Cat not had a bowel movement in 6 days.

My cat has been ill for the past few weeks with asthma and a UTI. I started another thread where I wrote all about her illnes. She has improved greatly over the past few days, but has not had a bowel movement in 6 days. She stopped eating and drinking so I began syringe feeding her 3 days ago. I am thinking perhaps there is not enough stool in her colon yet, but I am not convinced. She is on buprenex which I know can constipate. I am feeding her Hills urgent care wet food and am wondering if the richness of it could be contribtuing.

We called the Vet this morning but have not received an answer. I hate to be a pest and call again because I have called almost everyday for one thing or another this past week. Usually they call right back so maybe the Vet is not concerned? I just can't imagine how I would feel if I hadn't gone in 6 days. I'm sure it's not helping her appetite and eating on her own is our main goal.

you could add a few drops of vegetable/olive oil to her food or use miralax. but I would wait and see what the vet says first. mineral oil works also..

I would call the vet back. They may be having a busier than usual day.

How long had she not been eating before you started to syringe feed her?

Has she been checked for hepatic Lipidosis (fatty liver disease)?

How much are you feeding her daily?

You can try offering plain meat baby food as that sometimes entices them to eat.  Also, if she's not taking anything in of substance, there's nothing to come out.  You can also add plain canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling, but plain pureed pumpkin to her food to help.

I just got off the phone with the Vets office. They are not overly concerned because she was not eating on her own for a while so most likely she just doesn't need to go yet. She has been to the Vet multiple times in the past few weeks and they havn't said anything about fatty liver disease. She did lose 7 ounces (she was 9lbs to begin with), but I think I started syringe feeding her in time to stop any large weight loss. I am aiming for a full 5.5 ounce can a day, but she has trouble sometimes with that much so I settle for 3/4ths of the can instead.

Try warming the food up to enhance the aroma and then offer it to her.  That might help, too.

sprinkling fortiflora on the food helps them eat also. most cats love the taste..

I puree the food in the blender. You could add the pumpkin to that.

If it's the medication that is causing it, the vet can give you Lactulose, a kind of goopy  substance that really works if you can get the cat to eat it. Mine always gagged on it, though.

It does make sense that not eating solids would not build enough stool.

when my snick was constipated (probiotic the vet prescribed stopped her up totally), she vomited because she simply didn't have room inside her for the food she ate to be digested/move through her gastro system. so if your girl is taking in food and not having any bowel movements yet, you might watch for vomiting as a sign that she might be constipated.

Pudden has been vomiting these past few days about an hour after eating. I don't know if it is because of constipation, her medications, or because I am trying to get all her calories in and she is eating too much at once. I am praying it is not because of some underlying illness we still haven't uncovered. I am going to try giving only one syringe at a time every few hours tomorrow and see if that helps. I am so afraid of her getting fatty liver disease. She is just to sick to take in all she needs. I wish she would eat on her own, but she won't even drink water. She paws at the bowl stares at it then walks away. If she won't drink water how will I ever get her to eat? I feel like I am failing her. I just want her to get well again.

I agree about reducing the amount per feeding but feeding more often. Is she producing any urine?

She urinates a pretty decent amount about once a day. She likes getting water syringed. I am very careful as I know they can accidentally suck it into their lungs. She thankfully keeps the water down, but not so much the food. It looks to me like the food upsets her tummy. Pudden always disliked wet food. Her favorite is friskies dry.

LGail said:

Pudden has been vomiting these past few days about an hour after eating. I don't know if it is because of constipation, her medications, or because I am trying to get all her calories in and she is eating too much at once. I am praying it is not because of some underlying illness we still haven't uncovered. I am going to try giving only one syringe at a time every few hours tomorrow and see if that helps. I am so afraid of her getting fatty liver disease. She is just to sick to take in all she needs. I wish she would eat on her own, but she won't even drink water. She paws at the bowl stares at it then walks away. If she won't drink water how will I ever get her to eat? I feel like I am failing her. I just want her to get well again.

