My cat's bowel movements are not normal

I switched her pretty quickly. I am almost 100% convinced this is my fault. I know it is my fault. I just hope I can fix it in a reasonable amount of time and then slowly, very slowly wean her off dry. I MESSED UP.

AbbyNTim said:

 
I haven't read all the replies yet, but so sorry Enya is constipated!

One other thing to consider with her constipation is transition time. How quickly did you switch her from dry to wet? The abrupt change could have thrown her off. When we transitioned our cats from 90% dry to 100% wet, we did it gradually over several months. You might want to keep her on a mix of wet and dry for now, then slooooowwwwly give her more wet and less dry, monitoring the litter box for changes in bowel habits.

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I switched her pretty quickly. I am almost 100% convinced this is my fault. I know it is my fault. I just hope I can fix it in a reasonable amount of time and then slowly, very slowly wean her off dry. I MESSED UP. One of the things that I did poorly was I was flip flopping her between dry food while experimenting with canned because she seemed to be okay with me doing that...and until she became constipated. I assumed because she did not get the runs that she was okay. I am just going to try to get her pooping again on wet food and dry and keep it stable several months, then slowly decrease the dry.   

@Thehistorian : Don't beat yourself up over this. We all make mistakes as we are learning about different foods and how they can effect cats. The important thing is that your kitty will recover and you can try again, armed with an approach that will be safer, healthier and successful.

oneandahalfcats said:

 
@Thehistorian : Don't beat yourself up over this. We all make mistakes as we are learning about different foods and how they can effect cats. The important thing is that your kitty will recover and you can try again, armed with an approach that will be safer, healthier and successful.

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I am so upset. Enya got her enema on Saturday. She still has not pooped since Saturday. It is 9:58PM on Monday night. I am near tears. I have no more money to pay for constant vet visits. I am afraid I will have to put my cat down at five years old because she cannot poop. I have no money to find out what is wrong.

Thehistorian said:

I am so upset. Enya got her enema on Saturday. She still has not pooped since Saturday. It is 9:58PM on Monday night. I am near tears. I have no more money to pay for constant vet visits. I am afraid I will have to put my cat down at five years old because she cannot poop. I have no money to find out what is wrong.

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Wait a minute. This is fairly normal. Remember what I said above, that it can take some time for feces to accumulate again, after an enema. You just have to be patient.

There was a member who was in the same situation with her kitty who received an enema, earlier this year. There was a delay in BMs but eventually her kitty went. It shouldn't cost you something to speak with your vet over the phone, so I would suggest that you get in touch in the morning, and let your vet know of your concerns. They should be able to guide you and provide some support.

Hang in there ...

oneandahalfcats said:

Wait a minute. This is fairly normal. Remember what I said above, that it can take some time for feces to accumulate again, after an enema. You just have to be patient.

There was a member who was in the same situation with her kitty who received an enema, earlier this year. There was a delay in BMs but eventually her kitty went. It shouldn't cost you something to speak with your vet over the phone, so I would suggest that you get in touch in the morning, and let your vet know of your concerns. They should be able to guide you and provide some support.

Hang in there ...

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Thank you. I am so nervous I keep jumping to the worst thoughts. I am trying. You guys will be the first to hear about it when Enya returns to normal. Thank you all so much for your help and advice right now. It is keeping me at least somewhat sane.

Try to relax tonight (easier said than done, I know) and call your vet tomorrow morning.

If it helps, when Tim recently had diarrhea, he did not have a BM again for over 48 hours. Our vet had prepared me for this, but I was still nervous until he finally went. Keep an eye on Enya to see whether she's visiting the box and straining or exhibiting any other unusual behavior or signs. Your vet will likely want to know about anything when you speak with him or her.

Thehistorian said:

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Thank you. I am so nervous I keep jumping to the worst thoughts. I am trying. You guys will be the first to hear about it when Enya returns to normal. Thank you all so much for your help and advice right now. It is keeping me at least somewhat sane.

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One thing you can do which will help both of you to relax, is to bond. If she likes being petted and stroked, gently massaging Enya's belly with long strokes starting from the top to her lower abdomen. This can help to relax her and may also stimulate her to have a bowel movement, as massage can bring on peristalsis.

Good news! I went and checked Enya's litter box this morning and she had deposited a healthy size BM. I have never been so happy to see cat poop in my entire life. Now the goal is to keep it up to once a day or once every other day. I think the laxatone worked. If I can get her to go regularly on that I will try to get her off of it. I have her on one dry food. I mainly alternate her wet foods between Weruva cats in the kitchen fish free varieties: Fowl Ball, The Double Dip. I use some of the truluxe line of weruva too. When I finish the Truluxe line up I am probably not going to use it again because you pay a lot of money for just water content - something I can add here at home. Here main non-Weruva wet is Nutro Natural Choice fish free pâtés turkey, chicken, and duck. She loves pâtés. I sometimes feed Natural Choice Venison, some Wild Calling varieties, and Wellness Core here and there. I completely stopped Tiki cat as my instinct told me that while Tiki Cat may work for some cats, it was overwhelming mine. I don't advise against Tiki cat at all but it will work for some cats awesome, but not for others.

