Constipated Ella

[lanasaez]

Ella has been having strange behavior. 3 days ago she wouldn't eat anything or drink her water. This followed by vomiting liquid. White and clear..Probably from an empty stomach? 

Yesterday she didn't eat anything but drank water...progress right?....We said it's probably really nothing but if she's like this the next day we'd take her to the vet.

Well yesterday [day 2 of no food]  we took her in because she's been vomiting a golden yellow color. 

 

The Dr. tells us since she's so young [2 years old human years] there couldn't be really anything wrong with her. She started asking me 101 questions about our apartment, would she get into something?, what about her toys?, any yarn or thread laying around? does she eat anything she's not supposed to?  I answered Every  question with a "no" Ella isn't like that. She looked at me funny as if she was saying in her mind "how do you know for sure"   well cause I watch her, she lays with me through out the day. Now when were sleeping it's another story. Obviously I don't have kitty cams around the house. Sometimes she's active at night sometimes she's not.. 

The Dr. feels on her stomach and Ella started meowing...We got an X-Ray done, it showed that Ms. Ella did NOT  eat anything she wasn't supposed to. 

 I know my cat! 

X-Ray showed Ella is constipated & that's why she's throwing up.

Dr. also gave Ella nausea medicine, a shot of liquid (she calls it a "water bubble" cause she was very dehydrated. Right between her shoulder blades), & a   laxative,   

What I would like to know...Has anyone dealt with a constipated cat?

Is there anything I can give her to get her poop? (Dr. said try giving her some food, which she refuses to eat. Then she says try chicken broth....)

I don't like seeing my babes like this 

There's got to be something I can do to help her??

Thanks guys.

 

[denice]

This sounds like the IBD flares that Patches would have and they started when he was 18 months old.  I went through the same thing that it has to be a foreign object.  Miralax is very good for constipation.  It can be given long term for prevention.  It's a tasteless powder that can be mixed in wet food.  My vet told me to start with 1/8 teaspoon twice a day and adjust the dosage.

Feeding wet food is a good way to prevent constipation because of the extra moisture.  Some people have had good luck with adding a teaspoon of pumpkin to the wet food.

She does need to eat even if it means syringe feeding her.  There are videos on youtube and one here showing how to do it.  Basically you go slow and use the side of her mouth.  You will want to use a smooth pate type food.  You may need to thin it with some water.

Before resorting to syringe feeding you can try some other tricks.  You can try meat baby food the one that doesn't contain onion.  You can also try Fancy Feast canned food.  When Patches would be really sick the last thing that he would give up eating was the Meow Mix cups.  I didn't even know that they still made them but I noticed them in the store a few days ago.  They are in a yellow cup with a pull off foil type lid.  They are chunks of seafood and very stinky which actually entices a cat to eat.  You can also try warming his wet food a bit to amp up the smell.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

This is extremely odd, because normally Vets can FEEL if the cat is constipated by palpitating their colons.  They don't normallly need an xray to see constipation.  AND, for a constipated cat, usually they prescribe something, not tell you to give them chicken broth (that's a first!).  But I do see where they gave her a laxative, so that's good.  What was it?  Did they say how long it would take to work, or what to do if it didn't?  Those are questions you need to ask...call them back and ask if you don't have those answers since the weekend is almost upon us!

As to the miralax, it does work, but might take a couple of days.  Sounds like Ella is in distress NOW, and if the laxative doesn't work soon, she might need an enema...might need one anyway, depending on how bad she is.  I would say if she is to the point where she is eating NOTHING and we're on day 3 now, she  might be at that point.  She does need food or she will end up with more severe issues.

that she has a nice big poopy really soon

 

[snugglecat]

I also find it odd that the vet couldn't feel it. My cat has had a few bad bouts of constipation and when I took her in they could feel it and gave her an enema. They even kept her until she went and then they would call me to come get her. They never had to do an x-ray to tell me she was constipated. I would be taking her back and ask them to give her an enema, she will feel so much better and be able to eat again.

Hope she goes and starts feeling better.

 

[lanasaez]

Ella LOVES  friskies wet canned food so I figured I'd go out and buy some for her....yeah she doesnt want to eat that either 

I tried the pumpkin.. She looked interested in it. then she changed her mind so she didnt bother with it... 

I even tried the "Dr. said chicken broth" method.... NOTHING

Ella is drinking water. Not a lot through out the day but she's drinking. She'd drink half her bowl in one setting... my poor babe is still dehydrated.

I'm really thinking about the Miralax. We have some in the medicine cabinet. I'm just SO worried to give it to her

I'm so determined to get her back in good health. We've spent hundreds of dollars at her vet visit & that was including money that I have put away for emergencies..

 

[denice]

Looking interested in something and then walking away from it is a classic thing that cats do when they are nauseated.  Hopefully your vet is open on Saturday I would take her back for an enema.  She needs to start eating again to avoid liver problems.  I would also ask about a shot of cerenia.  It's an anti-nausea medication that was actually developed for motion sickness in dogs.  Hopefully the combination of an enema and the cerenia will get her started eating again.

