Constipation

[Clawddawg]

On May 23, my cat Cypress had to be totally cleaned out by my vet. The stool he removed was hard as cement. Since then, I have been giving Cypress lactulose twice a day, feeding her with a high-fiber "weight reduction" dry food and her Fancy Feast canned food, adding a tablespoon of pumpkin to each. She has pooped regularly, with no straining or evidence of constipation. The only thing is, she has lost weight and by today she was listless and her fur is looking a little scruffy. I feel the "weight reduction" dry food is a disaster. She hated it and stopped eating it. She would only eat the pumpkin. She was so hungry today I gave her grain-free Purina dry food & she gobbled it down. I'm going to switch to Wellness Core low-fiber, grain-free dry food, as recommended on this forum. Hopefully, she will eat it & stop losing weight.

Question: how long do I give her the lactulose? Do I reduce the amount, and monitor her pooping behavior? If she appears constipated again, do I then resume the lactulose? Could I switch to Miralax?

Thanks for your help!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I have a chronically constipated cat and use Miralax (actually a generic of it) twice daily for him. I ONLY feed wet food as the moisture is good for constipation.

So, in answer to your question, I think it would be reasonable to switch from the lactulose to Miralax and see what happens. Be sure to dissolve it in a little bit of water, then I add it directly to the wet food since it is odorless and tasteless. Start with 1/8 teaspoon and if that doesn't seem to work, you can go up to 1/4 teaspoon twice per day. I vary between 1/8 and 1/4 when dosing it but I never go over 1/4 teaspoon.

If possible, I would definitely keep up the pumpkin, and would try to feed the majority of Cypress's food as wet. Monitor closely to make sure she doesn't become backed up again. Also, if she continues to be listless and her fur continues to look bad, I would take her back in for another Vet visit just to make sure nothing else is going on.