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Mews News
April 2009
Marco’s Story
For those of you that have not met Marco he
is our extra large silver tabby Maine Coon cat. To meet Marco is to love him and many of you
have already joined Marco’s fan club.
 On March 30, 2009 Marco developed a life
threatening and uncommon intestinal disease called an intussusception.
An intussusception is the telescoping of the
intestines on themselves causing a functional
obstruction
and death of that section of the bowel within a short
period of time. They most commonly occur in kittens with chronic diarrhea
and/or parasites. It also affects some female cats after they give birth. A few as with
Marco occur for no apparent reason. Affected cats/kittens will develop acute
vomiting and usually appear ill within 24 hours
due to the pain, gas dilation of the bowels
and toxins associated with the condition.
I performed emergency surgery on Marco
removing about 8 to 9 inches of his bowel when the intussusception could not be
corrected. The first 48 hours were fairly rough on him and on me but within 72 hours he was eating well and
having bowel movements. I’ve never been so happy to see cat pooping my life.
I’m just like many of you. These are my
kids and even though I can put myself in autopilot and do whatever needs to be
done it doesn’t mean that I worry any less. To make matters worse I am always
aware of the unexpected complications that can still occur even when the surgery
itself has been a success. I didn’t sleep well for about 4 nights worrying over
my sweet boy. Happily Marco read the textbook on the whole scenario and has
made an amazing recovery.
Marco is slowly gaining his weight back and
he is making his usual appearances around the hospital to awe those that have
“never seen a cat that big before”. If you have a lap he’d love to share it so
feel free to come by and say hello to the big lug.
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