Constipated, Fur Mowing Puny Boy

[rockitorknockit]

My 4 year old neutered male cat Barney has been having some issues. Despite having experience caring for sick and elderly cats, these issues happen to be new ones for me. This comes a month after having to euthanize my soulmate kitty. Lucky me.

Last week Barney was seen for chronic constipation and given an enema. Realistically he had probably been constipated for a while but it was not noticed due to my other cat taking all of the focus with hospice and end of life. Now, Barney has not really pooped much since his big dump at the vet after the enema. I switched him just a couple of days ago to the royal canin gastro to see if that helps going forward before adding any meds or anything. The last two nights he did do a small poop each night. They were more normal color but still very small and somewhat constipated looking. I'm hoping it's just too soon to tell?...

In addition to this, he is fur mowing. I think the fur mowing started a few weeks ago or so. It began after our other cat was euthanized at home in April. I understand stress can contribute but also understand it is unlikely this is the only cause. I will add that Barney has always been a fairly anxious and crazy cat. We call him Barney The Bastard.

I took him to the vet today and left feeling very frustrated and still quite worried. She first thought the fur mowing was related to pain in his gut but another xray revealed his colon had some poop in it but was not abnormally blocked, and he is not seemingly indicating pain in any other ways. So she seemed to eventually dismiss that idea. They then gave him a dose of Revolution in case the fur mowing is unseen mites (he does not have fleas). Beyond that, I was given zero instruction, advice, things to watch for, or a potential plan forward given any potential changes or outcomes. I was told to "wait and see" on the poops and "wait and see" on the fur mowing. Not even told for how long to wait and see! He then spent the entire rest of the day pretty lethargic and I can't tell if it is because something is wrong or he was just exhausted by the stress of the visit. He has eaten though. I'm worried about him and not sure what to do next or how long to "wait and see".

Anyone have any suggestions or insights? Tips or tricks? Things I should ask the vet next time, even, could help. Thank you.

Attached is a pic of him making himself invisible at the vet this morning.

 

[Furballsmom]

He needs more moisture. See if something here might help;

Tips To Increase Your Cat’s Water Intake - TheCatSite

Do you have cat music? Any calming plugins?

 

[rockitorknockit]

He needs more moisture. See if something here might help;

Tips To Increase Your Cat’s Water Intake - TheCatSite

Do you have cat music? Any calming plugins?

Thank you, I was actually looking at that tip guide last night as well. Definitely finding it challenging to get him to drink more water. There are a couple of suggestions there I can try. It's somewhat difficult because he generally does not get enticed by ANY wet foods.

We do the cat music sometimes, though haven't recently. I've never tried a calming plug-in. I sort of assumed those were BS, tbh. Do they actually work? I could look into that.

 

[Margot Lane]

So sorry about your other kitty. Music can be very helpful. Could be he is mourning & just needs time? For the constipation have you tried growing cat grass? Some kitties love a fresh nibble. Other kitties just like lots of conversation. Have read on here that a wee bit of pumpkin in wet food can help both for constipation AND runny poo! Cats also as you know pick up on your vibes—- they seem to love it when I do yoga or meditation.

 

[rockitorknockit]

So sorry about your other kitty. Music can be very helpful. Could be he is mourning & just needs time? For the constipation have you tried growing cat grass? Some kitties love a fresh nibble. Other kitties just like lots of conversation. Have read on here that a wee bit of pumpkin in wet food can help both for constipation AND runny poo! Cats also as you know pick up on your vibes—- they seem to love it when I do yoga or meditation.

I haven't tried pumpkin yet, but I happen to have some and might do so today. We had some cat grass he liked but its dying now.

He didn't poop at all again last night, which is weird and concerning to me.

This morning, I notice the fur mowing. I don't think the Revolution will do anything. I must admit it does seem as though his back end must be a little itchy? Just based on how he is acting when he suddenly turns around to lick around his tail, or his lower belly. Who knows.

I'm trying some of the other tips for water today as well. New clean dishes of different types, filtered water. Maybe I'll put on some cat music while I work in the other room.

Our family dynamic has changed a lot since my Oscar passed in April. Barney is getting way more time with us, more attention, and less getting snapped at because he won't leave Oscar alone. I would think that would be good and comforting for him, but maybe it's just unsettling. Of course I have been depressed as well.

Just can't help worrying and feeling the Vets didn't properly fully address the things happening.

 

[fionasmom]

Constipation Remedies?
Everything You Need To Know About Constipation In Cats - TheCatSite
My Cat's Stool Is Hard. How Can I Help Her?
Constipation

I don't think that your vet is sufficiently engaged in what is going on. This happened to me with my Graycie, who is 5 1/2. Constipation which was getting worse and my vet did an xray and said that Graycie "could handle this herself" which was not the advice I was looking for.

Graycie takes 1/8 of a teaspoon of Miralax mixed in very wet food up to four times a day. It has to be mixed and liquid, not administered dry. There are other prescriptions for constipation such as Lactulose and Cisapride.

