Constipated Cat -- Getting Better :)

[RPM]

Have any of your cats experienced this? My 14yo is very picky about canned foods, so I switch brands and flavors around trying to keep her happy. When I find one she likes, and try to stick with it, she gets tired of it, so buying just one brand consistently doesn’t work.

Yesterday morning she could not poop. I took her to the vet, who X-rayed her and gave her two enemas for all the backed-up poop the X-ray showed. We came home with a stool softener, which I gave her this morning. The vet also sent home some GI food, which she won’t touch.

Do any of you know of any canned foods that cause constipation? She has recently been enjoying Purely Fancy Feast, and Whiskas Purrfectly Chicken, both of which come with lots of gravy, which our vet recommended. She has been eating Purina Indoor dry, free choice, for years, and of course always has fresh water available.

She didn’t eat much breakfast this morning, but did eat some treats, and now I’m waiting around to see if she will eat any more and if she will poop.

[shiloh]

Sometimes when they eat canned food, they “forget” to drink. My on boy, Jack, does this. He rarely drinks and thus gets all backed up. Last time he had so much crap in him it was into his stomach, poor guy. Get some Mira-Lax or ClearLax and give her about a 1/4 to 1/2 tsp in food. That should help. Also try CatLax - it’s a flavored gel - my cats LOVE the stuff.

Now to address the feeding - she has you trained. Big Time. I used to do the same thing. Until I realized the hoops I was jumping thru and the waste. Now my cats have learned to eat what I put down. I figure if you ain’t eating, you ain’t hungry. Final answer. I put the food down for a few minutes and if it is not eaten, away it goes for 30 minutes. It gets put out again. If still no eating, I’ll try once more and then - that’s it until next feeding time. And if that’s at 5p and you feed breakfast at 8a - too bad. They usually eat by then. And if still nothing, then guess what gets served for breakfast the next day? If still no eating - then I figure they really hate it and I try something else. I don’t mess around. The trick is not to let them “break” you. You have to hold firm. And NO treats. And no dry food, either. Or they just camp on that which causes more problems.

Be strong and remember this is not MeowCDonald’s. Or Purrger King. :yes:

[Simkie]

@shiloh

Be strong and remember this is not MeowCDonald’s. Or Purrger King. :yes:

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

[emipou]

Just curious, does pumpkin help with cats being backed up? Or just with upset stomach?

[Louise]

Try mixing some water with the canned food. Sometimes, they don’t get enough in the canned food, but it is enough so that they don’t feel thirsty. And, I agree with Shiloh. It won’t hurt them to miss one meal and eventually, they do learn to eat what is in front of them. The one time I will be a little more of a softie is as they age. A senior cat gets just about anything it wants to eat.

[shiloh]

@emipou

Just curious, does pumpkin help with cats being backed up? Or just with upset stomach?

It works as a stool softener. It’s got a lot of fiber and is actually better long term for your pet than the OTC laxatives. Some cats adore the stuff - some do not. Mine acted like I was poisoning them. :rolleyes:

@Louise - old kittehs and sick (esp terminal kittehs), too. My little girl who had everything wrong with her was the only one that I kept cracking cans open til she decided she liked something enough to eat it.

[RPM]

Originally posted by shiloh:

Be strong and remember this is not MeowCDonald’s. Or Purrger King.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

When we got home from the vet’s she was ravenous. Or so she said. I put out some of the prescription food and she barely even sniffed at it. I poured off the water I had put with it; she still wouldn’t try it. So I opened some of her usual favorites and I think she finally deigned to eat the third one. The next day I went to the pet store and bought her some food with pumpkin, including Weruva Cats in the Kitchen Funk in the Trunk. She hasn’t eaten that well, but she has been enjoying a former favorite, Max Cat Duck.

I also bought a pouch of Pumpkin Jack Splash, which she won’t touch at all.

She was back to normal this morning, scarfing down the duck, and eating a few bites of people chicken. And she has had two good poops in two days!!! It is so wonderful to know she is feeling good again, and that everything is moving right along …

[Kyrabee]

I feed mine a combo of a prepared raw diet (RadCat) and canned. The RadCat does not have bone in it only some added psyllium for fiber. One has no problem with constipation but the other one, although never profoundly constipated, does have issues with hard stools that he has to strain with. What happens more often than not is that a poop gets stuck half out then he comes rocketing out of the litter box dragging his butt on the carpet:eek:. Certainly not his fault I occasionally find a turd on the floor. What has worked perfectly for him is for one feeding a day (they get two), he gets 1/8 teaspoon of Miralax in his food with a little added water to dissolve it. It works for him. The vet also said that Benefiber should work as that dissolves and has no taste so can be added to the wet food. The Miralax works so I have stuck (haha) with that.

Susan

[RPM]

I may get some Miralax. I also have some generic Benefiber or Metamucil that I got for myself last summer and haven’t needed after all. I will ask the vet about it if my kitty needs it. She had another nice poop this morning and is eating the canned foods that have gravy, and lapping up the gravy. I haven’t actually seen her drinking any water, but she is urinating as usual so maybe she is drinking enough. I am thinking of putting markers on her bowl to keep track easier. I haven’t needed to give her any more of the prescription stool softener, which is great!

