(tw: Gross!) Constipation.. (solved, Natural Solution Below As It May Be Helpful?)

SpecterOhPossum

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Cat just dealt with a bout of constipation, which shook me! Stupidly, I thought tiki cats broth was enough that I wouldn't have to add water to her food.. Low and behold, I guess not! She doesn't really drink water nowadays outside of her food; I'm noticing. However, I thought the solution was interesting and might be helpful.. Not sure, but other broke animal parents like me might like to hear it.


Cleaned the litterbox, and for a odd amount of time; wasn't finding poops. Panic set in of course; because I'm me. But the moral is: constipated cat. At about 8AM though, I offered oatgrass (catgrass); as much as she wanted. Then, I mashed up sardine meat in water and made a horrible, gross soup, and offered it, she drank it. Sardines make you poop; okay? Anyways, I did that several times throughout this period to get the ball rolling; then I added water to and mashed up all of her meals (wet food), low and behold; normal poop of which I watched come out with glee. No more constipation. Quite the opposite - sardines? Yeah, they make you poop. The more you know!


Don't know if that's helpful, but it beats spending 50$ on cat laxatives; or what have you. Can you guess who is adding water to her food as usual again? Me; Uhuh. Am I proud of being happy to see cat poop? Not really. BUT! I won't lie!
 

stacydc83

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I wish it were as easy as adding sardines to food to help :( Glad it works for you, one of the foods mine eat are tuna and sardines and definitely not helping any. Adding water is really good though! I try to, sometimes Lily will take extra water in her wet food, sometimes she'll be like Nope, its "tainted""
Pumpkin is a really good remedy too for constipation. A lot of people mix it in their wet food, me, yeah its not that easy, I have to put the pumpkin on my finger, and stick the pumpkin in her mouth. Then she'll sometimes lick it up, but I do see some good poops after she's had a few servings of pumpkin. I'm still trying to find the best remedy, as Lily is chronically constipated, and can't figure out exactly why. I think she has such bad hair balls that are blocking her insides and bunging her all up. My next step is either metamucil/or Egg lecithin.
 

P+P's Meom

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Pitter had constipation issues when he was younger. His vet recommended Miralax, and because it was such a frequent issue, we kept him on it regardless for a while.

It's especially good if kitteh hasn't gone in a while and there could be a massive chunk stuck in there. Miralax softens the poo that's in there, making it easier {more comfortable, not painful} to pass.

Miralax might take a few days to work because it doesn't make you go {so it doesn't cause cramps}, but along with Pitter and Patter, I swear by it.
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I wish it were as easy as adding sardines to food to help :( Glad it works for you, one of the foods mine eat are tuna and sardines and definitely not helping any. Adding water is really good though! I try to, sometimes Lily will take extra water in her wet food, sometimes she'll be like Nope, its "tainted""
Pumpkin is a really good remedy too for constipation. A lot of people mix it in their wet food, me, yeah its not that easy, I have to put the pumpkin on my finger, and stick the pumpkin in her mouth. Then she'll sometimes lick it up, but I do see some good poops after she's had a few servings of pumpkin. I'm still trying to find the best remedy, as Lily is chronically constipated, and can't figure out exactly why. I think she has such bad hair balls that are blocking her insides and bunging her all up. My next step is either metamucil/or Egg lecithin.
You might try dried egg yolks, rather than the egg yolk lecithin. I used to use egg yolk lecithin, then discovered this: EZ Egg Yolk. One of mine loves it and will eat it plain so I put it in his bowl before his meal. He thinks it's a special treat that he gets before breakfast and dinner. The other one isn't really too fond of it, so I just mix it into his food after dissolving it in a little water, which is ALWAYS added to their wet food.
 

stacydc83

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You might try dried egg yolks, rather than the egg yolk lecithin. I used to use egg yolk lecithin, then discovered this: EZ Egg Yolk. One of mine loves it and will eat it plain so I put it in his bowl before his meal. He thinks it's a special treat that he gets before breakfast and dinner. The other one isn't really too fond of it, so I just mix it into his food after dissolving it in a little water, which is ALWAYS added to their wet food.
Thanks, I'm going to look into that. Is it as powerful as just lecithin? Reason I ask is because from what i read, lecithin is what breaks up the hair, as a "fat emulsifier" and makes it easier to pass. But the egg yolk powder itself should have lecithin already in it? Just really need to clean her out, my vet says she's got hairballs and the lethargy because of her weight gain, but I think the weight gain is from her stomach not feeling right and feeling blocked up, making her not want to be moving around. Because when she's pretty "cleared out" I notice a HUGE difference in her attitude, and willingness to move around/play/go for walks with me.
 

