Latest News
Patient: Bessie
February 14, 2021
Meet Bessie. Bessie is a four year old Birman who came in to see us when she stopped eating and was vomiting some fluid. Medications including anti-nausea drugs, pain relief and an IV drip stopped the vomiting but poor Bessie was still miserable and didn’t want to eat. Blood test results gave us no cause for her distress so an abdominal ultrasound was performed and revealed a foreign object was stuck in her small intestine. Surgery was needed to remove the foreign material – which turned out to be a very felted up furball. The fancy name for a furball is a Trichobezoar. Furballs don’t usually cause obstructions in the intestines, but they can occasionally do this in long haired cats.
We recommend cat laxatives or a furball diet to help keep the furballs from becoming too solid.
After her surgery Bessie still didn’t want to eat and this problem can cause liver failure in cats, so a feeding tube was surgically placed in the side of her neck, so she could be fed by the tube to support her recovery. Most cats and dogs tolerate these tubes very well, and Bessie was no exception to this rule. She is now eating and drinking happily and is back to her old gorgeous self.
