Bun Health MegaCrisis

Above: Bun resting with me at home after attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for four days.

When we last left our heroine Bunny Eddington, she was supposedly recovering from a urinary infection and receiving antibiotic injections every morning at our local vet's office. Things were looking up for the young lady, whose pee had returned to its normal color after a scary day of resembling Hawaiian Punch. I made a few dozen cut-out cookies of variety cats and dogs for her doctors to thank them, including this one of Bun.

But on Wednesday night, Bun was yowling and straining at her litter box in a #2 kind of way, and we were starting to wonder if the products we thought she had left behind over the past week were those made by her brother and sister.

I hustled her up to the vet for her routine antibiotics on Thursday morning. Our local animal hospital has a revolving door of doctors, some of them relatively inexperienced, but thanks to the luck of the draw, that day Bun was seen by the head veterinarian, Dr. Birk. She gave Bun her shot and subcutaneous fluids. I told Dr. Birk that I thought Bun was constipated, and after a quick palpitation of Bun's abdomen, Dr. Birk looked alarmed.

"Oh. She is very constipated." This was bad news, she went on to explain, because Bun had just been treated for this at the end of June, staying overnight for half a week as they tried to work out as much of that clog as they could. Repeat constipation like this is a sign of the dreaded megacolon, a disease that manx and other tailless cats can suffer. Basically the large intestine becomes diseased and unable to move things along. Bun's constipation was such that she would be physically unable to pass it through her pelvis. That is, it was bigger than kittens.

Dr. Birk recommended that we take Bun to the emergency room at the University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Urbana, which is only eight miles away from our house, thankfully. Unfortunately, she didn't think they would be able to do much for Bun, but she thought that in taking her there Jeff and I would be able to feel like we were doing all that we could for her.

As Dr. Birk relayed this information, I started to realize that I was getting The Talk or at least The Pre-Talk. She was trying to say in the most humane and gentle way possible that if this situation didn't change soon, maybe we should put Bun out of her misery. I did my best to concentrate on Important Facts For Right Now, such as which U of I office to contact and how we didn't want to wait until the weekend to get her in there, but I broke into a cold sweat, felt faint, and needed to sit down with my head between my knees for a minute. I thanked Dr. Birk, took Bun out to the car, and drove her home in a daze.

By the time I saw Jeff, I was barely able to tell him what was going on before bursting into tears. He took over and set up an appointment for Bun at the U of I, whose doctors would see her within the hour, incredibly. We packed her into her carrier and took off for the hospital.

The University of Illinois is the only school in the state that offers degrees in veterinary medicine, and their teaching hospital is a top-notch, modern facility. We had been there three years ago with a stressed-out Bun, whose bladder had shrunk to the point where it could only hold 2 mililiters of urine. Which is tiny! They took excellent care of her and figured out how to solve her unusual problem.

Upon arrival, we were immediately joined by a vet-med student who took Bun's history, did a general exam, and recorded her symptoms. She left to consult with one of the doctors, a la House, M.D., who joined us after about ten minutes.

"Her bladder is huge!" Bun's beautiful doctor exclaimed, before confirming that she was indeed quite constipated. She ran down a list of tests and procedures they would perform--kindly informing us of all costs along the way, which were considerable. We said okay to everything, signed the necessary forms, and left Bun in her care. The main procedure to remove the mass in her large intestine was a D&C on an anesthesized Bun, i.e. the thing doctors do for abortions, except they were aborting...poop. If I had a dollar for everytime I've said or thought about that word over the past month, I might be able to pay for Bun's vet bills. Otherwise, I could really use a commission here!

By the time we had returned home, Jeff's phone rang. Bun's x-rays revealed that she was housing "an extraordinary amount of fecal material" in her large intestine, and this hugeness may have been crowding her bladder to the point that it was unable to drain. Her case was handed over to Dr. Blake Marcum in intenal medicine. They were unable to do the D&C procedure until Friday morning, but in the meantime they would give Bun laxatives, fluids, enemas, and some medicine for the pain. Our poor girl.

The hospital did a terrific job of keeping in touch with us. Jamie Schwartz, the new student assigned to look after the well-behaved Bun, fell in love with her. She gave Bun plenty of attention and updated us frequently via phone. We later learned that Bun was the only animal her doctor was dealing with that weekend, which made us feel very good about the quality of care she was receiving.