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Thanks, I'm going to look into that. Is it as powerful as just lecithin? Reason I ask is because from what i read, lecithin is what breaks up the hair, as a "fat emulsifier" and makes it easier to pass. But the egg yolk powder itself should have lecithin already in it? Just really need to clean her out, my vet says she's got hairballs and the lethargy because of her weight gain, but I think the weight gain is from her stomach not feeling right and feeling blocked up, making her not want to be moving around. Because when she's pretty "cleared out" I notice a HUGE difference in her attitude, and willingness to move around/play/go for walks with me.
If you just need to clear her out, give her a raw egg yolk. Most cats will eat it without convincing so you won’t need to mix it with food or force it upon her. I wouldn’t give her a whole yolk on a daily basis, but I’ve heard of some cats getting a yolk per week. Depending on your cat’s sensitivity to yolk, you would likely need far less than the amount of egg you yourself would be able to go through. Hence the yolk powder or the isolated and purified lecithin if you need something more powerful.
 

mrsgreenjeens

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Thanks, I'm going to look into that. Is it as powerful as just lecithin? Reason I ask is because from what i read, lecithin is what breaks up the hair, as a "fat emulsifier" and makes it easier to pass. But the egg yolk powder itself should have lecithin already in it? Just really need to clean her out, my vet says she's got hairballs and the lethargy because of her weight gain, but I think the weight gain is from her stomach not feeling right and feeling blocked up, making her not want to be moving around. Because when she's pretty "cleared out" I notice a HUGE difference in her attitude, and willingness to move around/play/go for walks with me.
So your Vet thinks she is full of hairballs and not really constipated? Is she long haired? Do you brush her daily (I have one medium haired cat and find that combing works better than brushing). For hairballs, I not only use the EZ egg yolks, but I also give them Vet's Best Hairball Relief Digestive Aid daily. Again, they think they are treats, but Lily might not think so. You can also crush these and add to her food. I find IF one of mine has a hairball, usually this Vet's Best will cause them to chuck it up, but if I give it to them religiously, they don't usually get hairballs. At least they are far and few between.

As to whether or not the EZ Egg yolks are better than the lecithin, I cannot say. I believe in my heart they are at least equal to the Natures Plus brand, which is the one I liked to use. That one looks and feels just like a cooked egg yolk. Very difficult to dig out of the capsule.
 
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SpecterOhPossum

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LOL, this is TCS! NOTHING that helps our cats is "gross" to us. Thanks for posting this, it's going to help someone along the way!
Haha - well, I thought that, but I didn't want to be banned or ruin someones evening coffee with my poop talk... Happens often! :whitecat:
 
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SpecterOhPossum

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I wish it were as easy as adding sardines to food to help :( Glad it works for you, one of the foods mine eat are tuna and sardines and definitely not helping any. Adding water is really good though! I try to, sometimes Lily will take extra water in her wet food, sometimes she'll be like Nope, its "tainted""
Pumpkin is a really good remedy too for constipation. A lot of people mix it in their wet food, me, yeah its not that easy, I have to put the pumpkin on my finger, and stick the pumpkin in her mouth. Then she'll sometimes lick it up, but I do see some good poops after she's had a few servings of pumpkin. I'm still trying to find the best remedy, as Lily is chronically constipated, and can't figure out exactly why. I think she has such bad hair balls that are blocking her insides and bunging her all up. My next step is either metamucil/or Egg lecithin.
Oh shid, I thought pumpkin did the opposite, glad you said that! Thought it hardened poop... Oop! Yeah, I've never dealt with constipation often or chronically; just little bouts here and there, I'm sorry you guys are dealing with that. :cringe:
 

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So your Vet thinks she is full of hairballs and not really constipated? Is she long haired? Do you brush her daily
The vet thinks she's constipated, and has hair balls because of her being "obese", which I think the opposite, I think she's become overweight because of her issues with hair balls and constipation, which causes her to not be as active, and to "self soothe" by eating, and always wanting treats.
Yes, she is has very thick hair. I've never had a cat before her with hair like this. I brush her often, but she only likes being brushed on her back side and sometimes her neck. Her stomach and sides where the hair seems the thickest, is a big no no and I'm not allowed to touch!
And daftcat75 daftcat75 I've tried regular egg yolk. And Lily is stubborn. Would not touch it. No interest, even after I got her to taste it from my finger. I've tried mixing it in food, won't eat it. That's why I'm so into trying the egg yolk powder, or the egg lecithin powder, because that way, what I plan to do, is get some baby food, and mix it in there and give it to her the way I do pumpkin, on my finger, into the mouth, and down it goes. She;s not a big fan of this method, but it gets in here, and she gets over it quickly.
 

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If you just need to clear her out, give her a raw egg yolk. Most cats will eat it without convincing so you won’t need to mix it with food or force it upon her. I wouldn’t give her a whole yolk on a daily basis, but I’ve heard of some cats getting a yolk per week. Depending on your cat’s sensitivity to yolk, you would likely need far less than the amount of egg you yourself would be able to go through. Hence the yolk powder or the isolated and purified lecithin if you need something more powerful.
Yes to egg yolks! I used to feed the EZ powder that mrsgreenjeens mrsgreenjeens mentioned but a clumpy bag of it convinced me to start cooking up eggs myself. Each cat is getting around 1.25-1.5 egg yolks each week that I add to their homemade foods, plus a little more in the supplements I use to make those foods. Our cats like egg yolk enough that they'll happily eat their food that way.

