Underweight kitten with Megacolon, PLEASE HELP!

Hi everyone! I have a special need kitten who is about 8 months old now and unfortunately she came with a lot of health issues. She has megacolon and other digestive/stomach issues so because of it I was never able to get her transition to dry food as during the transition period she would always fall heavily ill, extremely constipated to point she needed multiple enamas, and become lethargic. I even tried 3 prescription diet still no luck! Her doctor informed me that this is a common issue for cats with megacolon. Due to this, she's strictly on a wet food diet. She's been on Blue Buffalo Basics limited ingredients kitten diet ever since she been 2 months old. (I've tried multiple kitten wet food as well but she kept falling ill) My concern now is that she just turned 8 months old, she's a happy and playful kitten but only weighs about 4.4lb and I'm struggling to get her to gain weight! She eats 6oz (2 cans) a day and doesn't eat anymore. I'm not sure what I can do to get her to gain weight?? I have always struggled to get her adjusted to any kind of food as her stomach always rejects it.

Should I try switching to another kitten food like Royal Canin?? I need suggestions outside of dry food. She's also on Miralax laxative daily to help her poo.

 

Oh dear poor kitty! I am sorry I have no experience with this issue/ disease? Hopefully with the post more eyes will see it to respond good luck and bless you for helping this little one.
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BTW? I got both my cats off dry food for their overall health. Thats a plus youve already accomplished.

 

Thank you! She means the world to me. ❤️ I found her on the street when she was under a month old. I'm assuming her mother had rejected or lost her?? But she was very sick and was barely surviving. She had eye infection, malnourished, ribs very much visible and was so weak. She was crying for help and so I took her home. I've spent couple thousands on her medical expenses already hoping she'll get better but unfortunately because she never got the nutrients the first month which led her to have a lot of health issues. I'm still trying my best to give her the best life I possibly can. Prior to her, I had never been a cat person nor owned any but now she has completely transformed my life! I can't even imagine a life without her. We bonded so much she's always sticking to me like glue! And I'm always doing research on cats to learn further about them and in future I do want to become a foster parent and help as many animals as I can.

 

You could try adding fiber to her food to help with the constipation. Canned pumpkin works well. Make sure it is canned pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling.

I don't have to use canned pumpkin often, but one thing I do is to freeze it in an ice cube tray after I open the can. Once frozen, then place it in a freezer bag. Then when I need it again, I have some available and it only takes a few minutes to defrost a cube.

I did find one site that suggested a surgery. https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departm...izabeth-what-there-treat-idiopathic-megacolon I have no experience with megacolon, so you will need to do research on this surgery to see if it may be an option.

 

Have they tested her to see if she has issues with nutrient absorption? They can give her b12 injections to help with that if she does

 

Yes I tried pumpkin puree but that wasn't strong enough. She's currently on miralax which is a form of laxative and it helps her go to the bathroom daily so I am currently not having any issue with her megacolon. I was told to consider the surgery however she is too young so there could be complication as well as I'm low on funds. I spent most of my savings into her care, so far spent $6,000!! So at this moment I really can't look at more medical bills. However my only current issue is her lack of weight gain. She needs to put on few more pounds which I'm struggling to get her to.

 

There's a product called Carnivore Care. It's mostly egg protein, and is formulated to be easily digested and to pack a lot of calories into a small amount of food. It was developed for assisted feeding, but you could also add a little to your kittens wet food, just to pump up the calories a bit.

Has your baby been fixed yet? We have the skinniest little girl right now. She hasn't been fixed yet, and I know she's not going to gain much until we get her sorted.

 

She's been going to vet every few weeks for more testing, xrays, bloodwork, etc. The vet thinks she might have a lot more underlying diseases or even injuries considering how many issues she has... The vet is looking into things one by one, so we haven't gotten the chance to speak on her weight yet.. However, her medical expenses were getting crazy and out of my hand as I was spending thousands every few weeks so at this moment I can't really go through more medical bills, and because she's doing good for now so I want to wait a while and try some home remedies or cheaper alternatives to help her gain few pounds. But I'm not really sure what I can do?

 

Thank you so much! I'll look into that. I do feed her little bits of cooked eggs daily as she seems to enjoy it and able to digest it without a problem. Due to her health, she is yet to get spayed. The vet recommends to wait until they have more results on her and until she gains few more pounds. I'm hoping she gains 2-3 more pounds by summer time so I can get her spayed then but so far nothings working.

