Cola Is Still Constipated

[skrinkle]

I’ve posted this before, but I thought maybe fresh eyes could offer new advice.

Cola is 10-11 year old girl who I have had for less than 2 months. She’s on cartrophen once a month for arthritis, which doesn’t seem to slow her down much yet. She’s on 2.5mg of cisapride daily, as well as 1/8th teaspoon of laxaday 2x a day. She eats wet high fibre food.

Her stools are very soft. She has a poop about once every 3 days, and they are quite long. When I first brought her home, she would meow until I came to the litter box to watch her poop, and seemed to like when I talk to her and encourage her to go. Now she goes on her own without any meowing.

At the shelter she had tried a low residue diet which didn’t seem to help, as well as double the dose of cisapride which didn’t make a difference.

She was obese, and I was hoping after losing weight she would start pooping more. She does run and play more, so I think the weight loss has helped her arthritis, but her poops haven’t changed with exercise.

She’s going to meet my vet soon (I’m still fostering her, going to adopt her in a few weeks), and I’m wondering if there’s anything specific I should ask about trying? I just want her to be as healthy as possible.

 

[abyeb]

Have you tried feeding her pumpkin or organic coconut oil? These can sometimes help relieve constipation.

Let us know what the vet says.

 

[prairiepanda]

Miralax has worked well for several cats I've worked with in the past. It's pretty cheap if you get the big bottles from a human drug store, especially considering how tiny the cat dose is.

But if her poop is very soft, are you sure she's constipated? Not all cats poop every day; for some it's normal to only poop every 2 or 3 days. You should ask your vet to show you how to feel her abdomen to assess how much buildup is actually in there. I once had a cat with a very inconsistent poop schedule, so I had to learn how to feel the colon to check whether she was constipated or just didn't have any poop to put out.

 

[skrinkle]

She is constipated, when she does poop they are very long because it’s been building up for three days. The shelter was hoping it would get better once she was in a home, but it’s stayed the same. The reason the shelter has her on special diets, laxaday, and cisapride is because she’s not pooping often enough. Her stool is so soft that I don’t think a stool softener like miralax is a good idea, especially when she already has laxaday 2x a day.

 

[foxxycat]

It could be that the stool needs to be bulked up. I would ask the vet for that science diet food that's made for bulking up the stools-I can't remember the type off the top of the head..in humans we would eat more green veggies leafy type to help firm it up. I would not add miralax at this point. What are you feeding for food?

Some cats don't poop daily. I have one who only goes every other day no matter how much canned pumpkin and miralax I give her.

artiemom what's the name of that kibble that Artie has to take? It is used to bulk up the stool so it passes better. We don't want wet soft stool-it is harder to expel believe it or now...don't ask me how I know..

 

[artiemom]

Hey There! The food which is a prescription, for constipation is: Royal Canin Fiber Response. It only comes in the dry form, no wet at all. I even tried wetting it down. It turned gross.. Artie ate this for a while and then got tired of it. It is really a miracle food for constipation.

The food I am currently feeding my guy is Science Diet W/D. I know it says weight management, but it does have a good amount of fiber in it.. It is another Prescription food. This comes in wet and dry. My guy goes between both the wet and dry.

skrinkle It sounds like my guy.. Sounds like a motility issue, you do need fiber and some, just a bit of miralax to keep things going. No, you do not want the stool too soft.. it cannot pass. The motility problem means that the colon does not have enough functionality, (muscle contraction) to get the soft stuff out. It takes a while to find the right mix of both food and drugs to accomplish a poop!

What is this laxaday? If it is a laxative, and she is already taking cisapride... then it needs to stop...

I am just going by my guy, his issues, and what worked with him.

I give a bit of lactulose daily, sometimes twice a day, depending on how hard the stool is the day before. I also use a bit of miralax, along with cisapride, and the prescription food.

The problem with being in a shelter, is that you need to have one person dealing with the 'poop' issue. I mean, watching the consistency of, the amount, and then dosing things corresponding to what has been seen.

I found that it took around 2.5 days for me to see a reaction to what I had done.
When I was starting out it was all so confusing.. but I had a great Vet who helped me along.

I used a calendar, at first, to document how much of each medicine I gave. I also looked at 2 days before, to see how the stool responded... The transit time changes a bit with each cat ~~ as with humans; so looking back is the best way to see the cause and effect of what you are doing.. not daily..

Yes, you want a daily poop.. but consistency of the poop is important also.

I wish you so much luck....poor baby.. a special needs kitty