Constipation Issues

Hi all, I am new to this community but have read several post with great advice in them.

My male black and white tuxedo cat is having constipation issues. About three weeks ago I noticed he was crying while in his litter box and not really passing much poop. When he did they were little nuggets and hard. I took him to the vet and they ran a bunch of tests and everything came back normal. They also did a X-ray and that showed he was backed up. They gave him a enema and sent us home with Lacolose 2ml ( I think that what is was) twice daily for one week. He pooped after the enema several times and seemed to be feeling better. I didn't notice him having issue when he was in his litter box.

Last Sunday I noticed he was making several trips to the litter box but nothing was coming out. He was peeing fine but no poop. So I called the vet and I asked her about putting him on Miralax since I heard great things about it from this site. Vet approved of this and said to start with 1 teaspoon and then adjust accordingly. On Tuesday and Wednesday he pooped one little log but then he started having diarrhea so I reduced the dose to 1/2 and he had one soft but firm stool so I thought I was good so I continued with that dose. Now today he has diarrhea again. I'm guessing I'll have to reduce again. I feel bad for my poor boy.

He and all my babies are on all wet food diet. I add extra water to their food at each feeding. I'm just worried he keeps getting diarrhea. Has anyone else had these issues when trying to get the right dose of Miralax for their babies? He is a large boy and I'm trying to slim him down since he used to be on dry food too but I changed over when my baby girl had urinary problems and heard how bad kibble is for them.

Can anyone offer any suggestions on the Miralax dosing? Should I skip a dose to stop the diarrhea? He has been pooping something each day but it's only one smooth poop log or diarrhea.

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

This was his X-ray.

I hope your kitty feels better soon!

What brand food is he eating? Sometimes there's an ingredient or two that bothers a kitty's tummy. if we knew what brand, it may help us.

I have no experience treating cats with Mirilax or other medications, but I've had success adding a teaspoon or two canned pumpkin to my cat's diet when they were bloated. It helped them digest their foods.
[article="33339"]Everything You Need To Know About Constipation In Cats  [/article]
also check out this article.. it may prove helpful!

Thank you!

He is eating Fancy Feast classic. I have tried feeding pumpkin to him before but he doesn't eat it. I didn't mix it in his food but he showed no interest in it.

Thank you for the article. I'm off to read it now.

Fancy Feast is pretty low quality with junky ingredients, IMO.

I am not sure what your budget is like, but I suggest try switching to grain free canned food. Some cats have a hard time digesting grains. 

Thank you for the suggestion. I'll have to try a grain free food. I thought the classic FF was grain free but I'll have to double check. Plus try and get him on something with better ingredients. Do you have any suggestions? I see a lot of foods with vegetables in them. Is that something cats should have in their diet?

[article="33149"]Best Cat Food Of 2015 Tcs Member Choices  [/article]
Check out the article above.. it gives a nutshell of popular food from our members here on this site.

FF Classic is grain free, but the rest of the ingredients isn't top notch. Most people feed it as a treat or if they're really tight on budget.

Some brands I like:

Nature's Variety

Wellness Core

Taste of the Wild

Soulistic

few other articles to peek at too
[article="32765"]The Science Behind Cat Nutrition  [/article][article="29707"]How To Choose The Right Food For Your Cat  [/article]

My cat with constipation issues get's 1/4 teasp. of miralax twice a day. He's a big cat (17 lbs) and that seems the right amount for him. He has some physical issues from his stray cat days that make it difficult so he also gets Cisapride. But the vet had me continue with the Miralax. Watch some of the grain-free foods  They replace wheat gluten and rice with pea starch, potato flour

I wonder if adding a bit of warm water to the canned food would help? Your cat might be needing a bit more moisture in the food. 

As for the diarrhea, it could very well be due to the Miralax dose, or an irritated digestive tract from the constipation and enema...not sure though.

Welcome to TCS! 