I know with Patches after an episode it was often a problem getting him started eating again.  Sometimes putting some food on your finger and putting it on the roof of the mouth will get them started again.  Once he got started eating again he would make up for lost time.

Many people with cats who have chronic constipation issues actually give Miralax daily.  It doesn't work like a traditional laxative.  It works by drawing water into the colon.  My cat has probable IBD with constipation issues.  He has had problems the past two springs during shedding season and I am going to try giving it to him daily this coming spring.  Hopefully he will get through shedding season without getting sick.

 

[lanasaez]

Thank you for letting me know about the enema. It sounds like it can be really good for her. 

I called the vet this morning, as soon as they opened up. They told me they'll call me back because they have to look at her records...

We are now on day 4 with no food in her system.  =[

When we took her in the Dr. did an exam, which she felt on ella and started touching her in her stomach area which ella did NOT like her touching. She meowed and even tried to bite the Dr. 

The Dr. than says "it could be something wrong with her in her stomach area. Maybe we should do an X-Ray to see whats going on"

And that is how she found out the Ella is constipated....

The whole ordeal with the chicken broth... She says that we should introduce it to her to see if she would want to drink it & we should introduce her to other noncat foods and she if she'll want to eat that.... 

I'm not going to go through my fridge & have Ella taste test foods.. are you kidding me?

Now to the laxative.... The laxative is called Lactulose (oral) ...This is what is says on our invoice. She said that It'll work pretty fast & this should be it. BUT if it didnt work she wants to run blood test on Ella... Please correct me if im wrong guys but why would she need blood work if her problem is constipation? Maybe theres something missing here that I'm not grasping on?  She took Ella in the back with her then came out and said "she didnt like the laxative. Most of it she spit out but a little bit of it got down"....hmmm so what I was thinking is that the laxative cannot do its work because Ella spit the majority of it out...it's all over her furry little chin. I did call the vet and asked for another dose to take home & we can give it to her. I'm currently awaiting her call back... The receptionist says "oh the Dr. said that if Ella wasnt better I said we'd do blood work" 

 right now Mrs. Doctor!! I want more laxative. I want to know what my other options are....

So I await another call back from the Dr. =[

 

[lanasaez]

Ella has gotten Cerenia, Subcutaneous fluids & lactulose.

Cerenia has help with the vomiting. she has not done so since that evening we took her into the vet. 

When she does taste the food (wet food we've been trying to give her) it seems pretty "hard" for her to get it down. She'll constantly like her chomps and around her mouth-face area  i guess for that extra moisture..

We did try the syringe method.. bloody murder this cat was not having it. 

 

[ktknievel]

We went through this with our 5 year old cat for the first time this summer. The constipation was bad enough and irregular in regards to him always being normal with litter habits that the vet kept him for an enema (2 actually). We were advised pumpkin or miralax, like many others here.

We also dealt with a hunger strike and vomiting, cerenia and some coddling got him to finally eat after several days off food. You have to get some food into her, be it giving syringe another try or other means. Dood wouldn't eat from his plate, but he would lick food off my finger, I blended his preferred food with some warm water and pumpkin and loaded the syringe, spread a towel on the floor and made it out to be a treat. I had to syringe feed during the first sickness and I swear, when he saw the syringe this time he clamped his mouth shut so tight nothing was getting in so I squirt it on my finger and he licked it off 10 minutes later the syringe was empty and Dood knew he'd been tricked :lol3:

Try warming the food slightly, also try it cold out of the fridge. Try a different brand of wet food, Dood would NEVER touch pate but, during that sickness he would ONLY eat pate or blended. He also preferred a brand he previously hated, I think it is more about texture and smell at that point. If you can get a few bites in, it may be enough to jump start that appetite now that she isn't nauseous.

I'm truly surprised that the vet didn't mention enemas at this point. That is a LONG time to go without eating, by 18 hours I was stressing about fatty liver (though Dood is a large cat).

good luck!

 

[denice]

Patches was very very difficult to syringe feed.  I don't know if it was extreme nausea, stress, or a combination of both but what little I got down him would not stay down.  It sounds like they may be thinking about IBD like Patches has.  Patches was never so constipated that they could feel it but it would show up on an x-ray.  Most cats that have IBD have diarrhea but Patches has the opposite problem.  The vet explained it as a result of loss of motility from the thickening of the walls of the digestive system.  IBD can't be found with blood work but the blood work rules out all other possible causes.  I know it is frustrating and expensive but these digestive problems in cats are very difficult to diagnose.

The cerenia shot only lasts for 24 hours so I would ask about another shot along with an enema.  It can also be given in pill form.  Usually they give a shot to get it started then give pills to give at home.

 

[snugglecat]

I really would be getting her to the vet and having them give an enema, she needs to get cleaned out. Even if you forced her to eat she is going to vomit it back up because she is so backed up with stool. Once she gets cleaned out then you can give her the Miralax in canned food so she continues to go.