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you might consider discussing with your vet giving your Pudden some sub-q fluids, either at home by you or at the vet's office/by them. if your vet feels it's not time for sub-q's now, then your vet may decide to give sub-q's coming up. giving sub-q's can sometimes delay or prevent fatty liver disease from developing -- in some cases. my snick received (extra) sub-q's at home by me during the time she was constipated and vomiting/unable to hold much (if any) food down, for the specific purpose of trying to avoid fatty liver disease. in snick's case, she did not develop fatty liver disease. note that snick has chronic kidney disease, so she gets fluids on a regular basis anyway. you might also consider discussing with your vet an anti-nausea medication, possibly given as a shot by the vet.

i think that's good that you're going to try giving your girl only one syringe of food at a time and every few hours today. from what i've read from other members whose cats have needed syringe feeding and/or have had fatty liver disease, it seems pretty common to need to give a little less food/go a little slower than we feel we should be. then, after you've got your Pudden doing well with one syringe of food and every few hours, you can start slowly and gradually increasing the amount of food she's getting at one time.

sending you and your Pudden    and    that she starts feeling better very soon.

i wanted to add that with many cats, sub-q fluids can make them feel more hungry right after they've been given. also, the sub-q's may very well be able to help with constipation. i'm not sure about aiding in loosening up a constipated cat, but the extra fluids in them can help to prevent becoming constipated -- i'm sure, depending on the case and the cat.

She may not be drinking from the bowl of water because she is getting enough through the wet food and the water you are giving via syringe. (I'm assuming you also add water to the food to be able to use a syringe to feed her?)

When I changed my cats food from dry kibble to all canned they produced (and still do) less feces. This seems to be normal.

She may be not eating because, like you said, she loves her dry kibble and doesn't want to eat the new canned diet. There are some great resources here for helping transition from dry kibble to a wet food diet so don't give up.
I know you are fearful of fatty liver... It's a scary thing for us cat guardians... I'm saying this because I know your kitty is under a vet's care but, I've read that overweight cats (fat cats) have more to fear from this than lean cats, but obviously it's nothing to play around with.

Is your kitty acting sick ? I fight constipation with one of mine (may be mega colon) so I understand the worry of it all. Keep us posted. (Hugs)
~Tina

Hello,

I posted regarding my Manx who suddenly got sick in April.  After going to the vet, and multiple tests that were breaking my bank account, she still had no diagnosis. 

I took matters into my own hands.

First: I made a spreadsheet of everything. Tracking her H2O, food, pee, poop, pain, meds, and notes

Second: I pulled all commercial cat food. Pulled the tap water and replaced with distilled. I even pulled her H2O fountain because it is plastic and thought something from the plastic is leaching into the H2O

Third: She needed syringe feeding and watering since she would not do it herself and things were turning into a crisis.

Fourth: Syringe feeding chicken baby food in broth 10-30 ml a day, same with H20 except more H2O, 10-20 ml squash or pumpkin, 5-10 ml prepared oat bran cereal (not baby food brand)

              The syringe I got from the pharmacist 5 ml = 1 Tbls. I also put down dry no grain chicken to see if she would eat on her own and she loves dry food.

She started to get better. I kept this up until she refused my feeding and started to eat on her own. I supplement occasionally with squash, oat bran, or pumpkin

From the chart I discovered fish as a major culprit to her digestion. The reason I believe is all she would eat since baby was fish.  She cannot have any fish at all now.

I went once more to the "specialist" for an ultrasound to find she has pancreatitis.

After this, I still get chicken baby food, and squash, but now boil chicken thigh, no skin, and shred it. Leave plenty of broth. I can't trick her mixing the baby food with the boiled chix. She will eat lettuce so I give it to her.

Now, I've kept this up adding vitamins E, A, D, modified for her size and ~ dosage. This is not given daily but maybe twice a week, and once a week 1/2 cc liquid baby multivitamins. All written on the chart.

She is doing great! Pooping almost daily and has little or no pain.

Please keep in mind, if a cat were in the wild (depending on where they live) they might get 2 mice a day. Maybe a bird.  That's not a lot of food. They would get veggie nutrients from the digest of the critter they ate. They would eat garbage.

Now I give her 1/8 c combined grain free dry, hills id dry, and meow mix (she holds out for MM) 2x a day .am/.pm with 1 1/2 Tbls boiled chix 2x daily. If she eats it all I give her 1/8 c dry for snack during the night.  All totaled she probably gets ~1C of food a day.

The only "grain" she gets is from the Hills ID and the meow mix so I'm not certain of the grain issue. I'll be trying that at another time to see what happens. I hate that part because if she has a reaction as she did with the fish..it's awful to see her in pain, but I need to see.

