Older kitty with bowel problems

Question
My older cat starting vomiting and then I noticed he was straining in his litter box. I cleaned the litter box to see if he was going to the bathroom.  The next morning, there were cat tracks but no feces or urine in the litter box.  His anus was swollen and I could smell cat poop when I held him.

I took him to the vet that day.  They called and said he was constipated and they would give him a laxitive and start him on fluids.  They would probaly have to put him under in order to clean him out.

A different vet called and said that his bowel was paralized and that surgery usually did not have a good outcome.  They had given him an enema but no luck.  Our other option was to put him to sleep.

We went to the clinic to see him and he seems alert but has not pooped.  He responded to us and got up to be petted and loved.  My concern is that he may not have eaten in the last 2 days so may not have anything left to poop if they did indeed "clean him out".

What is your advise?  Are we being rushed into putting him to sleep?  Are there other options besides surgery or putting him to sleep?  I do not want him to suffer.

Thank you,
Susan

Answer
Hello!

Did they say they cleaned him out, or they were not able to? Because you said that they have given him an enema with no luck. Did they take an x-ray to see if there is some foreign object blocking the path? Or maybe he has some other problem of the intestines like megacolon, diverticulus, invagination etc. In that case a contrast radiography may help to diagnose (x-ray taken after giving some substance that shows in the x-ray, this way we can see where the substance is going and this enables us to track the pathway). Of course these are only suggestions that come in to my mind, since I haven't seen your cat, I can not say what has to be done, the vets who have seen him certainly would know it better.

Is he still vomiting? I wouldn't really rush into putting him to sleep. I think it would be a better idea to wait and see. Please keep me informed on how he is doing.
Kind Regards,
Caglar Kondu Erkip