Hi everyone!
I'm a US expat living in Germany (with my German husband.) I have an 18 year old domestic cat, Shuffles, who I've had since birth and has been really healthy her whole life, aside from some arthritis. In the past 6 months she's had recurrent constipation and dehydration issues and has gone to the vet with the exact same symptoms 4 times and has had the exact same results.
Before her first trip in June, we fed a mix of dry and wet food. After that I switched her over to wet food only, a mix of renal, senior, and adult. We feed relatively decent brands. We've tried a ton and have to stick to what she likes because she's really picky. She's also pretty small, staying around 6.5-6.8 lb. We have different water bowls all over the house, including a water fountain. We also add water to her food most times (she won't eat some of them if they're watered down.)
The problems: We notice her straining to poop, nothing comes out and/or she throws up afterwards so we take her to the vet. The first time they did an x-ray and didn't see anything except built up poo, but did an ultrasound to be sure. Nothing alarming. The following two time they still did an x-ray and nothing alarming. This last time (one week ago) we passed on the x-ray entirely. Each time, they give her subq fluids and an anal suppository and she goes within minutes, with a large pile of built up, hard pieces. Then we go on our way.
I don't want to let it get that far and only treat a symptom every two months. They've recommended fiber in the forms of a dry-food fiber blend, which I flat out refused to do, and in the form of capsules, which I used for a week and it made the problem much worse, so I stopped. They recommended lactulose, which we've been using (mixing it in with diluted tuna juice, cat milk, liverwurst cat treat, whatever she'll accept,) but we can no longer find a dose the works. It worked for about one month, back in October, and since then it's been all or nothing; no poops for 4-6 days with her normal dose of 2.5 mL, and when she does its really hard pellets. If we give her more (even only 0.5 mL more) it makes her sick and she has immediate diarrhea and/or vomits.
I'll be going to the states for Christmas in two days and am going to get some Miralax, based on past posts I've seen here.The vet didn't know it (and we haven't found an equivalent here) but she gave the go ahead from what we were able to tell her. We have to feed her 6-7 times/day, because she'll only eat a small amount at a time, no matter how hungry she is. When we tried feeding 3-5 times, she was beginning to lose weight. I'm worried about being able to add enough water for the Miralax to work because she'll only tolerate 1-2 tsp of added water before she turns her nose up at it. How much needs to be added for 1/8 tsp, for example?
I also ordered a human probiotic because I saw some people having luck with that. I bought one that fit the criteria that I'd seen someone in a post list (10 billion CFU, no added sugar, cornstarch, or dairy.)
I know it seems like I have a "plan" but does anyone have any other suggestions or even just some success stories for me to hold onto?
I'm really anxious about this, especially when we are leaving for 8 days on Tuesday morning and I can't monitor her. We'll have a house-sitter who knows what to watch for and will be able to get her to our vet, and everything, but she's new and it still makes me nervous.
I'm a US expat living in Germany (with my German husband.) I have an 18 year old domestic cat, Shuffles, who I've had since birth and has been really healthy her whole life, aside from some arthritis. In the past 6 months she's had recurrent constipation and dehydration issues and has gone to the vet with the exact same symptoms 4 times and has had the exact same results.
Before her first trip in June, we fed a mix of dry and wet food. After that I switched her over to wet food only, a mix of renal, senior, and adult. We feed relatively decent brands. We've tried a ton and have to stick to what she likes because she's really picky. She's also pretty small, staying around 6.5-6.8 lb. We have different water bowls all over the house, including a water fountain. We also add water to her food most times (she won't eat some of them if they're watered down.)
The problems: We notice her straining to poop, nothing comes out and/or she throws up afterwards so we take her to the vet. The first time they did an x-ray and didn't see anything except built up poo, but did an ultrasound to be sure. Nothing alarming. The following two time they still did an x-ray and nothing alarming. This last time (one week ago) we passed on the x-ray entirely. Each time, they give her subq fluids and an anal suppository and she goes within minutes, with a large pile of built up, hard pieces. Then we go on our way.
I don't want to let it get that far and only treat a symptom every two months. They've recommended fiber in the forms of a dry-food fiber blend, which I flat out refused to do, and in the form of capsules, which I used for a week and it made the problem much worse, so I stopped. They recommended lactulose, which we've been using (mixing it in with diluted tuna juice, cat milk, liverwurst cat treat, whatever she'll accept,) but we can no longer find a dose the works. It worked for about one month, back in October, and since then it's been all or nothing; no poops for 4-6 days with her normal dose of 2.5 mL, and when she does its really hard pellets. If we give her more (even only 0.5 mL more) it makes her sick and she has immediate diarrhea and/or vomits.
I'll be going to the states for Christmas in two days and am going to get some Miralax, based on past posts I've seen here.The vet didn't know it (and we haven't found an equivalent here) but she gave the go ahead from what we were able to tell her. We have to feed her 6-7 times/day, because she'll only eat a small amount at a time, no matter how hungry she is. When we tried feeding 3-5 times, she was beginning to lose weight. I'm worried about being able to add enough water for the Miralax to work because she'll only tolerate 1-2 tsp of added water before she turns her nose up at it. How much needs to be added for 1/8 tsp, for example?
I also ordered a human probiotic because I saw some people having luck with that. I bought one that fit the criteria that I'd seen someone in a post list (10 billion CFU, no added sugar, cornstarch, or dairy.)
I know it seems like I have a "plan" but does anyone have any other suggestions or even just some success stories for me to hold onto?
I'm really anxious about this, especially when we are leaving for 8 days on Tuesday morning and I can't monitor her. We'll have a house-sitter who knows what to watch for and will be able to get her to our vet, and everything, but she's new and it still makes me nervous.
