Cat constipation

[Julia L]

Hello cat lovers,

I am looking for an opinion about my cat's constipation. I have a 3 and a half year old Tomcat, no specific breed. A tuxedo cat to be more precise. Let me start by saying he is an indoor cat. I found him on the street when he was 3 months old and has been kept inside since then. Occasionally I take him outside just so he can take a small walk. He is vaccinated and neutered. I have no other cats in my home.

Almost two months ago he started pooping very small amounts of blood. I must say that I never checked his poop before so I have no idea if it was first time. It was the first time I noticed. It went on for a few days with small streaks of blood and mucus. I took him to the vet and took some blood tests which came back just fine. Took some stool samples and it came back negative for parasites or bacteria. Did a test for calprotectin which shows colon inflammation and it came back negative.

The vet put him on a special diet with food with low residue and some fiber. I feed him 120 g of canned hills digestive per day and dry food from the same brand. It took some time and it seemed that no more blood appeared in the poo. Now unfortunately his bowel movements have lessened and lessened. Sometimes he poops two and a half days apart. His stool does seem a bit hard, but no discoloration, no blood. He does not seem to be in pain, he seems active and eats. He still likes to play fetch with his ball as usual. He pees 2 two times a day, and drinks water. But I must mention that he was never a huge fan of drinking water. He seems to have lost 200 g in 3 weeks but I guessed it was because of the food. Before the bloody poo I used to give him dry food for sterilized cats.

I am desperate (I was diagnosed with depression some time ago and this cat is everything to me). He is my best friend and I cannot imagine him disappearing from my life so early. I read about megacolon and now I am scared he developed this illness. I feel guilty that perhaps his constipation went along for much longer, but maybe it got to a point of him developing megacolon because I was not good at picking up the signs.

What could be happening? The vet says it might be psychological because I kept disturbing his litter box right after he pooped to look for blood and take pictures for her to see and maybe he has some mental blockage. However, he does go to the litterbox to pee (I have changed its spot by the way), so it can't be this. My mom says maybe he is sensing my anxiety and it's making him feel worse. I am so lost. At night I cry with him in my arms, scared that I will lose him too soon and I am dreadfully thinking of the many procedures and operations that he may need in the future and the pain and fear that I cannot protect him from. Or worse that I might have to put him down. I will take him on Tuesday for an ultrasound and maybe I can get the vet to approve a colonoscopy. She says she does not recommend it due to it being invasive and to just try to switch to other and other diets. I have given him 2 ml of lactulose lately, but it had no effect until now.

I feel like I am losing precious time. Can you please tell me if any of you encountered this? Or at least offer me some insight. I am honestly looking for answers or just any ideas that can help.

I am sorry for the long message, I just needed to tell the whole story. For those who read all of it til the end, thank you. Looking forward to hearing from you guys.

Lots of love to your fur balls

PS: I am not from the US, so I am not able to go any clinic in the States, in case I get a recommendation from any of you.

 

[verna davies]

You could try feeding him wet food only and adding a couple of tablespoons of water, mixed in. Also try adding a sprinkle of psyllium to each feed, its a fibre and should help. Look for fibre rich wet food.

 

[Julia L]

Thank you so much for your answer. He mostly eats canned wet food now. And I gave him fibre in the beginning but it seemed to make his stool more bloody.

 

[Furballsmom]

The vet put him on a special diet with food with low residue and some fiber. I feed him 120 g of canned hills digestive per day and dry food from the same brand. It took some time and it seemed that no more blood appeared in the poo. Now unfortunately his bowel movements have lessened and lessened. Sometimes he poops two and a half days apart. His stool does seem a bit hard, but no discoloration, no blood. He does not seem to be in pain, he seems active and eats. He still likes to play fetch with his ball as usual. He pees 2 two times a day, and drinks water.

Hi
Along with this I'm quoting, you also said he's lost a little weight, - is this diet less food than he was getting before? Is he pooping out the same quantity as before? Sometimes a diet change, being a nutritional change, can bring about better digestive function which could translate into less frequent poops (similar to a cat on a raw diet).

