Cat Can't Poop

[SkittlesTheCat]

Update: Sorry for lack of update in a long time. So the local vet was not able to get him to poop. We worked with local vet for about 2 weeks for fluid injections, enemas, xrays, etc and finally they tried the Golytely (polyethylene glycol solution used on humans for colonoscopy to basically purge the digestive system) treatment administered via a tube fed into his stomach. After that, it was over a day and he still would not poop. We called the local vet on the Friday before last for what to do next and they said they just gave up. They did not know how to get him to poop and advised us to take him to a vet hospital. We did thinking that we would have no choice, but to put him down. But the hospital vet recommended one last x-ray just to see what we were dealing with. We took the x-ray and were both surprised to see that most of the solids inside his intestines had been liquified with just one big solid stool near his anus. So the Golytely had worked, just not all the way through. We ended up giving it one more go and Skittles stayed at the hospital overnight on IV and multiple enemas. Still, none of that worked. In the last desperate attempt, we decided to put him under sedation and do another deobstipation. That worked. The vet was able to break-up that last blockage and remove it. He started pooping on his own the following day and regained his appetite. For the next week, he has been eating wet food and pooping 1-2x per day until Friday when we took him back to the vet hospital for a consultation about his long-term plan. The did not do anything to him at the vet that day, but since then (last Friday) he has not been eating much and stopped pooping, although possibly because he has not been eating much. He has an appetite for dry food and we have been able to get him to eat a little wet food, but he mostly just licks off the gravy / moist part and leaves most of the meat. So we have to offer him several cans of wet food a day the past two days just to get any in him. However, prior to all this for the past few years, he never really liked wet food. He would typically just lick off the gravy or if we give him a broth, he would lick the broth, but leave the meat. I don't think he's backed up, but I am concerned that there's still an issue. Either that or he just does not want moist food and is waiting for us to offer dry food. I also have not seen him drink water, but he has been urinating 2-3 times per day and he's got good energy -- jumping up on counters, looking out windows, chasing strings, wanting to go outside (we don't let him outside, but I will occasionally hold him and let him see out the front door or backyard). So he's acting normal, but just low appetite and no poop since Friday. He's been on Cisapride and Lactulose 3x per day so that should keep whatever is inside him moist. Earlier in the week his stools were very soft, but not soggy or runny. It's possible that he got stressed out about going back to the vet and is in shock. Aside from the stools, nothing concerning showed up on the xrays. They ran some blood tests, but nothing concerning there either. Anyway, total vet bill over the past 3 weeks is over $10k. Hoping to get Skittles back to normal soon.

 

[Caspers Human]

Our Casper was on Cisapride, daily for about half a year with Miralax in his food, as well. A while after that, we gave him Cisapride as needed but still on the Miralax. Nowadays, we only give him Miralax when he needs it but we keep some Cisapride on the cat side of the medicine cabinet, just in case, but we haven't used any in recent memory.

All we do is pay attention to the litter box when we clean it out. If we don't see any deposits, we dose him up with Miralax until his stools come out like the consistency of Play-Dough. We'll occasionally dose him up just to "clean him out" so to speak, just in case.

Yes, keep him on wet food as much as possible. Our rule is a minimum of 50/50 but Casper seems to be happiest, lately, eating 60/40 wet/dry. And, of course, you're going to hear me say this a million times... Water! Water! Water! Miralax works by drawing moisture into the intestines. Without water, it can't work.

We do all that and Casper has bee right as rain, even with his perineal hernia which is what our vet says is the root cause of Casper's trouble in the first place.

Basically, Casper has hemorrhoids. Go figure...

Once you get this thing sorted out with Skittles, it might be worthwhile to check to see whether he has something going on similar to Casper. It did take two or three trips to the vet for them to finally figure it out.

 

[Margot Lane]

Good lord you’ve both been through it, him literally! I’m no cat but if all that had happened to me, I might feel a bit ginger about wanting to eat much. Praise be you got that last x ray! Agree with the “water water water” advice. I have a friend that has to hydrate her aged kitty with an IV!

 

[SkittlesTheCat]

Still no deposit since Friday morning (currently Sunday evening). Although he did not eat much on Friday and Saturday. Started eating a little more today although we gave him an appetite stimulant. We only feed him wet food and meds 3x per day since he started having issues with bowel movement. We gave him about 10 small pellets of dry kibble soaked in water yesterday just to see if he would be interested in it and he was. He has been urinating and just went. He produced a good amount of urine, but it appeared to be clear and had no or little smell. However, I have not seen him drink water. Tonight he walked up to his water bucket, sniffed it, and walked away. Maybe he's getting enough liquid from his moist food and cat treats? Not sure. I fear that he still has some underlying issue that caused the constipation. Nothing came up in blood tests and kidney function appeared normal when they looked at it. But that was when he was on IVs and constipated so maybe that influenced the results.