Thehistorian said:

Good news! I went and checked Enya's litter box this morning and she had deposited a healthy size BM. I have never been so happy to see cat poop in my entire life. Now the goal is to keep it up to once a day or once every other day. I think the laxatone worked. If I can get her to go regularly on that I will try to get her off of it. I have her on one dry food. I mainly alternate her wet foods between Weruva cats in the kitchen fish free varieties: Fowl Ball, The Double Dip. I use some of the truluxe line of weruva too. When I finish the Truluxe line up I am probably not going to use it again because you pay a lot of money for just water content - something I can add here at home. Here main non-Weruva wet is Nutro Natural Choice fish free pâtés turkey, chicken, and duck. She loves pâtés. I sometimes feed Natural Choice Venison, some Wild Calling varieties, and Wellness Core here and there. I completely stopped Tiki cat as my instinct told me that while Tiki Cat may work for some cats, it was overwhelming mine. I don't advise against Tiki cat at all but it will work for some cats awesome, but not for others.

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Fantastic! Very happy for you both. The wet food is good, but I would suggest keeping it simple in sticking with a single food or two that you know she does well on, while her bowels are getting back to normal.

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Fantastic news! So happy for you! I agree with @oneandahalfcats about limiting her canned food variety until things settle down.

Good idea. I already have a few cans of odd varieties lying around, though. I will have to check to see how long they keep. Here's hoping she takes another poop soon! I am keeping her as limited as I can given the number of cans I have stocked up on! I am not buying or introducing anymore new varieties. I have: Weruva Cats in the Kitchen Fowl Ball and the Double Dip, Truluxe On the Cat Wok, Quick and Quirky, and Glam N' Punk. Nutro Natural Choice pates Chicken, Turkey, and Duck. I have one can of Wild Calling Rabbit, One of Buffalo, and one of Duck. I have two Wellness Core Beef, Lamb, and Venison and three Natural Balance Venison. I used to have a crap ton of Tiki Cat, but I suspect that was way too much for my girl so I am giving it all away to a dear friend of mine and her boyfriend's cat. The cat is a lucky boy named Gizzy - he is my cat from another human. 

I am going to stick to the Weruva and Natural Choice brands with the Natural Balance Venison thrown in once and a while. The Wellness Core and Wild Calling stuff will have to be put on hold. As soon as the Truluxe brand is gone, though, I will not be buying it again. A. Enya was not thrilled with the shredded meat and B.) You get more water than meat for what you pay. Her indefinite long term line up though is Weruva Cats in the Kitchen fish free brands, Natural Choice fish free pates, and once and a while Natural Balance Venison. I will use the odd ball cans up when she recovers. 

Does that sound all right to you guys? Not too much, not too little? I want to keep her limited for now, but I don't want to suck all variety out of her life and 

Most cans are good for a long time. I have so many varieties from February and earlier, before I realized my male was getting sick every time he ate chicken. So I've got stacks and stacks of chicken, which I may try again in the near future or will get rid of. I would really limit Enya to dry and one or two canned flavors; sounds like that's your plan. Plenty of time for variety once things settle down.

It sounds like you have a decent variety. Remember that cats can develop allergies if fed too much of the same protein for a while, so be careful not to cut out too much variety!

Bad news. No poop this morning. I am depressed. I am coming to expect that she is never going to get better and that if she does she is going to be stuck on a slew of medicines and switched lord knows how often. Pumpkin only worked for two days. The laxatone only worked for a day.

Thehistorian said:

Bad news. No poop this morning. I am depressed. I am coming to expect that she is never going to get better and that if she does she is going to be stuck on a slew of medicines and switched lord knows how often. Pumpkin only worked for two days. The laxatone only worked for a day.

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Is it truly a consitpation issue, or is she just not a daily pooper? 

Trust me: it is constipation. More bad news: she has been scratching at her neck lump again and it is now becoming red and inflamed again. Again I think it is my fault. I have been taking her outside in my front yard on the harness for the last tree days hoping activity would help her. Can we say boom in my face. I better stop that. Uggghh I am losing my mind with frustration.

Enya is still having problems. I have added 1/4th a teaspoon of miralax to her evening meal tonight. She has not eaten it all yet but hopefully she will and it will help me get having BMs till I can get her back to the vet.

I'm sorry.  I hope she goes potty soon.