Although I realize he's not missing the box (You're sure about that, right?) I'd try putting out another litterbox, just in case it helps.
You could try a spoonful of egg yolk or cooked scrambled egg, but not too much or he might get diarrhea.

However, maybe there's something here in this linked article you can use, such as meat-only baby food, and adding water to it to make baby food soup to help hydrate his sytem.

Tips To Increase Your Cat’s Water Intake – TheCatSite Articles

I'm not convinced his behavior is emotional. Not every cat will poop on a daily basis. Can you exercise him even more?

The other thing is that I believe an ultrasound is a better approach. This is from vin . com;
Abdominal ultrasound is useful at screening for concurrent intra-abdominal pathology, and should be part of every workup. Colonoscopy, on the other hand, has little utility due to the difficulty in appropriately preparing the constipated and friable colon before this procedure. Inadequate colonic preparation therefore makes visualization during colonoscopy almost impossible.

Additionally, you truly must find a way to stop being negative. Cats are like little sponges for our emotions. Besides that, he's still with you, loving you, being playful and himself. What you really don't want to lose is time with him.

 

[Julia L]

I dont want to be negative. I just lost my grandma Last year and this fur ball kept me from losing myself. I just cant go over losing him too. I am sorry if I am being overly dramatic, I am just very concerned. I just weighed him tonight. And he lost a other 100 g. The truth is he eats just the can of wet food and I noticed he doesn't eat too much kibble. I am giving him hills digestive care i/d. He just pooped now after exactly 48 hours. His poo was kind of dry and segmented. Even though I gave him 2 ml of lactulose this evening. Could it be that the food is making him lose weight? He does not usually drink lots of water. He was always like this. Should the egg yolk be cooked or raw? I am hoping I can get a good treatment and I dont Have to remove his colon. It scares the hell out of me.

He pees twice a day so yes he knows where the litterbox is. I really hope the ultrasound can give me some kind of answer as to what I am dealing with. I would do anything just keep him healthy.

 

[fionasmom]

Constipation Remedies?
Everything You Need To Know About Constipation In Cats – TheCatSite Articles
My Cat’s Stool Is Hard. How Can I Help Her? | BeChewy

The egg yolk can be cooked and mashed, or raw. Do not give raw egg white and if you are going to scramble the egg, make sure that the white is cooked. Egg yolk powder is also available. This is easily available in the states, although I am not sure if it is available where you are.
How Best to Manage Hairballs
This discusses the use of egg yolk products; I know that you did not say that your cat has hairballs, but sometimes these can be similar issues. It explains about the ready made powder and also how to make your own.

Many people in the states use Miralax, which is polyethylene glycol. It is called by many other names world wide, such as Movicol.

I would do the ultrasound to see what that might reveal. Since your cat is under the vet's care, ask about adding anything mentioned here or that you read about elsewhere to the vet before you proceed. Don't try everything at the same time either.

 

[Chrissy66]

J Julia L I used to have a senior cat that had constipation and we gave him Miralax everyday. The vet then told me canned food would be best instead of dry. Kibble is always bad because they do not get the water they need. If you are open to feeding a RAW Diet, that would be actually still better than Canned Food. We feed Toby Viva Raw with his supplements and even though he has fresh water, we rarely see him drink any water. The reason because Cats get their water from the meat itself being it is loaded with moisture. On occassion, he will want a sip or two of water and that is it. I also add some water to his food when I make it up before freezing it.

 

[Julia L]

Hello guys, I just came from The ultrasound. They said that the colon's diametre is about 2 cm and is slightly enlarged probably due to constipation. They did not say anything about an eventual initial phase of megacolon. What do you guys think? Is 2 cm grounds to be worried? When your cats were diagnosed what was the diametre? Vet said to give him lactulose a further two weeks and stick to the diet. As long as we keep an eye on his condition they said we should be able to avoid it becoming megacolon. But as far as I know once it become dilated it will definitely progress to megacolon no matter what you do. I sure hope I misunderstood what I Have read until now and maybe we can stop this in its tracks. He has pooed almost on a daily basis until now. I could really need some insight from you regarding what your doctors used as criteria on the Base of establishing this diagnosis. Looking forward to hearing from you. And thank you all for all your great advice. Lots of love. J