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Constipated cat help


Kanin
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Help, my poor old cat is constipated! She usually poops once per day, and now she's skipping 1-3 days. She is eating and drinking as usual.

She's on meds for hyperthyroid, and she's got an appointment for a blood draw to see if the levels should be changed. She also has moderate kidney disease, so I'm wondering if that's gone downhill as well. She's definitely urinating more frequently than in recent months. She's 18, maybe 19 and I hate to see her having issues 😞 

Are there any home remedies I can give her while we wait for the appointment? 

 

 

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6 minutes ago, Terabith said:

Miralax.  We give a half teaspoon twice a day, mixed in with wet food, at the vet’s suggestion. 

Oh wow, half teaspoon twice a day! I was doing 1/4 tsp once per day. That's probably not doing enough. 

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5 minutes ago, Kanin said:

Oh wow, half teaspoon twice a day! I was doing 1/4 tsp once per day. That's probably not doing enough. 

I mean, we started out there. We just didn’t get movement at that dose, so vet told us to give more.  She was disimpacted at vet first with an enema.  Now, I also have two cats, so we had issues where the one who needed it would invariably eat the food that didn’t have it.  So now I put it in both bowls.  She might get more than she needs some days and less others. Obama mostly poops outside, so I don’t have a good sense of how it affects him, but he seems no worse for wear.  

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5 minutes ago, Terabith said:

I mean, we started out there. We just didn’t get movement at that dose, so vet told us to give more.  She was disimpacted at vet first with an enema.  Now, I also have two cats, so we had issues where the one who needed it would invariably eat the food that didn’t have it.  So now I put it in both bowls.  She might get more than she needs some days and less others. Obama mostly poops outside, so I don’t have a good sense of how it affects him, but he seems no worse for wear.  

That's good to know. We have an appt on Wednesday. Hopefully no enema needed, but maybe. 

I love the name Obama for a cat, by the way 🙂 

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This is actually an emergency. Cat's get somethign called "mega colon" from being constipated, and it can be very very serious. You need vet visit ASAP, the cat may need an enema, and will likely need meds for quite a long time. Usually lactulose, at least back in hte day. It's just a sugar solution, not harmful, but gathers water into the intestines. It has to be done for a long time in order for the colon to go back to its non stretched state, or the constipation will keep happening. 

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10 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

This is actually an emergency. Cat's get somethign called "mega colon" from being constipated, and it can be very very serious. You need vet visit ASAP, the cat may need an enema, and will likely need meds for quite a long time. Usually lactulose, at least back in hte day. It's just a sugar solution, not harmful, but gathers water into the intestines. It has to be done for a long time in order for the colon to go back to its non stretched state, or the constipation will keep happening. 

Eek, thanks. Is there a time frame here? She usually poops once per day, but in the past there have been times when it's every 2 days.

She actually went yesterday morning, so it's not been more than 24 hours yet. She went 2 days without going right before that, so I got worried and gave some Miralax and it took 2 days to take effect.

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Yes it can be an emergency. My last cat died of complications of an impaction. We actually took her to the vet just because she seemed a little off. There were a few cats in the house so we didn't know that she wasn't pooping. Anyhow, by the time we took her in it was to the point where the vet recommended surgery or euthanasia. We couldn't afford the surgery and she didn't seem sick enough to put down so we took her home and tried lots of home remedies and she lasted at least another month.

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6 hours ago, KidsHappen said:

Yes it can be an emergency. My last cat died of complications of an impaction. We actually took her to the vet just because she seemed a little off. There were a few cats in the house so we didn't know that she wasn't pooping. Anyhow, by the time we took her in it was to the point where the vet recommended surgery or euthanasia. We couldn't afford the surgery and she didn't seem sick enough to put down so we took her home and tried lots of home remedies and she lasted at least another month.

Oh no, that's awful 😞

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