How long to wait for cat with bowel issues and nerve damage?

[sparkle_cats]

Hello! I hope this finds you well. I've been reading stories on this thread for the past couple of weeks and was really inspired by a few of them. There was a cat named, Erasmus, that had a particularly touching story, though I'm sorry to hear that he passed away.

About two weeks ago I moved to a new city in upstate NY and right before I moved, my cat somehow got hurt. I think he fell down wrong coming down my roommate's loft bed ladder (he'd always sleep with both of us, starting with me and then go to him). In any case, he started leaking and we took him to the vet and they said he had nerve damage, but nothing was broken. He had an enema and they said we needed to express his bladder. This forum helped greatly with the expressing and I'm getting a bit better at it now, but I wasn't great at it to start and we had to find a vet in our new city immediately to help us. They said he had a really bad UTI and and coincidentally, I also got violently ill, but now he's on an antibiotic and I'm trying to be even more sanitary when I express him. The truth is, I had been crying a lot and just hugging him because I was afraid I was going to have to put him to sleep. :/

He's still on an antibiotic and we are still expressing him. But his tail is moving around a bit more. The bad news is that we've had to give him a couple of enemas and I'm taking him to get one tomorrow because he hasn't pooped since his last enema last Friday. When we saw the vet in NYC (our first home) they told us to keep giving him time and to see what happens. They also suggested reiki. I know it sounds wild, but we had a reiki session on Sunday and afterwards the cat used the litter box. It was the first time in two weeks.

But unfortunately he hasn't used it again. It's been 20 days since we noticed he fell and what I want to know is this ... how long should we wait? I know that it's not a happy cat life to be given enemas and being expressed, but maybe we'll have another miracle and he'll use the litter box again? I found another reiki healer in my new city and am willing to try it again.

Does anyone have any experience with this / have any sense of how long to realistically wait? I hate this so much because beyond not being able to pee/poo, he's a normal and happy cat. So letting him go would be very, very hard. But I don't want to give up on him yet either.

Would love any advice.

Heartbroken.

[critters]

Personally, I'd keep enemas for emergencies. Poop softeners, such as lactulose, are ever so much easier. Lactulose is a sweet, yummy RX liquid that is easy to dose with a syringe, and, therefore, it's easy to use more or less as necessary. Some people use canned pumpkin as a fiber, and cats tend to like that, too. You'd have to experiment with how much and when to give it.

[sparkle_cats]

Thanks so much for responding, Critters. The vet did give us some laculose and I've given it to him, but he still seems full. I tried the pumpkin, but he would not eat that. It's hard for me to tell if he's getting it all out. He had an enema last Wednesday and has only gotten a few nuggets out since then. Do you have any sense of how long it takes for nerve damage to heal? I don't want to give up on him, but I can't tell if he's miserable or not. Overall he seems the same except he doesn't poop in the litter and bolt through the house like he used to. I was hoping to do acupuncture, but honestly can't afford it.

Would love any more advice.

Thank you so much.

[critters]

If the nuggets seem hard, I'd give him a little more, and increase the lactulose as necessary. It's SO easy to adjust the dose. Too bad you have one of the few cats who won't eat pumpkin. You could put fiber powder into canned food for fiber, and I'd mix a little water into it, too. The powder alone might be inhaled, and powder without enough water can be constipating.

[CarolC]

I agree on more lactulose. Also there are videos showing ways to help mobilize the stool to get things moving and not only will it help him get emptier, but by doing this you will soon be able to tell how empty he is. (Scroll to the end to see the videos.) The ones about Sasha are a nice place to start but they are all good to watch.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=18586

[sparkle_cats]

thanks both so much for the info!

[sparkle_cats]

Here's little Caesar cat. He's the black one. His sister is Pippa

[critters]

Aww. Cute pic!!

[sparkle_cats]

Thanks. I think increasing the laculose and adding fiber to his food helped. This morning I woke up to "kerplunk, scratch, kerplunk, scratch" not in the litter box, but on the floor. He got out two big ones and some littles one. I think he could still be a bit backed up though coz his belly just feels full. Do you think I should keep trying on my own or take him for an enema?

Also, do you think this will be permanent? How can I tell if he's happy?

[CarolC]

I am not a vet. If he just eliminated a good amount yesterday, I would probably keep with the lactulose and see if more waste will move into line and be able to be eliminated. (Chances are it will.) Part of the thing is to just keep adjusting the lactulose until you have the right dosage. You don't want to overdo it because then you could have diarrhea, but use your judgment. It sounds like it might be close to right if he is going now.

I do not know to what degree he will recover, but this does not sound like a tail pull injury, it was trauma from a fall, and he is getting some movement back, which is great. I do not think he will be choosing to eliminate on the floor permanently. I would compare it more to a situation I had with my cat. I had a cat who was having trouble urinating, and even though he had always used the box faithfully, he began trying to go in every corner because he had crystals, but he went back to using the box after the vet treated his urinary issue.

