Tita is a Persian cat that was unlucky. Being small, she was hit by car resulting in pelvic fracture. Its current owner picked her up after the hit and took care of her and her problems.The pelvic fracture caused a dilation of the colon (megacolon); this happened because the pelvic fracture consolidated leaving the passage of stool narrower than normal, whereby the section of intestine prior to the pelvis undergoes an expansion and its motility is abnormal. Then, the narrowing and altered bowel movement difficult evacuation of feces. To solve (at least partly) this situation, Tita needed to go under surgery in order to remove a large part of the dilated colon (the surgical procedure is called partial colectomy).
These cats need a special diet (high in fiber) that softens stools and facilitates evacuation. They can also suffer from intestinal infection due to bacterial overgrowth. We have to monitor her evolution closely.This happened 8 years ago and since then the owners and she struggle to survive. She is lively and happy, but not having the whole intestine, her digestion is poor, so the cat is very thin and must be given a special diet.Sometimes, Tita potassium level drops well under 3.8 mEq/l and then we have to hospitalize her, rehydrating with serum and put its potassium level back to normal.Then she comes back home and continues to accompany their owners, who work so hard to keep with them for such a long time in spite of her problems.Tita encouragement!David Prandi
DVM, PhD
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