My cat's constipation is getting worse & I have no way to get him to the vet

[dianajune]

I posted a thread recently about this and his use of new Corelle water bowls. He likes them now and is not having any problems drinking. However, his constipation persists and I am getting worried.

This morning I found a piece of poop in his box that was about an inch in length. He's eating and drinking ok but for the life of me I can't figure out where all of it is going.

He's not acting sick. He seems to be responding to his new catnip with Silvervine. He sleeps ok. The main thing I am concerned about is that he no longer likes Laxatone. When I give him his medicine, I normally use Laxatone with 1/4 tsp of Miralax, 1/4 crushed Pepcid A/C (original strength) and it's all mixed and when he's willing, he will lick it off my finger. Lately giving him his meds is a battle and I have to wipe it on his paws.

I started to add a bit of water to this to help it work more.

I am scared that I'm going to lose him. If only I had a car or family nearby who can help me get him there but I don't. I messaged my city councilor, who seems to have many connections, and asked if he knows of a vet who does house calls. I will pay anything they ask.

One thing I thought of doing was giving him an enema but I am scared I could hurt him.

Please help me. Thank youl

 

[Alldara]

A faster response than your city counselor might be to ask on a local FB group if anyone is willing to drive you or if they know a home vet. You can also call any local taxi service and see if you can take him in a carrier. If you have Uber, there's also Uber Pet as an option.

Giving an enema at home is not the best idea. Glad you decided against it.

On the other thread, I don't think you ever answered as to if the crystals in the Miralax are fully dissolved before you give it to your cat. The answer you gave was just that you mixed it and had check with your vet and the way you mixed it was approved by that vet.

Many people on this site have not found laxatone to work well.

Miralax IF the crystals are fully dissolved before giving to to the cat should work in about 24 hours. My 16 lb cat was given a dosage of 1/4 tsp of Miralax twice a day for two weeks and then tapered down to 1/4 tsp every day.

I would dissolve it in a small but if water and then add it to a Churu treat. I suggest you try this with the dosage of Miralax that your cat is on currently or call the vet and see if you can try the twice a day because he won't eat the laxatone.

 

[FeebysOwner]

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Agree totally that the Miralax needs to be dissolved in water first, and if you are mixing it into Laxatone and able to wipe it on his paw, then it probably isn't mixed with enough water. One time both my cats were constipated at the same time, and our Vet had us give 1/4 teas. miralax (dissolved in water) TWICE a day, and also give about 1 inch of Laxatone every day until they got unclogged. It took a couple of days, but it worked!

Miralax doesn't have any odor or taste, so once you dissolve it, you should be able to simply mix it with some wet food and have him lap it up.

 

[dianajune]

A faster response than your city counselor might be to ask on a local FB group if anyone is willing to drive you or if they know a home vet. You can also call any local taxi service and see if you can take him in a carrier. If you have Uber, there's also Uber Pet as an option.

Giving an enema at home is not the best idea. Glad you decided against it.

On the other thread, I don't think you ever answered as to if the crystals in the Miralax are fully dissolved before you give it to your cat. The answer you gave was just that you mixed it and had check with your vet and the way you mixed it was approved by that vet.

Many people on this site have not found laxatone to work well.

Miralax IF the crystals are fully dissolved before giving to to the cat should work in about 24 hours. My 16 lb cat was given a dosage of 1/4 tsp of Miralax twice a day for two weeks and then tapered down to 1/4 tsp every day.

I would dissolve it in a small but if water and then add it to a Churu treat. I suggest you try this with the dosage of Miralax that your cat is on currently or call the vet and see if you can try the twice a day because he won't eat the laxatone.

The vet approved that method of giving him the Miralax but what I've been doing these past couple of days is adding water to the Miralax then mixing it with the Laxatone and Pepcid A/C.

I put it on his paws a couple of hours ago. He wasn't happy but cleaned off most of it. To encourage him to finish it off I put some catnip with Silvervine on his paws afterwards. That seems to have helped.

Before I gave Pumpkin his medicine, we were playing with some of his squeaky toys. He was jumping around, happy like nothing was wrong. I am stumped.

He's peeing ok and drinking ok.

I would just love to add it to his water but how can I make sure he'd take the entire dose? Wouldn't have have to drink the entire bowl of water?