Bun's procedure, which took around two hours, happened on Friday morning. Jeff and I spent a tense day worrying about her and watching the clock. At around 3:30 Jamie called us, saying, "Bunny is awake and doing AWESOME!" She had apparently spent lots of time in Jamie's lap and was purring so loudly that Jamie had trouble hearing Bun's heartbeat. Her doctor removed over a half-pound of fecal material during the procedure, which is the human equivalent of 15+ pounds. (We're still trying to wrap our minds around that one.) They were going to monitor her progress throughout the night. Best of all, they allowed us to visit her the next morning!

We also were able to meet Jamie and Dr. Marcum, who came in holding a towel-wrapped Bun. He put her down on the floor and Bun began walking around the exam room, marking things, coming up to Jeff and me, marking things, saying hi to Jamie, marking things, saying hi to Dr. Marcum, marking things, coming up to Jeff and me. Her right front leg was bandgaged and awkward for her to walk on. Her backside was shaved--full Brazilian--and she had a little sticky stuff in her fur (laxative). There was some smelly anal leakage, which was normal after a procedure like hers, that would hopefully firm up into something more normal within a few days. Dr. Marcum's plan was to manage Bun's condition with a combination of medicine and diet, including a special food he jokingly referred to as "colon blow," which I silently recognized as an obscure SNL reference. He didn't think Bun had megacolon, and if the drugs/food worked out, things could be relatively normal for her.

They wanted Bun to stay until Monday, but we received a call on Sunday morning that Bun was ready to go home early. Jeff and I zoomed up to the hospital and were reunited with a much better-looking Bunny, who was happy to see us and her carrier again.

Jamie and Dr. Marcum victoriously informed us that our kitty had produced some semi-solid stool overnight, which was an excellent sign. Dr. Marcum reviewed Bun's new food and drug regime with Jeff and me as she strutted around the room flirting with everybody, especially her young, smart, and very cool doctor.

We took Bun home with us, fully expecting and dreading anal leakage that never really materialized. She's not out of the woods yet and is being monitored by her local vets this week as she continues to receive daily antibiotic injections. Jeff has been giving her a sticky oral laxitive several times a day that tastes like orange soda (we tried a speck to see if it was awful), along with another oral medication that will encourage her large intestine to move things along. I'm feeding her colon blow and a special wet food that the other cats should not eat and obsessively monitoring her litter box activities. We've had to segregate her from the other cats overnight in order to really know what's going on there, and things are looking pretty good. She dribbles urine every now and then, which is no fun to clean up, but we're managing.

So what was once a medium-maintenance cat is now a high-maintenance cat. My parents very generously offered to help us with her expenses, and I tearfully told them that in doing so they have officially become her godparents. Mom joked, "Umm, I don't know if we want that kind of responsibility..." I've been updating my friends and family about Bun's situation via Facebook and Twitter, and I'd like to thank her many, many well-wishers for their kind words of concern. We live in a county where agriculture is king and animal life is pretty cheap, and many would say that our little scamp is not worth all this trouble. But at the same time many people do get it: pets are family members, and you can't just abandon them when things become difficult.

Jeff and I love our sweet Bun. And it's nice to know that she is no longer full of shit. :)

Comments

[Jane L.]

I'm so glad Bun is doing well! I can totally relate to this story re. the fear, worrying, stress and responsibility (well worth it!).

In the 4.5 years I've had my 2 adopted cats (who are completely indoors), they've managed to both have upper respiratory infections along with conjunctivitis (which still flares up every now and then) and ringworm from the shelter (which I ended up catching myself and having to scrub my entire apartment with bleach and dunk my unhappy cats in sulfur baths), getting stitches from probably carelessly running around, allergic reaction causing hair loss and a fat lower lip (due to a kelp based pet dental supplement I gave - thank you $500 allergy exam for that answer), both recently ripping apart my macadamia nut cookie from the wrapper my friend left out (causing both to vomit/diarrhea) and had to take them to the vet. One cat finding a power bar I accidently left out which he decided to tear apart on this crochet blanket and then ate the wrapper as well as left a huge hole in the blanket (the strawberry gunk in the power bar left residue on the blanket which he decided to chew out) . When I took my cat to the vet to try and take out the wrapper pieces/blanket threads that may cause issues in his intestines my cat actually freaked out going under and ended up dying on the table - they were luckily able to resuscitate him which he then came down with pneumonia and a warning from the doctor that he may have brain damage due to the lack of oxygen when he stopped breathing (he made it thru w.out any damage thank god! - but I ended up with a 5K vet bill - thank you NYC vet hospitals for the insane costs)..then i went thru a minor rough patch with these two boys when they decided one day that they hated each other and one kept getting bit by the other cat (more vet bills)..After consulting a cat behaviorist ($$$) she gave me a lot of tips and after one month they decided to love each other again...and now I have another vet appt this weekend with a animal cardiologist since one of my cats has a heart murmur that may or may not be one...i went to three vets and all three said its borderline and I need to have an echo to make sure its not a physiological murmur

