Minutus

I'm hoping to get some insights on what I can do for my kitty.

He's 4½ years old and is typically quite healthy. Well, sort of….

Besides rooting through the garbage can for tasty morsels, he has an obnoxious habit of eating inedible stuff like foam ABC letters that the kids used to play with in the bathtub and chewing on cardboard boxes. So he vomits every so often. And sometimes I find extra "stuff" that has come through when I'm scooping out the cat box. What it boils down to is he's really a goat at heart that's trapped in the body of a black cat. He never seemed worse for the wear though despite his gastronomic indiscretions. That is until now.

Ray is typically very active and loves to interact with the family. But he's been lethargic for the last week and has been up-chucking A LOT. Sometimes food would come up, but there were several episodes of just fluid. And it was obvious he was getting thinner. He normally weighs 10½ lbs, but he was only 8 lbs 3 oz when we took him to the vet this afternoon.

His temperature was 100.2 degrees so he doesn't have a fever. (The normal temperature for a cat is 102.5 degrees.) The vet could see that he was dehydrated. She did a thorough abdominal exam and could "feel" something that wasn't quite right, so off they went to the x-ray machine to get a snapshot of Ray's innards. She came back shortly thereafter and showed us a revealing image of some foreign "thang" that's lodged in his intestines. When she said it looked like cork, it was an "Ah, ha!" moment.

There is corkboard on 2 of the walls in my daughter's room and on 2 of the walls in the living room too. (It was there when we moved into the house.) Ray is drawn to that corkboard like a magnet; he LOVES to scratch on it and he has an insatiable appetite for the stuff. He simply will not stay away from it.

So now we know what the offending object is; the question at hand is how to get it out.

The vet didn't have much faith that the stuff they use for hairballs would shift the thing, so she recommended surgery to remove it. Her guesstimate of the cost was $1,000 - $1,500 depending on if his intestines were damaged from lack of blood flow and how extensive the damage was. She did say it was a good sign that he didn't have a fever yet.

My husband just lost his job, so spending that kind of money on a cat that will undoubtedly continue to eat rubbish until the day he dies is simply out of the question. We moved on to Plan B. The vet injected Ray with a whole bunch of fluid under the skin to address the dehydration and dosed him with Laxatone, the goop they use for hairballs. I gave him 2 more doses this evening and we're supposed to give him 3 doses tomorrow.

If anyone has any experience with intestinal blockage, or has some thoughts, comments or ideas on to how to shift the cork out this cat, please do share. Ray's not suffering now, but if that thang doesn't come out soon, he's gonna be a goner.

Julie Elliott
Zion, IL

Bowel obstruction (14): aesc., alum., chel., coloc., fum., nat-m., 2op., phenyl., plb., plumbg., 3Pyrog., raph., ust., x-ray
Intestinal blockage (3): 3Chr., obsi-b., posit.
Would think the main thing is to prevent spasm around the cork or foreign body to allow it to move through ?? colocynthus. ? plumbum.Just thoughts, Jean

Here's another rubric, from the Complete:
Abdomen; OBSTRUCTION (ILEUS, OBSTRUCTION OF BOWELS; IMPACTION)(p, 27, 4-13) (27) : Kali-chl., Sulph., acon., am-c., arn., bell., bry., chel., chin., coloc., cupr., dig., fel., kali-bi., kreos., lyc., matth., merc., nit-m-ac., nux-v., op., plb., podo., rhus-t., tab., thlaspi, verat.

Peace,
Dale

how about massage along with whatever homeopathic you choose? i bet there are naturopathic suggestions that could help.
________________________________

From: cinquefoil7
To: minutus@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, February 3, 2010 1:30:42 AM
Subject: [Minutus] My Cat Has An Intestinal Blockage
I'm hoping to get some insights on what I can do for my kitty.

He's 4½ years old and is typically quite healthy. Well, sort of….

Besides rooting through the garbage can for tasty morsels, he has an obnoxious habit of eating inedible stuff like foam ABC letters that the kids used to play with in the bathtub and chewing on cardboard boxes. So he vomits every so often. And sometimes I find extra "stuff" that has come through when I'm scooping out the cat box. What it boils down to is he's really a goat at heart that's trapped in the body of a black cat. He never seemed worse for the wear though despite his gastronomic indiscretions. That is until now.

Ray is typically very active and loves to interact with the family. But he's been lethargic for the last week and has been up-chucking A LOT. Sometimes food would come up, but there were several episodes of just fluid. And it was obvious he was getting thinner. He normally weighs 10½ lbs, but he was only 8 lbs 3 oz when we took him to the vet this afternoon.

His temperature was 100.2 degrees so he doesn't have a fever. (The normal temperature for a cat is 102.5 degrees.) The vet could see that he was dehydrated. She did a thorough abdominal exam and could "feel" something that wasn't quite right, so off they went to the x-ray machine to get a snapshot of Ray's innards. She came back shortly thereafter and showed us a revealing image of some foreign "thang" that's lodged in his intestines. When she said it looked like cork, it was an "Ah, ha!" moment.

There is corkboard on 2 of the walls in my daughter's room and on 2 of the walls in the living room too. (It was there when we moved into the house.) Ray is drawn to that corkboard like a magnet; he LOVES to scratch on it and he has an insatiable appetite for the stuff. He simply will not stay away from it.

So now we know what the offending object is; the question at hand is how to get it out.

The vet didn't have much faith that the stuff they use for hairballs would shift the thing, so she recommended surgery to remove it. Her guesstimate of the cost was $1,000 - $1,500 depending on if his intestines were damaged from lack of blood flow and how extensive the damage was. She did say it was a good sign that he didn't have a fever yet.