Have you asked your vet about using Miralax and about dosage? We actually can't have any member here recommend dosages, of course. People are welcome to share their stories and how much their kitties were given but it won't necessarily apply to your cat. Too much laxatives can disrupt the digestive system and can be risky. I think you should call your vet at this point and see what they suggest and if they think it's ok to give Miralax now, or maybe do something entirely different.

Good luck and let us know how he's doing!

MommyofThree708 said:

So I called the vet and I asked her about putting him on Miralax since I heard great things about it from this site. Vet approved of this and said to start with 1 teaspoon and then adjust accordingly. On Tuesday and Wednesday he pooped one little log but then he started having diarrhea so I reduced the dose to 1/2 and he had one soft but firm stool so I thought I was good so I continued with that dose. Now today he has diarrhea again. I'm guessing I'll have to reduce again. I feel bad for my poor boy.

He and all my babies are on all wet food diet. I add extra water to their food at each feeding. I'm just worried he keeps getting diarrhea. Has anyone else had these issues when trying to get the right dose of Miralax for their babies? He is a large boy and I'm trying to slim him down since he used to be on dry food too but I changed over when my baby girl had urinary problems and heard how bad kibble is for them.

Can anyone offer any suggestions on the Miralax dosing? Should I skip a dose to stop the diarrhea? He has been pooping something each day but it's only one smooth poop log or diarrhea.

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

Click to expand...

Since you were instructed by your vet to "adjust accordingly" I would think that you could try thy smallest dosage that the vets usually recommend which is 1/8 teaspoon once per day.

The all canned food diet with added water that you are feeding sounds good for a constipated kitty. I have one too

Regarding skipping a dose or two of Miralax until the stool firms up should be fine. In fact, that is what I do with mine and then resume his normal dosage that works for him. Sometimes (per my vet's instructions) I have to increase the amount he is given but that usually only lasts one day and he will poop and we go back to his dosage of 1/4 tsp 2X per day.

I hope this helps to give an idea about "adjusting accordingly" per your vet's instructions

I was instructed to start with 1/8 tsp 2X per day and adjust accordingly. That wasn't enough for my guy to stay regular so I adjusted it to 1/4 tsp am and 1/8 tsp pm. Eventually we settled on our currant dosage of 1/4 tsp 2X per day.

Welcome to TCS

my girls battle constipation from dry kibble. She had me add Miramax and it has worked. It takes 3 days to start. Lactulose is basically a super powered form of Miramax but the problem with lactulose is after time you have to up the dose to get the same effects.

I would talk to the vet and ask about other alternatives for maintenance. My vet has me use canned pumpkin added into the fancy feast food-I started giving them more wet food and less kibble. this has been a 2 year process. We now use 50/50 and hope by the fall to be using much less kibble.

I add Miramax into a tiny cup of hot water-stir to dissolve then mix into their fancy feast food. If I added the powder to their food=they refused to eat it. I also use a small amount of tuna to get middle cat to eat miralax. She hates pumpkin and spits it out when I put it in her mouth-she is my sweet calico but forget it about food other than temptations treats kibble and tuna. she wont eat wet food. we leave it down and she licks a few times and that's it. The other two like wet food.

Floey is my elder cat and she was backed up as well-we tried the pumpkin for a month but it wasn't enough-now she gets Miramax. I still add pumpkin in the wet food a few times a week but the miralax is daily. So far knock on wood it works.

Anne said:

 
Welcome to TCS! 

Have you asked your vet about using Miralax and about dosage? We actually can't have any member here recommend dosages, of course. People are welcome to share their stories and how much their kitties were given but it won't necessarily apply to your cat. Too much laxatives can disrupt the digestive system and can be risky. I think you should call your vet at this point and see what they suggest and if they think it's ok to give Miralax now, or maybe do something entirely different.

Good luck and let us know how he's doing!

Click to expand...

