Mr Poe Fine Now, Issue Last Night

[catapault]

TL/DR - Mr Poe was suddenly constipated at bedtime last night and is fine this morning.

To reiterate - He is fine this morning. But last night Mr Poe ate his bedtime meal, went downstairs and urinated fine. Then began to strain to defecate. Passed one tiny lump and began straining even more - feet all together, back arched, clearly straining. Got out of the litter tub (he's a stand up pisser, needs a deep pan) and started leaving tiny dots of wet poop.. On the stairs, on the floor, obviously uncomfortable. Still hunched back and straining.

Around 2:00 a.m. I put him in a bathroom. Got a regular litter pan and put it in there with him.

This morning he is fine and there's some normal feces in the litter pan.

I called our vet. She suggested he was dehydrated and while better now give him some metamucil. Since I don't have that on hand I asked about giving him a little olive oil and she said O.K. (Mind you, receptionist was "translating" my words, vet comments.)

Neither cat has ever drunk water from a bowl. Their choice. They are fed only canned food. I mix about a Tablespoon of water with each half can (4 times a day.) So each cat "drinks" 4 Tablespoons / 1/4 cup of water every day.

Your comments welcome.

 

[FeebysOwner]

At this juncture, I would just keep an eye on his BMs and see how they are. So, if his feces was a much smaller amount than normal this morning, you want to see them go fully back to normal. The only concerning thing is the wet drops that occurred as that can mean stool is backed up in his intestines with looser stool 'seeping' around the hard stool.

Olive oil should be helpful, but if need be, you can also try Miralax - 1/8 tsp to start with, and increasing to twice a day or 1/4 tsp if you don't see good results in a day or so. As far as I know, Metamucil is more of a fiber additive as opposed to a stool softener like Miralax. Perhaps the vet was thinking he needed some fiber added to help form better stools?

If he isn't full back to normal within a day or two, I'd call the vet again.

 

[lisahe]

Is there any possibility that Mr Poe would drink out of a fountain? That makes a huge difference for our cat who has tended toward constipation for years. She also does much better since we started giving her slippery elm bark in various guises... it has anti-inflammatory effects that are good for the gut (and other parts of the body) in lots of ways because of the slipperiness.

Good luck! Constipation can be hard to crack, depending on what a cat will eat or drink.

 

[catapault]

Domino and Mr Poe are 14 years old. They have been with us ever since December 2010. This was the first time - as far as I know - that either cat has had such an issue. They have never had dry food, only canned. But issues could arise with age.

When I gently lift the skin over Mr Poe's shoulders it promptly flattens out so I'm not very concerned about dehydration.