Constipation

Hello everyone,

I have this 11 year old cat, Kitty, who is always constipated. In the last year or so she has had many enimas and is now on a high fibre diet which consists of canned food. Recently she has stopped eating the food and will not even eat kibble. I think she is backed up again and I might have to take her into the vet for some more enimas.
Poor thing, how many can you do to her?! The vet says because she is overweight that she can not push the stool out as well as she use to, she does try her darnest though. They have run blood tests and x-rays on her and everything is normal expect they see big hard stool stuck in her, in the x-ray.

Does anyone know of something I can give her to keep her stool soft? I had thought the high fibre canned food with some warm water would help but now it's not doing anything as she is backup again. I'm stumped on what to give her now. She will now not eat anything because I guess she is uncomfortable, I don't blame her. She was throwing up white bile friday morning but nothing since. She's going into the vet tomorrow.

Anybody have any suggestions for constipated cats?

Since most of the conventional treatments don't seem to be working, I would ask your vet about a prescription to help her. It's called Lactulose. It works very well.

Thank-you for your reply.
I have tried Lactulose in the past and it did work very well, only I stopped when she started to feel better and was back to her normal self again. I guess maybe she will have to stay on it permantately now? I didn't know if you could keep them on it for that long, maybe just when it flares up I guess. I'll have to make sure she has a good supply of that stuff from now on.

I just wish there was something out there to prevent constipation from occuring so often.
Does anybody know of any home remedies to use? I've heard of Olive oil or Minerial oil helps, I can't see me giving her this. She's fussy lately about her food she knows when I try to disguise something in her food and she is very difficult to give pills too.
I guess being elderly, she's too set in her old ways. Poor girl!
Thanks again, I'll mention the Lactulose again to the vet tomorrow.

You can try putting some fish oil in her food. They usually like it because it smells and tastes like fish. You can get it in pet stores or online. The brand I like is made by DVM called 3V liquid.

A little canned pumpkin couldn't hurt either. I would also give her some hair ball remedy as it is a laxitive. Give her more play time if you can as exersize is also a good way to get things moving!

Thanks for your suggestions, I'll be sure to try those items you mentioned.

I took Kitty in today to the vet. I dropped her off early in the morning before the Doctor was in so I had to wait all day for her to call me back on her findings.
I assumed kitty was having another one of her episodes where she was backed up again. But when I called the vet she said that she didn't feel that she needed to have any enimas done on her, that instead they were running blood work and giving her IV fluids.
That's not good, since I didn't request it to be done.
She is staying overnight and I have to wait until after 10am tomorrow for the results. I don't understand how she could have developed anything so fast after the other blood tests that were done on her that came up normal. I'm worried now. I mean I know she had a problem but now it's turning extreme and happening more often. I looked at my records and found that her last blood test was last sept 02 and only 5 months later she had to go in again for some more enimas. Two months after that she had to undergo more enimas. I didn't bother with the blood tests then because she had already gotten them done 7 months prior.
I hope she is ok, I won't be able to sleep tonight. She's my little baby, I'd do anything for her!

I'll keep you posted, thank-you all for your help.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

Thank-you for keeping your fingers crossed for me, it must have worked!

I called the vet this morning and she said that Kitty's bloodwork is normal. Whew! I cried last night expecting the worst! I'm so glad it's nothing severe. They said they gave her a few enimas this morning and she was able to pass a little bit of stool but not enough so that she could be considered good enough to come home yet. She is off the IV fliuds so that is also good which means she is starting to eat a bit. They are giving her a few more enimas and keeping her another night to see if she can pass some more.

Has anybody ever heard of this happening to a cat so frequently? I mean she gets backed up every few months and I do give her hairball remedy often to try and keep it under control. I guess from now on she must be on some kind of prescription, it's the only way to prevent this from happening all the time. I hope it helps somewhat at least! Does anybody have any suggestions that I can make to my vet other than Lactulose? I mean that worked well to cure it up right away but I need something else she can stay on to prevent it from occuring.
This just seems odd to me because I think and average cat's weight is between 8-12 pounds, right? Kitty is maybe only 2 pounds overweight, so how can she be having so much trouble trying to push it out? It's just a weird situation...

I will try some of the home remedy suggestions you all mentioned also.
Thank-you all so much! This is a great site for support, I'm glad I stumbled across it! It's nice to know there are a lot of other cat lovers out there who care.

This is kitty (See attached pic)

I wonder if she is blocked by hair? Have they done an ultra sound on her to see if there are any obstructions? I don't suppose at her age the vet is keen to do surgery on her, but perhaps something is just obstructing her and the right procedure might just move it down her system?

As for illnesses popping up suddenly, that happens when you own a cat, especially if the cat is under almost ongoing stress (like this beauty sounds like she is) Those enemas are no fun for her and going to the vet has to be terrifying for her as well. I would try warmed up canned pumpkin or fish oil in her canned food and see if that doesn't bring her some relief.

That's what I was thinking also, that something is blocking passageway but they did an x-ray a year ago it just showed the big hard stool stuck in her. We just don't know why it gets so big and hard for her to pass it. It's more than likely it's hair related but that then makes me wonder why the hairball remedy isn't working. I'll try brushing her more often but she growls at me everytime I try to do it. I hate to upset her so that's why I stop trying. She'll just have to put up with it now I guess, we have to try and fight this thing!

I don't think they did an x-ray this time around but I'll make sure I request it tomorrow when I call to see how she is... thanks for reminding me.

I can see her being under stress with the other cats around but I try to minimize it as much as I can by keeping them separate and paying more attention to her. Stress from going to the vet I can't help but she only goes when it is absolutely neccessary.(Poor girl was happy and content just as I was about to take her in and then when she saw the carrier she froze and got that scared look..my poor sweetpea)
I do hate to have her go through those enemas but it's the only way to clear what keeps getting blocked, as I said before she refused to eat or drink for 3 days so I had to do something. It's the only way I know when something is wrong with her because she hides her pain very well. Which is why I'm trying to find a better prevention other than the hairball remedy and lactulose.

I know she might take the fish oil (is cod liver oil, ok? or is there something else I should use?)But I don't think she will eat the canned pumpkin, she doesn't eat people food. The only thing she ever wanted of people food was yogurt. I gave her a taste one time and now when I eat it she perks up because she knows what it is and wants some. But I don't give that to her anymore,only the odd time when I have it I will give her the spoon to lick but that is about all she would really take at one time anyway.

I'll at least try the pumpkin though, I've heard many people recommend it.
Thanks.