Poopie Problems - Please Help!

[melanmac]

I just do not know what to do. One of my cats has decided she isn't going to poo in the litter box. This started last spring, but was only occasional - every few weeks. Then it became once a week and now it is every day. I scoop every day, I added a third box (already had two set up) but no one used it, there hasn't been any major changes (no new pet, no new people, no changes to the house).

I have no idea why she is doing this. We've been to the vet who found nothing physically wrong with her. She does run around the house in a panic before she poo-poo's (always in the same places), which my vet finds to be very strange. He said something was causing her anxiety but we can't figure out what it is. The other two cats are not aggressive toward her at all (rather, she is the one who is sassy toward them). He prescribed an anti-anxiety medication which helped for a little while but now we are back to where we were before the medication (we are still giving it to her). I am worried about her because she just seems so agitated and I don't know why. We are going back to the vet in a week or so.

Any suggestions will be welcome. My husband (who has actually been very patient through all this) is thinking of banishing her to the basement at night and while we are gone during the day. I think that will just make the problem worse.

 

[katkisses]

Her running around BEFORE pooing makes me think she is anticipating something. Maybe pain? From constipation?

 

[carolina]

Originally Posted by KatKisses

Her running around BEFORE pooing makes me think she is anticipating something. Maybe pain? From constipation?

It sounds to me like she is pain... the poor thing! Have you asked your vet about it? Adding fiber to her diet can be something easy to do, and to fix her problem - this is the one I use for my babies: I sprinkle on their dry food:
Vetasyl Fiber Caps

 

[stephanietx]

First of all, you're going to have to clean the poo spot with an enzymatic cleaner to get rid of the poo smell. Then, add some Cat Attract litter to all your boxes. Third, invest in a Feliway diffuser or 2 and run it 24/7. This will help (hopefully) cut down the anxiety level. Fourth, add fiber to your kitty's diet. If you don't already feed her canned, add some canned food with some plain canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) mixed in. Also, add a little bit of water to the canned food/pumpkin mix to help increase water. The pumpkin and water will help soften the stool. You can also add some fish oil to the canned food mixture to help with stools.

 

[otto]

I think your kitty may be constipated. She has trouble pooping and blames the box, so she avoids the box.

Chronic constipation leads to megacolon, and she may already be developing one. She needs an x ray to have a look at her bowels.

If your vet will not pursue this further, I recommend you find another vet.

Megacolon is a very serious condition, only cured by surgery. The other alternative is a lifetime of medication and special diet.

What are you feeding her? She needs to be on an all canned grain free diet. This is what helped my kitty who has constipation problems (no megacolon yet, but I did have a cat with megacolon, she had to take 8 medicines a day, just to poop)

Be careful with adding fiber because fiber causes bulk, making the stools even larger, so it can be counter productive.

And no, banishing her to the basement is not the answer, and is likely to cause even more problems.

I really think an x ray to check for megacolon, and a diet change to all canned grain free will help.

And yes, as was said, the soiled spots need to be cleaned with an enzyme cleaner.

Welcome to TCS and please do keep us posted.

 

[otto]

by the way, how old is this kitty? (what's her name?) If she is getting on in years, she may have arthritis.

Arthritis also inhibits pooping because of pain, and an inability to hold the squatting position long enough to get all the poop out

Again, she blames the litter box for this so tries to go elsewhere.

 

[melanmac]

Thank you for your replies. The thought of constipation occurred to me a few days ago as I was watching her run madly through the house. I have read that often litter box problems are caused by the cat associating the box with pain and I wondered if this could be a possibility. We have an appointment with the vet on Wednesday. The megacolon condition sounds scary - I can't imagine your poor kitty on 8 medications - and I hope we don't have this condition. I think my vet will pursue this litter problem further - he's very good.

I do have a feliway disfuser and I have plugged it back in (I figured it can't hurt) and I was using a cleaner with emzymes and I can see I'm going to have to start that up again as well.

By the way, her name is Blaise and she will be 10 years old this spring. After reading your comments, I think my husband is going to put the basement confinement on hold.

 

[stephanietx]

I have a 13 yo cat, Callie, who has chronic hard stools and arthritis. She doesn't have constipation issues, but there are several similarities. I started increasing her wet food intake and while she doesn't have normal stools (she also has kidney issues which affects her stools), they are much softer and easier for her to pass. I also add a few teaspoons of water to the canned food mixture to further increase her water intake. If your kitty is on an all-dry diet, please consider going to an all-canned or at least one regular sized canned meal a day.

An x-ray will also show arthritis in the hips. There are some easy and effective ways to treat arthritis if it turns out she's got that.

Let us know what the vet says.

 

[carolina]

poor kitty... In the mean time, can you get her some plain canned pumpkin, and mix it to her wet food? that should add enough fiber to help her poop... She still has two days to go... I hate thinking about her going through two more days of pain...