Would it be possible to give him more than the 1/4 tsp twice a day? I don't want to overdose him.

I will see how things go today. I could try Vet Triage again. Btw, he has mostly soft food today, all of which has added water.

Thank you.

Edit: P.S. I forgot to mention that I use a power wheelchair, so that makes getting around so much harder.

 

[dianajune]

Agree totally that the Miralax needs to be dissolved in water first, and if you are mixing it into Laxatone and able to wipe it on his paw, then it probably isn't mixed with enough water. One time both my cats were constipated at the same time, and our Vet had us give 1/4 teas. miralax (dissolved in water) TWICE a day, and also give about 1 inch of Laxatone every day until they got unclogged. It took a couple of days, but it worked!

Miralax doesn't have any odor or taste, so once you dissolve it, you should be able to simply mix it with some wet food and have him lap it up.

But how did you give it to him after it was dissolved in water? If by syringe, knowing my cat he would go ballistic and possibly inhale it. He's a picky eater. What if he doesn't finish the wet food?

There's one idea but I don't know if this would work. Usually Pumpkin loves a little bit of light cream. Could I add the Miralax to that?

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

But how did you give it to him after it was dissolved in water? If by syringe, knowing my cat he would go ballistic and possibly inhale it. He's a picky eater. What if he doesn't finish the wet food?

There's one idea but I don't know if this would work. Usually Pumpkin loves a little bit of light cream. Could I add the Miralax to that?

I would dissolve it first in a little bit of water, maybe 1 - 2 teaspoons, then you can mix that with the cream. OR, mix the Miralax solution in with just a little bit of food at meal time to make sure he eats, then give him the rest of his food. Typically cats will lick up any liquid first, then go to town on the solid portion of the meal.

 

[fionasmom]

If you can get any of the very popular liquid treats like Hartz Stews or Broths, they are ideal for dissolving Miralax completely. I agree with what has been said about trying to incorporate it into something which is not liquid.

Delectables™ Lickable Treat – Stew 30 Pack Variety

 

[Alldara]

Yep just the Miralax in water until the water is fully clear. Warm water will dissolve it best.

Then take just a tablespoon of his food at mealtime and mix it in to that. See if he will eat it like that but if not, add one more tablespoon of the wet food. Let him eat that, then give the rest of his portion of food.

OR
Mix it in with a Churu treat. Or similar. There are many lickable treats.


Your local taxi company should have a few vans that can accommodate wheelchairs. If not that's 100% something to be writing to your counselor about.

 

[dianajune]

If you can get any of the very popular liquid treats like Hartz Stews or Broths, they are ideal for dissolving Miralax completely. I agree with what has been said about trying to incorporate it into something which is not liquid.

Delectables™ Lickable Treat – Stew 30 Pack Variety

I always thought Hartz products were cheap because many years ago (I'm 61 now) my brother and I had gerbils and we would oftentimes get Hartz products for them. Over the years, long after they died, i'd go by the pet section and see Hartz products that didn't seem to be as good as they used to be. This was before those stews and broths came out.

I think our local grocery has some of them, not sure which flavour. Which ones would you recommend? My cat is a very picky eater. He will like something one day and turn his nose up at it the next.

Btw, a little while ago I gave him some Miralax dissolved in water and then added cream. He rejected it, probably because he saw me put it together. So I tossed it and waited awhile. When he wasn't looking, I put some Miralax on his plate and poured some of that light cream right over it. He didn't drink the whole thing (probably put too much on there) but he had a good amount of it.

Now I'm waiting for that stuff to work its magic! Tx.

 

[fionasmom]

Hartz has made some questionable products over the years, but these seem fine. If you go to the Chewy or Petsmart website and search something like "cat treats" or "cat food toppers" you will probably find a lot more of a selection and many are made by higher end companies. My cats like all of the stew flavors, but they don't like the bisques or broths.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Re lickable treats - Inaba Churu, Delectable Squeeze Ups (Hartz), Temptations Purees, Catit, Nulo, Vitakraft - there is, as said above, a whole host of these type things, and these are not just bisques or broths, I give my cat chicken as she doesn't like fish, but each cat is different. Most come in chicken, tuna, salmon among other fish flavors, as I recall,

