Friday, January 31, 2014

Tucker is Home


Tucker is home. I was able to retrieve the little sausage this morning. I had to return to work afterward, so I have installed him in the back parlour with a litter-box, food, water and a heated cat-bed. There, he can relax without the other cats smelling hospital smells on him, hissing at him (as some do under those circumstances) and generally bothering him. As well, if he poops on his own (an unlikely desideratum), I will know that what is in the litter-box is his.

My roly poly went through an ordeal. Initially, it was thought that a night with intravenous fluids would suffice to loosen his bowels and bring out the poop. That did not work, so he was subjected to enemas. These were gentle - as such things go - and he felt little discomfort and no pain. But, after three enemas, still nothing came out. So, my poor cat was knocked out with anaesthetic and the poop was massaged and pulled out by hand. It was a long process and, in the end, not entirely successful. About a quarter of what had been in his intestines remains too far up the tract to be retrieved.

So he has come home. I will be giving him high-quality soft-food (though whether he accepts it is another matter) and a drug called cisapride. (Really, I think they’ve run out of drug-names now.) This is a gastroprokinetic agent, and increases the motility in the upper gastrointestinal tract. In other words, it gets the bowels pushing the poop out. I also have lactulose as a laxative, to make things softer and easier to manage. Tucker probably won’t have anything to evacuate for a couple of days, but thereafter I’m hoping for big things from my roly poly.

I would like to thank those who have sent me messages of encouragement and those who have kept my cat in their thoughts. He is a very sensitive fellow; troubles such as these are always aggravated by sensitive natures. If this were Tungsten, she’d be thinking, “Crap’s crap; what the fuss?” Josie, on the other hand, would say, “Hey, look, the litter-box is as wide as an Austin Mini, but my bum’s bigger, so I still missed it. But at least I went.” Tucker needed help. Hopefully, he’ll be able to take the next stage himself.

This picture is an old one, but I won’t be able to get new photographs until the weekend. Just a reminder of how cute the little guy is.


9 comments:

  1. Oh Dear Poor Tucker! ^..^ You certainly have had more dan your share ov troublez !
    Might we say...., Sunny had poopie problems too, maybe your mom can ask your V E T about giving you sum canned Pumpkin (da mom would mix a teaspoon in wif hiz food, in fact we get pumpkin on a fairly regular basis ^.,^) also owr V E T had de mom mix in 1/4 teaspoon ov Miralax in de morning & again at night wif sum stinkie goodness. Ask your V E T about dis.... maybe it can help ^.,^ We sure hope you feel Better REAL soon Tucker ♥♥♥ xoxo♥♥

    we would like to "Thank You" for your Condolencez fur Sunny when he left fur de Bridge, it waz furry Kind ov you ~ ♥♥ ^..^ x5

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  2. I hope things start moving for Tucker. Eric had the same problem several years ago and was given enemas by the vet and I had to give them at home as well. It didn't work so he had to have the poop manually removed under anaesthetic. That got things moving again and he never had the same problem again, although I used to watch him like a hawk every time he went to poop.
    Purrs to Tucker for him to soon be back to normal.

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  3. I am glad you have him home. Continued love to you and virtual hugs too. x

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  4. Poor Tucker. We're glad he's home now, and hope he'll be able to pass the remainder of the stool himself. BTW, wasn't it just last week that Wendy's cat, Dante, had surgery for his impacted stool? Not sure if you're familiar with her blog, as she stopped allowing comments some time ago, though did open it up for purrs for Dante. (http://allaboutlacocoondante.blogspot.ca/) They couldn't get all of his impacted stool out either, poor boy.

    Anyway, fingers and paws crossed for Tucker, and yes, purrs for poop. It's a trigger issue for me (thinking of Annie), and I'm just trying to keep in mind that this situation is totally different.

    BTW, he hadn't been eating any new food, had he? I think I already mentioned that Derry got constipated pretty quickly on the hairball formula I had switched the boys to (briefly). I remember tossing that food out (it was Science Diet or something similar), wouldn't take a chance on feeding it even to to Toby the stray.

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  5. Hang in there Tucker, we are glad you are home. You might check out an Rx food by Royal Canin called Fiber Response. I had awful constipation and for me this is like a miracle food, it keeps me steady.

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  6. Praying for Tucker so hard here - what an ordeal. I hope so much the food change and other treatments will help him.


    Pet lovers please check out my homeless cat blog archives for some informative posts and stories about the cat abandoned/feral colony I manage.

    Debby in Arizona
    http://homelesscatcare.blogspot.com/

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  7. Poor Tucker. Zoey has poop problems. She takes cisapride too...and gets Miralax and a probiotic in her food. She only gets canned food now too...with water mixed in it. She still doesn't go regularly, but at least she seems to be doing okay. We hope Tucker starts going regularly now.

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  8. Oh, poor Tucker! Sorry I've been away for a few days and just learned of his visit to the vet. I hope this clears things up for him and he doesn't need another visit.



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  9. I'm glad Tucker is home, and I hope he gets everything out the rest of the way by himself.. poor fella. We're purring and praying for him!

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