- Joined
- Jul 12, 2016
- Messages
- 120
- Purraise
- 66
I have a cat I keep indoors. It's not something I would ever have approved of, it's like keeping them imprisoned, but when I moved to the city I let someone talk me into thinking it would be ok to have an "indoor cat". Well..I will never do it again. He clearly knows he is missing going out and playing and running, and now that he is 8 years old, and chasing strings and laser lights and balls is no longer interesting to him, well he just isn't getting enough exercise, he's gaining weight, and he keeps getting constipated.
My first instinct if I have a health concern for myself, is to go to the doctor. Better safe than sorry. But for my cat my instinct is to NOT bring him to the vet unless he is in a life-threatened situation, because he found that - I was told - record-breakingly traumatic. (Oh the vet said I had the worst behaving cat ever, and she badmouthed him with that reputation to the pet store across the street, and the other vet in town too. Well, my cat is actually VERY well behaved, and I blame that vet for being incompetent to the point of being unfit. She traumatized him. He was just a purring little kitten, and she put gloves on up to her elbows, and chased him around with a towel that she eventually bagged him in. (But she found it a mystery as to why Captain Meow was pissed at her.) When i got him away from her she gasped, "he might hurt somebody!" as I picked the poor frightened thing up and gave it a cuddle. Wow. We are not going back there! So...the thing with my cat is I try to avoid a trip to any vet if I can. I don't like vets. All they're interested in is worrying or guilting you into repeatedly bringing the animal in unnecessarily, so they can fleece you at regular intervals. $345 is too much for a permission slip to buy worm medicine that I can get online for $40! And..oops, I thought I was done being angry about her. Lol Guess not!
mm So my first course of action, I go online, I seek advice, so long as his condition isn't life-threatening: NO VET.
Really, I was expecting "the cat whisperer" *, when I took him there, and instead I got someone who is afraid of animals!, and treats them badly as a result. She even charged me for cutting his claws. I NEVER TOLD HER TO DO THAT! It isn't okay! But she did this without asking, as if her safety was at risk, working on him. What a creep. IT WAS JUST A KITTEN!! And she was putting him under anyway. Seriously, she told me $200, and when I retrieved him, suddenly it's $400, or we keep your animal! If we didn't have absurd laws that say a vet can keep your loved one, your pet (and a mechanic can keep your car) if you refuse to pay for services rendered, when there's a dispute, I would NEVER have given her a dime for what she did.
Alright..I just wanted to dissuade folks from automatically suggesting "bring him to the vet", because it isn't going to happen unless he's dying.
I need to know....how do you keep a sedentary 8 year old cat from getting constipated all the time?
I was told one thing is he needs more exercise. I get that. But it isn't so easy.
Another suggestion was to put a few drops of olive oil on his food, to 'grease the path'.
So I did this and now his coat is too oily, so....maybe that's good to get him moving if he's stopped up, but not as a preventative measure to administer all the time.
I'm looking for a change to make to his diet that will help him not get constipated.
He is the type of cat that pees A LOT and poops a little. He turns everything into water somehow! Seriously, I never see him drink! I buy him bottled spring water, and I change it at least once a day, if it as much as gets dust in it. But he almost never touches that. All that peeing he does, I don't know where it's coming from!
But he gets constipated, and this last time, it was bad, and he couldn't pee either. He crawled into the couch and wouldn't come out. I thought we'd have to go see that witch doctor vet after all. But he pooped finally. It was huge (and no wonder it couldn't come out!). And then later he peed a quart!!!!! ..as if not being able to poop had stopped him from being able to pee. (Seriously, how could he have HAD a quart of stinky yellow pee in that small body????? No wonder he was in such discomfort. Wow.)
So I'd love to bring him to the vet and have him thoroughly checked up, see if it actually ISN'T just constipation from being sedentary. Maybe he has other issues internally. Maybe this incident damaged his bladder. I don't know. But - I told you about the vet. and TWO - I love him dearly. But I'm not someone who can fork over three thousand dollars for a tummy ache!
(an overnight stay for an intestinal infection... My friend had to pay $3200 for his dog. No surgery. Just a couple nights stay. $3,200.00 The dog had a tummy ache. I can't fritter money like that just "trying t be a good owner". I'm kind of poor.
Anyone got any tips? I just need him to not get constipated again.
