Obstipation MEDS !? Cat Food

[font=Arial,sans-serif]Hi there  Sorry if this is so long-winded but I am a bit overwhelmed with all the info I have been reading on the internet the past few days...there are so many different opinions.    Our 7 year old American short  hair (orange tabby) cat just returned 2 days ago from an overnight stay at our vet. He had to be put under and had an obstipation removed.  There was a hard ball of stool right at his tail end which she said she was "perplexed" about, and according to the x-rays the hard stool went up into the "U" shape part of the intestines. They found that beyond that was soft stool during the obstipation removal.  So he is now all cleaned out.  I asked the tech and pharmacist if they knew if the blockage contained a lot of hair since they had an up close and personal view of what was in there. No one seemed to know and said they would leave a note for the vet ( i haven't heard back)  According the vet his blood work was perfect, no issue with kidneys or anything else. She said it did not look like he had Megacolon. Although, he was found to have a heart murmur and an enlargement of his heart during his exam. He is fixed and has no other history of health issues besides these. He seems to only like hard kibble or real cooked meat (chicken steak...a little plain piece of what we are eating). He will not eat soft cat food or even kitty treats. But I'm going to attempt to transition him to the soft anyway.  They want him on Hills Science Diet WD formula-dry and the meds Lactulose and Cisapride. We were told he would probably have to take these for the rest of his life. I do not feel comfortable giving him this prescription food considering how bad I hear it is.... and why would he be put on all the meds for life if he does not have Megacolon or constant problem with passing stool. He has only had one issue with constipation in his life so far and he did go within a few days and when he did go, it seemed to be caused by excess hair from what I observed[/font]. Also,  after reading that the cisipride was taken of the marked for causing heat problems...why would the vet prescribe it to our cat if he already has a heart issue?  One final question, will he be moving his bowels right away or will it take a day or so.....  Its hard to tell if he has moved his bowels due to him being an indoor-outdoor cat.  Also, considering how he seems disgusted by wet food,  do you think switching to a higher quality dry be fine as long as i increase his water some how.  I was considering Blue Buffalo wilderness grain free which I've read is great for our little carnivores, but am worried about the constipation now.  wheeew!    Thank you so much. 

Awww.... :heart2: Poor little guy!

First of all, if you want to learn about feline constipation, there is no better site than this: http://www.felineconstipation.org/

If this were my kitty, I'd put the work into getting him switched to canned food. You don't need it to happen overnight, you just need to be persistent and patient.

This post has links to various transition tips: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/247076/...-to-give-feeding-bozita-dry-food#post_3233769

(Some may be related to transitioning to raw feeding, but the principles are the same!)

I'd also do what I do to help kitties pass hair: I give 1/2 a capsule of egg yolk lecithin daily sprinkled on their food. (This is the one I use: http://www.swansonvitamins.com/swanson-premium-egg-yolk-lecithin-60-caps Others use this one: The one I use has rice powder in it, so it's drier and easier to sprinkle the capsule. The Nature's Plus is sticky, and a little hard to get out of the capsule. I've used both, and they work equally well, IMO).

This helps to emulsify the fat that binds up the hair.

Then given his issues have been rather severe, I'd use the concoction our holistic D.V.M. gave us for our Chumley. His issue was diarrhea, but the fiber and its use is for either constipation or diarrhea. The fiber used is slippery elm bark powder (which has additional anti-inflammatory properties, and soothes and coats). I buy loose powder from the health food store, it's very inexpensive. The usual recommendation is to use boiling water - our vet had us use George's (specifically that brand) aloe vera juice. It isn't organic, but organic is bitter, so cats won't eat it. George's has no preservatives in it and no taste at all. The recipe is one tablespoon of aloe vera juice, and add to it 1/4 teaspoon of slippery elm bark. We used it twice a day. There are others on here using it successfully just twice a week.

Others use pumpkin as a fiber to keep things moving. Just plain pumpkin, one to three teaspoons a day.

As he's indoor-outdoor... I'm not sure how you'd tell if he's having bowel movements or not.

Thank You    Through it all, he was such a good boy.  He hadn't been eating before a few days before we took him in. It was New Years eve and I could not get anyone to take him until the Jan 2nd. I was syringe feeding him water,mushed food, giving Petromalt, vaseline in his bottom & warm water enemas NOTHING was working to get him to go . He was very tolerant of me!  I just wanted to keep him hydrated until we could get him to a vet.  I was so worried about him not drinking water!

I've read about the pumpkin, slippery elm & aloe vera juice.  I just didn't know where to start?  When we got him home, I tried mixing chunky canned whipped up in my mini chopper and dry with water and added & a bit of salmon oil.  He licked at it & ate it eventually     So i bought a quality canned food which was more of the patee type not the chunky kind and did the same thing and he would not touch it. I've wet his new Blue Buffalo dry food with warm water and he lapped up the "soup" which is great for the extra water I wanted to get in him! But then he won't eat the kibble because it was now wet?  Silly cat...he hates wet food. I've tried so many combos  It's starting to make me a little nuts! lol  I think I'll try the pumpkin first...I hope he likes it?   I don't want to give him too many different things at once.  I've also bought some psyllium powder to mix with water and food..don't know if he'll eat it though.  And I used to think cats were so low maintenance Ha

Also,   if he wont eat the pumpkin... I will try the Aloe vera juice and slippery elm bark powder .....you mentioned boiling water added to it,  How much? Just enough to dissolve the powder?

I've seen a video on how someone made a little sand pit in the yard for their cat to use.  Sound good, but I wouldn't want other cats using it.    I'll have to check his usual spots for new activity