Using pumpkin for constipation?

Hi!

My cat Phantom is an 11 year old male cat. He's a domestic longhair. He's had recurring constipation problems for a while, which the vet thinks is related to being a longhaired cat. He eats wet food with a little bit of dry food. He gets brushed with a brush that gets his undercoat. He also gets a little bit of laxatone each day, which the vet told me to do. I recently started mixing a bit of water in his wet food after seeing that on the forums here.

He gets occasional blood in his poop, which the vet had assured me is related to the constipation. He was just at the vet relatively recently for his shots and check up and was in excellent health.

I noticed he's had blood in his stool again recently, and I'd really love to find a way to stop that from happening. It can't be comfortable for him. He has had a very stressful past couple of weeks. He was rather viciously attacked by his sister and he's now mourning her loss.

I've never tried pumpkin before, and I'd love to see if that would help him. I read some great threads on it here with recommended amounts and suggestions to not use the pie filling variety, etc.

My question is, do you think I should ask my vet before giving him the pumpkin in light of the fact he has blood in his stool again? Or would you think it's safe enough to just try it and see if it alleviates his symptoms?

Thanks!

Phantom says thank you too!

Plain canned pumpkin is good for both diarrhea and constipation as it is a good source of fiber and it has a lot of water in it which is good for the colon. I'd add it to his food. Most cats like it. All 3 of mine do and I have picky eaters. It's good for them. What I do is buy a good sized can and I have some ice cube trays that are not the regular size. They are more like novelty ones that make small cubes. I fill those with the pumpkin, freeze them, pop them out and put the cubes in a freezer bag. They last and are easy to defrost and add to meals. Pumpkin is a good, natural way to help their digestion. Here's a link that can give you some more information.

http://felineconstipation.org/prevention.html

Thank you @Kat0121! And it's generally safe and doesn't aggravate things if there is already bleeding? I definitely want to try it.

You can also try Weruva's Pumpkin Patch Up supplement. It's just pumpkin and water and specifically for pet use. A pouch is pretty small and costs more than a can of 100% pumpkin from the supermarket but if you just want to give it a try, it might be worth heading to the independent pet store (not chain pet store0>

Thank you very much LTS3! I will look for it. I have a great independent pet store near me, so I'll ask if they have it.

LTS3 said:

 
You can also try Weruva's Pumpkin Patch Up supplement. It's just pumpkin and water and specifically for pet use. A pouch is pretty small and costs more than a can of 100% pumpkin from the supermarket but if you just want to give it a try, it might be worth heading to the independent pet store (not chain pet store0>

Click to expand...

Petco carries pouches of the Soulistic plain pumpkin too.