Adding egg yolk seems to have helped (I hesitate to say "eliminated") Edwina's throw-up problems; we don't know exactly what caused those but hair(balls) would be one of the chief suspects.
 

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so glad I found this thread. My Honeybee has been dealing with constipation her entire life, same with other cats I have had-I have changed the tap water to bottled water this week, still adding pumpkin and reintroduced miralax per vets permission-it takes 3 days to work-and it's worked like a charm all these years-I was hoping the canned pumpkin would work-but it is giving Bee belly aches from gas. She loves it-licks it out of my hand/fingers. I think my water is heavy on iron so want to try bottled water for a month..

A weird thing, in August we stayed at another house for almost 3 weeks-home was on lake water-I discovered Bee was able to poo without assistance as we kept forgetting to give the pumpkin as we were busy doing vacation things-and she seemed happy and content-I stopped all pumpkin for 3 weeks and she was pooping daily-I drank the water and myself noticed less "issues" so I have come to the conclusion that town well water may have been making the issue=so we are trying bottled water for a month for all of us-even though no guarentee bottled water doesn't have the same stuff.

So Sunday we took a temporary Foster and she doesn't seem to have issues per her owner but she hasn't pooed either since the night she came here-so will try the bottled water with new cat, hope that's all that we need to do for her, my Bee on the other hand-will need the miralax like before- so frustrating that nothing changed on vacation=she became stopped up when we came back. Bee had to get an enama- the vet has her on fiber response food-doesn't seem to be helping, but she is eating it and the ingredients look close like the prior food, 4Health kibble from Tractor supply. Bee is a puker if the food is too rich..so for now-no vomiting or only once or twice a week-usually from eating grass or eating too fast...

Why can't these cats just eliminate without our help?!!

I am curious about our water-and maybe you can try bottled water in addition to the other things you are doing.

Didn't know about the egg yolk-will try that too. Bee never liked sardines..but I could try it again..she's a fussy cat-but loves raw meat-I have been wanting to try a raw diet but right now just don't have the freezer room to do it...
 

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foxxycat foxxycat , very interesting on the water issue. Maybe if the bottled water doesn't work, you could try some other types. There are alkaline waters (or maybe it's the exact opposite), that sort of thing. Not suggesting alkaline water, just know there are "special" waters out there. Maybe you can even hook up with someone near that lake you visited that actually sells water from near there.....I've heard of things like that before.

If you could convince Bee to eat a wet diet vs kibble that might also help her quite a bit. Kibble is, naturally, drying, which doesn't help with constipation issues. Wet food with extra water added is helpful. Plus, if you want to eventually switch her to raw, it's easier to do it if she is already eating wet food! Believe me, been there, done that :wink:
 

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Bee loves raw chicken/pork so I know that won't be hard-it's when it's frozen then thawed that she hates...sigh. I buy raw from store and before I cook-I cut off a 1 oz piece and feed it to her..in tiny pieces..and she loves it.

I have considered driving up there and filling several jugs of water-the cats don't drink a big amount like myself-but it wouldn't be hard to go up and get some water from the lake-weird! Or at least until the freeze comes then move to regular spring water. I think this lake was spring fed-this water was so good-We have had issues with our town water for almost a year having too much brown in it-they claimed the enzymes were not added daily and it was discolored from ph being off-I should have been feeding them bottled water but ya know when the faucet drips-they drink it..or slimey water out in the yard gets drank from Bee. She loves to drink water out of the watering can-I fill it with the hose and leave it to sit-weird how she whines to go outside-then goes drinks water out of the big dish on the porch-but we have cups of water all over the house...cats!!!
 

mrsgreenjeens

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Yes, my guys would eat a piece of raw chicken or even beef now and again, but when I added in the organs and bones that then make it 100% nutritious, they though I was trying to poison them. I also tried using a supplement instead of liver, kidney and actual bones, and one cat was okay with that, and the other would have nothing to do with it. So....

You were drinking the actual lake water :eek2:. I've always been told never open my mouth when swimming in a lake or creek, etc. because of what might be in there. I just figured it was water coming from the tap in the place you were staying. A cat's stomach can fight off all kinds of things that a human's can't so they would most likely be fine, but I'm glad YOU did fine.
 

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I was the Ginny pig so to speak. The water has a current to it and wasn't stagnant plus it tasted like regular well water...yeah I heard the same but many camps have lake water pumped to the house. There's some filters or something under the house so he probably had a filter system that cleaned it. The water was clear as bottled water....who knows??!!?!
 
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