Bowel Movement After Surgery? How Long?

[Sharon2665]

I have a cat who has been blind for about a year now and last week had to have his eyes removed as they were edemetous and had debris in them and he had bleeding behind one. They never did figure out what caused his blindness. His eye biopsy might give some insight but haven’t gotten his report back yet.
So my question is how long after a surgery like that can a kitty go without a bowel movement? Today is day 6! Granted he has not eaten much and most of what he eats is soft food which is a high percentage of water. He doesn’t seem to be in any distress. He is drinking a lot of water and is peeing very well. He was on kitty moraphine taken orally but today was his first day off of it. I know with humans pain meds can bind you up.
Should I be calling the vet tomorrow or let him go another day or so? Poor little guy doesn’t need any other problems! Want to do what is best for him without adding any more stress. The cone is doing enough of that. Messes with his ears and whiskers which is how he tells how to get around. Now he’s going by memory only. Poor little guy.
Thanks for your help.

 

[Kieka]

I would go ahead and call your vet now. Six days is a long time to go without a bowel movement even with the surgery as a consideration.

 

[epona]

I'd phone the vet and and check with them whether that is expected for the type of surgery and aftercare that your cat has had.

When my Radar was on liquid via feeding tube earlier this year he was still producing stools - very small ones (very solid nuggets, presumably due to small quantity of solids passing through the gut) and a *lot* of wee as his diet was liquid nutrition, but still a tiny stool every day to eliminate the small amount of solid waste that resulted from his feeds.

 

[Sharon2665]

Thanks guys. We did call today. They said it can be normal but that 7 days is getting pretty long. Told us to start him on miralax! It’s started and fingers crossed for poop!

 

[1 bruce 1]

Thanks guys. We did call today. They said it can be normal but that 7 days is getting pretty long. Told us to start him on miralax! It’s started and fingers crossed for poop!

Be prepared because the poop has been there for awhile now, and when it comes out it WILL stink and make you think teargas would be a reward!
Miralax might take a day or two to work, but it's not a harsh laxative and hopefully will bring results quickly.

 

[epona]

Hope you see some good results soon!