 

[SkittlesTheCat]

Update: Skittles pooped both yesterday and the day before. Almost exactly 24 hours apart. Poop was soft and moist, but not diarrhea or soggy. He still does not have much of an appetite for wet food, but eats about a can of cat food a day. We gave him 10 GI formula dry kibblets and he devoured them. He wants dry food, but we'll keep him on wet for now.

 

[Caspers Human]

It sounds like Skittles is on the mend!

He should make a deposit in the litter box at least once every 24-48 hrs. His stools should be soft like Play-Dough.

He can eat a LITTLE BIT of dry food as a treat if you want. If you can get him to eat 100% wet food, more's the better! Whatever you feed, make sure he's got enough water. Leave a faucet dripping or something. Whatever gets him interested in water. Stir a spoonful into his food if you have to. Our Casper likes the "extra gravy" kind of cat food and we're happy to give it to him. The more moisture in his diet, the better!

As long as Skittles eats at least once per day and poops at least once a day, he should be good!

Still got fingers crossed for you!

 

[Suzanney]

I really appreciate the advice. I took Skittles to the emergency vet hospital this afternoon. They did x-rays and the radiologist recommended an enema. As you can see, he's very constipated. I thought he was a 14-15 lb cat, but he actually weighed in at 17.8 lbs. He was 12-14 lbs years ago when he was an indoor / outdoor cat. The vet thought that there might be a blockage in the x-ray photo shown below. It looks like there was some round object which we later thought might be a small children's plastic coin, but the object did not show up on the other 5-6 images. They ultimately did not think it was a foreign object and it's upstream from the build-up anyway.

So they did an enema. They put I think around 60-65 mL of fluid into his rear, but nothing came out. They also gave him subcutaneous fluids to keep him hydrated. At home, he has tried to go poop a few times, but still nothing is coming out. Same response as before. He's had one dosage of lactulose 2 hours ago and will follow up every 8 hours. I also plan to add in some Miralax, but the challenge will be getting him to digest it. If it's a pill, I'll try to crush it up into a Churu tube. I like the vet hospital. The staff was helpful. But I really hope he can get it out naturally as I'm not sure if I can afford $2k / night hospitalization for an unknown duration + ~$900 every time he needs an enema not even counting the xrays. It's real money real fast.

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I’m having the exact same issue with my boy- he got the enema & X-rays showed he was blocked with firm poop..Lactulose & lots of water. Pooped when he got home & the next day but not since so waiting for that. Hopefully it works out for you, I know the vet bills were outrageous & I’m broke now. But I’m keeping an eye as he’s acting normal. I never knew this was such an issue with cats until found this site

 

[SkittlesTheCat]

It sounds like Skittles is on the mend!

He should make a deposit in the litter box at least once every 24-48 hrs. His stools should be soft like Play-Dough.

He can eat a LITTLE BIT of dry food as a treat if you want. If you can get him to eat 100% wet food, more's the better! Whatever you feed, make sure he's got enough water. Leave a faucet dripping or something. Whatever gets him interested in water. Stir a spoonful into his food if you have to. Our Casper likes the "extra gravy" kind of cat food and we're happy to give it to him. The more moisture in his diet, the better!

As long as Skittles eats at least once per day and poops at least once a day, he should be good!

Still got fingers crossed for you!

Thanks for the comment. Skittles actually eats several times per day. But he's not eating much each time. Overall, he's probably getting about 50-90% of the calories that he should be getting depending on the day. He's been urinating often enough...maybe 3+ times per day. I have not seen him drink water though and before his constipation, I used to see him drink water regularly once per day. He would spend 1-3 minutes drinking out of a clean bucket. That was when he was 100% dry cat food diet. Maybe he doesn't need that on moist food + Churu treats. When he was constipated, he would drink water and then soon after vomit in the garage because he was so backed up. I wonder if he now associates water with vomit. He grooms regularly and otherwise seems normal. Just low food intake. We were out for about 8 hours yesterday evening and when we came back, he was waiting for us by the door and started running through the house which he often did when we would be gone awhile. That was the first time I have seen him run since before his constipation issue started so I took that as a positive sign. He really wants to go outside. Perhaps to hunt or because he's tired of us force feeding him his meds through a syringe.

 

[SkittlesTheCat]

I’m having the exact same issue with my boy- he got the enema & X-rays showed he was blocked with firm poop..Lactulose & lots of water. Pooped when he got home & the next day but not since so waiting for that. Hopefully it works out for you, I know the vet bills were outrageous & I’m broke now. But I’m keeping an eye as he’s acting normal. I never knew this was such an issue with cats until found this site

Yeh, I did not know constipation was a thing with cats either. It happens more with overweight male cats which is what Skittles is. We need to reduce his weight.

 

[Caspers Human]

I have not seen him drink water though and before his constipation, I used to see him drink water regularly once per day.

