Some Constipation Questions

[missmindy]

What is the percentage of fiber on the bag? Well at least the poop is coming out, right, even if it's on the floor. I guess that's a good sign?

I think this is lower in protein and fiber than her "old"food. It was explained to me that psyllium husk was what she needed. I'm kind of at a loss now Once we get the ultrasound done I'm getting her in with the nutritionist. I don't think the Fiber Response food comes in canned. I guess it's good she's pooping-I feel so bad it's just "falling" out of her! I'm hoping she is at least feeling it and gets the urge to go back.

Crude Protein (min) 29.0%
Crude Fat (min) 13.0%
Crude Fiber (max) 4.7%
Moisture (max) 8.0%
Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA)* (min) 0.18%
Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA)* (min) 0.08%

 

[maggiedemi]

Regular dry food usually has around 3% Fiber, so it does have almost 2% more, so that's good. Yeah, psyllium husk is in my cats' hairball paste, so it does help with hairballs and constipation.

 

[missmindy]

Regular dry food usually has around 3% Fiber, so it does have almost 2% more, so that's good. Yeah, psyllium husk is in my cats' hairball paste, so it does help with hairballs and constipation.

Awesome-thanks! We have liquidy poop in the box today, so I'll take that as some sort of positive too!

 

[CatloverinFL]

Missmindy, how is she doing today/ this evening?

 

[missmindy]

Missmindy, how is she doing today/ this evening?

Doing pretty good tonight. She's left a couple of little poo blobs around the house, but hasn't been back in the box yet. Hopefully she emptied herself out earlier. I'm going to check in with the 2nd vet tomorrow just to make sure they think we are doing ok. She really seems to enjoy her new fiber food and is tolerating her meds and supplements. She seems comfortable. She's such a good girl.

 

[CatloverinFL]

Doing pretty good tonight. She's left a couple of little poo blobs around the house, but hasn't been back in the box yet. Hopefully she emptied herself out earlier. I'm going to check in with the 2nd vet tomorrow just to make sure they think we are doing ok. She really seems to enjoy her new fiber food and is tolerating her meds and supplements. She seems comfortable. She's such a good girl.

Oh, I'm so glad to hear this! Both she, and you, deserve to feel good and peaceful. It's bliss (I know) to feel at peace and comforted knowing she is doing well. Please continue to keep us posted. Onward upward! :-)

 

[missmindy]

Oh, I'm so glad to hear this! Both she, and you, deserve to feel good and peaceful. It's bliss (I know) to feel at peace and comforted knowing she is doing well. Please continue to keep us posted. Onward upward! :-)

Thank you!

Update for today is more poop! One good sized puddle in the box and then some formed stool as well! She is still leaving little bits around the house. They seem to be falling out when she sits down. I have a call into the vet to check on that. Seems like maybe the visit to the 2nd vet did the trick. She's happy and eating well. She loves the new gastro food.

 

[maggiedemi]

That sounds great! So the poop is starting to firm up a little?

 

[missmindy]

That sounds great! So the poop is starting to firm up a little?

I'm not sure which came first-the puddle or the formed poop. I just missed her going into the box, and she was done by the time I heard her scratching.

 

[DukenGizmo]

Fiber response dry food has solved all of the above for my Gizmo

 

[foxxycat]

if it's too much diareahha try a teaspoon of plain canned pumpkin mixed in the wet food. you can try 1/2 a teaspoon to start to see if she will eat it. My orange kitty Honeybee ABSOLUTELY loves Pumpkin and will follow me arround begging for it, my calico Pumpkin face HATES it. one gets it smeared on the roof of her mouth if it's an emergency and needs to poop. Honeybee eats it off my finger.

I found that if you put half the can in a plastic container with tight fitting lid works best-add same amount of water as there is pumpkin=whip it with a fork-it comes out like a pudding texture otherwise when the cat licks it-it splatters-seems adding water to the pumpkin makes it less messy.

I am SO GLAD to hear the new food is helping AND a new vet. Sometimes we have to have 2 or 3 people reside over complicated cases. Sometimes we have to shuffle the meds. My elderly girl who is now an angel used to get sub fluids often when she was constipated. Cernia/Pepcid AC as injections daily along with sub fluids helped her with the vomiting and constipation as well as pumpkin/miralax but she wouldn't eat wet food other than turkey pate fancy feast.

Keep trying different things-and remember it takes 2 to 4 days for things to travel from mouth to bum so if one thing doesn't work in 24 hours- give it 48 hours to travel the intestines.

 

[duckpond]

so glad she is doing better! i will hope for continued improvements! do keep us updated on her progress!

 

[maggiedemi]

The vet might have you adjust the lactulose if her poop is too runny.

 

[missmindy]

Thank you all SO SO SO much! The vet recommended reducing the cisapride and eliminating the miralax. We started that today. I skipped her midday dose of lactulose as well. We've gone from puddles to super soft poop tonight. She's been hiding a bit today, but with the diarrhea, meds and multiple bum baths I can't blame her. She's still eating really well too.

Does baby pumpkin food have the same effect? I grabbed one at the store today (before I caught up on posts here) and it lists only organic pumpkin on the ingredient list.

We are still doing an ultrasound on Monday. Probably being over cautious, but I don't want to miss anything.

Thank you ALL for your advice and support!! I'll keep you updated.

 

[maggiedemi]

Oh good, it sounds like this vet is really helpful with balancing all the meds. I think that pumpkin baby food would be okay, since it only has the one ingredient.

 

[foxxycat]

yes the babyfood will be fine.

 

[missmindy]

Just finished with ultrasound. The radiologist found a growth in her deodendum that she is worried about. Also said she has enlarged lymph nodes. Also signs of IBD but didn't think that was consistent with constipation. This vet today only does radiologic and not general practice, so we have to wait to talk to the regular vets. I'm feeling pretty down about it-I've been down the cancer track before as well as benign tumors that grew out of control and killed my first kitty. I want it to be a polyp, but my gut feels sick it's cancer.

 

[foxxycat]

Just finished with ultrasound. The radiologist found a growth in her deodendum that she is worried about. Also said she has enlarged lymph nodes. Also signs of IBD but didn't think that was consistent with constipation. This vet today only does radiologic and not general practice, so we have to wait to talk to the regular vets. I'm feeling pretty down about it-I've been down the cancer track before as well as benign tumors that grew out of control and killed my first kitty. I want it to be a polyp, but my gut feels sick it's cancer.

Oh no. I am so sorry that they found something. At least now we know a bit more about what's going on. I am sending you strong hugs. I am truly sorry for the bad news. Let's see what the vet has to say but tumors are not good news either way. HUGS.

 

[maggiedemi]

Oh man. Well let's not lose hope yet. Maybe things will turn out fine. Maybe it's just inflammation? I hope...

 

[missmindy]

Thanks guys. She did say it could be a polyp, but of course more testing would be needed. I was wondering when she was so full of poop, could it have been pushing back and essentially closing off the opening from stomach to intestine. She did say the growth is not obstructive at this point which I guess is good. She had an ultrasound last year at almost this same time, but this growth wasn't noted, or if it was, it wasn't significant to what they were looking for. Seems like they would have seen it if it was there as they were looking for signs of cancer that could have been causing her eye problems. I suppose this could be a fluke too and not related to the constipation. Hopefully I'll know a litte more later. Oh she did say too we are probably looking at very very early kidney issues. I've kind of been expecting that at some point though due to age. She's estimated to be around 9, but I would not be surprised if she was 12 or so.