Recurring constipation, vets don’t seem to know why, appetite down

[catloverfromwayback]

Well fingers crossed ... she on Osmolax (same as Miralax) at the moment, and takes it more easily than the sticky Lactulose. She’s had poos the last two nights. I’m also trying her on slippery elm bark. She’s actually eaten a reasonable amount of wet food (good ol’ Whiskas seems to have become acceptable) this morning and pinched a bit of Phoebe’s breakfast, so I gave her a couple dozen Fancy Feast grain-free nibs, and she gobbled the lot. I reckon she’ll have to go on Cisapride, but I’ll try to get the prescription filled else than at my vet, who charge twice the price of other compounding pharmacies.

 

[Furballsmom]

Definitely fingers crossed!

 

[catloverfromwayback]

Definitely fingers crossed!

Thank you!
She’s happy atm, too.

 

[Furballsmom]

Ooo, love that yarn color

 

[catloverfromwayback]

Ooo, love that yarn color

Thanks! Do you knit/crochet too?
I made a cardigan in it and found I had enough to do something much more important - a whole lap blanket for the kitties to enjoy kneading. Now I just have to finish it!

 

[Furballsmom]

I'm trying to learn how to crochet

 

[catloverfromwayback]

I'm trying to learn how to crochet

Lovely , have fun!

 

[Caspers Human]

We use Miralax for Casper. 1/4 tsp. mixed in his food every day.
He doesn't even know it's there.

We watch his litter box to make sure "Input = Output" and adjust accordingly.
If "Out < In" we give a tad more. If "Out = In" we taper off.
The goal is to make his stool soft like PlayDough but not so much that he gets the squirts.

When we had our last SNAFU with Casper's meds, we upped the dose until he just started to get the squirts.

BTW: Casper's Girl-Human is an excellent crocheter!

She likes to make crocheted dolls and stuffed animals. She designs her own creations and she's really good at it.
She, once, saw a blanket that was a background prop on a TV show we were watching. She paused the program and got up close to the TV. I asked her what she was doing and she said that she was counting the rows in the blanket so she could make one just like it.
A few weeks later, she had a blanket just like the one on TV!

When she first moved in, I got her to enter some of her creations in the County Fair. She won two ribbons out of three entries and got Honorable Mention on the third. She was like, "Ho-hum" about it but I was like, "Hey! You just walked in off the street and, pretty much, swept your whole category!"

Casper's Girl-Human likes to post the patterns she creates on-line and she has a blog site where she puts them all.
Some of you may have seen her site. For privacy reasons, I don't want to post a link in the clear but, if anybody's interested, send me a PM and I'll give you the link.

 

[catloverfromwayback]

We use Miralax for Casper. 1/4 tsp. mixed in his food every day.
He doesn't even know it's there.

We watch his litter box to make sure "Input = Output" and adjust accordingly.
If "Out < In" we give a tad more. If "Out = In" we taper off.
The goal is to make his stool soft like PlayDough but not so much that he gets the squirts.

When we had our last SNAFU with Casper's meds, we upped the dose until he just started to get the squirts.

BTW: Casper's Girl-Human is an excellent crocheter!

She likes to make crocheted dolls and stuffed animals. She designs her own creations and she's really good at it.
She, once, saw a blanket that was a background prop on a TV show we were watching. She paused the program and got up close to the TV. I asked her what she was doing and she said that she was counting the rows in the blanket so she could make one just like it.
A few weeks later, she had a blanket just like the one on TV!

When she first moved in, I got her to enter some of her creations in the County Fair. She won two ribbons out of three entries and got Honorable Mention on the third. She was like, "Ho-hum" about it but I was like, "Hey! You just walked in off the street and, pretty much, swept your whole category!"

Casper's Girl-Human likes to post the patterns she creates on-line and she has a blog site where she puts them all.
Some of you may have seen her site. For privacy reasons, I don't want to post a link in the clear but, if anybody's interested, send me a PM and I'll give you the link.

That’s seriously impressive!

 

[catloverfromwayback]

Daisy’s been on Osmolax (same as Miralax) for four days and slippery elm bark for three, and she’s doing better than she has for the past two months. She’s deigning to eat a reasonable amount of Whiskas in gravy for her breakfast and dinner, and a little Fussy Cat grain free dry food for lunch (I hope to get her onto two meals a day eventually - she does need to get her weight down). She’s doing good, play-doh consistency poos every night - just did one now, 22 rather than 24 hours since the last. I do’t know if this will be enough for her for a while at least, but this is such an improvement I don’t think she needs to go on Cisapride immediately. Maybe I can just get a script from the vet and get it filled when the need arises. Obviously close monitoring of the poo situation is going to be a permanent feature of life!

