Cat In Pain W/ Bathroom Accidents

[andrewski84]

Hello all! Thank you for taking the time to read and/or assist in my situation. I will try to be as thorough as possible.

I found my my cat, Quinn, abandoned when I was home for Christmas back in 2015. At the time I estimated the cat to be roughly 6 months old. I took the cat back to my state and a few days later I took him to the vet to see if he was chipped at all. Just so happened he was. They contacted the owners and then put me on the phone with them. I explained the whole story how I believed him to be abandoned as there were no tags (which is considered abandoned property in that state), and how malnourished he was. I offered to drive the cat back but the owners said I could just keep him. Things were great at first.

Occasionally Quinn would poop just outside his litter box. I did a lot of research and tried numerous methods. He has 2 litter boxes in the house. I have tried scented vs unscented. Covered vs uncovered. Different locations in the house. You name it. He still poops outside his litter box.

With that, it seems like the cat either holds his poop intentionally, or he has an issue. I took him to the vet again and had a full workup. Blood, fecal sample, xrays. The vet found nothing but suggested that the cat may have a sensitive stomach. I swapped many brands of cat food and eventually ended up with Blue Buffalo for cats with sensitive stomachs. That seemed to work for a little while. But now things are back to where they were. He stands up, arches his back, and lets out a screaming meow pretty often when he needs to poop. He will then slowly walk, with his back still arched, towards the litter boxes. Sometimes he just farts but other times he goes in to where the litter boxes are and just poops on the floor. Does not even attempt to go in the litter box. When he is not in these pains he uses the litter box just fine.

I am trying to figure out what is wrong with my cat as he is by far the most loving, adorable cat I have ever encountered. It pains me to see him go through this and I wish I could find a solution. If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you in advance.

 

[duckpond]

I think i would have another vet visit, or if the one you have been using has no idea then try a different vet. Definitely something going on, constipation, blockage, any number of things. It might be wet food would help? Or he may need a prescription food, medication, or even some-kind of surgical procedure? I would try to find a vet that could help you figure it out.

Do keep us updated on him, i will worry about him with you.

 

[Wile]

Hi Andrew, sorry to hear about your cat's bathroom issues. Sometimes cats who have painful bowel movements associate their pain with the litter box and this puts them off using the box. I agree with duckpond that you will likely have to experiment more with foods before you find one that your cat can pass without issues.

Short term I would probably try to switch him to a wet food just to see if that helps, maybe with some added pumpkin for extra fibre.

 

[talkingpeanut]

Have you tried different proteins? He could have an allergy.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
Can you ask your vet about laxatone or adding plain pumpkin, something to help lubricate the poop out and/or add more fiber, or also, what about a kitty antacid?

Try to get a video of this, your vet needs to see the whole thing. Hang in there!

 

[catlover73]

Hi Andrew welcome to TCS and I am sorry for the circumstances that brought you here.

If this were my cat I would get a 2nd opinion from a different vet. Perhaps you could see if there is a feline only vet in your area. I am not a vet but this does seem like some sort of constipation issue that comes and goes pretty randomly. A 2nd opinion from a different vet actually saved the life of one of my cats when a bad UTI caused a partial pee blockage. The first vet did not even mention the UTI and was not sure if my cat was actually blocked. The 2nd vet hospitalized my cat and saved his life as a result. My cats kidneys almost shut down due to this issue but he made a full recovery after being hospitalized for three days.

 

[Jem]

This might be a long shot, but my cat started with pooping issues (outside the box, seemed scared of his poop, would hold it in) and it turned out that he had struvite crystals in his urine. The vet explained to me that the force of pooping put pressure on his bladder/urethra, causing pain. We caught the crystal problem because of a poop problem. So maybe get the vet to do a urine analysis to check for crystals???