My cupboard has the generic fiber supplement, a bottle of mineral oil, a bottle of MoM, and even a bottle of that soft-drink-like laxative, none of which I needed last summer, thank goodness. I can’t imagine a vet recommending MoM for a cat, but we have a few doses of the prescription stool softener left, and I just bought a new tube of her hairball remedy too.

[Zevida]

A few years ago my boys (now 16) who eat high protein grain free wet food started getting constipated. They now get 1/4 tsp of miralax mixed in AM and PM. It’s helped a lot and 98% of the time no issues. Occasionally they get a little loose but the biggest issue with that is usually just the smell since my big boy never covers up after himself.

[RPM]

My girl doesn’t always cover up either. She actually pooped three times yesterday and the third one, last night, was a little loose. She hasn’t pooped at all today yet but sometimes she doesn’t before bedtime. She has been drinking today, and eating well.

[RPM]

Well, it has been 48 hours since her last poop, at midnight Friday night. I gave her the prescription stool softener Wednesday morning and 4 hours later she pooped. Then Thursday she pooped, and three times on Friday, the last a little loose, at midnight. Then nothing. Sunday afternoon I gave her another dose of the stool softener, but no result yet, and it’s been 20 hours. I also gave her some hairball laxatone Sunday afternoon, and she drank water, some tuna water, and the gravy from a wet food that had pumpkin in it.

She hasn’t been trying to go today; she has eaten well and seems to feel fine, not uncomfortable like she did Tuesday morning, which made me take her to the vet. I was thinking that the 3 poops on Friday emptied her out and wasn’t too worried when she didn’t go on Saturday, but now it’s Sunday midnight and she still hasn’t gone.

Am I obsessing? They gave her two enemas as the vet’s on Tuesday, which cleared her out. She has been urinating as usual.

Help!

[Angela_Freda]

When using Miramax or other osmotic stool softener, be sure to add water to food. These stool softener need water to work.

[Chall]

Have you tried the organic grass plants they sell in pet stores?

[Zu_Zu]

[B]Miralax ~ on food once a day … every day …

• adjust the amount ( not the frequency ) if stool becomes :eek: too [/B]loose …

this is an easy fix ^ in most cases …have had to follow this with several older cats (over 10 yo)

[DMK]

I have a cat with megacolon, he gets generic miralax 3-4x a week (1/4 teaspoon but he is a giant MCC) and benefiber 3-4 x a week.

I started out w/miralax daily, but backed the daily part once he was moderately regular. He also gets mostly wet food (rabbit AM, fancy feast+TOTW in the PM, both with a bit of extra water added, and he is really good about drinking water so lack of moisture was not the problem.

[RPM]

Thanks. She went this morning and I was so relieved (as much as she was! lol). She likes one Weruva pumpkin food I bought, so I will get some more of that. It has lots of juice, which she drinks well. Last night I left out the prescription canned food with some tuna water, the only food I left out, but she did not eat any of it. For now I have taken up her dry free-choice food and will see if eating just canned food with water or gravy helps. I will also talk to the vet about Miralax. From what I read here and elsewhere it is a better option than lactulose in the syringe, but can given by syringe with water if necessary.

I will also check the indoor grass at the pet store next door. I’ve never fed that but I will try it. And the benefiber generic.

[Larksmom]

glad she is better. I had a cat who did get constipated, but she lived to be 19 and a half. She tried to never drink water, and back then, I fed meowmcdonalds, as I didn’t know any better. But then again, she lived longer than any cat I have had in 60 years, so go figure.

[RPM]

Today the vet advised against Miralax, saying better to see if my kitty’s system will regulate itself with diet. I agree, to a point, but I may get the Miralax anyway if she doesn’t get regulated consistently soon. She has never had a problem with constipation before, and it’s not like we did a big change in diet or anything else to bring it on, so it’s not like I can stop some food or something in hopes that will solve her problem. And I can’t give her a thimbleful of prune juice at bedtime!

I got her some cat grass, and some more food with pumpkin sauce, and more hairball remedy, which I am going to give her every day for a few days, as the tube says to do. I’m not going to bombard her with all of these at once, but I will try different ones until we find one that works. The other day I gave her a really thorough brushing, which she really enjoyed. I even deep-brushed her tail. She always love being brushed, and she liked this really thorough grooming even more than usual. Hopefully this will help with hairballs in case that is part of the problem.

[shiloh]

Good to have Miralax on hand just in case but you can get to rely on it too much. Better to have cat regulate herself. Thorough brushing also helps remove any potential for clogging up the drain. But instead of hairball remedy, try the CatLax - just every now and then. And 14 years is a long time in kitty years so something was bound to happen, it just happens to be the plumbing. And I bet you could get some prune juice in her with a syringe but you would be punished later for it. LOL