In Our Hearts

Bailey

Bailey, a handsome Siamese-cross, was about 4-1/2 years old when I first saw him. His major problem was severe constipation which had been going on for a year. He was on western medication, but was very uncomfortable, and passed feces every few days. His

person would find many “fossilized” pieces of stool around the house, a product of Bailey’s going whenever and wherever he could, and a communication to his person that something was wrong. Although his colon on x-ray appeared enlarged, the regular veterinarian did not consider it severe enough to call mega-colon, but it was close.

Bailey’s human mom told me she had found Bailey at 8 weeks of age, very emaciated, obviously abandoned by someone. To that day, he would eat like a crazy maniac at every meal. She fed Bailey a raw food diet including White and dark meat turkey, fish oil, oats, green beans and a vitamin supplement. Bailey also had a history of a one-time positive FeLV test, which became negative on re-check. This is always problematic because one doesn’t know if it was a laboratory error or if the virus has become latent, only to surface at a future date.

Bailey is slightly timid, sweet, loving and very persistent, especially when he is hungry. During the time prior to the constipation showing up, there was a lot of remodeling going on in the house, creating much stress for the cats. The humans had a very busy work schedule and were sometimes called out of town, adding to Bailey’s stress.

When I examined Bailey, his abdomen felt like a soft balloon, making gurgly sounds when I rubbed it. His stool felt very backed up in the colon and he showed other signs of dryness in his tongue and pulse. In Chinese medicine, constipation involves not only the colon, but also other organs that help the energy and fecal matter move and moisten the stool – the Liver and the Stomach. The once positive FeLV test made me also consider difficulties with the Kidney and Lung as defined by Chinese medicine.

We treated Bailey with acupuncture to help move the Qi energy, and to balance the workings of the Liver, Stomach and Colon. His human mother was instructed to massage his belly and to use acupressure (finger pressure) on points on the hind leg to moisten the fluids and help the Qi move, and to strengthen the Kidney. Acupressure is an effective method when acupuncture is not available. It is milder and requires more repetition.

I prescribed a tonic to nurture the fluids and Qi energy, as well as the western herb Oregon Grape root to treat the liver. A homeopathic remedy was added later to the treatment. During the next week, Bailey began to seem less uncomfortable to his human and he had bowel movements almost every day! He had a wonderful happy period of life, until several years later, his FeLV re-surfaced, and we lost him.