Following are selected posts to Holisticat on the subject of hemorrhoids and anal prolapse. There's a lot of information here, and the posts are arranged in ascending chronological order. If there is a particular word you're looking for, it's probably best to utlize the "Find in Page" function in your edit menu!

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From: s_arora@ (Sandy Arora)
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 23:36:12 EDT

<<Does Hunny Bunny have a showing of blood after her bowel movement? >>

Jean, yes she does only after she poops.  It really freaked me out the first time.  I applied Calendula ointment w/ a q-tip.  That helped a bit. Also, her anus seemed to be protruding (sorry to be gross).

<< I'm just wondering if Saski has colitis too. Ever since I got him in February  he's had some fresh showing of blood after a stool - sometimes only a tiny  drop, sometimes as much as 1/4 tsp, sometimes with some mucus. I've had him  on slippery elm syrup off and on for months, and once it actually cleared  up for about a month but now it's back - probably b/c he's now getting more variety of foods and supplements, it's started up an irritation again.>>

That sounds *exactly* like the Queen Mum's symptoms!  Her vet did a fecal loop which showed blood.  From this, she concluded that the bleeding was in Hunny Bunny's lower gastro-intestinal tract.  And w/o an endoscopy, she said it was inflammation of the colon i.e. colitis.  She said basically the lining gets irritated either due to some food or foreign body or something, and first we see mucous, and later blood either alone or w/ mucous.

<< He doesn't have diarrhea or constipation, and his stools smell normal. When he expels blood it's after he's finished the stool, then he grunts and groans and strains and finally it comes out. Those seem to be his only symptoms.>>

Bunny too has normal stools.  Saski's case makes sense since he strains but what confuses me is that Bunny doesn't seem to strain or be in pain at all.  She does her usual tortie dinginess after pooping, and run run runs all over the house at top speed. Last nite, I was having dinner w/ a friend, and next thing I knew, after Bunny used her litterbox, she knocked over the privacy screen and then 4 paws land on my upper back, after which we saw a blur of grey all the way across the room (sorry for the run-on sentence <g>).  I love it when Bunny uses me as her trampoline.  Thank goodness I wasn't having soup tho!

<< The vet was assessing him for cardiomyopathy and only said that the blood could be from a number of causes. Not helpful.>>

Bunny's vet gave me some scary options - tumor, polyp, cyst, etc:(  I would think she had to tho in case it really was something and I was the litigious type; I can see why she'd hedge her bets.

<<Anyway, I'll start giving him the aloe vera and see what happens. >>

Make sure u use a brand of Aloe Vera Juice w/o preservatives like sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate.  I use Alvera brand b/c it is the only one I have found so far at the store w/ just AVJ and Ascorbic acid (as a preservative).  It tastes really fresh and mild too so the kids don't even notice it in their food.  Another thing, if u find the Alvera brand gel, u can buy that (same price - around $5 for an 8oz bottle) and dilute it..lasts way longer than the juice so turns out cheaper.  I discovered that by accident b/c the bottles look identical.

Good luck w/ Saski.  I'm curious if it helps him b/c our Queenie Ms. Hunny Bunny has almost no bleeding now <whew>.

Sandy

Hi everyone

Trying to find out why Saski's squeezing out a blood drop after a bowel movement, I called Dr. Wim Jansen's radio show and he was (naturally) guarded about what it could be, but suggested I try a homeopathic hemorrhoid remedy.

None of the hemorrhoidal remedies in a Materia Medica (oh good grief, this is all greek to me!) seemed to fit Saski perfectly, the closest seemed to be Hamamelis, Aesculus and Aconite. Couldn't decide which, but  remembered Sandy saying that  Hamamelis worked for Hunny Bunny. I talked with a naturopathic doctor (not vet) who suggested, instead of straight Hamamelis, that I try a combination remedy which is good for circulatory disorders and venous insufficiency, in view of Saski's cardiomyopathy. It contains:
     Aesculus hippocastanum   3DH
     Carduus marianus         3DH
     Hamamelis virginiana     3DH
     Pulsatilla               3DH
     Calcarea fluorica        5CH
in 20% alcohol. The human dose is 20 drops 2 to 3 times a day, to be diluted with a little water. It says the treatment course usually lasts 1 month and can be renewed once or twice.

I gave him 3 drops last night.

What do you think about giving him another two doses of 3 drops each today? Should I continue after that? How soon should I see relief, if it's going to happen? Can I drop it on his food, or with broth, or must I give it by eyedropper?

Incidentally, Sandy, I've found some aloe which has citric acid and potassium sorbate in it. Is the pot. sorbate better than sodium benzoate? Or perhaps I'll see if I can find a mature aloe plant and give him gel from the plant instead. What do you think? If he has colitis and/or hemorrhoids, maybe the citric acid would just irritate him more.