 

[catloverfromwayback]

Daisy gave me an alarm yesterday, she didn’t do any poos - and hadn’t done since Tuesday night. She ate normally and had her Osmolax and SEB, did a big wee and then just slept all night, unlike me! So I thought, time to bite the bullet, if the current treatment doesn’t go on working I’ll have to get Cisapride. Rang the vet first thing today, they said don’t bring her in unless she doesn’t poo for a couple of days, and they’d get some Cisapride ready to collect.

Naturally Daisy did a poo ten minutes after the phone call!

Even better, when I went to collect it, they didn’t charge me. Don’t know if it was a sample or maybe they figured I’ve coughed up so much dosh lately it would be a kindness! At any rate, now I have a little on hand if Daisy’s works do start clogging up again.

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[Caspers Human]

Naturally Daisy did a poo ten minutes after the phone call!

Because you threatened her!

She heard you talking to the vet on the phone and she knew that she'd better lay a log or else it means a trip to the vet.

I swear that actually happened with me and Casper!

He was getting a little "behind schedule," if you know what I mean. We were getting a bit concerned. It was his second day since he had last gone. Casper was there with his Girl-Human and myself. She and I were discussing it and we decided that, if he didn't go by the next day, we'd have to call the vet.

I turned to the cat, pointed my finger and said, "Buddy, if you don't go in there and take a nice, big crap, real soon, we're going to have to call the V-E-T."

Wouldn't you know it? Not a minute later, he turned around, went into the bathroom where his box is and laid a big log!

 

[catloverfromwayback]

Because you threatened her!

She heard you talking to the vet on the phone and she knew that she'd better lay a log or else it means a trip to the vet.

I swear that actually happened with me and Casper!

He was getting a little "behind schedule," if you know what I mean. We were getting a bit concerned. It was his second day since he had last gone. Casper was there with his Girl-Human and myself. She and I were discussing it and we decided that, if he didn't go by the next day, we'd have to call the vet.

I turned to the cat, pointed my finger and said, "Buddy, if you don't go in there and take a nice, big crap, real soon, we're going to have to call the V-E-T."

Wouldn't you know it? Not a minute later, he turned around, went into the bathroom where his box is and laid a big log!

That’s so like what it was like with Magnus! He was an indoor-outdoor cat and such an aggressive beggar, he was always getting into fights. One time we had him at the vet and our regular bloke, having patched up his latest bites, held him up under his armpits and bellowed (well, not really, but he had a deep voice and it worked like a bellow) “I’ve got no sympathy for stupid cats that get into fights!” Ever after that, when Magnus got into a fight (we knew because he’d curl up and sulk in the chair) we’d say “Sulk your way back to health, Mags, or we’ll take you to the vet and Doug will yell at you.” Called it the Threat of the Vet and sometimes it worked!

 

[catloverfromwayback]

Well I am not pleased. First dose of Cisapride seventeen hours ago and no result at all. She hasn’t done any poo in 36 hours, and has has Osmolax twice yesterday and once this morning. Back to stressing about when she’ll do it ...

 

[catloverfromwayback]

46.5 hours between poos! At least we don’t have to go to the vet tomorrow. But I think it’s time to ask them about surgery.

 

[catloverfromwayback]

Because you threatened her!

It was this again, too - I told her we’d be back there tomorrow!

 

[catloverfromwayback]

Well, the vet doesn’t want to go the surgery route except as a last resort. He emphasised the risk of infection from bowel resectioning. He also said pooping up to every 48 hours is considered “managed” with this condition, which is a relief to hear, and confirmed that it can take a few doses for the Cisapride to kick in - something vet websites don’t mention, grr! I have a prescription for it and after a bit of ringing around compounding pharmacies, was put onto one in Melbourne that not only does it but for just under $100 for 100 pills, which is a hell of a lot cheaper than getting it through the vet even with postage added on.

Now I’m just wondering about whether she should have a tiny bit less Osmolax. She did a soft poo last night and couldn’t get all of it out of her anus - she was washing it when I saw there was a blob there. I wiped it carefully with damp toilet paper. She’s had a soft blob of poo once before. Anyone else had that happen? Is it a case of a bit too much laxative? If it is, I can reduce it by a fraction, I have fine measuring spoons for it.

Meanwhile she’s been doing interior design, adjusting the new pictures.

 

[Furballsmom]

damp toilet paper.

Maybe do decrease it just a tinch, and maybe try paper towel instead - toilet paper can sometimes have too much of that fine dusty lint.

 

[catloverfromwayback]

Maybe do decrease it just a tinch, and maybe try paper towel instead - toilet paper can sometimes have too much of that fine dusty lint.

Good idea - I hadn’t thought of paper towel, and toilet paper is soft (and flushable, rather necessary on this occasion!)

She’s been on 1/4 teaspoon Osmolax twice a day. I missed her morning dose today (I was out) so I’ll do her normal one tonight and try reducing by 1/16 teaspoon tomorrow - thank goodness for tiny measuring spoons! She ate wet food for lunch (her choice, she actually asked for it) so between that and the Cisapride she should be okay today. I hope.