She still refuses to eat or drink and no bowel movement yet. She has an appointment at the vet tomorrow so they can feel her colon to see how much poop is in there. I put out dried food and she just looks at me like I'm nuts to even try. I bought her a water fountain today. She showed a little interest. She puts her mouth to the water than picks her head up and leaves. I know she is thirsty she just doesn't drink. The vet gave us an appetite stimulate which I may have to try again. I hate loading her up with all the meds though. I also bought some gnc calorie booster today. This way I can boost her calories when I can't get enough food in her. The better she gets the more she resists her force feeding.

That's a good idea to have the vet check how much is in her bowels. I'd hate for her to get bulked up in a lot of food and have a blockage form.

If the vet clears it, and her health permits it, you might ask about an otc hair ball remedy to see if that helps with any constipation. I give my cat Hartz hairball remedy time to time if I notice his poops seem smaller than normal. He also likes drippy water from the sink, though it's wonderful you got her the fountain. Good luck at the vet--hope she feels better soon!!

Forgot to mention. This cat had constipation since a baby which I felt was not a big deal since her breed has other serious problems. It was the symptoms and the vet who got us wrapped around the axle with her breed.

They took an x-ray because she had hind leg pain and would not jump. That was when they zeroed in on her breed and discounted that she was full of poop.

So, what did they do.. they gave her a very strong opiate for pain, and said it would last 24 hours.  We all know what opiates do to the GI tract, and that was what started the awful bowel problem. It ended up the drug lasts a week not 24 hours. She stopped drinking and eating directly after the drug.  It was then an emergency situation and now I don't trust the vet.  I took things into my own hands, nursed her with what i explained, and changed vets.

We went through an antibiotic and prelisone. The pred seemed to make her worse. I cut back and took her off it altogether and she improved. The only time she had pred again was after the last fish episode.

One curious thing both vets asked: poison. I racked my brain and came up with the water, the fountain, all of that, and came up blank. 

Then I started feeling I went through this before with her but not as bad. Searching the internet, going to the same sites I went to before, researching the same symptoms etc.. Through the chart I kept I did notice one thing: Frontline.

I used Revolution previously and changed last year to Frontline.  I don't give it to her throughout the year because fleas have a season and she does not go out in the winter (she goes out supervised with me and it's too cold in the winter) Fleas die off at first real frost and come back after last frost or when temps reach about 45 degrees f. I follow that as a guide.  In March I gave her first dose for the season. In April the second and after that she got sick.  I have not given it to her since.  I'm not saying these products are poison but the base of them is hazardous to everyone as well as a cause for pancreatitus.

I will follow this diet but I also include acidophilus from the health food store, not the stuff on the grocery store shelves. I would give her yogurt with the same ingredient but she won't eat dairy.  While she was constipated i put olive oil on her front paw a couple of times a week about 1/4 teaspoon. Then I got scared because of some of the postings for the cause of pancreatitus being caused from fat.  With that fear I wiped pure petroleum jelly on her paw. The jelly does not enter the blood stream and goes to the bowel. It all got her moving.    In the past I sprinkled fiber in her food, and found fiber can have the opposite effect, and if she has a grain issue fiber supplements make it worse.  I stopped the fiber in favor of squash, pumpkin, and oat bran.

Miralax worked, but it took 3 days, and I was not impressed considering how often she had to take it for one BM.

We went to the Vet this afternoon and she did a rectal exam on Pudden. She didn't detect any kind of hard poop or anything that would stop her from going. She checked her belly and just doesn't think there is enough in there for her to need to go. So the verdict is that I need to keep feeding her more food. I asked about the pumpkin and was given permission to give it a try. Since it is high in fiber hopefully it will bulk up the poop so she will feel the need to go. I am trying to get as much water in her as possible as I know fiber needs water to work. 

The Vet was very happy with her breathing and thinks that Pudden is coming along very well. When we brought her home she drank a very small amount of water from her water fountain, which is amazing! She improves little by little everyday. Tonight is her last dose of the pain killers which makes me very nervous since most of her improvement started after the pain killers were given. I am keeping my fingers crossed she does not get worse again. At the same time I am excited because I know we can't really tell just how much she has improved with her being drugged and loopy from the pain meds.