Okay, hang with me here -- there's a bit of a (necessary?) back story.
Liz (a bit over 6 years old) had a scary bout of a mystery illness a few weeks ago. Her intestines were inflamed/swollen, her liver wasn't properly functioning, and a couple types of her white blood cells were low to a point that the vet had never even seen before. (She was bad and we weren't sure she was going to pull through.) The vet had run blood tests, a barium series, and x-rays. Tests for feline AIDS, leukemia, heartworms came back negative, so she was placed on Prednisone, Flagyl, and amoxi drops in the hopes that would help the problem -- whatever it was.
Last appointment with the vet was on Monday and she was astounded at how well she was doing (her intestines showed no sign of how screwed up they had been and her liver seemed to be back into shape.) Since during the worst of her illness, Liz hadn't been eating (although the Prednisone made her drink/urinate a lot), the vet had us giving her about a jar-and-a-half of baby food (a specific kind of chicken/gravy from Gerber) and continue with the meds.
As Liz started to feel better, she started to eat some of her regular dry food, but not lots, so the vet (at that check-up on Monday) said that we still needed to continue with the baby food at 1.5 jars (even though she was eating a bit of dry food) because she needed to gain back the weight she'd lost before we took her off Prednisone.
We've been trying to maintain the 1.5 jar/day routine, but my concern is that she hasn't pooped since around last Tues/Wed. I know that in a healthy cat, this would be cause for alarm, but since Liz is on a weird diet right now, I'm not sure what "normal" should be. The vet is closed on Sunday (today) and I can't get ahold of her at home to determine whether, not that Liz is back up to a decent weight, we can cut back on the food since she's got lots of it going in, but very little coming out (a side effect from the antibiotics, perhaps).
Anyway, she doesn't seen to be in distress. She's playing, etc. I haven't seen her strain in the litter box (or even try to poop). I've administered some of the Laxitone the vet had given me for when she wasn't pooping earlier in this illness, so I'm hoping that will help.
In the meantime, what are your thoughts on the following:
1. Am I okay cutting back on the vet's order of 1.5 jar/day since she's eating on her own a bit and still not pooping out what she's been accumulating in there since the middle of last week?
2. If she's not appearing in discomfort now, should she be okay until her scheduled recheck vet visit tomorrow at 5:45pm.
3. What should I be keeping my eyes out for in the meantime in case she is dangerously constipated?
Thanks, all -- and so sorry about the length of the post!
Liz (a bit over 6 years old) had a scary bout of a mystery illness a few weeks ago. Her intestines were inflamed/swollen, her liver wasn't properly functioning, and a couple types of her white blood cells were low to a point that the vet had never even seen before. (She was bad and we weren't sure she was going to pull through.) The vet had run blood tests, a barium series, and x-rays. Tests for feline AIDS, leukemia, heartworms came back negative, so she was placed on Prednisone, Flagyl, and amoxi drops in the hopes that would help the problem -- whatever it was.
Last appointment with the vet was on Monday and she was astounded at how well she was doing (her intestines showed no sign of how screwed up they had been and her liver seemed to be back into shape.) Since during the worst of her illness, Liz hadn't been eating (although the Prednisone made her drink/urinate a lot), the vet had us giving her about a jar-and-a-half of baby food (a specific kind of chicken/gravy from Gerber) and continue with the meds.
As Liz started to feel better, she started to eat some of her regular dry food, but not lots, so the vet (at that check-up on Monday) said that we still needed to continue with the baby food at 1.5 jars (even though she was eating a bit of dry food) because she needed to gain back the weight she'd lost before we took her off Prednisone.
We've been trying to maintain the 1.5 jar/day routine, but my concern is that she hasn't pooped since around last Tues/Wed. I know that in a healthy cat, this would be cause for alarm, but since Liz is on a weird diet right now, I'm not sure what "normal" should be. The vet is closed on Sunday (today) and I can't get ahold of her at home to determine whether, not that Liz is back up to a decent weight, we can cut back on the food since she's got lots of it going in, but very little coming out (a side effect from the antibiotics, perhaps).
Anyway, she doesn't seen to be in distress. She's playing, etc. I haven't seen her strain in the litter box (or even try to poop). I've administered some of the Laxitone the vet had given me for when she wasn't pooping earlier in this illness, so I'm hoping that will help.
In the meantime, what are your thoughts on the following:
1. Am I okay cutting back on the vet's order of 1.5 jar/day since she's eating on her own a bit and still not pooping out what she's been accumulating in there since the middle of last week?
2. If she's not appearing in discomfort now, should she be okay until her scheduled recheck vet visit tomorrow at 5:45pm.
3. What should I be keeping my eyes out for in the meantime in case she is dangerously constipated?
Thanks, all -- and so sorry about the length of the post!