And ok, if I really should take him in, say so, but don't suggest it as a routine precaution. It's a big deal having to do that. The LAST thing I want to do to my little friend is trap him in a box, and have strangers traumatize him when he's already feeling worse than he's ever felt. I wish that situation were different. I wanted to like the vet. Rely on her. But ...
*There was a movie called the Horse Whisperer, in which the vet had a seeming magic power to calm an animal and work with it.
My first instinct if I have a health concern for myself, is to go to the doctor. Better safe than sorry. But for my cat my instinct is to NOT bring him to the vet unless he is in a life-threatened situation, because he found that - I was told - record-breakingly traumatic. (Oh the vet said I had the worst behaving cat ever, and she badmouthed him with that reputation to the pet store across the street, and the other vet in town too. Well, my cat is actually VERY well behaved, and I blame that vet for being incompetent to the point of being unfit. She traumatized him. He was just a purring little kitten, and she put gloves on up to her elbows, and chased him around with a towel that she eventually bagged him in. (But she found it a mystery as to why Captain Meow was pissed at her.) When i got him away from her she gasped, "he might hurt somebody!" as I picked the poor frightened thing up and gave it a cuddle. Wow. We are not going back there! So...the thing with my cat is I try to avoid a trip to any vet if I can. I don't like vets. All they're interested in is worrying or guilting you into repeatedly bringing the animal in unnecessarily, so they can fleece you at regular intervals. $345 is too much for a permission slip to buy worm medicine that I can get online for $40! And..oops, I thought I was done being angry about her. Lol Guess not!
mm So my first course of action, I go online, I seek advice, so long as his condition isn't life-threatening: NO VET.
Really, I was expecting "the cat whisperer" *, when I took him there, and instead I got someone who is afraid of animals!, and treats them badly as a result. She even charged me for cutting his claws. I NEVER TOLD HER TO DO THAT! It isn't okay! But she did this without asking, as if her safety was at risk, working on him. What a creep. IT WAS JUST A KITTEN!! And she was putting him under anyway. Seriously, she told me $200, and when I retrieved him, suddenly it's $400, or we keep your animal! If we didn't have absurd laws that say a vet can keep your loved one, your pet (and a mechanic can keep your car) if you refuse to pay for services rendered, when there's a dispute, I would NEVER have given her a dime for what she did.
Alright..I just wanted to dissuade folks from automatically suggesting "bring him to the vet", because it isn't going to happen unless he's dying.
I need to know....how do you keep a sedentary 8 year old cat from getting constipated all the time?
I was told one thing is he needs more exercise. I get that. But it isn't so easy.
Another suggestion was to put a few drops of olive oil on his food, to 'grease the path'.
So I did this and now his coat is too oily, so....maybe that's good to get him moving if he's stopped up, but not as a preventative measure to administer all the time.
I'm looking for a change to make to his diet that will help him not get constipated.
He is the type of cat that pees A LOT and poops a little. He turns everything into water somehow! Seriously, I never see him drink! I buy him bottled spring water, and I change it at least once a day, if it as much as gets dust in it. But he almost never touches that. All that peeing he does, I don't know where it's coming from!
But he gets constipated, and this last time, it was bad, and he couldn't pee either. He crawled into the couch and wouldn't come out. I thought we'd have to go see that witch doctor vet after all. But he pooped finally. It was huge (and no wonder it couldn't come out!). And then later he peed a quart!!!!! ..as if not being able to poop had stopped him from being able to pee. (Seriously, how could he have HAD a quart of stinky yellow pee in that small body????? No wonder he was in such discomfort. Wow.)
So I'd love to bring him to the vet and have him thoroughly checked up, see if it actually ISN'T just constipation from being sedentary. Maybe he has other issues internally. Maybe this incident damaged his bladder. I don't know. But - I told you about the vet. and TWO - I love him dearly. But I'm not someone who can fork over three thousand dollars for a tummy ache!
(an overnight stay for an intestinal infection... My friend had to pay $3200 for his dog. No surgery. Just a couple nights stay. $3,200.00 The dog had a tummy ache. I can't fritter money like that just "trying t be a good owner". I'm kind of poor.
Anyone got any tips? I just need him to not get constipated again.
And ok, if I really should take him in, say so, but don't suggest it as a routine precaution. It's a big deal having to do that. The LAST thing I want to do to my little friend is trap him in a box, and have strangers traumatize him when he's already feeling worse than he's ever felt. I wish that situation were different. I wanted to like the vet. Rely on her. But ...
*There was a movie called the Horse Whisperer, in which the vet had a seeming magic power to calm an animal and work with it.