Colectomy...Has anyone's cat had this surgery?

My dear Simon is having a rough year. Last October he had pelvic reconstruction surgery due to a broken pelvis before we rescued him. He was having trouble pooing and xrays showed the old injury. Well, he has blocked again. July 1st he had emergency surgery while we were on vacation (we took him with us). He is back in the hospital again, again completely blocked. His surgeon wants to remove his colon. I know this is necessary for him to have any kind of quality of life. Has anyone here ever dealt with this before? And, yes before you ask, he has been on special diet and meds to help his stool stay soft. I am heartsick over this. Simon is such a wonderful boy and it hurts to see him suffer. He's only about 2 years old. Of course friends who don't understand our bond thinks we should let him go:( They think we've already spent way too much. ($5000) I can't put a price on his life:love:

I have no experience with that but I fully understand how you feel. I would check out ALL options and weigh them all, research online as much as possiable to learn all I could keeping in mind quality of life verses quanity. If he could live a normal happy life after having that surgery and you can afford it, and are prepared for the after care and make my decision from there.

Questions I'd have would be how many of these surgeries has the vet doing it already done.. What the outcomes were, how did the cat do afterwards and such as that. Even try to find other cat owners who has been through this (as you are doing here)..

Start here if you haven't already.. http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=...op&fr=chr-tyc8

read here.. read on down to what others say.. http://www.catster.com/answers/quest...olectomy-18561

Laura, the surgeon who will do Simon's surgery is a board certified, old pro. So no worries there. I did do a Google search and found some good info but I want to hear from cat owners who have been through this. I understand that sometimes the stool starts to firm-up with time. Thanks for the link to Catster. I went there earlier and did a search but didn't find the link you posted. It gave me some insight. Ultimately, I know he will have to have the surgery. On top of all this, my 12 yr old poodle, Bink, was diagnosed with cancer and has a surgical consult with this same surgeon in week. When it rains it pours!

By the way, my husband is a riverman. He's a captain on the Ohio River. I know you do that kind of work, too. What waterway do you work on and what's your position? Jim works 3 weeks on, 3 weeks off. This has been his/our life for over 30+ years.

WOW! I have been on the Ohio River! Just last January when my boat was on the shipyard, they sent me up there. We work 28/28.. I am the cook. The whole first year I was out there I was on the Ohio.. It is SO pretty up there. I am assigned to a lower Mississippi boat so I mainly stay on the LMR... nothing to see out there much but levies and some beautiful sunrises and sunsets. I have been out there going on 15 years. Does your hubby work local or is he on a long haul boat?

Sounds like you are right on top of things with your babies. I don't recall anyone here having a kitty with that colectomy but since I am gone half the time, I do miss a lot. That IS what you need, someone that has been through it. Maybe you could PM some of the people who posted on that caster sight and someone answer you and you can learn more..

Yes, when it rains it pours and you can only hope and pray it all comes out good in the end.. Good luck on your search for answers, let us know what you find out and how it goes.. OK (please)?

Jim works from above Pittsburgh to below St. Louis. He's always worked the Ohio. He wants to retire so badly, he's had enough of the river.
The cook is the heart of the boat! The cook on his boat is a good one, too good. lol He's always bragging about her desserts.

I'll let you know how things go with Simon.
Attachment 45705
Here's my Simon.

Poor Dear Simon, youare such a Very Young Cat to have to go through all those surgeries.:eek:
Thank God you have a Guardian who is behind you 110% and will do their very best for You!
We Found Cats and All Of Our Awesome Angels :love:Army :love: are All Praying for You Simon to get well soon:love::love:
We LOVE SIMON and Your BEST FRIEND Guardian:love::love::love:

Simon says a big "Thank You" to the Found Cats and the Awesome Angel Army for their prayers!!

I talked to his vet this morning and she said she wants to keep Simon for 2 or 3 more days. He did, with enemas, have 2 bowel movements :D He's not eating, though. When he was in the hospital the first of the month he didn't eat til I went to visit him. He gave me tons of headbumps then ate. So, this afternoon I will go sit with him. Before we put him through the big surgery I am going to try one more time to get his meds and food regulated to see if we can get him to go regularly. If he blocks again then I will know that it is time for the surgery. Please keep him in your prayers!

Love from Simon and me:love::love:

I'm so sorry to hear this.:( I've only experienced my cat RB Pepper being constipated and he had a kitty enema and then he was put on Lactulose and this helped him. He was a large cat so I think his dose was on the high side but I can't remember the doseage because it was a long time ago. I hope that new meds and a special diet will be able to help him. Prayers and positive thoughts are being sent his way. I'm also sorry to hear about your dog. Prayers are going out to him as well. Please take care. (((HUGS)))

:( I too am so sorry to read this about your baby.. I sure hope the meds & new food helps too.. Lots of Prayers being sent.. Huggss for you..

