Frank the 8-year-old Maine Coon has had a rough go the past several months. A year or two back he was finally properly diagnosed with stomatitis and had all his teeth but his fangs removed. This didn't solve his mouth problems but helped immensely. A few months back he started having bouts of vommitting. Several vet visits and many pounds of body weight lost later we had a diagnosis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. This diagnosis required a two-day hospital stay. When he came home from this he had a spot on his chin that looked abcessed, but we weren't concerned because he was taking antibiotics. A week or so later it was still there so we took him in for more antibiotics. One week later when the spot had grown and antibiotics had not helped we were given the diagnosis of "tumor." In two days it will have been two weeks since the surgery. We are still force feeding baby food through a syringe. He is drinking well on his own. The wound is healing better than the vet expected. He has had two very small bowel movements since being home. The vet is not concerned because of how little he has eaten. Today he we tithe litter box several times to try to have a bowel movement but was unsuccessful every time. I assume constipation due to the pain meds he has been on. While he is healing and progressing nicely for now, our vet told us there is no guarantee the tumor won't come back. If it does it will be within two or three months, likely, and and that point the vet won't be able to do anything for him. He already had to scrape his jaw and pull skin from his heck to have something to attach to and won't put him through that again. We're praying that doesn't happen. Until then, here are my questions: 1) What can I do at home to help with constipation for a cat who is currently eating through a syringe? 2) Has anyone else been through something similar with his/her cat?
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Tumor on bottom jaw
- Thread starter kelseyrat
- Start Date
I'm so sorry for what you've been through. Adding some unflavored Metamucil with water to the diet can help, exactly how much should be under a vet's guidance but i've done about 1/8 tsp with my cat. Since your cat is under treatment your vet should be willing to call you back at home on this issue.
See http://pets.webmd.com/cats/cat-constipation
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #3
Thank you Stephen for your suggestion. After he was diagnosed with IBD the vet recommended we start giving him 1/4 tsp Metamucil daily, but since he's been hardly eating we haven't been giving it to him. I'm going to call the vet here in just a few minutes to make sure it's OK if I mix it in with the baby food. I'll let you know what they suggest.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #4
Their first suggestion was a product we already had at home; laxatone. It's technically for hair balls but they prescribe it for constipation, as well. We shall see!
Yes Laxatone is another good idea.
