Gypsy Update

Gypsy Update: As of 2-26-09 Gypsy is still doing well on her new diet/medicine. She's pooped once every day. I'm trying a new tactic that I remember hearing about at the Cincinnati Zoo. I put blue food coloring in Gypsy's food today...I'm going to see if she poops blue. If she does, then I won't have to worry about separating her from Hobo anymore. They can use the same litterbox and I'll still be able to distinguish who's poos who's. I hope it works!

Gypsy

Time to write about one of my own cats for a change. We've been on a roller coaster ride of emotions with our Balinese, Gypsy this week. We've had her for almost 2 years now, adopted her from a rescue called Brighter Days for Shelters, in Winchester Kentucky. She is a wonderful cat, very friendly and lovey with almost everybody. She's been my "Siamese" that I love so much.

Well, a few weeks ago (2/8/09) we noticed that she had prolapsed her rectum (yes, that's as gross as it sounds) after one of typical extra-large poops. We called the vets emergency number and they said it could wait until morning to be checked. We put her in a cage and by morning she was back to normal. Worried that it might happen again or might be a symptom of something serious I still whisked her to the vet and had a barrage of tests done including x-rays, blood test, urinalyses, etc. Every test came back negative for parasites or anything else that could have typically caused it. So they diagnosed her as constipated and prescribed wet food and laxatone and sent her home.

She was fine for the week, seemed fine at least, but then Sunday night (2/15/09) her rectal prolapse relapsed. We called again and again waited til morning...this time she didn't "go back in" on her own. They had to put her under, push her back in and put a "purse string" stitch in her anus to prevent it from relapsing again. They did x-rays and discovered that she had actually develped a case of "megacolon". That is exactly what it sounds like, a big colon. Megacolon is not typically seen in young, otherwise healthy cats, so her case has been labled "idiopathic megacolon", meaning she has it, but they don't know why...most likely bad genetics.

Basically, the colon's job is to remove moisture from the waste so that it is neatly packaged for exit and to contract and expel the waste from the body. Gypsy's was constipated and her colon stretched to the point where it wouldn't contract properly. That meant that her stool was just sitting there getting more and more moisture zapped from it, giving her monster poops that were too big and dry to push out! Which is why the straining to do so caused her rectal prolapse.

Anyways, Gypsy came home Monday afternoon with shaved hind quarters, a stitch in her behind, prescription w/d food and several medications to keep her stool soft. She seemed "ok" on Tuesday morning, but by that night it was evident she was really sore and not feeling well. Wednesday morning she would strain at the litter box, grinding her teeth and drooling, then get out and vomit. So she wasn't able to keep food down or medicine. I took her back into the vet and they gave her pain meds and an enema to soften any built up stool and after a few hours I was able to bring her home...leaky poo bottom and all (ew). The enema helped a little, the pain meds helped a lot. She seemed to be more comfortable, was eating well and keeping her meds down, but she really wasn't pooping much at all.

Curtis and I were concerned that the stitch in her bottom was preventing her from pooping, so we called the vet again. At this point the vet was a bit disheartened and so were we. He had told us that we were going to have to decide how long we would treat her before deciding on euthanasia. We decided it was too soon to tell and we wanted to keep trying, so it was back again to the vet on Friday and he removed the stitch prematurely (he'd wanted it in for 10 days to prevent prolapse). She had two enemas, a good poop this time without prolapse and came home that evening.

So far this weekend she has been doing really well (fingers crossed). She has pooped both days, we're hoping the stool stays an ok size/consistency so that she does not prolapse again. Knowing that this condition (megacolon) can be fatal, we have shed a lot of tears and prayed a lot of prayers...for Gypsy's health and for the peace to make the right decision when the time comes. Those of you that know us well know that our pets are very important to us. Please pray that we are able to enjoy the companionship of this beautiful, sweet cat for years to come.