Poop stuck halfway & sometimes by hair?

[10thomer]

This is definitely not the most pleasant question, but I wanted to see if anyone else was dealing with something similar.

My male cat (7 y.o.) has had congenital IBD that caused vomiting and eventually caused some mild pancreatitis but we think it's well under control now. He may have very early CKD but I think he just is big/muscular/eats a species appropriate diet and that makes his kidney values look a little wonky.

The current issue is that when we switched him from Blue Buffalo wilderness mature chicken recipe grain-free (BLUE BUFFALO Wilderness Mature Chicken Recipe Grain-Free Canned Cat Food, 5.5-oz, case of 24 - Chewy.com) to Tiki Cat Puka Puka Luau (TIKI CAT Puka Puka Luau Succulent Chicken in Chicken Consomme Grain-Free Canned Cat Food, 2.8-oz, case of 12 - Chewy.com) about halfway through last year to control his IBD/panc flareups, he started having these episodes where he would dart out of the litter box and poop would be hanging to his butt by usually my hair or sometimes it's stuck halfway out of his butt and it seems like it's full of his own hair. It never gets matted to his hair, and the texture definitely does not seem too dry at all (minimal litter sticks to it but it's smooth and malleable). He doesn't seem to have any of the other signs of constipation so I'm really confused at to what is going on here.

I thought it might be a lack of fiber (there is essentially like no fiber in the Tiki Cat food), so I added a bit of pumpkin to his food and it seemed to help control his symptoms but then he started vomiting regularly again so I stopped it. I then switched to giving him half a pill of this a day (VET'S BEST Chewable Tablets Hairball Control Supplement for Cats, 180 count - Chewy.com) which seems to reduce the frequency of the incidences but they still happen.

Has anyone ever experienced this before? Is there an underlying cause to this? Should I be worried about some other type of disorder here?

 

[di and bob]

I still think he is constipated just enough to make it hurt, that is why he is darting out of the box. I would continue the hairball control and maybe give him a teaspoon of real butter, softened, as a treat and see if that will help, It sure helps with hairballs AND constipation with my cats. Butter has almost nonexistent lactose so should be OK, but with his IBD I don't know. I have a cat that has MANY allergies and she can take butter. I give it two times a week and more often if they seem to have trouble with hairballs or constipation. A 1/2 teaspoon of oil, such as olive, etc. mixed in the food, might help too if your cat doesn't tolerate butter. use until the symptoms resolve.

 

[10thomer]

I still think he is constipated just enough to make it hurt, that is why he is darting out of the box. I would continue the hairball control and maybe give him a teaspoon of real butter, softened, as a treat and see if that will help, It sure helps with hairballs AND constipation with my cats. Butter has almost nonexistent lactose so should be OK, but with his IBD I don't know. I have a cat that has MANY allergies and she can take butter. I give it two times a week and more often if they seem to have trouble with hairballs or constipation. A 1/2 teaspoon of oil, such as olive, etc. mixed in the food, might help too if your cat doesn't tolerate butter. use until the symptoms resolve.

Thanks so much for the suggestion!! I'll go ahead and give this a shot.

I also live in a pretty small apartment in NYC, and I have a big shag rug that's hard to properly clean (no outdoor space for washing it down...) so I'm thinking about getting rid of it. I'm wondering if it's just holding a ton of hair and when my cat lays on it, he gets my hair on him and he grooms it off. Otherwise I'm not sure how he's ingesting my hair?

 

[di and bob]

It's amazing how much hair floats around all day, from pets and humans. Maybe vacuum a little more so he won't have it to lick up. Maybe close the bathroom door so he can't get in where you brush your hair? Some cats love to lick human hair. With their barbed tongue, anything long like ribbon, hair, or tinsel, goes on a one way trip into the cat. Once it is on their tongue it goes down and they can't get rid of it.

 

[Margot Lane]

Personally I am all in favor of getting rid of shag carpets (no offense to you— just thinking of the cat) esp. ones that are hard to clean. Dander gets in there…if he vomits on it, it’s hard to get it off, etc. If it then looks like a big plain space why not try a smaller, machine washable carpet or a tatami mat? Sometimes older NYC apartments are hiding nice floorboards, and either just need a good sand, or a new lick of paint. Also, as Daftcat has mentioned in the Betty White thread, some cats munch on carpets!

 

[10thomer]

Gah I know no matter what I do I can't seem to control the hair situation in my apartment! I do vacuum every day but maybe I need to focus more time on the carpets... and I do think it's time to get rid of the shag rug. My apartment is a bit newer and while it does have nice looking laminate, I do like the coziness of having an area rug in the living room.

I'm thinking maybe this one, since it does have lower pile than the shag:

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Hoping this one won't catch so much hair... I also hope that my male cat doesn't have some sort of nutrient deficiency or something that's causing this, because this doesn't happen to my female cat for some reason. I'll probably give the vet a quick call as well!

 

[IndyJones]

Kabby sometimes eats my long hair. He licks me obsessively so it's inevitable he will swallow the occasional strand of my hair.

