Sesame can't poop and vomits

So a week ago, we noticed Sesame was unable to poop and we brought him to a vet who said to switch to wet food. He was also vomiting his ingested food up, and and after switching to wet food, he still seems to have problems with constipation and still vomits. Please help

Btw, he is a 4 month old kitten!

asianfu said:

 
Btw, he is a 4 month old kitten!

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He may need medicines to help him.  Please contact your vet and ask for more assistance.  4 month old kittens rarely get constipated, so this may be a food issue.

What are you feeding him?

Poor Sesame, he needs a followup with the vet, just putting the kitten on a different diet without finding out why he is constipated and vomitting too is not good veterinary care.

My adult Panthera could not poop (no vomiting) and was straining in the box, eventually leaving small hard poop balls lying around everywhere before the vet found that he had a hernia right next to his anus and the poop was collecting there, preventing it from going out where it should. He needed surgery to repair the hernia (very expensive, it took me over a year to pay that off and I had donations too to help me pay for it), but everything has been fine since then. 

My adult foster cat also had a run-in with constipation where he had to be cleaned out by the vet who put him on canned food and MiraLax which you get at the drug store. It's made for people and you will have to experiment with the dose so your kitty won't have diarrhea either. Start with 1/4 teaspoon (be sure to measure!) sprinkled on each meal and see what happens. It may be too much or not enough. When my foster finally put something in the box it was humonguous but he has been a happy cat ever since and he will be on MiraLAx (or a generic one) forever. Better that than having a cat with constipation.

Good luck and be sure to take Sesame back to the vet as soon as possible, things will only get worse if you don't. 

asianfu said:

 
So a week ago, we noticed Sesame was unable to poop and we brought him to a vet who said to switch to wet food. He was also vomiting his ingested food up, and and after switching to wet food, he still seems to have problems with constipation and still vomits. Please help

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Actually constipation and vomiting sounds like a possible blockage, and while i think you mentioned your vet doesn't think this is the case in a PM to me, i'm concerned, because if there was a blockage it would prevent pooping and would cause vomiting - food can't get past the blockage, and so it comes back up.

Has your cat had xrays and/or an ultrasound?  I think that would be my next move.

Has the vet felt your kitten's intestinal tract? Is he feeling compacted stool or no stool at a certain point in the intestines?

Thanks for the replies! We are feeding him Fancy Feast wet food and leave a bit of Authority dry food out. How much wet food should we feed him if its 3 meals a day? TY!

And the vet already did the x-rays and said no blockage, just a lot of poop. She told us to grind her food into very small pieces and also add water. We have also added olive oil to his food since we heard that is a good laxative. 

We will definitely try Miralax! Thanks!

We will also schedule another appointment. 

asianfu said:

 
Thanks for the replies! We are feeding him Fancy Feast wet food and leave a bit of Authority dry food out. How much wet food should we feed him if its 3 meals a day? TY!

And the vet already did the x-rays and said no blockage, just a lot of poop. She told us to grind her food into very small pieces and also add water. We have also added olive oil to his food since we heard that is a good laxative. 

We will definitely try Miralax! Thanks!

We will also schedule another appointment. 

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I would absolutely NOT use olive oil, its a highly digestible fat and too much fat can put a cat into pancreatitis.  Please use a vet approved laxative like Laxatone, which is a non-calorie based lubricant.

As to quantity, every cat is different based on size, age, activity level and even appetite, but at 4 months  a normal range could be anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4 or a 5.5oz can a day up to maybe 1.x of 5.5oz can at the high end and anywhere from a 1/4 to a 1/2 cup of dry - very rough estimate.

asianfu said:

 
Thanks for the replies! We are feeding him Fancy Feast wet food and leave a bit of Authority dry food out. How much wet food should we feed him if its 3 meals a day? TY!

And the vet already did the x-rays and said no blockage, just a lot of poop. She told us to grind her food into very small pieces and also add water. We have also added olive oil to his food since we heard that is a good laxative. 

We will definitely try Miralax! Thanks!

We will also schedule another appointment. 

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Fancy Feast isn't the greatest food either. Get something like "Natural Balance", they also have a kitten formula. I would take a large can and divide into 3 meals, there are can covers so you can keep the unused portion in the fridge without it drying out or making everything smell like cat food. Then sprinkle MiraLax onto the food, it tastes and smells of nothing, and add water to the dish but don't make it soupy, you will want to make your cat drink the water and the food will give it a bit of taste to make it more appealing. Natural Balance also has kibble so you can leave a bit of that out also Let us know how things are progressing. 

Thank you so much guys! We will definitely stop the olive oil. We'll also try to get the natural balance food although right now, we have a ton of fancy feast lol. What makes fancy feast bad?

asianfu said:

 
Thank you so much guys! We will definitely stop the olive oil. We'll also try to get the natural balance food although right now, we have a ton of fancy feast lol. What makes fancy feast bad?

