I left my 2 kitties at a cat sitter's who is supposedly a cat behaviour psychologist/expert. I thought this would be beneficial for a number of reasons, including encouraging my 10-month old boy kitty to poop inside his litter box rather than on the floor next to it.
I question her credentials for a number of reasons, one of which is that she supposedly got her credentials in the US, yet cannot really speak English. One would think that this sort of course work would require a fairly high level of English, so...
Anyhow, my boy kitty has suffered from constipation on-and-off since I got him from the breeder 6 months ago. This may have caused the initial problem of not using his litter box. I try to treat the constipation now when I see it by adding psyllium and water to his food, but nonetheless, I think he has become used to pooping on the floor so continues to do so.
My kitties were at her house for 15 days and he only pooped 5 times. He normally poops every day or every 1.5 days. His diet supposedly stayed the same, so he was obviously very constipated for a reason.
He is a very shy, sensitive cat, so I suggested that he MAYBE experienced some stress due to a change in environment and being surrounded by 9 other cats and humans he did not know. I was sure to say that it was not her fault, of course, but that he is just a cat who does not seem to like change.
This "professional" cat psychologist became very aggressive in her email, lashing out at me, "screaming" at me (I have never seen so many exclamation points), basically telling me that I have NO idea what I was talking about and that he played and ate - indicators that he wasn't stressed at all - and that it is all MY fault based on what I feed him because I am giving them a raw food diet, which she is VERY much against. Hmmm....interesting because before my kitty ate raw food, his constipation was actually worse.
Besides the possibility that she could be bi-polar (this is the 4th email where she was very aggressive, accusatory, critical, dogmatic and just down right nasty), my question to you is:
Have you ever experienced cat constipation due to stress or is it all diet/hairball related?
I have seen some websites which do state that a change in a cat's schedule can give a cat stress which can lead to constipation. So, it can't be completely wrong...or can it?
p.s. I will be taking him to a vet to get checked out in January once the pet insurance kicks in.
I question her credentials for a number of reasons, one of which is that she supposedly got her credentials in the US, yet cannot really speak English. One would think that this sort of course work would require a fairly high level of English, so...
Anyhow, my boy kitty has suffered from constipation on-and-off since I got him from the breeder 6 months ago. This may have caused the initial problem of not using his litter box. I try to treat the constipation now when I see it by adding psyllium and water to his food, but nonetheless, I think he has become used to pooping on the floor so continues to do so.
My kitties were at her house for 15 days and he only pooped 5 times. He normally poops every day or every 1.5 days. His diet supposedly stayed the same, so he was obviously very constipated for a reason.
He is a very shy, sensitive cat, so I suggested that he MAYBE experienced some stress due to a change in environment and being surrounded by 9 other cats and humans he did not know. I was sure to say that it was not her fault, of course, but that he is just a cat who does not seem to like change.
This "professional" cat psychologist became very aggressive in her email, lashing out at me, "screaming" at me (I have never seen so many exclamation points), basically telling me that I have NO idea what I was talking about and that he played and ate - indicators that he wasn't stressed at all - and that it is all MY fault based on what I feed him because I am giving them a raw food diet, which she is VERY much against. Hmmm....interesting because before my kitty ate raw food, his constipation was actually worse.
Besides the possibility that she could be bi-polar (this is the 4th email where she was very aggressive, accusatory, critical, dogmatic and just down right nasty), my question to you is:
Have you ever experienced cat constipation due to stress or is it all diet/hairball related?
I have seen some websites which do state that a change in a cat's schedule can give a cat stress which can lead to constipation. So, it can't be completely wrong...or can it?
p.s. I will be taking him to a vet to get checked out in January once the pet insurance kicks in.