coming home after impaction- need high fiber food

sylorna

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Hi Guys
Our little Yuki has had a hard week (and so have we). We took her in for vomiting this past Wednesday and it turned out she was impacted. She's still at the vets, but at the last possible moment yesterday before seriously discussing the $1500 operation with the vet, her bowels started moving (I
Barium). We'll still have to wait to see what she ate to get her stuck so badly.
Anyway, she's still moving along and we should get her back probably Monday at this rate. The vet told me to get a high fibre diet set up for her to come home to. Fortunately we are at the end of a bag of dry. I went to the pet store today and chatted up the very knowledgeable lady there. She suggested Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul senior/hairball formula, since they already like it in wet. It's fibre is 8%. Does that sound about right? Any other suggestions? We were previously feeding Taste of the Wild.

In addition to this, I'd like to state my extreme jealousy over the prices for cat food in the states...having read some of the other posts tonight.
My 6lb bag of dry today cost $15.00, and the cans run me about $1.25 each for the Chicken Soup brand. Big bag is $40.00, so it's pretty comparable to what we were paying for Taste of the Wild.

Thanks for advice/suggestions/comments.
Jess
 

carolina

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Originally Posted by Sylorna

Hi Guys
Our little Yuki has had a hard week (and so have we). We took her in for vomiting this past Wednesday and it turned out she was impacted. She's still at the vets, but at the last possible moment yesterday before seriously discussing the $1500 operation with the vet, her bowels started moving (I
Barium). We'll still have to wait to see what she ate to get her stuck so badly.
Anyway, she's still moving along and we should get her back probably Monday at this rate. The vet told me to get a high fibre diet set up for her to come home to. Fortunately we are at the end of a bag of dry. I went to the pet store today and chatted up the very knowledgeable lady there. She suggested Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul senior/hairball formula, since they already like it in wet. It's fibre is 8%. Does that sound about right? Any other suggestions? We were previously feeding Taste of the Wild.

In addition to this, I'd like to state my extreme jealousy over the prices for cat food in the states...having read some of the other posts tonight.
My 6lb bag of dry today cost $15.00, and the cans run me about $1.25 each for the Chicken Soup brand. Big bag is $40.00, so it's pretty comparable to what we were paying for Taste of the Wild.

Thanks for advice/suggestions/comments.
Jess
My suggestion is to come from the vet with a prescription high fiber food from them... and not get advice from the petstore or online... Sorry to be blunt, but your cat is coming out of a bad situation, I would not risk it, not right now...

Hills has one Hills W/D, that your vet probably has in the office... I hated Hills, but I will tell you that nothing quite works like prescription food when it is necessary, and it seems to me that this might be the case.

If your kitty gets better, than you can see about transitioning her into a commercial brand... for now, frankly, I would not advise...

Just my 2 cents for what is worth...
 
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sylorna

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Thanks. I actually intend on having a small bag of whatever she recommends coming home with us, but the other cats need to start transitioning into the new food. She was the one who actually advised me to start looking for a high fibre brand at the pet food store, under the understanding that Yuki would be on the vet brand for a short time.
 

carolina

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I would also advise you to give her as much wet food as possible... Does she eat wet food? There is a good trick of adding mashed canned pumpkin into her regular food as a source of fiber...
 
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sylorna

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Yup, she eats wet twice a day.
We haven't tried the pumpkin trick with her yet. This is really the first issue we've had with her at all, so no reason to having tried it, but it's certainly a possibility in the future I suppose. Given that she's about 3 and slightly underweight at this point (not eating since Tuesday night will do that to you) I have to wonder about calories at this stage. Maybe I'll bring the new bag in with me to let the vet look. I was hoping to find other good quality high fibre options though, would hate to only have one.
 

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Ask the vet the same ?s you asked here...