 

[melanmac]

We went to the vet today and he confirmed that this could be a constipation issue. We did an x-ray and everything looked normal but it did show fecal matter (more than what should be normal he said). So, he prescribed a small amount of Metamucil in canned food every day along with a dose of Laxatone (an oral lubricant). He is giving her a very mild pain reliever as well. We'll do this for a week and then he's going to follow up with me to see how she's doing and to discuss what we'll be doing routinely to keep her from getting this way again. My poor baby. Hopefully she'll be feeling better in a few days.

 

[otto]

I am glad you have a diagnosis, but I frankly disagree with you vet's treatment, as I will explain why.

Cats with constipation problems do not really react well to added fiber of this sort.

Metamucil is not a very good way to treat constipation in cats, because it works by drawing water to the colon, which makes the stool very large. This alone can cause megacolon, as large stools are very difficult for kitty to pass.

Laxatone is not a laxative, it is a hair ball remedy (that does contain some mineral oil among other things), and again, is not the best way to treat constipation.

I don't mean to say anything bad about your vet, but these are old fashioned treatments that are not very effective for any length of time.

When my Ootay was first being treated for constipation the vet I was then using (not anymore) had Ootay taking metamucil and laxatone. Her problem would seem to get better, then get worse again, and the vet just kept increasing the metamucil until the poor cat (who only weighed 6 pounds) was passing stools that were as big as she was.

The result of all this messing about was a megacolon. By then she was too old and sick to withstand the surgery, so for the last four years of her life she had to take ever increasing amounts of laxative (first lactulose, then mineral oil) and cisapride (a motility agent, and very expensive).

By the time I had to let her go (for something unrelated) she was taking mineral oil three times a day, and cisapride three times a day, and tiny amounts of psylium twice a day, just so she could poop.

I learned (here) much too late for her, that miralax is now being prescribed for cats with constipation issues with good results.

I now have a younger cat who was experiencing constipation problems until I switched her to a completely grain free all canned diet. (also learned here) She eats Wellness grain free canned chicken exclusively. Any time I try to vary her diet the slightest bit, the constipation problem comes back.

Keeping your kitty on a grain free all canned diet is a good first step, and maybe she will not need a life time of laxatives.

By the way, what kind of pain medicine did the vet prescribe, and why? Constipation is a side affect of most pain medicines so it seems counter productive to me.

 

[otto]

If your vet thinks she is having arthritis pain, which very well could be the cause of the constipaiton to begin with, starting her on cosequin for cats is much better than pain medication.

(did your vet do blood work?)

Cosequin for cats is a glucosamine supplement for arthritis, and it is very effective.

Having said all that I want to add that always give the laxatone, or ANY laxative or hair ball remedy, on an empty stomach at least an hour before a meal. Laxatives (and hairball remedies too) can prevent the absorption of nutrients, so should not be given near, or shortly after, meal times.

please keep us updated on how Blaise is doing.

 

[stephanietx]

If you're feeding mainly dry, I would encourage you to consider drastically decreasing the amount of dry you're feeding and increasing wet food. This will help immensely with the constipation issue. Also, adding plain canned pumpkin to the diet can help. You can also use slippery elm bark, an herbal alternative to laxatives. Many people with CRF cats use SEB for constipation in their kitties with good results.

I have an older cat with constipation issues (see my previous post). We used to give her a prescription laxative from the vet. I don't remember what it was called, but it wasn't very effective actually. It was expensive and she wasn't particularly fond of it. I decided to increase her wet food intake and wow! what a difference that made!

 

[carolina]

How's your baby doing? Updates?

 

[gleason]

I have a 15 year old female cat that has had problems also. It didn't take long to figure out she was constipated when she ignored the litter box. I tried a number of things including the pumpkin which she completely refused. I finally started her on Miralax which I mixed in her canned food. Within a couple of days she was back to normal. I have continued her on the Miralax. It is only 1/8 tsp per day which seems to be just the right dose to keep her regular and using the litter box. Worth a try for your kitty.

 

[melanmac]

We have faithfully been following the vet's instructions for the last week and I can say her poo's have definitely bulked up. But (sigh) we are still not using the litter box. The pain medication, he told me was very mild, and he thought maybe she was experiencing pain because of the constipation. He wanted to alleviate the pain while we got her un-constipated. This routine, I think, is short-term. He wanted me to do this for a week or so and then update him. So, I'll be talking with them tomorrow to see what we're going to do next.

I'm really not comfortable keeping her on the metamucil because I, too, had concerns about her stools bulking up too much. It seems like a change in diet would be the way to go. I like the idea of adding canned food and adding water to it to increase her water intake. ( I have a feeling she won't go for the canned pumpkin additive - she is picky, picky)

I don't want her to develop this megacolon problem - so thank you for the info.