All this and making sure I never leave out ANY food (obviously not even those in wrappers b/c my cats are dogs (one actually plays fetch), ANY plastic (one cat enjoys chewing and eating plastic for the hell of it..or to piss me off), ANY paper (the other cat if I don't wake up to feed him breakfast early enough when he wants it, starts ripping apart any paper he sees into little shreds and spits it out on the floor), ANY trinkets (b/c they will literally take it and I will never see it again) and YES I had to baby proof my cabinets..b/c they learned how to open EACH one (even the high ones above the oven hood! god knows how they open those!) they break into them and take out treat bags I hide and tear them apart eating them all! ..even after baby proofing my cabinets..i'm still so scared they'll break in that I keep their treats in the dishwasher!!! One cat also sits on my chest in the morning and yowls in my face to get up. Funny thing is..they have never bit or scratched me..they're just menaces in every other way.

i am so broke from vet costs but pet insurance helped me immensely..and my credit card =( Even though they put me in major debt and I never knew they would take me down this road...I don't regret ever giving them my all..some would say this is all bad luck..but I think God gave them to me b/c he knew they would need someone like me...just like Bun needed someone like you!

On a funny note, since one cat likes to jump on the counter and shove through my arms (literally) to eat his food while I'm trying to put it into a bowl, I learned a tip to spray a bit of water on him to deter him from coming on the counters..not only did he not give a crap..but i came home from work to find the nozzle chewed off of the spray (JUST the nozzle) causing the spray to no longer work.

If things ever get tough..please remember me and my demonic cats and stories from hell~!

[Lexi]

I hope your little one pulls through OK! Bun looks just like my cat, who has had the fortune to have no poop-related problems, just occasional fight wounds.

[GinaE]

Thanks for writing a follow-up on Bun....I had been thinking of Bun, you and Jeff. What a wonderful hospital and you are so lucky it is so close. She probably feels better than she has in a long time, even with the surgery recovery process to finish yet. I wish I had had such a hospital when one of my dogs had a tumor in her nasal cavity. Your little Bun cookie is too cute!!! That husband you have is such a Keeper! Just a wonderful guy that I'm so glad you found. You are both such lovely people and I will keep Bun and you both in my prayers. Sending you all the best of thoughts!

[Margie]

I have never left a comment but am a long time lurker who has enjoyed reading your blogs, trying your recipes, and admiring your art!

As a fur mom to one dog and two cats, I just wanted to say that I'm so happy that Buns is doing better! She's not out of the woods yet but I'm hoping that her recovery continues to do well. She is a much loved cat and member of the family and I'm sure she knows how much she means to you and Jeff!

[Danielle]

I'm so glad things worked out and Bun is doing better. I can relate to your struggle because I lost my cat in February after a month long fight and many expensive vet trips to many offices and doctors. It was truly awful to lose her but I have no regrets about doing everything I could to save her despite people saying I should give up. It makes me happy to see that your cat is doing well and your hard work paid off. I hope Bun has a long and happy life with her wonderful owners.

[Elizabeth Mackey]

Phew!!! I was so hoping that this post would have a good ending!! I sure hope the condition can be managed with the meds and diet. Poor Bun!!! I bet she feels much lighter :)

[Kelly]

Thanks to all of you for your words of understanding and support! Bun is improving day by day. We're taking her back to the U of I for a follow-up appointment to see how she's doing. We love her so much!

[shannon]

so sorry to hear about this, but i am glad you seem to be approaching a happy ending. i gotta say though, MEGACOLON kinda blows my mind. i'm glad your doc went to the colon blow place though, since that is a reference we make in our house at least on a weekly basis.

best to you and the fam.

[Bella]

I'm glad Bun is doing much better.. you had me worried for a moment! Thanks for the update :) I really enjoy your blog!

[Krys]

Hope your Bun continues to do well. She and my Daniel could be siblings (except for the lost tail.) Your love for her sustains her...