Cat injured, now won't poop and pees in his bed

For those seeking advice on caring for incontinent pets and animals with kidney-related problems.
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pamela02mk
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Cat injured, now won't poop and pees in his bed

Post by pamela02mk »

I need advice, my cat Chazz fell off of a van that was going around 60mph. My parents didn't realize that he had been on the van till the next morning when they found him lying on a country road about 2 miles from our house. He was out in the cold all night and they took him to the vet and the vet doesn't believe anything is broken but there was a lot of swelling. He finally got up and kinda walked around after 5 days for the first time. He has some trouble moving his back legs but is getting around slowly. We had to take him back to the vet 2 days later because he hadn't pooped at all and they gave him an enema and antibiotics and kept him for a few days. He is back home but still very rarely pooping and won't use the litterbox. He pees whereever he is lying, I don't think he knows that he has to go. I would love to bring him back to my house but my roommate is allergic so he has been living with my parents and I think they are giving up hope on the cat. Has anyone experienced cat injuries like this and did the cat regain bowel control and ability to use litterbox? I would appreciate any advice!
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CarolC
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Re: Cat injured, now won't poop and pees in his bed

Post by CarolC »

Does he have any movement in his tail? If the vet did not see separation of the vertebra near the tail, then hopefully it is just swelling and he will improve but it may take some time. Improvement in things like this tends to be gradual and can take weeks. Until he has more time to heal, he may need to have his bladder expressed. This means you squeeze his tummy to make him pee. The vet should show you how. If the vet will not show you, then find a new vet immediately. The bladder needs to be fully emptied every 8 hours. If it is not done, he can develop a urinary infection that in the worst case can go to the kidneys and even be fatal. Here is an article with videos at the end, showing how to express a bladder.

http://www.handicappedpets.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Express_a_dog_or_cat

Expressing his bladder will help prevent infection, and also help keep the bladder from stretching. It will also help your folks keep the house cleaner. Cats can wear diapers, but I would consider the diaper as something to do in addition to expressing, not instead of expressing. Here is some information on diapers (to prevent house soiling so your folks will not give up on him because of the mess, and will give him the time he needs to heal).

https://www.handicappedpets.com/mediawiki/index.php/Diapers_and_male_wraps

He probably needs assistance with his bowel, too, if he is constipated. There is a stool softener for pets called Lactulose syrup that will make things easier for him. You can get it from the vet. It is safe and not habit forming.

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pamela02mk
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Re: Cat injured, now won't poop and pees in his bed

Post by pamela02mk »

He does pee quite a bit on his own but doesn't go to the litterbox so I don't think he knows that he has to go till it's too late, he did finally poop on his own. We had taken him to the vet for an enema and antibiotics and he finally had his first solid BM on his own yesterday after almost 2 weeks but that wasn't in the litterbox either. I don't think he injured his tail luckily and he seems to be walking around a little more.
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critters
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Re: Cat injured, now won't poop and pees in his bed

Post by critters »

I'd suggest something for inflammation for a little longer because his spinal cord might've gotten bruised. I couldn't agree more about expressing!! What ain't in can't leak out. If you can do it, it'd decrease the mess a lot. If you can't do that, keep pee pads, mattress pads, etc. in his favorite spots, or in all of them. My Koi, who'd been shot in the spine, was leaky like that. I had good mattress pads on the mattress and old ones on top of the blankets. Crib mattress pads are a nice size for smaller uses.
jyahaloms
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Re: Cat injured, now won't poop and pees in his bed

Post by jyahaloms »

I had experienced similar issue a few years ago. My can was left in the cold by mistake, after we went for a vacation of five days.
I think it had the same symptoms you mentioned (peeing everywhere). I think he got into some kind of trauma from what happened.
Anyway, in our case, we took him to the vet, gave it antibiotics..and nothing helped. After a month (or a month and a half), the symptoms were
gone and he went back to normal. In one word: You need patience.
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