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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / September 2006Constipation symptoms but not backed up
Have a 16 year old cat who has a history of constipation. He's on Lactulose and it's been working for years. Over the last week, he seems to have constipation again....goes into the litter box multiple times a day, strains to go and most of the time doesn't...sometimes a small 1 inch piece will come out. He's urinating fine. He also just seems uncomfortable...tail almost straight down and very slow to lay down or sit down...just not acting right. We took him to the vet last night and he had an xray done...what it showed was that he wasn't backed up and his colon looked ok (not megacolon). The vet's suggestion was to give him more lactulose...after thinking about it though....what's the point if he's not backed up?? We also got blood work done just in case and will have results tomorrow. But has anyone experienced this...constantly straining to go but there's nothing to push out?? We've seen 2 vets about this and no one can give us an idea of what's going on. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. || Have a 16 year old cat who has a history of constipation. He's on || Lactulose and it's been working for years. Over the last week, he [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] || give us an idea of what's going on. Any help or suggestions would be || appreciated. A good cat pick me up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakult A good spoonful of this or *similar* product (should be in the diary section of your local foodmarket) will clean a cats and your digestive system and uriny tract(naturally) Yogurt while not bad does not get through the stomach as Yakults special strain of the bacteria "Lactobacillus casei Shirota" does Just one bottle is more than enough for one cat it should cost around 50 cents a bottle (It's intended for human consumption to do much the same thing) There are also dried capsule forms of same bacteria Lactobacillus product but you will probably have to buy a bottle of it You may wish to try your pet shop for similar specific cat product (I'm told Yakult is not readily available in USa it's a Japanese product sold worldwide I'm in Australia) Googled this http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.2460/ajvr.67.6.1005#search=%22bacteria%2 0Lactobacillus%20cats%22 or http://tinyurl.com/ktpe3 *** Conclusions and Clinical Relevance-Probiotic strain L acidophilus DSM13241 fed at 2 × 108 CFU/d can alter the balance of gastrointestinal microflora in healthy cats. Furthermore, administration of this probiotic results in beneficial systemic and immunomodulatory effects in cats. *** I'm glad he's had blood work done. He is a geriatric cat and needs to be evaluated for a serious illness. Do you feed him canned food? He should have canned food (higher water content) and you can try adding some unflavored canned pumpkin for fiber. Gail > Have a 16 year old cat who has a history of constipation. He's on > Lactulose and it's been working for years. Over the last week, he [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > idea of what's going on. Any help or suggestions would be > appreciated. >I'm glad he's had blood work done. He is a geriatric cat and needs to be >evaluated for a serious illness. Do you feed him canned food? He should have >canned food (higher water content) and you can try adding some unflavored >canned pumpkin for fiber. Yes, he's been eating Fancy Feast but we just got back from a pet store and got the merrick brand food to see if maybe he just needs something healthier. My issue though is why would a cat strain to go if an xray shows nothing is there to push out? My cat used to do this. She had inflammatory bowel disease and would alternate between diarrhea and constipation. Gail >>I'm glad he's had blood work done. He is a geriatric cat and needs to be >>evaluated for a serious illness. Do you feed him canned food? He should [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > something healthier. My issue though is why would a cat strain to go > if an xray shows nothing is there to push out? check this out: Fluffy should be seen by your veterinarian to determine the cause of her problem. Some problems may be minor, others more serious. Your veterinarian will question you about your cat's litterbox habits to be sure that she is urinating normally. (Some cats will appear to be straining to defecate when actually they are straining to urinate.) Next the veterinarian must determine whether she is having abnormally large, hard stools, small stools, or loose stools. Some cats will be straining to pass stools because of constipation, but some will strain with loose stools due to colitis (when the colon is inflamed, the cat feels as though stools are present even when the colon is empty -- similar to the urge to urinate frequently with a bladder infection even though the bladder is empty.). Your veterinarian may be able to determine the likely cause of Fluffy's problem by talking with you about the specifics of her symptoms. Some causes of straining may be simple and easy to correct -- perhaps a change of food to more or less fiber in the diet will fix the problem. Other more serious causes of constipation or colitis may require x-rays, bloodwork, etc. to diagnose. Also, have a stool sample checked for intestinal parasites that may be causing the straining. Once your veterinarian determines the cause of Fluffy's problem, the proper course of treatment (surgery, medications, food trials, etc.) can be instituted to make her comfortable again. > My cat used to do this. She had inflammatory bowel disease and would > alternate between diarrhea and constipation. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >> something healthier. My issue though is why would a cat strain to go >> if an xray shows nothing is there to push out? >My cat used to do this. She had inflammatory bowel disease and would >alternate between diarrhea and constipation. I just found something online called Colitis which includes IBD...I guess that could be it. I'll wait for the blood work results and then maybe take him to yet another vet. I read your other post and neither of the 2 vets asked half of the questions you posted. That doesn't sound right. If he's eating normally (is he?) and not much is coming out and he's straining, I don't know how he couldn't be backed up. Do you trust your vet? If you have any doubts, I would get another opinion. I know you said you've seen two, are they at the same clinic? I'd maybe ask for a referral to an internist vet or ask someone, like a cat rescue organization, for a good vet referral. Someone has to be able to find out what's wrong. Our cat strained like you were saying but she had megacolon -- they could see on an x-ray that she was backed up. Good luck, let us know what happens. Rhonda > Have a 16 year old cat who has a history of constipation. He's on > Lactulose and it's been working for years. Over the last week, he [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > idea of what's going on. Any help or suggestions would be > appreciated. >That doesn't sound right. If he's eating normally (is he?) and not much >is coming out and he's straining, I don't know how he couldn't be backed up. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >Our cat strained like you were saying but she had megacolon -- they >could see on an x-ray that she was backed up. He actually stopped eating...the last time he ate was Tues night...right after getting home from the vet where they saw on the xray that he wasn't backed up. They also ruled out megacolon. He's back at the vet as of this morning for tests...it's a clinic with a bunch of different vets...we specifically asked for the one he's seeing today so hopefully they'll find out what's going on.
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