Finnicky eater with constipation

[KittenAppliance]

My 13 yr old girl has always been an infrequent pooper, and her poops have always run a little on the smaller and dry side, so it's always been something we have had to keep an eye on. In the past couple of years, though, she has had a couple of bouts with constipation leading to straining and ultimately had to have a couple of enemas. She has been taking miralax and lactulose, but these things somehow dont seem to make much of an impact, even at pretty high doses. She is a little cat, 7 lbs, and 1/2 tsp of miralax, 1.25-1.5 ml of lactulose, doesn't quite cut it for some reason. We have had good luck with the royal canin fiber response food, but she is a picky eater and wont eat it daily.... she does like it... you know, when she likes it... so it is definitely helpful.

Our other cat sometimes sneaks a few bites of his sister's lactulose dosed food, and even just a few bites will give him soft poo.

Ive used psyllium husk with her also but she is more likely to turn away food when I've mixed some psyllium husk into it.

Has anybody here had a kitty whose poos are still hard and small even when maxing out the recommended daily miralax dose (1/2 tsp)?

My kitty is also currently in the unfortunate place of trying to figure out what is going on with her liver, so she is even pickier than usual, nauseaus, lethargic, and stressed from repeated trips to the vet,,,,the last thing she needs on top of it all, is the discomfort of constipation.... it's also making it even fuzzier and difficult to deternine

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi - just to check, is that a 1/2 tsp of miralax once a day or are you giving her 1/4 in the am and 1/4 in the pm? What does your vet think?

Also, there might be something here that's helpful;

Tips To Increase Your Cat’s Water Intake - TheCatSite

 

[FeebysOwner]

Confirming the total dose/frequency of Miralax, as asked above may be helpful. But it doesn't sound like anything more has been determined regarding your cat's liver enzymes? Is there anything that the vet thinks might be the problem that could be attributing to the constipation, and would sub-Q fluids help? I'd ask the vet about that aspect as well.

 

[fionasmom]

This will not be hugely helpful, and I understand that you have already moved to lactulose; however, my girl who suffers from constipation takes Miralax in 1/8 tsp doses 4 times a day. If I double up or use less doses it is not as effective.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Are you mainly feeding her wet food or kibble? I understand picky eaters, believe me, but if you can feed her mostly wet food, and add more water to it, that would be good. And as I'm sure you know, adding fiber is good. Have you tried adding pumpkin since she isn't fond of psyllium? Plain canned pumpkin can be given, usually about 1 teaspoon three times a day. Add it to her food, or have her lick it off your finger. Hairball gel can also be helpful since it's oily. When one of mine got constipated, my Vet said to give Miralax AND the hairball gel and it worked like a charm.

 

[KittenAppliance]

Hi - just to check, is that a 1/2 tsp of miralax once a day or are you giving her 1/4 in the am and 1/4 in the

Confirming the total dose/frequency of Miralax, as asked above may be helpful. But it doesn't sound like anything more has been determined regarding your cat's liver enzymes? Is there anything that the vet thinks might be the problem that could be attributing to the constipation, and would sub-Q fluids help? I'd ask the vet about that aspect as well.

1/4 twice a day. Though I've tried 1/2 tsp once a day before. The vet said that it is better to increase the lactulose than to increase the miralax to more than 1/2 tsp per day. She has had subq fluids before but only twice.

 

[KittenAppliance]

Are you mainly feeding her wet food or kibble? I understand picky eaters, believe me, but if you can feed her mostly wet food, and add more water to it, that would be good. And as I'm sure you know, adding fiber is good. Have you tried adding pumpkin since she isn't fond of psyllium? Plain canned pumpkin can be given, usually about 1 teaspoon three times a day. Add it to her food, or have her lick it off your finger. Hairball gel can also be helpful since it's oily. When one of mine got constipated, my Vet said to give Miralax AND the hairball gel and it worked like a charm.

She mostly eats wet food with water added to it. She sometimes snubs wet food in the mornings, but those are usually the mornings that she chooses to eat the fiber response kibble. She turns down pumpkin, too. I have not heard of the hairball gel but will definitely look into that.

 

[KittenAppliance]

Confirming the total dose/frequency of Miralax, as asked above may be helpful. But it doesn't sound like anything more has been determined regarding your cat's liver enzymes? Is there anything that the vet thinks might be the problem that could be attributing to the constipation, and would sub-Q fluids help? I'd ask the vet about that aspect as well.

Since the constipation and hard poops has been going on for a long time, and the elevated liver enzymes is new, the vet doesnt think is related... she said it could be making it somewhat worse, simply because liver problems cause inappetance and she stopped eating as much, so there is just less movement in her guts in general.
Unfortunately her ultrasound and aspirate cytology didnt really shed any light on what is going on in her liver. The ultrasound showed non specific results, and the aspirate came back totally normal. But her blood recheck didn't show her liver enzymes returning to normal.