Yes, like I said in my original post I have spoken to my vet about his Miralax dosing.  I was just wondering what others experiences were with using Miralax.  He had diarrhea and was wondering if anybody else experienced this and did they skip a dose or what they did. 

LotsofFur said:

Since you were instructed by your vet to "adjust accordingly" I would think that you could try thy smallest dosage that the vets usually recommend which is 1/8 teaspoon once per day.

The all canned food diet with added water that you are feeding sounds good for a constipated kitty. I have one too

Regarding skipping a dose or two of Miralax until the stool firms up should be fine. In fact, that is what I do with mine and then resume his normal dosage that works for him. Sometimes (per my vet's instructions) I have to increase the amount he is given but that usually only lasts one day and he will poop and we go back to his dosage of 1/4 tsp 2X per day.

I hope this helps to give an idea about "adjusting accordingly" per your vet's instructions

I was instructed to start with 1/8 tsp 2X per day and adjust accordingly. That wasn't enough for my guy to stay regular so I adjusted it to 1/4 tsp am and 1/8 tsp pm. Eventually we settled on our currant dosage of 1/4 tsp 2X per day.

Welcome to TCS

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Thank you for the advice.  I skipped a dose this morning in the hopes it will help his diarrhea. 

for formed poops

Keep us posted.

Constipation has become so prevalent among domestic cat as to be virtually universal. Commercial foods, all-meat diets and fish are all low in fiber and result in a hard stool that passes slowly and with difficulty through the intestine.

Constipation can also be a symptoms of hair impaction or dehydration due to kidney disease, diabetes, pancreatitis, hyperthyroidism, cardiomiopathy or irritable bowel syndrome.

The Natural Cat  Anita Frazier

Fancy Feast is a low quality wet food (meat by-product, artificial flavors, Corn Starch-Modified, Added Color..etc..).

I would start feeding your kitties a high-quality diet with as much as raw food as possible. and include Anitra's Vita-Mineral Mix which contains bran to condition the stool.

Some good brands like Petguards, Halo, Wellness.

When you buy wet food, check the label : make sure there contains only premium, all natural ingredients with no wheat, corn, soy, meat by-products, or artificial colors, flavors and preservatives.

Three times a week add an additionnal one teaspoon of grated carrot per meal to help clean intestinal wals.

once a day add 1/8 teaspoon psyllium hust powder and 2 teaspoons water to food.

If your vet cannot help, I suggest you to consult see a holistic vet.

I hope your kitty will feel better soon.

Chrystel

how is he today?

Draco said:

how is he today?

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No poop today. Hoping he goes tonight. I did skip a Miralax dose today cause he had diarrhea yesterday. I did buy some good wet food today that I'm gonna slowly introduce. Got a couple "grain free" formulas. Nutro, Nature's Varierty, and a Wellness. He loved the nutro one. Hopefully the food with better ingredients will also help. [emoji]128591[/emoji][emoji]127995[/emoji]

I am wondering if 'Stool Softener' would be better than Miralax? Miralax might be too harsh.  And those Stool Softener tiny gell caps would be easier to give him a dose on his paw. Just stick a needle in a gell cap and squeeze out a drop or two onto his paw--like you would use hair ball remedy.  Since one gell cap is a dose for humans, I would think you could get 2 'doses' for your cat out of one gell cap.  (a little squeeze the first time= a drop or two, then a really good smashing squeeze for the second dose the next day or skip maybe every other day.

But, I think I'd check with the vet first suggesting the stool softener. If that can be used, it would be so much easier to give him his dose on his paw.

The same thing happened to my boy my avitar they did all the blood work when i had first taken him in when they did the exray my boy was blocked like yours miralax you will have to adjust. i go threw the same thing one day soft poop then next loose it is a balancing act. My vet said no more dry food only canned food grain free biproduct free i use merrick limited ingredent food wet. i do cooked ground pork or beef chicken thighs. I battle this so i know how you feel. I wish you luck you will get a handle on it. I know you feel for your baby.