It has been two days since Bunny’s enema on Thursday. Since then, there has been no poop from him.
We palpated him and if we are palpating at the correct place, there seems to be a long, hard piece of faeces in his colon.
I was really hoping he would be able to defecate on his own, but there was no such luck. I’ve also been monitoring and scanning the back garden for faeces and there was none.
This morning, he was straining to defecate again. We couldn’t let this go on, so I took him to the vet’s again.
The vet palpated him and confirmed that there is indeed a long, hard piece of faeces. Of course it has to come out. The vet planned to do two enemas if need be and if the hard stool isn’t passed out, it would have to be a manual evacuation under sedation.
I felt so sad having to leave Bunny at the vet’s. The whole procedure would take about 4 hours.
Finally the clinic called ahead of time and said we could take Bunny home in an hour’s time.
At the clinic, I found Bunny sitting comfortably in the litter box in the cage. He seemed none the worse.
The vet said that the first set of enema did not work. Bunny didn’t even try to defecate. In fact, he was sitting comfortably and even sleeping after the first set, so the vet decided not to do another set. Instead, Bunny was given a mild sedation and manual evacuation of the faeces was done. The evacuated faeces was hard, dry and had a bit of fur in it as well. I guess it was just too hard and dry for Bunny to eliminate it by himself. And to think that I had already taken him to the vet’s after 2 no-poop days. I did not wait.
The vet confirmed that Bunny does not have megacolon. This is a great relief. Now, we must prevent him from getting there.
The most important thing now is to get Bunny to drink more water. Subcut isn’t the same as drinking water.
I actually seldom see Bunny drinking water. His staple food is Cubgrub which already has a lot of water in it. In the last two days, I tried syringe-feeding water to Bunny and he did not like it at all. He spat it out. This morning, I added some tuna to some water and managed to get Bunny to lick it all up.
Other things to consider is to reduce the calcium in his food. Or to add fiber to his food. I’ve already started giving Bunny pumpkin but unlike Indy, Bunny doesn’t like pumpkin at all.
The vet says I don’t have to start Lactulose yet because all the faeces have been evacuated today. There will be no poop tomorrow, but Bunny should start pooping on Monday. If he doesn’t, I am to start him on Lactulose.
So, we came home. I kept thinking about how we could get Bunny to drink water on his own. Syringe-feeding water does not work as he hates it. Subcut isn’t the same as drinking water as in subcut the water absorbs through the skin, into the blood and only some of it might get to the GI tract. Drinking water is getting water directly into the GI tract and this is what we want. Tuna-flavoured water worked this morning. I might try adding water to his food as well, but this is tricky as it might change the taste and we all know how fussy cats are.
We reached home and I suspect Bunny must be hungry as he missed lunch while at the vet’s, so I offered some food.
Yes, he ate! I added some water to the food too even though his Cubgrub already has a lot of water.
Then, I put Bunny back to his room. Bunny went to one of the three water bowls and wanted to drink, but did not. Taking the cue, I quickly changed the water and filled the bowl to the brim. Bunny drank!
In fact, he drank twice! So, it has to be fresh water even though we do change the water every day, Bunny wants is freshly changed. This is the first time I’ve seen Bunny drinking water for quite sometime now.
So, that’s two rounds of drinking water. Then, Bunny asked to come out to the patio and he went to the water bowl there and stared at it. Quickly, I changed the water and the miracle happened again.
This means I want it changed, please.
He drank two rounds!
And another round again!
All in, since coming back home, Bunny has drunk water a total of SIX rounds!
The challenge now is to get him to drink as often as possible on a daily basis. I guess one way is to watch him and keep changing the water in the bowls as often as is necessary. Bunny is also blind, so the position of the bowls cannot be changed. He knows where they are.
Baby steps, Bunny, baby steps. We will get there, somehow.
Take a good long rest now, Bunny. You deserve it.