So I just got a call from the internist, who told me they “evacuated her bowels” last night because there was a ‘partial impaction’ in her large intestine. I will spare you the gory details, but vet says she seems a thousand times better and is energetic and friendly!! I’ll be picking her up at 10!!
Several posters in this thread mentioned that might be the issue or at least should be dealt with, but I kept getting the brush off when I mentioned it to the other vets. But the internist dealt with it and she seems to think that might have been the problem all along. Xrays of her other internal organs looked normal.
When I asked her about wheezing, she said it’s possible that she aspirated some vomit…or it could be completely unrelated. Not sure if we’re out of the woods or not, but will have her home in a few hours and will keep you posted.
Huge THANKS for everyone who posted with ideas, suggestions and moral support–you guys are the best!!
I have absolutely no idea if this is commonly linked, or the same in dogs, but when my SO had a diverticulitis with blockage and bowel perforation, his COPD got way worse simultaneously. He was wheezing and coughing while holding his belly in agony and sitting real still for as long as he could between bouts of pain.
In other words, acting a whole lot like your dog. So I am optimistic that she’s on a road to recovery!
BTW, in Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Lungs and Large Intestine are very, very closely linked. Dysfunction in one will cause dysfunction in the other in short order. Maybe they know something we don’t.
It isn’t just that everybody poops - it’s that everybody NEEDS to poop!
Husband thinks it’s odd that I pay attention to what’s left in the litter pan but this is exactly why. By the time the cats let me know themselves that they are in distress it is dire.
So we got home from the vet and doggie really seems like her old self–I can’t believe it! She is clearly tired, but ran around like a maniac when we got back in the house (that is her normal practice when she returns home after being gone for a while)–runs from one room to the next, runs in circles etc. She also sat up on the seat in the car and stuck her little nose out the window on the ride home! That may not seem like something to celebrate, but the past few car trips to the vet, she just lied down on the seat and looked depressed.
(TMI alert!)The obstruction is called a ‘fecolith’ which is essentially a stone-like mass of poop. The weird thing (at least to me–the vet said it occurs this way with partial obstructions) is that she continued to eat and poop. But according to the vet, the poop wouldn’t have looked normal. Nawth Chucka: I have never been one to pay attention to the poop, but now I’m going to make it a habit (yuck!). Vet also said that she probably wasn’t lethargic, but was in PAIN :(. Especially yesterday when she thinks the partial obstruction became a total obstruction. I am really hoping this was the root of the problem–seems so trivial, but the vet said dogs can DIE from intestinal obstructions.
And I can’t for the life of me figure out how to post a picture, but I will link you to her double. Actually that’s how she looked for the past few weeks. Now she looks like this. Seriously, people stop me in the street and tell me she looks exactly like Benji 2.
Thanks again all for the support, info, and wishes. Still not sure that we are out of the woods, but feeling very hopeful and she does seem like her old self.
This is really interesting. Now that you’ve found the answer… my dog had this happen, too. One evening she just couldn’t stand up. I rushed her to the emergency vet and they x-rayed her and she was constipated from stem to stern. I live out in the country and my dogs eat anything and everything (and I do mean everything)-- bones, fur, plant matter, and dog knows what else. She stayed overnight and had enemas various things and $1,000 later she was her old self and has been ever since. The emergency vet is VERY expensive.
It’s a rotten part of being a pet mommy, sure. Between all the years I babysat and the last 4 weeks, I’ve easily wiped more cat ass than any other mammal ass. Poop’s a smelly, health-indicating fact of life.
Heh, Pippa is my neighbor’s dog’s name as well. It does suit small shaggy dogs well!
We had a Maine Coon who came to us with megacolon already. The vet he’d been going to essentially said there wasn’t much we could do. We switched to the vet Mr. Horseshoe’s famiy has known and trusted for years, and he put ol’ Clint on not one but two high-strength laxatives. (I was scared to try them, although they’re old human-grade meds. I’m probably shit for a solid hour or something.) He also had to be taken in for a few enemas, and I can only wonder at the fortitude of the vet techs who had to do THAT for a 20-plus pound cat. His health improved muchly, and he went on to have many good years with us before eventually he succumbed. Yes, he died of, essentially, a colon obstruction - it can most definitely kill.
So, OP, I’m glad YOUR Pippa got better. It is, indeed, the wise pet owner who pays attention to poops, specifically, changes in frequency/size/mass/color/consistency.
So glad that Pippa is feeling better! Did the internist talk to you about a change in diet or exercise for her? It might not be necessary, I was just wondering.
SHe has always gotten a lot of exercise (up until these past few weeks), as I walk her at least once/often twice per day and my husband walks her every evening. We live in southern California, so it is almost always walking weather outside. Took her for a brief (15 minute) walk today and aside from a short episode of coughing/wheezing she seemed ok…wagged her tail the whole time!
As for food, she is now on a liquid diet, which she will be on for 3 days, then she’ll switch to wet food mixed with 1 tsp mineral oil. She has always been on a dry food diet and I am not sure if that is what caused the problem or if she ingested something else. They gave her oral barium (sulfite?) last night which apparently serves as a laxative plus allows them to visualize her intestinal tract on x ray. The area in her large intestine that was obstructed is now dilated (still not clear on how all this works, but the stone-like poop was bypassed by other poop, causing her intestine to balloon out). Vet said she did not think it was a foreign body but rather fecolith which is just hard stone-like poop. Lot’s of speculation, but no explanation as to why this happened, though.
Also, when I paid over $1000 earlier this week for a bunch of X-rays and echoes that showed nothing, I had sticker shock. But when presented with a bill for $920 this morning, I felt like it was a bargain! You couldn’t pay me 10x that to give a dog enemas and deal with the aftermath of dog laxatives …plus it included X-rays and an overnight stay!!
Anyway we go back for f/u on Saturday. The vet said that aspirated vomit (if indeed that is the cause of her wheezing) can cause “aspiration pneumonia” so we have to be wary of that.
Thanks to all you guys for helping me through this shitty experience…I know it’s not the most pleasant of topics. Hoping this is the last of the Pippa drama.
Btw, my husband says this whole experience makes him think differently of Pippa’s Ass…for all you non-royal watchers, that was a website that was put up by some guy obsessed with Kate Middleton’s sister’s ass after the recent royal wedding
Great job looking out for your little one! And thanks for sharing the results – even though I haven’t met Pippa, this makes my day just a tiny bit brighter.
I have been hoisted by my own petard; my cat’s been constipated for over 4 weeks. Feb 23 I took her to the back-up vet for diarrhea and vomiting; they gave her an antibiotic that starts w/ an M to treat apparent c.diff. But after getting better she got worse again and fast. She was making hard, small poops w/ loose stool around them. Turns out that’s little bits of hardened stool breaking off while the loose stuff is all that can get around them.
Yesterday she got an enema and today she’s QUITE cleaned out but it’s been a messy, smelly few days. She’d strain so hard to poop she’d fall over in the pan, that’s what finally convinced me. The usual vet palpated her belly and immediately said she’s dangerously constipated and it could have led to death.
She’s eating decent, using the litter pan and once the last of her anal leakage ends and I can launder the heck out of everything we’ll **all **feel a whole lot better.
Poor kitty, and poor you! No fun for anyone. I always wonder how people get along after we send home the pet that was freshly enema’d (?) or had that anal gland abscess cleaned out. Either poopy or bloody butt prints everywhere!
How old is kitty? Did they talk about diet at all, or adding extra water or fiber to canned food? Hate to see it happen again…
