.Jean wrote:I don't mean to be negative but I feel that many of these Vets just don't want to deal with educating the owner because they see no value in these less than perfect cats. As a result, these babies die a needless and often painful death.
No ... but you sure come close and trying is everything!Jean wrote:But, I guess you can't save them all.
Re: Manx baby, TX
Jean wrote:
Surely Vets know how to care for these cats with incontinent issues.
LisainCAN writes:
No they don't. They catheterize and look at solving the problem immediately but are unsure on how to advise for long-term care.
Oh, No no. Do not assume that every vet has a knowledge of how to express a bladder or how to cathaterize a pet. this simply is not true. Do you remember Porkchop? ONE vet in a three county area is all i could find who had any knowledge of expressing a dog. We are not talking all farm area and farm vets we are talking upscale neighborhoods, cities, country...
Even the "cats only" vets have told me cats cannot be cathaterized because they are too small.
Even newly educated vets don't always know everything; and not every vet belives it is humane to let a pet live without a leg, without bowel control,... I think the best WE can do; is if we see such a post, and have such a conversation with a shelter volunteer, is to request ( beg) the volunteer to go to our instructional pages and to print them for their ward. Ask them to craigslist thier area maybe for assistance from someone who has knowledge?
We have to remember not to be quick to judge a shelter vet as we do not know all the circumstances.Most shelter vets have to make, assist in the decision, or at least carry out the decision to euthanize animals . It is a very imperfect world. And we cannot know - maybe the vet was actually expressing this cat, even tho she leaked in between. And she could have died from so many things. RIP little girl.
Surely Vets know how to care for these cats with incontinent issues.
LisainCAN writes:
No they don't. They catheterize and look at solving the problem immediately but are unsure on how to advise for long-term care.
Oh, No no. Do not assume that every vet has a knowledge of how to express a bladder or how to cathaterize a pet. this simply is not true. Do you remember Porkchop? ONE vet in a three county area is all i could find who had any knowledge of expressing a dog. We are not talking all farm area and farm vets we are talking upscale neighborhoods, cities, country...
Even the "cats only" vets have told me cats cannot be cathaterized because they are too small.
Even newly educated vets don't always know everything; and not every vet belives it is humane to let a pet live without a leg, without bowel control,... I think the best WE can do; is if we see such a post, and have such a conversation with a shelter volunteer, is to request ( beg) the volunteer to go to our instructional pages and to print them for their ward. Ask them to craigslist thier area maybe for assistance from someone who has knowledge?
We have to remember not to be quick to judge a shelter vet as we do not know all the circumstances.Most shelter vets have to make, assist in the decision, or at least carry out the decision to euthanize animals . It is a very imperfect world. And we cannot know - maybe the vet was actually expressing this cat, even tho she leaked in between. And she could have died from so many things. RIP little girl.
Re: Manx baby, TX
Hello All,
I am new to this site and found it while doing some research on my own manx cat. I wanted to give you some hope with your babies. We have an adorable manx cat that is now 1 year and 3 months. We were "blessed" with finding him in the bushes in front of the house while painting. My husband rescued him from an army of fire ants that were ready to devour him. His birth mother must have known that he was less than perfect and abandoned him at a few days old. We took him to the vet right away and were taught how to feed him with an eye dropper and how to make him eliminate. Just like a human baby, feeding every three hours and plenty of sleepless nights. " Frankie " did things slower than the average kitten. We did notice when he began to walk that he did a bunny hop rather than a walk. As he has grown he has developed some symptoms of manx syndrome. We have found that the best solution in our home was getting a cat condo that has shelves and room for the litter box, food, water and toys, we call it Frankie's crib. On the days he is not able to control his bladder or bowels he hangs out in the crib, otherwise he is free and plays with the other animals we have. He 100% has tail envy and makes that clear. He is the most loving animal I have ever had. We had one issue six months ago where Frankie became impacted and had to be hospitalized at the vet's for a few days while they cleaned him out, as a result the vet gave us a medicine that comes in a tube called LacTone, it's tuna flavored and he loves it. LacTone is also used for cats with hair ball issues, I guess it cleans the pipes !
It is a hard heart wrenching road but worth every moment. Keep the faith !!
Aimee
I am new to this site and found it while doing some research on my own manx cat. I wanted to give you some hope with your babies. We have an adorable manx cat that is now 1 year and 3 months. We were "blessed" with finding him in the bushes in front of the house while painting. My husband rescued him from an army of fire ants that were ready to devour him. His birth mother must have known that he was less than perfect and abandoned him at a few days old. We took him to the vet right away and were taught how to feed him with an eye dropper and how to make him eliminate. Just like a human baby, feeding every three hours and plenty of sleepless nights. " Frankie " did things slower than the average kitten. We did notice when he began to walk that he did a bunny hop rather than a walk. As he has grown he has developed some symptoms of manx syndrome. We have found that the best solution in our home was getting a cat condo that has shelves and room for the litter box, food, water and toys, we call it Frankie's crib. On the days he is not able to control his bladder or bowels he hangs out in the crib, otherwise he is free and plays with the other animals we have. He 100% has tail envy and makes that clear. He is the most loving animal I have ever had. We had one issue six months ago where Frankie became impacted and had to be hospitalized at the vet's for a few days while they cleaned him out, as a result the vet gave us a medicine that comes in a tube called LacTone, it's tuna flavored and he loves it. LacTone is also used for cats with hair ball issues, I guess it cleans the pipes !
It is a hard heart wrenching road but worth every moment. Keep the faith !!
Aimee
Re: Manx baby, TX
Aimee! Laculose is also good; it's a yummy Rx softener you can get at human pharmacies pretty cheaply.