 

[lanasaez]

I will be calling a different vet and asking for the enema. I did pick up  some meds. The doctor gave me a tube of laxative and i'm supposed to give it to her every 12 hours until she poops and she gave me a pill which is broken up into 1/4 and im supposed to give it to her every 3 days. This pill is supposed to stimulate Ella to eat food. This is very nerve wrecking. 

 

[denice]

I noticed you are from OH.  If you're from the Columbus area I can recommend an excellent cats only vet if you are interested.

 

[lanasaez]

I'm about 2 hours away..

We are in Cleveland.

& I don't mind a recommendation.. =]  Tomorrow morning I'm calling several vets to see about enema. I was also throwing around "putting her down" 

 I can tell she's suffering badly. She still isn't eating. Last night we did give her some food through the syringe but she didn't like it well. She started gagging.  The only thing that is going through her system is water and meds. 

 

[denice]

Several of us here have been through this digestive stuff with our kitties and it's frustrating but don't give up.  I did the vet hopping thing for quite a while before I found a vet that figured out what was going on with Patches.  A cat's only vet would be a good place to try.  It's not a guarantee but it's a good place to start.  I did a search in Cleveland and found one cats only clinic with a vet that has the same certification as my vet.  It's the Just Cats Hospital on 4125 Mayfield Hospital.  The vets name is Dr. Linda Schoenberg.  The phone number is (216) 691-9100.  When you call tell them how long your cat hasn't been eating.  A practice that knows cats will know that she needs to be seen as soon as possible.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

What's the news with Ella?  Has she had any success yet in the poop department?  If nothing else, I would never go to that Vet again, from what I have read.  If they cannot even administer a dose of Lactulose either..they sound totally incompetent, and at the expense of your poor Ella

that she starts feeling better really soon, poor girl. 

 

[lanasaez]

We took Ella to a different vet and asked for enema. The new doctor had no problem giving Ella enema. Did a rectal exam and said that Ella was pretty backed up. She went ahead and said that Ella would be staying a few hours & that she wanted to do blood work. 1 hour passed and there were NO red flags in her blood work. The only thing that came up was that she was severely dehydrated. She went ahead and gave Ella an iv drip for hydrate her and prep her for the enema. 

We finally pick her up and she said that there was some stool but the majority of the problem was...... hair balls!... & they also fed her through a syringe. The new doctor said (this is her theory) she was probably trying to hack up her fur balls but she couldnt. (hence the vomiting) the hair got all tied/balled up in her and eventually she got backed up and constipated. We feel a great sign of relief and we feel that things are going to be ok. She also says to keep giving her the laxative but discontinue the appetite stimulation pill. 

I get a phone call from Dr. L from the 1st vet hospital we went to. Dr. L says that Ella's X-Ray's have come back from the lab and there was an abnormality. They believe Ella has Complete Bowl Obstruction.  They seen a gas bubble in her intestine (could it be from the back up???) She said that if Ella throws up any food that the 2nd vet gave her or still continues not to eat or drink on her own, then she needs to come in right away for an exploratory surgery which would cost about $1,000.00 

 She also mentioned that we can do another X-Ray to see if this bubble is still their.  Bottom line is that we cannot afford this surgery. The first time we took ella to the vet, we cleaned out emergency money. This Doctor trip we borrowed a few hundred dollars and today we just took about a loan for a few more hundred dollars so she can get an X-Ray tomorrow so we can see if this darn bubble is still their.. (please pray that its not!!!!)

As of Ella, now that she's home again. She seems to doing fine. Still a little loopy from the anesthesia. She's more alert. She's responding to us. But mainly she wants to rest. She's had a long day.

Before the vet appointment this morning she was a little alert. she Meowed at me (a meow that I've been missing. It's been a week). Before and during the exam she was purring like there was no tomorrow. The doctor was violating her privacy and she was still purring.. =] 

Please send many many vibes and cross your paws cause my baby has to get better. We are really hoping that this bubble is nothing & its gone tomorrow. 

 

[vball91]

The gas bubble could be from the constipation or hairballs. Hopefully now that she has been cleaned out, it's gone. Many vibes for her and lots of hugs for you. It's so hard to have a sick furbaby.

 

[ktknievel]

Many vibes for you and Ella! That was pretty close to what we went through with Dood - including monetarily. In Doods case, he was full of MY hair, not his own. We've hid all brushes and hair ties, but his litter box still often has my hair in it. He loves me a little TOO much :doh3:. If you liked the second vet, I'd definitely show them the X-rays and get their input before an exploratory surgery, though that price is pretty accurate in the Cleveland area (born and raised in Lorain, OH, in Pittsburgh now).

Dood had an X-ray done after the enemas to compare and the abnormality was indeed gone. All of that happened several months ago and other than the hair in the box, he's not had a single issue in that regard again. Fingers crossed that the same goes for you guys!

 

[denice]

I remember Patches first episode when he was 18 months old and they thought he swallowed something, they took a lot of x-rays.  They didn't have an ultrasound machine.  He was hospitalized with an IV and I think they x-rayed him every day.  She kept looking at a gas pattern that didn't change from day to day.  She was afraid to give him an enema because she thought there was a foreign object involved.  I think constipation causes the same unchanging gas pattern that a foreign object causes.