Impacted anal glands and chronic constipation?

[Defiant Ranger]

My cat is going to have his anal glands expressed again, second time in two months. The vet is prescribing Royal Canin fiber response RX food and says if it happens again, he will have to have his glands surgically removed.

He’s currently 10 years old with no other known health issues except occasional vomiting and chronic constipation. He eats a quarter cup of Blue Buffalo grain free and mostly canned every day.

What should I do? Should I resort to the prescription food? Have his glands removed? Has anyone had similar issues and had any luck with anything? Also, if I get the RX food - how do I keep my 8 week old kitten away from it? I just got her this week.

 

[tutubean]

My cat had to have her glands expressed several times. I forget what the issue was. Perhaps something to do with scooting. But she certainly wasn't constipated, as in she did have BMs, thought she DID seem to struggle sometimes, certainly not chronically though. I do recall mention of gland removal but I never went that far. I stopped getting her glands expressed after I moved because she stopped scooting. I'm convinced now that the scooting was a behavioral rather than medical thing.

Anyhoo, I'm wondering why you/his vet think his glands need to be expressed, or removed for that matter. I also forget what role they play re: BMs. Phrased differently, what would his health he like if you left his glands completely alone?

RX food is typically not necessary, but if your vet things a fiber-based food will help loosen his stools then I say go for it. (for my cat, I just bought a non-RX low-cal food when she got a bit too husky!). If you can, keep your cats in separate areas while feeding and/or don't leave the (expensive!) RX food out.

 

[LTS3]

You can express the glands yourself at home to keep them mostly empty. You can ask the vet to show you how or just look for videos on Youtube. Expressing glands can be messy so I recommend you wear old clothes and do this in the bathroom (with door closed to prevent escape) where any mess is easily cleaned up. Sometimes goo shoots out as you express

 

[molly92]

Beautiful boy!

As I'm sure you know, constipation can cause the impactions. Those glands get expressed naturally when a bowel movement happens, so if the bowel movement isn't happening, the glands can get clogged. Hopefully fixing the constipation fixes the problem and you don't need to get the surgery.

First of all, is the prescription wet or dry? They do have it in wet, so if your vet gave you dry, fight for the wet version. It's insane to me how often vets prescribe dry food for constipation! It's very obvious that dehydration makes constipation worse or can cause it all together, so you need to up the water intake as much as possible.

What is his vomiting pattern like? If it happens right after an attempt in the litter box, that could also be caused by his constipation.

How bad is his constipation? Meaning, how frequently does he have a successful bowel movement? Is he straining a lot or visibly in pain? Has he had to have an enema yet? etc.

I'm actually not a huge fan of using fiber as the first option, or at least a lot of it. It can help push things through, but it can also bulk up the stool and make it even harder to pass, so it's a fine balance. I've seen psyllium, a fiber supplement, work very well to push through stool, but you don't want to overdo it and I don't like it as a daily supplement because it's so much fiber that a cat wouldn't naturally be digesting.

A good, safe option is Miralax stool softener (starting with 1/8 teaspoon mixed with wet food a day and increasing if needed). It does not help with any stool currently sitting in his colon, just any that's formed after ingesting the medication, so it works best if the colon is mostly empty. I do find that resistance to this builds over time, so it can give your cat some relief and maybe help you determine whether the constipation is causing issues or if they are separate while you try to find a more permanent solution. The advantage over fiber is that you don't have to alter the cat's diet this way.

I also had a great response with my cat's constipation struggles to a probiotic with lots of L. acidophilous, so I always recommend giving that a try.

If you do end up needing your cat to stick to a different diet than your kitten and you can't feasibly separate them for eating, there are microchip feeders that are fantastic. They are pricey, about 100 USD I believe, but it was such a worthwhile investment for me when I had two cats on different diets. The food compartment doesn't open unless the cat with the correct microchip walks up to it.