Randy is another of our rescues, fostered as a kitten and becoming a permanent resident when his problems became apparent. As a kitten, he had an eye that was permanently dilated and made him extremely sensitive to light. He spent much of his first 6 months under the couch and in dark corners because sunlight seemed to hurt him. Eventually, he got better and acted more normally, but he always seemed "a little off," possibly retarded or something.
He really bonded with another rescue foster, Gypsy, a Siamese mix who had been hit by a car and left with our Vet. Judy had to nurse and perform daily physical therapy on her until she could walk again. She was just the sweetest thing ever and she kind of adopted Randy.
They slept curled up with each other, cleaned each other and tended to do everything together.
Unfortunately, Gypsy had carried something with her from kittenhood that is pretty common in cats, but does not usually develop into anything more serious. Feline Enteric Coronavirus (FECV) is relatively common in kittens, but most develop a resistance or never become carriers. Gypsy was not so lucky.
However, occasionally FECV mutates into Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP,) which is a fatal and extremely unpleasant disease with no definitive diagnostic test, no cure and no really effective treatment. She eventually had to be euthanized as the build up of fluids in her chest made it near impossible for her to breathe.
Randy missed her terribly, but eventually settled down into a (relatively) normal life. Strangely though, he never really got the hang of cleaning himself and tends to appear greasy and unkempt.
Then last year he started having strange problems. He would spontaneously make the strangest honking, coughing, almost hiccup sort of a sound and seemed to be in real distress when it happened. A general exam and round of blood tests didn't reveal anything and it only happened rarely so we didn't concern ourselves too much at first.
It soon got worse though and we would find him curled up on his side on the floor in front of the litterbox, convulsing slightly. Another trip to the vet for X-rays this time revealed a colon packed so full of hard fecal matter he couldn't pass it. An enema and fluids got him back to normal (for him) and we learned about Megacolon, which is basically the failure of the peristaltic action in the colon. Waste no longer moves through the digestive system normally and requires regular medication or surgery (which offers no guarantee of relief.) After some very expensive tests from a Vet who specializes in gastrointestinal issues, we determined that he has it.
The good news is, there is a drug, Cisapride, which stimulates peristalsis and allows for elimination of waste. Unfortunately it is quite expensive and only available from compounding pharmacies. Also, the oral administration became nearly impossible. The problem is, it apparently tastes really vile and even though flavoring is added, it is not enough to mask the pure nastiness. So Randy became adept at recognizing the distant sound of the shaking of the bottle and would bolt to whatever hidey hole he could find. He would also vioently oppose any effort to squirt the stuff in his mouth, which could get messy and stressed him quite a bit. It got to the point where we could not be certain of giving him both doses and so the relief was short-lived.
Thankfully, I managed to discover an online compounding pharmacy that specialized in multiple dosing forms of many medications, including a transdermal one. Wedgewood Compunding Pharmacy carries Cisapride in a number of forms and we decided to try the transdermal gel. It comes in a "Twist-A-Dose" applicator which measures the exact dose and is applied to the inside of an ear. It causes him no anxiety, doesn't have a foul odor or taste and, most of all, is very effective. Aside from the rare need for an enema (once in three months) he has settled down to a somewhat normal life. (that's Ollie the poly with him on one of the catwalks - more on him later.)
It is sad that there is no such easy treatment for FIP. We all really miss Gypsy.
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