I'm so sorry your poor kitty is going through this. I can't help you, I had to look up Mega Colon since I had never heard of it. And It does look difficult to manage. Let's just hope it's not that.

Unfortunately, it is indeed megacolon, it was confirmed today. She was at the vet clinic all weekend and no improvement, she is completely obstructed and now unable to keep food down. We took her to a specialist hospital in the city and we are looking at a colectomy (colon removal). Because she is so young and her colon is already so stretched and baggy, that's about all we can do. It would also take surgical intervention to "unplug" her and because of the stretchy colon, she could impact again shortly. We can't afford to have her cleaned out constantly and she would have to be on ever-increasing doses of medications for the rest of her life. The surgery is complicated and very expensive, but a permanent solution and most cats do very well with it and live a normal life span. So, that is where we are, pending all the blood test results that are expected back tomorrow.

that sounds terribly uncomfortable, poor kitty. hope the surgery goes well and she lives a long, happy life!

Thank you for taking such good care of this kitty. Best to all of you

Poor kitty, so sorry for her.

Wow! Great that you are doing all that you are for kitty!

It was all to no avail. They called us from the "Emergency/specialist clinic" at 3 am to tell us that her colon had perforated and resuscitation failed. Husband told them we were going to come pick up her body and would be there by 4:30 am because it is a long drive, so they were aware that we were on the way. When we got there, the attending vet did not even have the courtesy to talk to us. We were handed a cardboard box with her body by a vet tech.

When our vet clinic opened, I called our vet and informed her. She called them and spoke to the attending vet. The attending vet called back and told me he was not able to talk to us "because I had to do paperwork". He offered no information, did not tell me he was sorry this happened, just "sorry I couldn't talk to you because I had to do paperwork."

Eventually, the vet we had met with when we took her there Monday called, they got her blood test results back and it turns out she had a major congenital kidney problem and that is what caused the constipation issues. Surgery would not have been advisable and even if she had had it, she would not have lived very long. We asked him to fax the results to our vet and he did and she verified all of the above. So, it is sad and horrible all around, you don't ever think a 10 month old kitten could have those types of health issues.

The emergency/specialist vet hospital (blue pearl in San Antonio) was taken over by mars corporation and they are now run via corporate model. Our vet called them directly prior to us dropping our kitten off and talked to the surgeon to get an estimate range for the surgery, expected cost to worst case scenario cost. After we got there and checked her in, they presented us with an estimate that was $1000 more than our vet had been told. I argued the point and they lowered it to "only" $500 above the estimate given to our vet. They took her away to examine her and we never saw her alive again. We were there for hours, just waiting to talk to someone, then waiting to pay our deposit, no one came to talk to us re. how the examination went or what they thought of her condition, nor did they offer for us to say goodbye to her. They were only interested in the deposit of $2500 and then we were dismissed.

This was the absolutely worst veterinary experience we have ever had. Just horrible.

So very sorry for your loss and your horrible experience.

I'm so sorry for your loss of your kitty and for how you were treated during such a difficult time.

Nanny, thank you for the link. After this ordeal we've read many reviews of blue pearl clinics all over the country and this treatment seems to be the norm for them. Getting as much money as they can is their primary objective. I don't know if it is true, but I read they receive monthly bonuses based on how much money they can get people to commit to spend. The pets and their people seem to be an afterthought and of secondary importance. There are many horror stories about their lack of concern and greed out there. We are telling everyone we know about our experience and, maybe, if enough people avoid them and if enough vets refuse to refer to them, they will have to change their business model. They seem to be as bad as Banfield.

It was a bad situation where everything that could go wrong did go wrong. But their callous treatment and disregard for her and for us made losing her even worse than it already was.

I am so sorry for your loss--how awful. :(

oh petra, i'm so sorry both for your loss and for how you were treated! there is no excuse for such callousness in the veterinary profession. :(