Constipation - vomit after pooping. what now?

[sidneykitty]

I've been managing my 15 year old cat Amber's chronic constipation for the last year or so. I keep a close eye on the litterbox and her eating habits to monitor her appetite. About a year ago she was very badly constipated (required enema, very painful) and after much trial and error and vet consults, we seem to have it mostly under control...

Yesterday evening, I watched her poop in the box and I thought it was a pretty good looking one for her. Good size, shape, came out easily. (sorry for TMI) However, about 5 minutes later, she went back in and pooped again. This time she appeared to be straining. After passing a small amount of stool, she continued trying to push but nothing came out. During this, time she was smacking her lips (nausea!) and then got out of the box and threw up.

Last night I took away the remainder of her food as she'd eaten about 1 hour prior to this event. I boiled some chicken and gave her that along with some of the broth, hoping it might help ease her tummy some figuring she wouldn't want the rest of her food after vomiting.

I have a store of lactulose that I give her for a couple of days if she is not producing stool. Otherwise, she gets 1/2 tsp Miralax every day plus slippery elm to help move things along.

What would you do at this stage right now to help her? Does this warrant a vet visit? Or is this something I can help her through at home with food, lactulose, etc.?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I am sure that after the incident that required her to have to go through an enema, you went over in your head the days/weeks that lead up to it, yes? Is she demonstrating similar behaviors this time? Either way, since your vet has familiarity with her issues, maybe you should call him and ask for advice on how to proceed. My vet is always willing to call me back to discuss an issue with Feeby (15+ yo). It might be pure coincidence, but it would probably be best to let your vet know what you are seeing and see what they think. At her age, you never want to go too long without taking a proactive approach.

 

[daftcat75]

The vomiting after straining to poop is not the same kind of vomiting from IBD or regurgitation from “scarf and barf”, or a hairball,...

Switching her to chicken and broth, taking away her food wasn’t necessary. The straining to poop caused her to vomit. Eliminate the straining and the “poop pukes” will go away too.

Krista has been having them lately as she’s getting constipated from pumpkin in her canned and psyllium in her homemade. I am pausing on the homemade and switched her to a pumpkin-less food. One good poop last night doesn’t make a cure but I’m hopeful the trend will continue.

 

[stephanietx]

What are you feeding her? Have you tried a raw diet?

 

[sidneykitty]

Hi FeebysOwner ! Yes. She was inappetant and not finishing her food or asking for it beforehand. She was also vomiting frequently then, including regurgitated food as well. So I am not seeing similar behavior now. I literally keep a log of when she poops and how much/what she eats as a monitoring system so I can look back and check how she's been doing! Its been helping me a lot. Anyway, I'd say the last six months her appetite has been great actually. We discussed with the vet recently at her checkup in October. She has started meowing heaps during the night and being somewhat aggressive to get her breakfast in the middle of the night. So she is hungry and eating all her food lately.

daftcat75 - oh isn't it? I thought the vomiting was maybe because her intestines/stomach were too full. At least, that's what was happening when she was vomiting frequently a year ago and we figured out it was due to constipation. So its straining just making her nauseous? Poor kitten...she did also throw up on Tuesday evening earlier this week, but this one I didn't see. My partner told me about it.

Mostly I took her food away because I figured I wouldn't want to eat something I'd just thrown up.

stephanietx She is getting Royal Canin fiber food and Fancy Feast beef classic pate. I did try her with a number of different raw foods before we reached this diet which has been going well for her and she was not interested in so I wasn't going to force it.

I wound up giving her some lactulose this morning. I think I'll continue that based on how things are going...

 

[daftcat75]

I always play detective about why Krista barfed. Because what caused it determines what will be an effective next action.

If Amber was too full, she wouldn’t be hungry. She threw up (this time!) from the straining.

The middle of the night vomit could have been another reason. That could have been a food not agreeing with her.

An obstruction puke (too full and backing up) will be yellow and smell like poop. I’ve only seen Krista do it once. I was freaked out because I was already zonked on something for my back and couldn’t take her anywhere until morning. Luckily she was no worse for the wear by morning. I think we went to the vet anyway to get fluids and an X-ray.

So yeah. You cannot apply a one-size-fits-all solution to every barf.

Keep a journal of her episodes, the timing, and its composition. Hairballs will have hair. Obstructions will be yellow and smell like poop. An obstruction is an ER event. Regurgitation will occur closer to the time of ingestion than an IBD-like vomit that sat in her stomach for awhile before coming back up. And the poop pukes, those occur nearly directly after pooping. Usually after straining. Only the IBD-like and obstructions would benefit from removing food. The others she will likely be hungry after because her stomach just got emptied. If Krista tells me she’s hungry after an episode, I’ll give her a quarter to half ounce (a tablespoon) and see if that holds her and stays down until her next scheduled meal.

Meals are like buses here. If she throws one up, another is coming not too much longer after that. Whether from can, fridge, or feeder, she usually doesn’t have to wait more than four hours until her next portion or meal.