Megacolon cat with problems.

Dr. Marie replied:

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that Addie has megacolon. This is one of the most difficult diseases to manage. How frustrating that you have had surgery done and yet the condition is returning. This does not happen very often.

There are a number of other things that can be done for cats with megacolon. Ultimately, you'll need to get the ok from your vet before going ahead with any of these, but let me give you some other ideas of things that I do to help my megacolon patients.

I have had really good success with switching these cats to a relatively new food on the market. It's called Medi-Cal (in Canada) or VMD (in the US) Gastro Diet. Now, gastro diet has been around for a long time, but recently they changed the formulation to add more psyllium and other things which help to keep the intestines moving. I have had several cats with constipation issues that have come off of all of their medications after switching to this food.

(Just so you know, some vets recommend high fiber food for these issues and others recommend low residue foods. The general consensus now is that high fiber foods don't really help. Low residue foods may help for some cats. But again, the Gastro food has been really a good thing in my practice.)

You mentioned you are giving lactulose three times weekly. You can ask your vet whether you could be giving this more frequently. Some cats can get it 3 times daily rather than weekly. The goal is to give enough to cause the stools to be soft, but not too much so that the stools are liquid. The problem is that lactulose does not taste good.

I've had other cats that have done well on miralax granules added to their food. This is similar to lactulose but some cats take it better.

I will often put these patients on a medication called cisapride. This is a medication that helps to move the small intestine. This movement, in turn, helps the large intestine move.

When I am really desperate with a constipated cat I will sometimes do colyte therapy. I have the cat stay in the hospital and put a feeding tube in place and then I trickle a liquid called colyte down the tube. This is the same thing that people drink just before they have a colonoscopy. It works really well to clear out the bowels. However, if I do this with a cat, I usually have them hospitalized and on IV fluids because it can do strange things to a cat's electrolytes.

Hopefully some of this information helps. I really hope that Addie improves soon!

Dr. Marie.


Do you have a pet website? Interested in learning more about SEO for Wix?

---

Check out our dog age calculator and cat age calculator.

Dr. Marie replied:

You're very welcome and thanks so much for the generous bonus.

Just so you know, the VMD food is prescription so you'd need to get it through your veterinarian.

Have a great day!