PLEASE help! Suffering Kitty

greenvillegal

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My boyfriend's cat Memphis is suffering something awful. We think he is constipated, as he will eat, run over to the litter box and squat, only to sit there for a couple minutes and nothing comes out. He seems to be very uncomfortable and maybe even in pain. My boyfriend and I are both worried about him. Should we be very concerned, or is there something we could try and we shouldn't be too worried yet? This has been happening for a day or so. We bought some wet food to give him, thinking that would loosen his stool a little bit. Thank you for any advice.
 

reddicequeen

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That sounds like the way my cat Remy was behaving when he had his urinary tract infection. I would take him to the vet. They can run a urinalysis and make sure. If its constipation they will recommend some different types of cat laxative. I hope he is alright....
 

amberthe bobcat

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As stated, this could be a urinary tract infection, but if he is not having a bowel movement, he very well could be constipated or worse yet, have an impacted colon. Please contact your veterinarian asap.
 
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greenvillegal

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Thank you for the advice, we are going to take care of him as soon as possible.
 

luvmy2cats

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Call the vet. My cat has trouble with constapation sometimes. I thought I was going to have to take him to the vet on a really bad instance but he managed to poop.
 

goldenkitty45

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When males have trouble going its not a case of waiting around. Is he PEEING? If not, get him into the vet or you will lose him quickly. If he's blocked and can't pee, he will be dead in a few days.

And normally they do not eliminate right after they eat - its usually 20-30 mins after eating they might need to go.
 

tickytat

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Definitely let us know what the vet says. Hopefully it's not a UTI (urinary tract infection) which can be very serious for male cats. But if it's constipation the vet says, I recommend switching Memphis to an all wet cat food diet. It's the only thing that helped my Mitties, and she suffered from constipation for over a year. Good luck, I know how you feel.
 
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greenvillegal

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Hi everybody,

Thanks for your concern and kind words. My boyfriend and I laid down to go to sleep Saturday night, but poor Memphis was growling and meowing and didn't seem to want to move. So we got dressed and took him to the vet immediately because he seemed to be deteriorating fast. The vet was so nice and said that he had some crystals build up in his wee wee and wasn't constipated, but actually needed to pee but had a urethral blockage. They kept him over Saturday and Sunday night and catheterized him and gave him some medicines and such. He came home this morning and is doing great!
 

jen

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That is great that he is okay. You might want to switch him to a mostly wet food diet and think about the quality of dry food you are giving him too.
 

menasmom

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Originally Posted by Jen

That is great that he is okay. You might want to switch him to a mostly wet food diet and think about the quality of dry food you are giving him too.
Okay, now I'M scared. I have a male cat (neutered) and now I'm wondering if I should be feeding him Purina Cat Chow DRY (he also gets wet food 2x a day). But now I'm scared about the problem SHE was having with her cat and the urethral blockage.
QUESTION: What is the best dry food that will help avoid that problem??
 

muttigreemom

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Originally Posted by menasmom

Okay, now I'M scared. I have a male cat (neutered) and now I'm wondering if I should be feeding him Purina Cat Chow DRY (he also gets wet food 2x a day). But now I'm scared about the problem SHE was having with her cat and the urethral blockage.
QUESTION: What is the best dry food that will help avoid that problem??
First off, I just want to say that yes this is a very serious problem and yes, something you need to be aware of.

I went through it once and it was VERY scary and almost ended very badly.
(see here: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...ht=hug+furkids )

I'm not trying to scare you, but after I went through it I'm a little nuts about warning people about this. No one told us before hand.

He was on Iams at the time. Our vet told us the key things you need to look out for in cat food to make sure this won't happen (or at the very least, has the least chance of happening) are as follows:

1. Food should have a low magnesium content
2. Food should have a low ash content
3. Food should have a pH of - I believe it's about 6.5? (Someone please correct me on that one)
4. The cat needs a lot of moisture, whether it is from drinking water or wet food.

Based on this alone, I will never feed Iams again, but this is just my personal opinion on the matter. Now before I buy a cat food I email the manufacturer and have them fax me a list of the complete nutritional breakdown of their food (moreso than what is listed on the package). They have always been very helpful and glad to give it to me.

Hope that helps some
 

menasmom

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Originally Posted by MuttigreeMom

First off, I just want to say that yes this is a very serious problem and yes, something you need to be aware of.

I went through it once and it was VERY scary and almost ended very badly.
(see here: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...ht=hug+furkids )

I'm not trying to scare you, but after I went through it I'm a little nuts about warning people about this. No one told us before hand.

He was on Iams at the time. Our vet told us the key things you need to look out for in cat food to make sure this won't happen (or at the very least, has the least chance of happening) are as follows:

1. Food should have a low magnesium content
2. Food should have a low ash content
3. Food should have a pH of - I believe it's about 6.5? (Someone please correct me on that one)
4. The cat needs a lot of moisture, whether it is from drinking water or wet food.

Based on this alone, I will never feed Iams again, but this is just my personal opinion on the matter. Now before I buy a cat food I email the manufacturer and have them fax me a list of the complete nutritional breakdown of their food (moreso than what is listed on the package). They have always been very helpful and glad to give it to me.

Hope that helps some
Wow, thanks!!! What dry food do you feed your cats? I'm going to click on the link you included in your reply so I can read it.
Thanks again!
 

muttigreemom

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Originally Posted by menasmom

Wow, thanks!!! What dry food do you feed your cats? I'm going to click on the link you included in your reply so I can read it.
Thanks again!
Right now my boys are on a combo of raw and Innova Evo, but I'm constantly on the hunt for the best food, so their diet is subject to change at any moment
I've been looking into some other options like Orijen and... there was another that I'm blanking on the name of... it'll come to me...

They also occasionally get grain free wet food (when I'm temporarily out of raw) and I have a large water dish for them - one of those ones that look like a water cooler - so theres always enough water around for them.

Glad to help
 

menasmom

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Where can I buy Innova Evo? I've never heard of it and haven't seen it in PetSmart (where I usually do my cat food shopping).
 

muttigreemom

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menasmom

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Originally Posted by MuttigreeMom

http://www.naturapet.com/where-to-buy/ That should help.

There are other good foods out there if you can't get this one.

Here's the info for Orijen too. I've been trying to try this one out, but no one near me sells it.

http://www.championpetfoods.com/orijen/storeLocator/

The wet food I give them is usually either Innova canned and Wellness (but only the grain free flavors)... but have also done Canine Caviar when I can get my hands on it.
Thanks. I went on the natura pet website and found a store nearby in Lake Worth, FL that sells it. I only wish they had the prices on the site. But I'm definitely going to go to that store and check it out in a couple of weeks (I'm leaving for Monterey Friday for a short vacation).
Thanks again!!
 

muttigreemom

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Don't be put off by the price. I think for a 9lb (is that the size they usually are? I forget) bag it was like $17... but because it doesn't have all the fillers of typical cat food, they actually eat less of it, so you go through it slower.

Glad to help
 

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Originally Posted by MuttigreeMom

Don't be put off by the price. I think for a 9lb (is that the size they usually are? I forget) bag it was like $17... but because it doesn't have all the fillers of typical cat food, they actually eat less of it, so you go through it slower.

Glad to help
I just switched to Orijen for my dry and it's true, they like it a lot, but do eat less than the other dry food I was using. Of course, I'm also upping the amount of wet food and giving less dry in the hopes our sweet butterball Bijou will drop a few pounds.
 
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