Friday, March 31, 2006

Kitten with Rectal Prolapse: Velvet



4.30pm - Very heavy rain! Am worried whether I'll be able to trap Velvet, the black kitten Aunty Lucy mentioned about having sore bottom. Hope the rain stop soon.

5.30pm - Left home with the carrier. Rain has subsided quite a bit.

6.00pm - Drizzling in town area. Met Aunty Lucy and waited for her to feed Toffee and Orange-Boy. Still no sign of Mocha. Lots of mosquitoes lurking around. I'm bitten all over!

6.15pm - Saw Velvet! Very thin looking black kitty (about a foot long). Pretty drenched from the rain and very hungry. Soreness is limited to the anus area and not the whole bottom as I imagined. Some tissues with slight tinge of blood bulging out.

7.00pm - Finally got a cab after a long wait. Velvet was surprisingly super quiet throughout the whole journey.

7.30pm - Arrived at clinic and met Eunice who's there to collect Syl after his sterilisation. Befriended Katerina who found a 3 weeks old tabby boy. Katerina wouldn't be able to keep tabby kitten with her as she'll be leaving Singapore end of the year. She hopes to find a good home for tabby boy before she leaves. Also chatted with a british lady with her very lovely cat, Buffy who's going for her vaccination. Buffy suffered from a fractured spine before and couldn't walk for three months. She's now fully recovered under TLC from owner (Shame to note previous vet she saw advised her to euthanise Buffy!). A Japanese lady and her two young daughters sobbed very hard after one of their bunnies stopped breathing and died. I felt very sad for them too.

9.00pm - Velvet's turn to see the vet finally, after waiting for very long. Velvet must be really freaked out as he escaped thrice from Dr Wong. Diagnosis: Rectal Prolapse (Protruding rectum). Dr Wong estimated the total cost to hover around the region of $300, inclusive of a 5-days hospitalisation. Good grief! Dr Wong reminded me that maggots may start infesting the affected area and may be life threatening if left untreated. What was I to do? I can't leave Velvet to suffer to save the $300 so I agreed. I was asked to place a deposit of $100 and to collect Velvet in 5 days' time. Sigh.




Notice the red bulge behind Velvet's back? It's his displaced rectum.

Here are some info on Velvet's condition:

A rectal prolapse is the extrusion (pushing out) of the inner layers of the rectum through the anus. It is often a result of straining to defecate, urinate, or give birth. Diseases causing straining in a kitten, such as constipation, parasites, or diarrhea, may cause a displacement or protrusion of the rectum. Cats straining to urinate because of urinary infections or other urinary disease may cause the rectum to prolapse. The condition may also occur in a female cat during a difficult birth. The rectum will appear as a reddened "sausage-like" protrusion from the anus. The prolapsed rectum may extend 1/2 to several inches from the body.

What are the symptoms?
A visual inspection and notation of a reddened 'sausage or doughnut-like' mass protruding from the anus provides a diagnosis of rectal prolapse.


What are the risks?
Left untreated, a cat will be unable to eliminate stool from the anus. As a result, severe illness will develop, followed within several days, by death. The extruded portion of the anus can also be abraded or injured.


What is the management?
It is of paramount importance to identify the underlying cause of a rectal prolapse. Does the cat have diarrhea or constipation, and if so, why? These problems, if present, must be corrected. Many cases of rectal prolapse can be manually replaced. Sutures may need to be placed into the anus to restrict the anal opening and prevent another prolapse. In severe instances in which the prolapsed rectal tissue become traumatized, the damaged rectal tissue may need to be surgically repaired or removed by a veterinarian.

4 comments:

=^..^= said...

Good work, Celeste! You are truly a generous, caring soul. And you're becoming quite the expert on trapping, aren't you? :)

~5-Cat Style

bluemistz said...

Wish velvet a speedy recovery. :) Good work Celeste!

Hazey said...

Cotton is almost the same colour as my Donnie (named after my boyfriend).

Hope the black kitty does well.

cat_aunty said...

How's Velvet now?