 

I definitely understand that! The b12 injections themselves are very cheap, I think my vet charged me like $3 or something. The next time you are at the vet you might ask what they think about it. Even if they don’t do the testing, your vet might consider giving the b12 injection just to see if it helps any

 

Thank you so much for the info! In a few weeks I'm taking her to vet again so I'll definitely keep that in mind.

 

Adding some plain cooked chicken to her diet? You could add up to 15% chicken to her total food intake.

 

It could also be that she is just destined to be a tiny, skinny, cat. Her terrible start to life may have simply stunted her potential growth. If she won't eat more than she does, then it may be that her body is satisfied with the amount of calories it gets, if she was malnourished she'd feel hunger. Wet food is much better for her than dry food, so stay with that. There's info here also on choosing a suitable wet food, many are high carb which is not good for cats, so read up the guidelines, and if you choose to switch her wet food, then do it very very gradually, so that you don't upset her system. If she likes egg or chicken, then add that in as extra treats aside from her cans of food every day, so that it becomes extra calories.

I have a cat, now 18 months old, who was born to a mom who was still a kitten herself (well under a year old). She's half Maine Coon, which is a huge breed, but probably because of the young age of her mother, she weighs just a touch under 9 pounds. She's slender, and still has the look of a younger cat than she is. But that's just the way she is. If I forced/tricked her into eating more, she'd get fat, not bigger.

 

Ok I'm no way and expert and not sure(maybe others here will attest or deny)...But when I cant get Zoe to eat I sprinkle a little fortiflora on her food. Zoe gobbles it down after that. I dont know if it will affect the megacolon or not though
and pardon me if this has already been suggested. Its expensive but I would be willing to send you a couple of packages just to try. That is IF its ok to give.

 

Canned food is best for cats with megacolon.

More water can help also, so do you add some water to her canned food? You may only need to add a couple of teaspoons. To make the food a bit soupy.
That extra water can help the stool to stay softer and pass more easily.

No freeze dried chunks of foods of any kind. Those will simply "bung her up."
Have you tried sprinkling something like dried bonito flakes on top of her food, to get her to eat more?
Warming up her food a bit makes the food smell more. Since cats have more sensitive noses than we do, the more aromatic the food, the more appealing.

I use both Miralax and psyllium husk fiber to help my cat with suspected megacolon.

Dry foods are never recommended for cats with megacolon.

 

Also, have you tried a prescription food like Hills A/D or Purina CN? I have fed both the A/D and CN to sick cats to help give them extra nutrition and gain weight.

 

Yes, I had 3 different vets opinion and they all prescribed 3 different types of from hills science, Purina, and royal Canin but in a month or 2 of transitioning very slow yet she became really sick to point I had to completely stop feeding. My vet currently recommends I stick to the only wet food I am feeding as it’s the only thing that helps her not get sick however it’s not a high protein/high energy can food as I would like it. I am told high protein can help with weight gain so I am considering changing to royal canin’s kitten wet food I’m not sure if I should go with it

 

I give her only wet food 4 times a day to prevent her from eating all at once since she has a habit of binge eating and each time I add 1/4th cup of warm water to give it a soupy texture and 1/8th tsp of miralax daily which does seem to help a lot. From time to time I do add a spoon pumpkin purée or like 5-10 pieces of the dry food as a topper her vet had prescribed (Royal Canin Gastrointestinal GI Fiber Response Dry Cat Food) apparently that dry food is a miracle for cats with megacolon and supposed to do wonders and I had such a high hope but during transition period she became lethargic especially if I give her more than 20 pieces of it a day so instead now I just give few pieces 2 times a week and she seems to really like it and that way doesn’t get sick either but she still doesn’t seem to gain any weight.

 

Wow! That’s really interesting! I’ve always heard of Maine Coons being around 20lb. Mines an American Shorthair and I do believe her reason for being this small is due to not getting weaned off properly... everyone’s first impression when they see my cat is that she’s too skinny or I need to feed her. Some people assume I’m not feeding her enough or keeping food from her and it’s frustrating because I honestly do try so hard to help her become healthy but I feel like she’s just not growing. She’s been stuck at 4lb for past 3 months!

 

I don't know anything about megacolon so I don't know if this is appropriate.

Powered egg white. You can mix in food. It will provide some extra calories and protein.

ETA. Darn auto word feature.