circa Tue, 18 May 2004 01:57:30 GMT, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav,
Elizabeth Blake (poodlebone@NOSPAMearthlink.net) said,

Lotsa links stuck in here:

http://www.thensome.com/megacolon.htm

We had a cat when I was in high school who developed megacolon when I
was in college. Lots of enemas for him, too. If this is something
your vet mentions as a possibility, a low residue diet and all the
other goop is probably a good idea.

Then again, this could just be a one-time thing- please don't think
I'm suggesting that this *is* megacolon, but if it is, it's
treatable.

Laura

I've tried giving them Wellness and neither one of them will touch it.
My two cats at home love the Wellness canned food.  I've tried other
canned foods at work and they haven't really liked anything but the
Science Diet.  One time I did give them a small can of something else
(not a light formula) and they both gobbled it up.  I just don't
remember what it was.  The thing is, they really should have light
because Harriet is 11 pounds, and the vets comment on her weight at
every visit.  She's not a big cat and she is carrying around a little
too much weight.  Stinky is 15 pounds, but she's got a bigger frame
and the vets don't really think she's too bad.  To me, she does look
fat but she really doesn't overeat and her weight has stayed steady so
I won't worry about it.

I'll pick up some cans of other light food next time I go to the store
and see if they like any of it.

Liz

I picked Harriet up at the vet at 5:30.  They said that they gave her an
enema on Monday, when I first brought her in.  She passed some hard stool.
They gave her another enema, but I can't remember if it was also yesterday
or today.  She passed more stool after the second enema.  She also puked up
what they descibed as a "giant" hairball.  They think the
constipation/blockage was due to a lot of hair stuck inside her.  The vet
recommended that we encourage her to eat more wet food.  She really does
prefer the dry, but she is also a very good drinker.  She loved the
Drinkwell fountain and makes several trips to my office every day (just
while I'm there) to use it.  When she does go for a drink, she drinks for a
long time.  So she is getting enough water even if she doesn't care for the
wet food.  They also gave me a tube of something called Laxaire to give her.
The vet also recommended 1/2 teaspoon of Metamucil in the wet food.

When the vet took her out of the cage and put her on the table, she zoomed
right into her carrier.  She was huddled in there and hissed at me when I
looked in.  Her entire back end was wet, because they had washed her again
before I picked her up.  When we got back to work she came right out of the
carrier and seemed okay.  She didn't run and hide, just walked around.  I
went downstairs to my office and she came in about 40 minutes later to see
if Stinky had any dry food in her bowl.  Besides preferring dry food, she
prefers dry food out of Stinky's bowl even more.  When I got back with her,
I took her dry food away (her bowl is upstairs).  I gave her wet food but
she didn't seem too interested.

Liz