Does anyone have any other homeopathic suggestions for hemorrhoids?

Thanks, all!

--Jean, Saski B & Amber

hey all-

> Does anyone have any other homeopathic suggestions for hemmorhoids?

jean, on the vetmed list the other day, a similar question came thru and the resident cat vet said cats do not get hemorrhoids. i'll check the archives and see if i can find it for you.

Vick and company: Skippy, Sam, Max and Jezebel
.... AND Jake the foster Aussie

* * * * * * * *

From: FraDCat@
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 14:57:10 EST
Subject: Re: [HOL] Homeopathic help, please?

I'd like to respond to the comment about hemorrhoids.  Our first cat did get them, and it was confirmed by our vet.  However, it should be noted that this only occurred during his illness (diabetes) and before it was diagnosed.

We did nothing for them at that time.  Once it was under control, they subsided.  And, of course, we knew nothing about holistic health care at that time.  :(((

Good luck,
Judi

Hemorrhoids -

There was an excellent article in Homeopathy Today (national publication of the National Center for Homeopathy) that describes the various remedies that can be used for hemorrhoids; I would be more than happy to try and help you pin down a remedy Jean, but let me know via private mail.  I don't want to waste my time or the list's space typing something out that  would not be of use or noticed. Odd though it may sound, hemorrhoids can be brought on by either constipation or diarrhea.

Leah

Hi list and Sandy

[UNRELATED SNIPS]

<< Oh, her vet said she doesn't think cats can get hemorrhoids but when I described tomboy Bunny's symptoms, she said it sure sounds like that's exactly what they are tho!  Go figure. >>

Yeah, really. So the score is now Vets for Hemorrhoids 2, Vets against Hemorrhoids 2, plus your vet who is sitting firmly on the fence! <wry grin>

--Jean, Saski B & Amber

Hi list and Sandy
Here is some info re prolapses - sounds like what Hunny Bunny has? http://www.vetinfo.com/crectal.html

--Jean, Saski Basket & Amber Sweet T'ing

Barb wrote:
I  him back on flagyl and amoxi.  Over the weekend he developed severe diahrea again and ended up with prolapsed rectum.   I've never seen this before, panicked and because totally snowed in, just put it back in place with vaseline.   I talked with a couple of other breeders who made various suggestions and at some point on Monday called the vet (who was at half staff because of the storms) and did not feel he needed to see the kitten at that point.  Told me to continue the flagyl and call if he prolapsed again. He prolapsed again Monday night.   Tuesday I called the vet who was again swamped and only seeing emergencies.  The rectum was in place and he suggested waiting to see if it happened again.   Also told me to take off all antibiotics and give prednisone (?).  Late Tuesday afternoon it started prolapsing again and would only stay in place a few minutes at a time.   It was too late to get him to the vet and have surgery (purse string stitches) last night and they said either
take him to emergency clinic if continues or bring in at 7 this a.m.
___
Barb, i feel so bad for your poor baby boy!:(  all these medications they put into the teeny kitten, it's just criminal, man!  sorry to go off on a rant but i get even more upset cuz kittens are just so delicate.

here's a great website Jean told me about b/c she and I both have cats w/ prolapse problems.  Bunny my Queen Mum has this happen only after pooping and shows no other symptoms but in your kitten's case, it sure seems to be related to the diarrhea.  I would check into the homeo remedy Podophyllum.  Homeopathy is the answer for your little one.  Do u have access to a Rep?  I am swamped right now otherwise I'd be willing to have u send me some rubrics to look up for ya.  Tell u what, send it to the list and either I or someone else can check and see if we can come up w/ a remedy that u can look up for your baby boy.  Meanwhile check out the following site. and I'll look for a site that has the info on Podo online so u can see if it matches up w/ the symptoms.  Course there are other remedies too but this is sort of an emergency so I figured I'd suggest one this time.
http://www.vetinfo.com/crectal.html

Good luck, and hope baby boy is feeling better.

Sandy, owned and operated by the mountain cats

Hi Barb,

I don't know if you are open to homeopathic remedies at all, but they are very gentle in low potencies with an often powerful and *quick*healing stimulus for the body.  Here's what George Macleod suggests in his book _Cats: Homeopathic Remedies_, p. 67 (seems to fits your kitty's situation):

"PROCTITIS
Inflammation of the rectal area may follow as a result of acute colitis or feline enteritis when profusion of rectal mucous membrane may occur.   Remedies such as NUX VOMICA  30c daily for 7 days and RUTA  three times daily for 10 days may help as both have a part to play in this particular type of inflammation."

I'm not trying to overwhelm you or be pushy so please accept my apologies if I come off that way.  Whatever it takes to heal the little guys is what's best for them IMO:)

Glad you rec'd the psyllium post.

Susan