Description

Pain and/or difficulty during defaecation

Occurrence

Typically seen in patients with

- inflammation of the large bowel (colitis) or rectum

- in severe constipation when the animal has large, bulky, dry, hard, impacted faeces,

- the presence of undigested, sharp bone fragments in faeces

- obstruction of the large bowel (distal colon and rectum) e.g. perineal hernia with bowel loop trapped, intussusception , neoplasia (cancer) - rectal or perineal region, inflammation of the prostate (prostatitis), or cancer of the prostate.

- impacted anal glands

Differentiation

Care is need to differentiate between dyschezia and urinary tract obstruction (e.g. stones (uroliths) in the lower urinary tract or feline lower urinary tract disease) which can cause pain and excessive straining (with defaecation as a consequence).

Last updated : October 2013