I can totally sympathize with your situation. Jack was diagnosed with Megacolon back in 2007.

You didn't specify which meds your kitty is on. My Jack is on Cisapride to keep the stools mobile in addition to the diet and other meds to keep the stool soft. Is your kitty on Cisapride already?

I had a consultation appointment with a internal medicine specialist and they said they wouldn't consider surgery for Jack unless the meds stop working or he requires more than 2-3 enemas a month. Fortunately Jack hasn't needed an enema since we started the Cisapride & Lactulose along with the high fiber diet.

What the specialist had told me regarding the surgery, worst case scenario was diarhea for up to 6 months, although their experience was more like 6-8 weeks in reality. They told me that they had only a few that had needed to undergo a second surgery for the problem, but it was always a slim possibility. In their opinion the surgery was a last resort and their experience was that most of the cats went on to have long, healthy lives after the recovery.

My thoughts are with you in this situation.

Prayers for Simon, that he does well.

The success of this operation may depend on the cause of your kitty's "poo problem".....it's a common surgery used frequently and successfully to treat megacolon. However, my Winston had the surgery and did not make it. He was born with nerve damage that affected his colon and the left side of his body. The vet explained that the nerve damage most likely prevented the reconnected colon from healing. She did a second surgery to see if anything could be done and sadly, there wasn't......I told her if that was the case to just not let him wake up.....
In spite of all the $$, time and effort to help my special needs kitty it was not all in vain. Winston lived almost two good years and I am grateful for that time.

Anyhoo, he did really well up until the very end, which was why I tried the surgery as a last-ditch effort. His little colon just quit working..... :(

Someone else mentioned lactulose - that's what I used for Winnie....I just sprinkled it into his food (a mix of baby food meat and Clnicare) and it worked really well.
Good luck......all paws crossed for you.....

So sorry to hear Winston didn't make it. We've got to give them a chance though, don't we. Simon's problem is from and old pelvic fracture. Surgery to rebuild his pelvis was done October 2009. Still doesn't have a normal size opening for the stool to pass through his colon even after the surgery.
Simon has been on lactulose for a year now. My vet wants to increase his dosage and add laxatone plus pumpkin for more fiber. He's still in the hospital. I went and spent some time with him this afternoon. I got some good headbumps and lovins'. He is still straining and crying. I had hoped for more improvement by now. He's had 3 days of enemas and laxatives. :( He is not a happy camper. I was holding him and his vet came up to me and he swatted her! That's not like Simon. He's just been poked and prodded one too many times.
I read on the Catster forum this evening about switching from lactulose to miralax with better results. I'm going to call his vet in the morning and ask her about that.

My Smudge gets psyllium fiber, but he doesn't have any particular cause for his tendency to constipation (other than just being a senior kitty). Just one more thing that's been proven safe in cats, and works well for my little one.

Blessings and strength to both of you! :love: :love:

Love, Columbine

Well, it sounds like Simon's issue is "structural", much better (I would think) in terms of healing than Winston's nerve damage problems.
And thank you for your kind words....yes, at least I know I did everything possible for my Winnie...sounds like you're doing the same for your Simon.
Maybe the vet could try a little "kitty valium" when working on Simon...that made things so much less stressful for Winston.

All paws crossed for Simon.....

I can't offer any advice but my thoughts and prays will be with you and your husband and of course for Simon.

It's never easy to make a decision about if it's time to let go or not but I think that what Laura's Babies said makes a lot of sense "I would check out ALL options and weigh them all, research online as much as possiable to learn all I could keeping in mind quality of life verses quanity. If he could live a normal happy life after having that surgery and you can afford it, and are prepared for the after care and make my decision from there."

Good luck,
Melissa

My cat witches had many enemas. On alot of different foods, meds, and fiber. I spent alot of money too. And i agree no price could add up to his life. 2000 for the colectomy surgery alone. Dont do it i repeat dont do it. My baby lasted 4 months after the surgery. Weighing at 6 lbs at his death. He just skyrocketed after the surgery. If u ever wanna talk heres my e-mail. [email protected] with love and purrs and hope this advice helps melissa

I've had no experience w/this severe of a problem. My RB Pidge would become blocked occasionally but not until the last year of her life and she was nearly 22 when she went to the Bridge. An enema would fix her right up and I can recall only having it done a few times. I do want to add my good wishes, though, that all will go well for your Simon. Keep the faythe. :love:

Melissa, I am so very sorry that Witches didn't make it. I don't know what went wrong. I did a lot of research before deciding to go ahead with Simon's surgery. Every message board I went to I got the same response "wish we would have had the surgery sooner". Simon had his surgery the end of July and is doing great. No special meds or food. I pray that he continues to thrive. I really didn't have a choice on whether to remove the colon or not. Believe me I was scared to death to put him through that. He was suffering so much, and when he suffers, so do I.