Cat vomiting/lactulose

[albert2418]

Hello everyone, I'm hoping someone can help or give me some advice for an issue I'm currently having. A bit of context, I have two kitties, one five years and the other four years, and recently moved. Of course, this has been stressful for both of them, but my five year old has adjusted well. My four year old, Pelusa, has unfortunately not been doing great. Four days after moving, she still hadn't pooped even though she was eating, drinking water, and peeing as normal. She wasn't showing any signs of constipation either so I figured it was nothing serious and eventually she would poop. However, I called her vet and a few others just to be sure and all of them told me it wasn't safe for her to go that long without pooping, and I should get her checked. I took her to her Vet and was prescribed some Lactulose and Gabapentin for her anxiety and stress from moving. I gave her the lactulose dose, 1.5ml (She's 17lb) and she did poop the following morning. It looked like normal stool so I figured everything was solved. Unfortunately, that night, she began to vomit her food. This was already alarming to me as I've been with her all four of her years and the only times she's vomited were from eating bits of ham too quickly and when she got into my glass of milk one time. The next morning I kept her off food and gave her only water and she kept it down. In the afternoon, I gave her just a little bit of her wet food to see if she was well and for a few hours, she was. That night, she vomited again, and continued to do so every few hours into the next morning. I decided to take her to the Vet again after seeing her vomit was becoming pink in color. Her bloodwork returned completely normal and she was administered Cerenia, fluids, and some i/d Feline wet food. I opted out of an x-ray seeing how expensive they are and the bloodwork was normal. Again, everything seemed fine throughout the day. She gladly ate the i/d food and the next day didn't vomit a single time. However, we're now at four days again since the last time she pooped. She's still not showing any signs of constipation and is peeing normally. So, that night I gave her another 1.5ml dose of Lactulose mixed into her wet food and she pooped the next morning. Stool still looked perfectly normal. A few hours later(today), she once again vomits her food in the afternoon, though thankfully no sign of it being pink. She has since vomited two more times and it has just been clear liquid and foam. Personally, I'm worried and plannig on taking her to the Vet again on tuesday for x-ray work, or an emergency vet depending on how she does until then.

What I want to ask, is the Lactulose potentially causing her stomach to be upset? I was told both times I went to the Vet that Lactulose shouldn't be causing something like this and at worst would only cause diarrhea but it'd be great if others could share their personal experiences with potentially similar situations to mine. Pelusa is also a very scared prone kitty so part of me thinks this is just an unfortunate reaction to the stress of moving this past week, but she's also been exploring the place, albeit slowly, so I'm not really sure. I forgot to mention, but I did not give her Gabapentin a single time as the last thing I want is for her to experience side effects from that medication. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you all.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi and welcome to TCS! So sorry you are going through this with Pelusa. Not all cats react to meds the same way, so there might be a chance the lactulose is the culprit. And, the constipation could be related to her reaction to the move - maybe she isn't drinking as much water? Any food change before the constipation started (not talking about the vet prescribed food, but before that)?

I would ask the vet about using Miralax instead of lactulose and see if that stops the vomiting. Perhaps use a smaller amount of Miralax as a preventative method to avoid so many days passing between her poops, which also could be posing an issue causing the vomiting. Most folks try 1/8 tsp once or twice a day and see how that works. It can be increased to 1/4 tsp once or twice a day if the former dose(s) do not keep the constipation at bay. Mix the Miralax with a bit of water before adding to the food.

 

[albert2418]

Hi and welcome to TCS! So sorry you are going through this with Pelusa. Not all cats react to meds the same way, so there might be a chance the lactulose is the culprit. And, the constipation could be related to her reaction to the move - maybe she isn't drinking as much water? Any food change before the constipation started (not talking about the vet prescribed food, but before that)?

I would ask the vet about using Miralax instead of lactulose and see if that stops the vomiting. Perhaps use a smaller amount of Miralax as a preventative method to avoid so many days passing between her poops, which also could be posing an issue causing the vomiting. Most folks try 1/8 tsp once or twice a day and see how that works. It can be increased to 1/4 tsp once or twice a day if the former dose(s) do not keep the constipation at bay. Mix the Miralax with a bit of water before adding to the food.

Hello, thank you for replying. Sorry if I didn't make it clear, but Pelusa never showed any signs of constipation(walking back and forth to her litterbox, straining, etc), she just simply didn't even try to poop, though that could probably still be considered being constipated. Any time she approached her litter box it would be to urinate and that also seemed fine, as she has always been on wet food on top of having water always available to her. No food change was made prior to moving, but I don't doubt that the move is very likely a factor in her not wanting to poop. Thank you, I will bring up Miralax on her next visit. I'm just worried and stressed I jumped the gun initially with lactulose and caused her to go through this ordeal on top of the move.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Not all cats who experience constipation show other signs - so no real misunderstanding. But, I didn't think about another aspect - the placement of and related changes to the litter boxes given they are in a new home/place. It is a lot easier for a cat to hold poop than it is pee if they are having issues about the litter boxes and their placement. Another thing to add to the equation.