I have the same problem with the hair getting stuck in his butt. I keep a pair of "yucky scissors" by the exit of the utility closet for such cases. I'm usually able to catch him when he trys to drag his butt on the wood floor and cut the hair and toss the turd in the toilet bowl.

I only use the scissors for this purpose and wash them after.

 

[vansX2]

Is your kitty a DLH ? If so perhaps you could consider having Kitty receive a "Lions Cut" hairdo. This is especially helpful during shedding season and the warm summer months.

 

[10thomer]

Is your kitty a DLH ? If so perhaps you could consider having Kitty receive a "Lions Cut" hairdo. This is especially helpful during shedding season and the warm summer months.

Nope, he's a DSH! That's what makes this pretty confusing, not sure why this is happening to my guy.

Just to update, I spoke with the vet and they weren't super helpful. Just "perhaps he's more stressed and has increased grooming" .... nope, stress & grooming levels look the same. "Try adding more fiber to his diet" ... okay I've already done that and he still has this issue. They didn't suggest anything else beyond that, I'm always so discouraged by how unhelpful his vets have been

 

[vansX2]

Nope, he's a DSH! That's what makes this pretty confusing, not sure why this is happening to my guy.

Just to update, I spoke with the vet and they weren't super helpful. Just "perhaps he's more stressed and has increased grooming" .... nope, stress & grooming levels look the same. "Try adding more fiber to his diet" ... okay I've already done that and he still has this issue. They didn't suggest anything else beyond that, I'm always so discouraged by how unhelpful his vets have been

Yah, what do Vet's know anyway . They just treat the disease. What sort of distractions do you have too consume Kitty's time? Do you ever play one on one, sitting on the floor? I find it helps my younger boy (Jackpot ) the Red/White in my picture .

 

[10thomer]

Yah, what do Vet's know anyway . They just treat the disease. What sort of distractions do you have too consume Kitty's time? Do you ever play one on one, sitting on the floor? I find it helps my younger boy (Jackpot ) the Red/White in my picture .

So my husband and I play with him (and my other kitty) for 10 mins in the morning and 10 mins in the evening every day. And yes we usually do play with him sitting on the floor! He gets tons of attention so I don't think he's bored and therefore licking things around the apartment

 

[darkmavis]

Hey there, I'm sorry your boy has been having these issues! I apologize in advance for tagging on to your thread. I have been MIA from TSC for a while, but here I am again now, because of a similar situation with my Ruth who is a Fluffmaster Supereme. Shelter said DMH, I say long hair. Anyway. We've had her for just over 5 years. She rarely has hairballs, but today I heard her thumping across the wood floor. I know the sound, it's happened a few times before, it's her weird way of scooting if poop gets stuck in her fur. Today, though, I grabbed her to take her into the bathroom to comb and wipe out the poop (she is super affectionate but hates to be restrained so I've got to do it in the bathroom so if she wriggled free she's still stuck in the room.) It wasn't in her fur, it was halfway out of her butt. The bf came home about 15 minutes after and he held her while I was able to wipe off the poop with a warm moist paper towel, and then there was like a hairball, still stuck halfway out. I didn't want to pull that out in case it was tangled up somehow, but about an hour later I checked her and she either pooped or licked it out. Because of my other cat Rose, they both eat Hills CD wet and dry and Ruth has always eaten more dry than wet. She's not very into treats and flipped out when I tried to give her laxatone once, so, any suggestions on what else I could try to prevent this from happening again? We all deserve to be able to poop problem-free!

 

[vansX2]

Hey there, I'm sorry your boy has been having these issues! I apologize in advance for tagging on to your thread. I have been MIA from TSC for a while, but here I am again now, because of a similar situation with my Ruth who is a Fluffmaster Supereme. Shelter said DMH, I say long hair. Anyway. We've had her for just over 5 years. She rarely has hairballs, but today I heard her thumping across the wood floor. I know the sound, it's happened a few times before, it's her weird way of scooting if poop gets stuck in her fur. Today, though, I grabbed her to take her into the bathroom to comb and wipe out the poop (she is super affectionate but hates to be restrained so I've got to do it in the bathroom so if she wriggled free she's still stuck in the room.) It wasn't in her fur, it was halfway out of her butt. The bf came home about 15 minutes after and he held her while I was able to wipe off the poop with a warm moist paper towel, and then there was like a hairball, still stuck halfway out. I didn't want to pull that out in case it was tangled up somehow, but about an hour later I checked her and she either pooped or licked it out. Because of my other cat Rose, they both eat Hills CD wet and dry and Ruth has always eaten more dry than wet. She's not very into treats and flipped out when I tried to give her laxatone once, so, any suggestions on what else I could try to prevent this from happening again? We all deserve to be able to poop problem-free!

I no longer have a long hair cat. My current boys have medium length. I did in the past have Maine Coons. For the summer I treated them with a "Lions Cut" hairdo. It helped with less hair balls and less shedding. Something too consider.