Our largest cat

Rob wanted to know about our biggest cat.  You would think that with so many cats in such a variety of shapes and sizes, that it would be difficult for me to determine which is the largest, however, Doofus wins paws down!  In fact, back in his "obese" days, he weighed in at a hefty 28 lbs.:

Believe it or not, feline obesity is a growing problem and obese cats are more prone to diabetes, arthritis and the more serious Hepatic Lipidosis (often referred to as fatty liver).  In Doofus's case, he developed severe constipation that eventually led to Megacolon. 

The first time Doofus got constipated, we rushed him to the DMV in Lachine (The over-priced vet clinic that is open 24 hrs.).  The vet who treated him told us that he would have to manually extricate Doofus's stool.  As he described the treatment, I was thanking my lucky stars that I did NOT go to vet school as planned.  Three days and $1200 later, Doofus was home and on a new, highly digestible diet (i.e. the food is highly expensive and the cat is highly unlikely to eat it).  He was also started on Lactulose (a syrupy laxative that is supposed to taste good to cats) and Cisapride (to help stimulate his bowels).

Despite our efforts to prevent Doofus from stealing the other cats' food when we were not looking and our persistence in force-feeding him the medication, he was soon constipated again.  This time we took him to the Pierrefonds Animal Hospital where they did X-rays, an ultrasound, blood tests; the works.  The vet told us that Doofus has chronic constipation and that based on how often he had been constipated and his lack of reaction to the medication, that we would probably have to put him to sleep. 

I INSISTED that he give us an alternative.  Doofus has been with us for almost 10 years and neither Gaby nor I were willing to give up on him so quickly.  I had done some research had read that enemas were often an effective treatment... So, the vet manually removed the stool again and sent us home with a refill on our prescriptions and a list of suitable enemas that I could buy at the local pharmacy and administer every 3 days.

You know you love your cat when you are pinning him to the kitchen floor between your knees while your boyfriend squirts warm water up his butt.  I don't know who was more humiliated, me, Gaby or Doofus!  As soon as we would finish the "treatment", poor Doofus would run down the stairs to the litter box in the basement and Gaby would chase after him to examine what came out. 

These were not our finer moments, and I still wonder what the woman at the drugstore thought when I would check out each week with 3-4 enemas... but we persevered and eventually Doofus stopped being constipated.  He has lost some weight since then and we have changed his diet to Hills Prescription Diet (c/d), which seems to have had a positive impact on his health.  Doofus is happy and healthy today and there are no more enemas in our house!!  We do refer to him as the cat with the $3000 ass though :-)

The moral of the story is that if you love your pet, don't accept the dire prognosis of your vet until you have explored all your options.  It is very unfortunate, but in my experience, many vets will suggest euthanasia as a fast & cheap option to complicated (or even no-so-complicated) medical conditions.  Don't be afraid to ask for a second opinion or to do some research on the internet.  We are the voices of our companion animals, so we owe it to them not to let them down.

If you're looking for a great vet in the Montreal area, I highly recommend Anima+ Veteriany Clinics who provide excellent care for all types of animals.