Right now hopefully you can just tolerate (?) the cleanups while he works to get his system back to normal...? Recovery from a nerve injury takes time while the swelling goes down, but he is showing progress. I understand that naturally people want their home to be clean, and if you are in an apartment you don't want to lose your pet deposit. But if you are dealing with carpet, sometimes the most complete way to deal with trace amounts of solids on the carpet is to pick up what you can, then let it dry completely for a couple of days. It will then brush out of the carpet with a stiff brush, whereas if you try to use a foam or liquid carpet cleaner right after the incident, results will vary, sometimes you will end up with a large cleaning spot where you used the cleaner. One way to look at it is, you can always still use your carpet foam (or whatever product) later in the week if you are not satisfied, but I have found that this is surface soil and if you let it dry completely and brush it and vacuum, you have better results in the end. A denture brush is cheap and works really well for this.

When you are expressing his bladder, do you ever notice any solids ready to exit at that time? Sometimes squeezing the abdomen to express the bladder will mobilize solid waste. Some people massage the colon to help mobilize it. The colon will feel like a surprisingly very firm thing above the bladder.

[sparkle_cats]

Thank you so much for responding and I appreciate hearing other stories of people that have been through this. I don't mind the clean ups and luckily we don't have carpet, so it's easy to pick up in our apartment. One of the stressful thing is managing travel, but so far we've just been bringing both of the cats back and forth with us to NYC. They surprisingly are happy in the car just sit in our laps while we drive. I do have to make a longer trip home to see a sick family member and I'm not sure what I'll do in that situation. I'd like to drive and take them, but it's about a 24 hour drive and I'm not sure how they'd fare. But I do want to give him time and am very patient with the situation, though most people think I'm nuts when I tell them what's happening. I can't figure out how to express his poop, but I've been trying to figure out the laculose balance. So far I've been giving him 2 ml twice a day -- I've also been mindful of giving him too much! We also added some fiber to his cat food with water and I noticed his stool was a little softer. He went again last night, but hasn't gone today despite all of the fiber and the laculose. I've been watching the videos and reading the threads, but am just having a harder time with it. We have an acupuncture appointment for a week from today. Do you think it's okay to keep monitoring his poo or should we take him for professional help? It's just not clear to me how much he should poo / how do I know if he's full. I keep reading about mega colon and do NOT want that to happen to my furbaby either.

Thanks again for all of your support. This forum has been a sanity saver.

Hope all of your furry friends are well too.

xo

[CarolC]

I don't know exactly, but you might try to think about how much he went before, and it might be easiest to think in inches. If he went before and his stool was laid down end to end instead of in 3 pieces or whatever you usually scoop out of his litterbox, how many inches would that be? I'm thinking of my one cat, and she produces something like maybe 3" to 4" once a day? But I would think it depends a lot on the diet. For example, I have heard raw diet cats have less stool. There is also a brand of prescription cat food that is "low residue" so it would be less stool. On the other hand, if you are adding fiber, that may increase the bulk so I would expect to see a little more. Since you have 2 cats the same size on the same diet, maybe try to gauge the stool of the cat that is eliminating normally and use that as a guide?

I agree you want to avoid megacolon. if you think he needs another enema I would go ahead and do it. Or at least you could have the vet check his abdomen with a practiced hand and let the vet tell you if he needs one. If going to the vet really stresses him out, that could affect elimination, it's kind of a judgment call.

When you are experimenting with palpating his tummy, are you using one hand or two? If your hands are not too small, I would put him in a standing position. Use one hand cupped on his tummy in kind of a lobster claw shape, your palm on his abdomen and your fingertips up on one side and your thumb up on the other side. If you then squeeze in with your fingertips and thumb as high up toward his spine as possible, you may be able to feel the stool. It may be firmer than you think, you might wonder if you are feeling bone. This helps you know what is in there. You might experiment first on your other kitty who you are sure is not constipated, and compare. Just an idea, trying to be practical. They are very sweet in that photo.

[sparkle_cats]

Wow, thank you so much for the tips. I will try your method for checking if he's constipated by checking my other cat. Also, thinking of the poop in inches is a really good idea. I'll see what he expels over the weekend and if it doesn't seem like that much I might take him to the vet on Monday (I don't think they are open on the weekend). He's actually okay with the vet. His diet is dry food and wet food, but his poops have been pretty firm despite everything.

I really appreciate this board and your advice!

[sparkle_cats]

Hi all,

Good news! Caesar has been trying to use the litterbox for the past two days for pee. I don't think he has full control of his bladder because when it comes out it sprays and he misses the box itself. Is that normal? We're going to try and get him a longer box or something he can easily walk into, but has walls. He hasn't pooped yet, but had an enema last Friday, so I'm hoping he's not too full. I did give him more laculose and fiber, so we'll see.

We are trying acu this week too. Thanks for the good vibes.

xo

[critters]

You can cut the side out of a storage bin, or low entry boxes, sometimes called dog litter boxes, are available. Here are some examples. https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c ... O2H3PZYBXU