If Skittles is eating more wet food he'll drink less water. There is more water in wet food and the cat won't be as thirsty. If you are giving Miralax, however, it should stimulate him to drink a little more. As long as you see him drinking some water.

It all depends, I guess. If you are feeding him food with extra gravy or giving him Churu treats and stuff like that, he'll need to drink less frequently. If you are stirring a spoonful of water into his food, he'll need to drink even less.

Skittles has been through a lot, lately. His digestion is probably still out of whack. It'll probably take a while for him to get back to his "regular" self, if you know what I mean.

Think about it as if it was you. If you had a major bout of constipation that lasted a week then had a major "colon blow," you'd be off your food for a while too! It'll probably take a couple of weeks. As long as he eats something every day and takes a dump at least once a day, she should be okay. Just keep an eye on him but still keep the vet on speed dial.

 

[JillysMlee]

Hey! How is Skittles doing now?? I read some of your updates and am very happy he seems to be on the mend!

 

[SkittlesTheCat]

Skittles has been pooping daily with the exception of once or twice where it took 2 days for him to poop. I still have not seen him drink water, but he urinates several times per day and we give him Churu and wet cat food with extra gravy. We started giving him prescription digestive support dry food, but we add water to it. We about about 20-30 kibble nugets and then cover in water. He always eats the kibble and drinks the water. Yesterday was the only time since before he went to the vet hospital where he threw up. It was mostly kibble and water. We gave him 2 servings of about 25-30 kibbles + water each in a short period of time so that might have been too much. I also gave him a Churu that had been left out overnight with his Cisapride dose in it...I tried to give him the Churu + Cisapride the night before, but he could tell it was altered and did not eat it...so I saved for next morning. He at it and shortly after threw up so maybe it spoiled and made him sick. Since then he has been eating. Really doesn't like wet food except for gravy, but will eat as much kibble as we give him. Even though the kibble is digestive support perscription stuff (Hills I think), we still prefer if he eats the moist food...he just doesn't like it except for gravy part and Churus. His poops have been very soft and moist. I have never seen a hard stool since he came back from the vet hospital. He's completely off the laxulose and takes 1/2 teaspoon of Miralax morning and night. And Cisapride 3x per day at 0.25 ml. I think the reason his stools are very soft is because the Miralax dosage was calibrated for about 2x his current food intake. So we probably need to reduce that to 1/4 and 1/4 until his stools become soft. He has become more active and back to his at times fiesty self. He runs through the house full speed and attacks his cat post as he did before he got sick. He will occasionally jump us if we're not paying attention. He really wants to go outside...probably to catch some better food. He used to be an outdoor cat and would frequently bring back presents.

 

[Caspers Human]

I'm super happy to hear that Skittles is doing so much better!

If you're feeding him wet food with gravy, Churu treats and kibble with water, he's probably getting plenty of water intake. He might not drink very much water. As long as he's peeing, Skittles will be all right. Water can't come out if it doesn't go in, first. Right?

For the Cisapride, give Skittles whatever the vet says. Cisapride works by making muscles of the colon squeeze harder. That should make it easier for him to push out his stools. We had to give Cisapride to Casper for a while. His digestion has gone back to normal, for the most part. We only give him Miralax as he needs it.

As you know, Miralax absorbs water and holds it in the colon. That brings more water into the stool and makes it softer and easier to push out. A half-teaspoon of Miralax is a lot. That will certainly make his poops soft and squishy. Ideally, his stools should be like Play-Dough. Do you remember those Play-Dough toys we used to have when we were kids? The ones where you put a lump of Play-Dough inside then push the handle down? Like that! If you have a warped imagination like I do, you don't need to think about pushing down on the cat's tail like the handle of a Play-Dough machine!

Anyhow, once you get Skittles' digestion running, you can adjust the amount of Miralax you give based on what you see in the litter box. If his deposits are too hard, give a little more until they soften up. If his deposits are too soft, give less until they are the way you want them to be.

Casper's "baseline" dosage of Miralax is a quarter teaspoon. Sometimes, we go up to a half. On a few, rare occasions we have dosed him up until he gets the squirts. Also, there are times when we don't give Casper any Miralax, at all. It all depends on what Casper needs in order to stay regular.

As long as he poops and pees at least once a day, Skittles should be all right. Sometimes he might skip a day and that's okay, too. If he misses more than two days in a row, call the vet to ask what they think.

It sounds like you're doing everything right!
Two thumbs up!

Here's hoping that Skittles gets back to his old self, real soon!

 

[SkittlesTheCat]

Thanks Caspers. How long was your cat on the Cisapride? Has your cat ever gotten constipated since on the Miralax? If so, has he ever been constipated to the point where you had to bring him to the vet for an enema?

His stools are definitely way softer than playdough, but not diarrhea-like. They were a bit firmer before we started adding the Miralax.