We can't diagnose Barney, but I do think that you have a lot of talking points to bring up to the vet.

Cats that Lick Too Much.

 

[rockitorknockit]

Constipation Remedies?
Everything You Need To Know About Constipation In Cats - TheCatSite
My Cat's Stool Is Hard. How Can I Help Her?
Constipation

I don't think that your vet is sufficiently engaged in what is going on. This happened to me with my Graycie, who is 5 1/2. Constipation which was getting worse and my vet did an xray and said that Graycie "could handle this herself" which was not the advice I was looking for.

Graycie takes 1/8 of a teaspoon of Miralax mixed in very wet food up to four times a day. It has to be mixed and liquid, not administered dry. There are other prescriptions for constipation such as Lactulose and Cisapride.

We can't diagnose Barney, but I do think that you have a lot of talking points to bring up to the vet.

Cats that Lick Too Much.

Thank you for the links and anecdotes. You are right.

This evening I gave him some pumpkin. After piling some yeast flakes on it, he finally ate it. All of it, actually. Not much, a teaspoon.

About thirty minutes later he finally pooped. Somewhere around 42 hours since his previous poop.

I know he pooped because he ran out of the litter room like a psycho and began scooting his ass on the carpet. There was poop attached to him... by hair. Human hair. My wife and I and our long hair seems to be tangled in his poop. I pulled the poop off the hair coming out of his anus. Checked the litter box and there was more poop there (the poop he had begun and finished with the scooting), also with hair tangled in it.

Information is good, I guess. Pumpkin might have helped, or it was just a coincidence. The poop was a good color, a better size, a better consistency. Not perfect but improved. But there was weirdly a bunch of human hair tangled in it?! I have no clue how this would happen. And now that I'm thinking about it, I think it was also that there was some hair in his poop two nights ago. I've never seen him eat my hair or my wife's hair or chew on our brushes or anything like that. But he is also crazy and could have somehow eaten a wad while going after a bug or something... I'm grasping here.

Not sure what to do with this. I guess more research, and possibly let the vet know. For some reason he is ingesting human hair, and it might be contributing to the constipation?

For tonight, just keeping eyes on him. Seeing if he eats, drinks, maybe poops again. Will decide what to do tomorrow when we get there. Relieved he did poop, though. He ran around and played after. He seems to feel okay, all things considered.

Thanks again for all of the responses.

 

[Furballsmom]

Check every possible location for where he might be coming into contact with your hair including waste baskets, and vacuum and/or sweep frequently.

 

[fionasmom]

Definitely check for hair that he might have access to. This does not mean that you are not a good housekeeper as cats find things in odd places, like corners, and some are very interested in anything that looks like a mouse, or the like. I have one cat, my avatar, who will sit on the chair back behind me and try to chew my hair and another who is fascinated by the fur that comes off her brush and will try to grab it if I don't get to a wastebasket quickly.

Graycie, whom I mentioned, poops every 48 hours. It became her pattern once we figured out what to do. But it is regularly at 48 hours, normal looking and logical amount.

 

[rockitorknockit]

Just a little update. Barney pooped again yesterday, about 27 hours since his last. It was, again, a better and more normal looking type of poop, but with hair in it still. I think a teaspoon of pumpkin is helping push things along a little, but I'm only going to do that temporarily. Hoping he will continue to adjust to the new food and it will help, and that maybe once he gets rid of the hair he seems to have clumped in there that it will also help.

Fur mowing is a lot. I think it's worse, in fact. Now I am noticing him sitting around doing it pretty much any time he is not distracted. Does not appear to be in pain or anything, but starts doing it pretty often. So much wondering what's going on. Trying to distract him so he gets breaks from it.

I spoke to the vet on the phone yesterday, wanted some sort of touch point before the long weekend. Spoke to the vet I prefer at the clinic rather than the one he's been seeing. She echoed the sentiments of "waiting and seeing". Since he is eating, drinking, playing, they don't seem overly concerned about the poop situation just yet. For the fur mowing... not much more help there either. She went on a tangent about anxiety and stress. I asked, "Is it not possible it's not just some sort of allergy?" She said yes, but that they'd probably try treating anxiety before bothering to test for that. Super confused by that approach. I guess they can't know much, but they just seem very blasé and clueless about all of it.

So, I bought a pet allergy testing kit you can do at home and ship off. A coworker suggested it, said it helped him with his dog a lot. I'll do that regardless. It was cheap and will be easy.

Thanks for all the suggestions you've all had. We'll keep it going.

 

[Furballsmom]

In the meantime what if you have him shaved? Are you certain it's your hair you're seeing in his poop?

 

[rockitorknockit]

In the meantime what if you have him shaved? Are you certain it's your hair you're seeing in his poop?

Definitely my hair! He is a short hair white/buff kitty. I have loooong brunette hair. He's pooping and the chunks are getting chained together with long pieces of my hair!

 

[Furballsmom]

Oh my!