My husband just lost his job, so spending that kind of money on a cat that will undoubtedly continue to eat rubbish until the day he dies is simply out of the question. We moved on to Plan B. The vet injected Ray with a whole bunch of fluid under the skin to address the dehydration and dosed him with Laxatone, the goop they use for hairballs. I gave him 2 more doses this evening and we're supposed to give him 3 doses tomorrow.

If anyone has any experience with intestinal blockage, or has some thoughts, comments or ideas on to how to shift the cork out this cat, please do share. Ray's not suffering now, but if that thang doesn't come out soon, he's gonna be a goner.

Julie Elliott
Zion, IL

What do you typically feed your cat?
Laurie
________________________________

From: cinquefoil7
To: minutus@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, February 3, 2010 1:30:42 AM
Subject: [Minutus] My Cat Has An Intestinal Blockage
I'm hoping to get some insights on what I can do for my kitty.

He's 4½ years old and is typically quite healthy. Well, sort of….

Besides rooting through the garbage can for tasty morsels, he has an obnoxious habit of eating inedible stuff like foam ABC letters that the kids used to play with in the bathtub and chewing on cardboard boxes. So he vomits every so often. And sometimes I find extra "stuff" that has come through when I'm scooping out the cat box. What it boils down to is he's really a goat at heart that's trapped in the body of a black cat. He never seemed worse for the wear though despite his gastronomic indiscretions. That is until now.

Ray is typically very active and loves to interact with the family. But he's been lethargic for the last week and has been up-chucking A LOT. Sometimes food would come up, but there were several episodes of just fluid. And it was obvious he was getting thinner. He normally weighs 10½ lbs, but he was only 8 lbs 3 oz when we took him to the vet this afternoon.

His temperature was 100.2 degrees so he doesn't have a fever. (The normal temperature for a cat is 102.5 degrees.) The vet could see that he was dehydrated. She did a thorough abdominal exam and could "feel" something that wasn't quite right, so off they went to the x-ray machine to get a snapshot of Ray's innards. She came back shortly thereafter and showed us a revealing image of some foreign "thang" that's lodged in his intestines. When she said it looked like cork, it was an "Ah, ha!" moment.

There is corkboard on 2 of the walls in my daughter's room and on 2 of the walls in the living room too. (It was there when we moved into the house.) Ray is drawn to that corkboard like a magnet; he LOVES to scratch on it and he has an insatiable appetite for the stuff. He simply will not stay away from it.

So now we know what the offending object is; the question at hand is how to get it out.

The vet didn't have much faith that the stuff they use for hairballs would shift the thing, so she recommended surgery to remove it. Her guesstimate of the cost was $1,000 - $1,500 depending on if his intestines were damaged from lack of blood flow and how extensive the damage was. She did say it was a good sign that he didn't have a fever yet.

My husband just lost his job, so spending that kind of money on a cat that will undoubtedly continue to eat rubbish until the day he dies is simply out of the question. We moved on to Plan B. The vet injected Ray with a whole bunch of fluid under the skin to address the dehydration and dosed him with Laxatone, the goop they use for hairballs. I gave him 2 more doses this evening and we're supposed to give him 3 doses tomorrow.

If anyone has any experience with intestinal blockage, or has some thoughts, comments or ideas on to how to shift the cork out this cat, please do share. Ray's not suffering now, but if that thang doesn't come out soon, he's gonna be a goner.

Julie Elliott
Zion, IL

We feed our cats IAMS, and for the last several months my husband has been picking up the stuff in the blue bag - IAMS Multi-Cat with Chicken & Salmon.

We used to get the expensive O&M cat food from the health food store, but it was discontinued and is no longer on the market. It was definitely worth the the money though cuz Ray didn't regurgitate his food nearly as often and both of our kitties had gorgeous coats of fur.

I should call the health food store and see if they've found another brand of healthy cat food.
Julie

Hi, Julie
Please go to rawfedcats.org or rawfedcats@yahoo.com
It's extremely likely that your cat is eating indigestibles because of a nutritional deficiency. He needs a species appropriate raw food diet. Dry cat food is the worst junk you can get (it's convenient, and everybody's doing it, but...)
If this doesn't clear up the problem, I'd be surprised.
If you read the ingredients on the cat food bag you'll see that there are a lot of carbs, grains, vegetables, etc. and puts incredible stress on its pancreas.
And it's like expecting an alligator to live on carrots. Giving your cat the best appropriate nutrition is essential. Then other health issues can be cleared with homeopathy.
An important part of good homeopathic practise is to clear the contributing/maintaining cause of health problems, and in this case, the diet is a major issue.
Laurie

________________________________

From: cinquefoil
To: minutus@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, February 3, 2010 10:15:25 AM
Subject: Re: [Minutus] My Cat Has An Intestinal Blockage
We feed our cats IAMS, and for the last several months my husband has been picking up the stuff in the blue bag - IAMS Multi-Cat with Chicken & Salmon.

We used to get the expensive O&M cat food from the health food store, but it was discontinued and is no longer on the market. It was definitely worth the the money though cuz Ray didn't regurgitate his food nearly as often and both of our kitties had gorgeous coats of fur.

I should call the health food store and see if they've found another brand of healthy cat food.
Julie

The term for eating indigestible things is "pica".

Those rubrics might not be relevant to clearing the poor guy's obstructed gut, but good "constitutional" treatment--by which I simply mean, homeopathic prescribing aimed at the "whole cat"--would certainly stop him from munching on cord boards, and should be able to improve his health overall!

Shannon
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