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- May 6, 2016
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Hello everyone, this is my first time here. I hope you wonderful people can help me understand what is up with my beloved 5.5 year old male neutered indoor cat Peanut.
Peanut has always been a very happy, healthy energetic kitten with no health issues. He has a regular check up each year and all of his necessary vaccinations are up-to-date.
For a few months Peanut would occasionally lick his bum a lot, so we thought he might have some pooping trouble but he was regular and a routine check-up showed no issues. However, some of his stools were quite hard.
Then, 2 months ago Peanut got sick one night. He started vomiting and meowing.
A quick trip to the Emergency Vet followed. The doctors checked his anal glands but they were not impacted. His belly felt full but not bad. They ran x-rays and found that he was constipated quite a bit. He received an enema, an anti-nausea med and sub-q fluids. As soon as he got home he pooped a lot. He was unhappy from the enema but otherwise ok. He was started on 2ml of lactulose twice a day (three times the first day then twice a day). We also discovered that his food (Go! Chicken formula) was very very low in fibre. So, we switched him to a combination of Hill's Prescription w/d and i/d foods. As long as he was on the lactulose he did amazingly well, but occassionally when I tried to lower the dose he would poop less and have difficulty.
A blood test showed that Peanut is perfectly healthy - not a single anomaly. The doctor said he had never seen one so perfect.
The vet advised to keep him on two doses a day of lactulose for the foreseeable future and switch him to a new kibble called Royal Canin Fibre Response. I have read the reviews for this food and it sounds amazingly successful for this issue.
The next day, before I even had a chance to start the new diet, Peanut started vomiting again. It had been two months since the first incident. He had been pooping but not very much and x-rays showed that he was constipated again. We couldn't figure out why since he was still on two doses a day of lactulose. He was given another enema and an anti-nauseant. His lactulose has been increased to 2ml three times a day. He was also started on the new diet. He doesn't like the fibre response that much so he is getting a mixture. First he was on i/d and fibre response and now he is on w/d and fibre response so that he will eat the fibre response. The long-term goal is to increase the percentage of the fibre response and hope that this new food will make a big difference.
His enema was 6 days ago and since then he has steadily improved. His behaviour has returned mostly to normal and his appetite has come and gone, but is fairly good.
He is having large poops every 24-40 hours.
Yesterday, however, he pooped TWICE: A large poop at 5:30am and then at some point in the afternoon he went again. The second poop was quite loose when I scooped it, so he received only 2-and-a-half lactose doses yesterday.
The doctor ran one more blood test to check his pancreas and it also came back 100% normal.
He has received a number of x-rays of different views of his abdomen and they have all come back normal. One showed maybe a slight mineralization in his kidney but it didn't show to be anything and his kidney blood test results were 100% normal.
The vet says that some cats just have constipation issues and he is hoping that over time his new food will help.
He says there are other tests that can be done including an ultrasound, although I am hesitate to do that unless he gets sick again. The reason is that Peanut is extremely terrified of the vet and even car rides. If he leaves the house he panics, howls, sneezes, even hyperventilates sometimes.
I am concerned that he will have a heart attack going through the shaving and work of an ultrasound. And if they have to sedate him there are risks with that. I had a friend whose cat died at the vet during a test!
The vet has also suggested two other things if things look worse:
1) giving sub-q fluids myself at home;
2) switching from lactulose 3x a day to 1x a day and also doing 1x a day of miralax (peg)
So, I'm hoping you lovely people can help me with somethings:
1) Do you have any suggestions regarding cat constipation?
2) Any experience with lactulose vs. miralax in cats?
3) any thoughts on sub-q fluids?
4) on ultrasounds?
Thank you so much!!!
Jonathan
Peanut has always been a very happy, healthy energetic kitten with no health issues. He has a regular check up each year and all of his necessary vaccinations are up-to-date.
For a few months Peanut would occasionally lick his bum a lot, so we thought he might have some pooping trouble but he was regular and a routine check-up showed no issues. However, some of his stools were quite hard.
Then, 2 months ago Peanut got sick one night. He started vomiting and meowing.
A quick trip to the Emergency Vet followed. The doctors checked his anal glands but they were not impacted. His belly felt full but not bad. They ran x-rays and found that he was constipated quite a bit. He received an enema, an anti-nausea med and sub-q fluids. As soon as he got home he pooped a lot. He was unhappy from the enema but otherwise ok. He was started on 2ml of lactulose twice a day (three times the first day then twice a day). We also discovered that his food (Go! Chicken formula) was very very low in fibre. So, we switched him to a combination of Hill's Prescription w/d and i/d foods. As long as he was on the lactulose he did amazingly well, but occassionally when I tried to lower the dose he would poop less and have difficulty.
A blood test showed that Peanut is perfectly healthy - not a single anomaly. The doctor said he had never seen one so perfect.
The vet advised to keep him on two doses a day of lactulose for the foreseeable future and switch him to a new kibble called Royal Canin Fibre Response. I have read the reviews for this food and it sounds amazingly successful for this issue.
The next day, before I even had a chance to start the new diet, Peanut started vomiting again. It had been two months since the first incident. He had been pooping but not very much and x-rays showed that he was constipated again. We couldn't figure out why since he was still on two doses a day of lactulose. He was given another enema and an anti-nauseant. His lactulose has been increased to 2ml three times a day. He was also started on the new diet. He doesn't like the fibre response that much so he is getting a mixture. First he was on i/d and fibre response and now he is on w/d and fibre response so that he will eat the fibre response. The long-term goal is to increase the percentage of the fibre response and hope that this new food will make a big difference.
His enema was 6 days ago and since then he has steadily improved. His behaviour has returned mostly to normal and his appetite has come and gone, but is fairly good.
He is having large poops every 24-40 hours.
Yesterday, however, he pooped TWICE: A large poop at 5:30am and then at some point in the afternoon he went again. The second poop was quite loose when I scooped it, so he received only 2-and-a-half lactose doses yesterday.
The doctor ran one more blood test to check his pancreas and it also came back 100% normal.
He has received a number of x-rays of different views of his abdomen and they have all come back normal. One showed maybe a slight mineralization in his kidney but it didn't show to be anything and his kidney blood test results were 100% normal.
The vet says that some cats just have constipation issues and he is hoping that over time his new food will help.
He says there are other tests that can be done including an ultrasound, although I am hesitate to do that unless he gets sick again. The reason is that Peanut is extremely terrified of the vet and even car rides. If he leaves the house he panics, howls, sneezes, even hyperventilates sometimes.
I am concerned that he will have a heart attack going through the shaving and work of an ultrasound. And if they have to sedate him there are risks with that. I had a friend whose cat died at the vet during a test!
The vet has also suggested two other things if things look worse:
1) giving sub-q fluids myself at home;
2) switching from lactulose 3x a day to 1x a day and also doing 1x a day of miralax (peg)
So, I'm hoping you lovely people can help me with somethings:
1) Do you have any suggestions regarding cat constipation?
2) Any experience with lactulose vs. miralax in cats?
3) any thoughts on sub-q fluids?
4) on ultrasounds?
Thank you so much!!!
Jonathan