I will also suggest since this is a first time ... asking if trying a maintence item like pumpkin, hairball lube and the original diet may be a solid treatment idea...
Remember Biologically cats need Very little fiber

Have the vet define High fiber( vet may be thinking 8% not 16% )... If it is the 5-8% range discuss hairball food ( which in many cases falls into this as it has more grain)... I see you covered this ... I would clarifiy it
 

otto

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Putting a cat with constipation problems on a high fiber food (especially a kibble) is actually counterproductive in many cases. Most fiber acts by drawing water to the colon, which makes the stool larger, which makes it even more difficult for kitty to pass.

When I first was dealing with constipation in Ootay
the vet I was using then just kept increasing the amount of fiber higher and higher in my poor tiny cat until her stools were as big as she was, and sure enough, a megacolon developed. Wish I knew then what I know now about fiber in cats.

Not everything works for every cat of course, but I would recommend discussing with your vet putting your cat on an all canned grain free diet, with no more than 1 to 1.5 % fiber in it, adding water to the canned food in addition.

This is what has worked for my current kitty with constipation issues, my Jennie.

Daily grooming to keep down the amount of fur ingested is important, as is plenty of daily exercise.
 

carolina

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Originally Posted by otto

Putting a cat with constipation problems on a high fiber food (especially a kibble) is actually counterproductive in many cases. Most fiber acts by drawing water to the colon, which makes the stool larger, which makes it even more difficult for kitty to pass.

When I first was dealing with constipation in Ootay
the vet I was using then just kept increasing the amount of fiber higher and higher in my poor tiny cat until her stools were as big as she was, and sure enough, a megacolon developed. Wish I knew then what I know now about fiber in cats.

Not everything works for every cat of course, but I would recommend discussing with your vet putting your cat on an all canned grain free diet, with no more than 1 to 1.5 % fiber in it, adding water to the canned food in addition.

This is what has worked for my current kitty with constipation issues, my Jennie.

Daily grooming to keep down the amount of fur ingested is important, as is plenty of daily exercise.
Hum... Discussing with the vet is the best thing IMO.
I do not have kitties with impactation or constiaption issues, but all here are on a fiber supplement and a grain free diet and do wonderful in it. Bugsy and Hope due to IBD issues, and Lucky because of hairballs and because of I can't separate the food from Bugsy. Since she started eating though, not once she has coughed another hair ball - not once...
Their poop is also better on the supplement that without it... Now... I am sure that not even with the fiber supplement, the percentage of fiber would be as high as a high fiber diet though...
And as I said, again, none of them have constipation issue to begin with, and all of them have been cleared with the vet to receive fiber. The IBD ones where prescribed by the vet. I just don't agree that fiber is generally a bad thing for cats... It really depends what is being used for...
I also agree with Otto all canned is a far better bet...
 
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sylorna

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Yeah, all canned is always a better bet, and if you can do it Raw feeding is better than that. It, unfortunately is not possible due to work and finance constraints, otherwise it would already be done.
What kind of fibre supplement do you give them?
We have indeed talked about giving her some hairball meds on a regular basis...which reminds me, I need to find my bottle. She said that there was a good chance Yuki would need both the laxative and the high fibre diet though. If I can find a way, I'd much rather stay with the original food and the extra meds...really liked Taste of the Wild.
 

otto

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Hairball medicine is not effective against chronic constipation.

Laxatives have to be continually increased as the body adjusts to the medicine.

Ask your vet about using Miralax.
 
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sylorna

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I think I need to talk to the vet because I need to find out what impacted her in the first place (hopefully this morning in about half an hour). I don't see the point in feeding her a high fibre food and laxatives if she is impacted from something she found on the floor....unless now that she's been impacted she'll be like that forever.

That makes sense, right?
 

otto

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It makes perfect sense. I recommend you write down all your questions so you don't forget any, and write down the answers, too. It's difficult to think and listen properly when you are worried about your beloved furbaby, at least I find it so.

