Help! Rectal mucosa prolapse in a cat

Re: Help! Rectal mucosa prolapse in a cat

Niall Taylor — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 18:20:43 GMT

[quote user="Alice Courtney"]maybe it really is a polyp??[/quote]

Quite possible. They usually look a bit different from rectal mucosa though - smoother, firmer, paler. OTOH you can get a 'lump' of rectal mucosa protruding in a 'haemorrhoid' type fashion.

I'd still be giving it another couple of days (assuming you are happy there's no linear FB) and, if it is still protruding, then carefully excising it (if any oncologists are listening I mean ofcourse "perform an excisional biopsy") and send it for histo-path.

Any chance of any photies?

Cheers,

Niall

Re: Help! Rectal mucosa prolapse in a cat

Alice Courtney — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:55:58 GMT

Thanks Niall,

It's more of a polyp-type prolapse rather than a whole-circumference prolapse, very odd, not like a normal prolapse. The inflammation and swelling did reduce for the first couple of days, but once the cat tried to defecate, the swelling has returned. It's about 3mm diameter in total. Just not sure how it got there & why, maybe it really is a polyp??

Re: Help! Rectal mucosa prolapse in a cat

Niall Taylor — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:39:21 GMT

... oh, and get more detail about that 'long white thing' in his faeces. The difference between a tapeworn and a linear foreign body would be pretty crucial here!

Niall

Re: Help! Rectal mucosa prolapse in a cat

Niall Taylor — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:36:34 GMT

You haven't said how long the prolapse is (pics would help) but from the 3mm figure I would say it sounds quite small so I would be opting for conservative treatment - the anxiolytics and glucocorticoids - I would give a glucocorticoid cream for the owner to use at home as well. Certainly wouldn't be doing any more purse strings or squeezings and pokings all of which risk inflamming things further. Now you know there is no rectal mass the best thing would be to medicate and let things settle down for a few days.

Sometimes cats will 'prolapse' the very end of the rectum quite readily, especially if something has caused irritation - a chemical he has sat in or a bite or irritation from a firm stool. These usually sort themselves out.

If it's no better after that, or getting worse then you need to be investigating what is going on further up the rectum - so x-rays, barium enema, proctoscopy etc...

Hoe that helps,

Niall