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There is nothing intrinsically wrong with fancy feast, in fact its got a lot of quality ingredients up front and real meats etc, and there are about a million foods out there and an entire industry devoted to "high end" food, some of which makes a good claim, others merely tap into our human ideas as to what constitutes good food for another species.

Unless we're talking "bottom of the barrel" food like 9 Lives as an example, the best food for your cat is the food s/he will eat, although with IBD being a big problem, limiting the number of ingredients has its merits.

But the wrong time imo to change a cats food is specifically when he is sick and not feeling well - all we need to do is complicate the situation or put him on a hunger strike right when we really need him to be eating, so unless your cats medical issue is specifically diagnosed as a food issue, then i would continue as you are doing until he is well, and in the meantime, head over the the nutrition forum, do some education and then see how you want to proceed later.

And regardless of what you read here, talk to your vet before you switch a diet on a sick cat. :-)

StephenQ said:

 
There is nothing intrinsically wrong with fancy feast, in fact its got a lot of quality ingredients up front and real meats etc, and there are about a million foods out there and an entire industry devoted to "high end" food, some of which makes a good claim, others merely tap into our human ideas as to what constitutes good food for another species.

Unless we're talking "bottom of the barrel" food like 9 Lives as an example, the best food for your cat is the food s/he will eat, although with IBD being a big problem, limiting the number of ingredients has its merits.

But the wrong time imo to change a cats food is specifically when he is sick and not feeling well - all we need to do is complicate the situation or put him on a hunger strike right when we really need him to be eating, so unless your cats medical issue is specifically diagnosed as a food issue, then i would continue as you are doing until he is well, and in the meantime, head over the the nutrition forum, do some education and then see how you want to proceed later.

And regardless of what you read here, talk to your vet before you switch a diet on a sick cat. :-)

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I quite agree not to change the food right now but it's something to think about for the future. As you said, just because it is "high end" does not make it good, the advertisers are doing a good job to convince people that their product is the best, that goes for everything, not just cat food. So let's get the cat's bowels going correctly and then worry about what Sesame should eat. Cats are meat eaters, not veggie lovers and cannot digest veggies of any kind. So one needs to look at he labels and see what's in there, the fewer ingredients the better. All those things that the cat cannot digest will just come out the other end, One also needs to investigate the company that makes the cat food and see if they have any complaints against them regarding mislabeling and outright fraud. Check out "Blue" and what they have against them, they were fined.

Ok. Thank you so much guys!

My babies Freeway and Exit (2 years old) had a similar problem.  I stopped feeding them dry food and added lots of water to their wet food.  I also gave them 1/8th teaspoon of miralax with water and a tiny bit of wet food twice a day.  After a short period of time they started pooping again.  I continued giving them miralax for a couple of months.  They poop regularly now.  I also give them treats for hair ball removal (greenies)  this prevents constipation and helps prevent hairball block.  Now and again if their poop feels too firm I either give them some miralax or a teaspoon of pumpkin.  Best of luck to you.

Get the Fancy Feast Classic foods.  They are grain free and not too bad, actually.  I would also encourage you to add a little bit of water to the wet food to make it the consistency of thick oatmeal.  Adding plain canned pumpkin can help also, as a previous poster mentioned.  Once you get him regular again, you can try backing off the Miralax or use it only occasionally when needed.  You don't really want him on it long term, especially since he's so young. 

Ok. Thanks for the tips!! I am so glad because the fancy feast have right now is classics =) 

asianfu said:

 
Ok. Thanks for the tips!! I am so glad because the fancy feast have right now is classics =) 

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I know some people whose cats have been on MiraLax forever without any problems, it's just something that makes their stools a little softer.

This morning, Sesame pooped two long wet stools and we haven't started giving him miralax yet =) Santa's gift??? Hopefully it continues as normal behavior!

Thanks everyone for your support and care. Merry Christmas!
 

That's very young to put him on meds for it like Cisapride.....you do t want to lead him towards a life of issues.

I would get him allergy tested and see if something is in his food that is bothering him. Also, when was he taken from his mother?

Is he vomiting because he can't poop? Mineral oil is a laxative/stool softener...ask your vet for dosage with his age. My adult boy gets 1/4 to a 1/2 tsp if he gets really stopped up or hasn't gone in a couple days. It helps get things moving...without meds.

Also...my vet recommend olive oil..it helps the stools to pass easier, make them more "pliable", and softens it up so they come out easier. He has told me that only a very large amount could make a cat sick.

asianfu said:

 
This morning, Sesame pooped two long wet stools and we haven't started giving him miralax yet =) Santa's gift??? Hopefully it continues as normal behavior!

Thanks everyone for your support and care. Merry Christmas!
 

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Great news!  I'd wait to give him Miralax and see if the changes in diet helps.  He should poop at least once a day and they should be like tootsie rolls.