 

[TheHans]

Is Laxatone similar to Lactulose? If it's similar at all, then your issue might be the lack of water. We had a cat who needed Lactulose for her entire life, as she had a butt that wasn't formed correctly and she couldn't poop and she was totally constipated no matter what. She was in such dire straights as a kitten, that a vet recommended we put her down. We went to another vet, who recommended Lactulose. BUT you have to give lots of water with it. Lactulose draws fluid into the stool. It needs all that extra water. If Laxatone's similar, it needs that water too. Can you syringe it? Give like 10ccs of water along with it. Note that our cat needed more of it over time as her system got used to it. It might be the same for you with the Laxatone, explaining why it worked well in the past without a lot of extra water.

 

[dianajune]

Is Laxatone similar to Lactulose? If it's similar at all, then your issue might be the lack of water. We had a cat who needed Lactulose for her entire life, as she had a butt that wasn't formed correctly and she couldn't poop and she was totally constipated no matter what. She was in such dire straights as a kitten, that a vet recommended we put her down. We went to another vet, who recommended Lactulose. BUT you have to give lots of water with it. Lactulose draws fluid into the stool. It needs all that extra water. If Laxatone's similar, it needs that water too. Can you syringe it? Give like 10ccs of water along with it. Note that our cat needed more of it over time as her system got used to it. It might be the same for you with the Laxatone, explaining why it worked well in the past without a lot of extra water.

Lactulose is totally different. Laxatone is a gel whereas Lactulose is a very sticky liquid that my cat - no matter what flavour the compounding pharmacy gave us - would not like.

I never had to syringe anything into his mouth. I'm afraid that I will mess up and he'll aspirate it, then we'll have another potentially serious problem.

 

[neely]

I never had to syringe anything into his mouth. I'm afraid that I will mess up and he'll aspirate it, then we'll have another potentially serious problem.

If you've never used a syringe you may want to consider trying it at least once or twice. I do it with water nightly after giving our cat a pill to ensure he swallows his med. In fact, I preferred using a syringe for liquid meds with our last cat. I think the most important trick is to stay calm, try not to be anxious and don't hesitate. It's worth a try - good luck!

 

[dianajune]

Here's an update -

I saw two small pieces of poop this morning and then reached out to Vet Triage, a veterinary website recommended by Pumpkin's vet. He had one appointment with them before. Good news is he's not having an emergency yet, and his medicine is being increased.

His Miralax, which was given twice a day 1/4 tsp each time is being increased to 1/3 tsp per dose. The amount of Laxatone is being increased from one strip about in inch long to 2 strips per dose. This vet said that it's not necessary to add the Miralax to water first and the amount of Laxatone should be sufficient.

This goes along with what his regular vet said. The vet who did Pumpkin's heart tests was aware of his meds and how they are administered and didn't raises concerns about that one way or the other.

If I don't see a significant improvement today or he gets worse, I will find a way to get him there. The online vet believes it's ok to wait until Wednesday so I can make a bus appointment. The bus company requires 2 days notice.

If something happens before then, obviously, I will have to find an alternative means of travel.

I appreciate everyone's input. I will do an update later if things change. Thank you!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

If you can, I would still give the Miralax with water. The way it works is that it pulls water from the body into the intestines to try to soften the stool, so it can cause dehydration unless the cat already drinks a lot of water. So dissolving it in water is helpful in that aspect. Additionally, some cat owners have reported that their cats vomit when given it in powder form.

 

[dianajune]

If you can, I would still give the Miralax with water. The way it works is that it pulls water from the body into the intestines to try to soften the stool, so it can cause dehydration unless the cat already drinks a lot of water. So dissolving it in water is helpful in that aspect. Additionally, some cat owners have reported that their cats vomit when given it in powder form.

I had another talk with one of his vets at that clinic and it was agreed that for now, he will remain on 1/3 tsp of MIralax twice daily, along with his increased Laxatone and Pepcid a/c.

I am a nervous wreck about his appt on Wednesday. I am scared.

 

[kauzmo]

How did the appt go? Wishing you the best!

 

[dianajune]

How did the appt go? Wishing you the best!

His appt went well but he had another weird spell overnight. I'm going to start a different thread about it because I don't think it belongs here. I am very worried.