Does your vet have voice mail or e mail? What works best for me and my vet, unless it's an immediate need to contact situation is, I leave all my questions on her voicemail, which gives her time to find the answers and then she calls me back.
 

carolina

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Originally Posted by Sylorna

Yeah, all canned is always a better bet, and if you can do it Raw feeding is better than that. It, unfortunately is not possible due to work and finance constraints, otherwise it would already be done.
What kind of fibre supplement do you give them?
We have indeed talked about giving her some hairball meds on a regular basis...which reminds me, I need to find my bottle. She said that there was a good chance Yuki would need both the laxative and the high fibre diet though. If I can find a way, I'd much rather stay with the original food and the extra meds...really liked Taste of the Wild.
I give them Vetasyl... And I mix extra water into their food... For Lucky who only eats dry, I just sprinkle it over her dry food, and mix it well - she loves it, as it has a malty flavor...
Again, ASK your VET. Here it works wonders, but as I said before, constipation is not my problem - hairball and IBD is. There seems to be lots of people who use it for constipation with great results though, you can read on reviews all over the place...
 
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sylorna

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she ended up getting worse overnight and went in for the operation this morning. The vet donated her fees towards us so we could keep her. It was a pink ribbon from a gift bag I had used for fathers day, and it was trapped in her stomach. Vet has high hopes for a good recovery. I'll know more in the morning.
 

carolina

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Originally Posted by Sylorna

she ended up getting worse overnight and went in for the operation this morning. The vet donated her fees towards us so we could keep her. It was a pink ribbon from a gift bag I had used for fathers day, and it was trapped in her stomach. Vet has high hopes for a good recovery. I'll know more in the morning.
Oh my goodness, that is so scary! Was she throwing up too? Usually there bad vomiting when that happens...
 
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sylorna

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Yeah, there was a lot of vomiting, that's what we brought her in with.

The surgery went well, and she has come home as of yesterday. Shes on a wet only diet for 2 weeks, and has a belly full of staples, but soooo happy to be home!

So I guess I don't need high fibre food anymore.
 

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Originally Posted by otto

Putting a cat with constipation problems on a high fiber food (especially a kibble) is actually counterproductive in many cases. Most fiber acts by drawing water to the colon, which makes the stool larger, which makes it even more difficult for kitty to pass.

When I first was dealing with constipation in Ootay
the vet I was using then just kept increasing the amount of fiber higher and higher in my poor tiny cat until her stools were as big as she was, and sure enough, a megacolon developed. Wish I knew then what I know now about fiber in cats.

Not everything works for every cat of course, but I would recommend discussing with your vet putting your cat on an all canned grain free diet, with no more than 1 to 1.5 % fiber in it, adding water to the canned food in addition.

This is what has worked for my current kitty with constipation issues, my Jennie.

Daily grooming to keep down the amount of fur ingested is important, as is plenty of daily exercise.
I agree with this 100 percent, this is exactly my story with my chronically constipated Dave.. and to look into Miralax too..

Sylorna, so glad your cat is doing well after the surgery to get out the ribbon from her belly!!!
 

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Wow, happy to hear that her issues are resolved. Sounds like when my parents dog chewed up their carpet and got a big impaction in her bowels. She was vomiting up a string but it was stuck and I told my mom to get her to a vet and don't pull the string. $1500 later they pulled a huge piece of carpet and 3 foot piece of string out.
Anyways, i have a kitty that has a mild case of megacolon. We tried the Hills W/D, canned pumpkin ect. It just made her more impacted from the higher fiber. Now I have her on a lower fiber dry and canned twice a day. She gets a small dose of Miralax once a day to every other day and she is great. I think that the higher fiber diets are the older way of thinking on how to treat megacolon and constipated kitties. The kitties I've seen at work and my own have responded better to the lower fiber and the addition of miralax or lactulose. I personally think miralax is better because on the lactulose she would go in between starting to get constipated to having blow outs when we increased her dose. This doesn't happen on miralax. This just what I have observed with these issues.
 

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mirilax for cats???how much?  my cat is at the vet now, getting his colon cleaned.  he has been on royal canin s/o for years for his urinary problems. jocelyn
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I gave my
Sven
1/4 teaspoon (miralax) dissolved in a little water and mixed in a little wet food twice a day for over a year.  It was a life saver for his chronic constipation.
 
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