By the way, Toby was fed a roughly 50%/50% diet consisting of IAMS Lamb &
Rice (dried) and Whiskas Advance (canned) with the occasional canned tuna as
a treat (about once a week) before his crystals and constipation problems
reared their ugly heads.  He'll of course get no more tuna (or any other
pseudo-people foods disguised as cat foods) from now on due to the struvite
crystals problem.

Devlin
Perth, Australia

If it were my cat, I would put him on a homemade diet, and also consult with a
holistic vet.  Constipation sometimes occurs when the cat doesn't get enough
bulk in his diet or doesn't get enough exercise.  Always make sure the
litterbox is clean so the cat doesn't get into the habit of holding it in.
Another thing you could try is adding olive oil.  This can act as a tonic for
the intestinal tract and stimulate liver bile.  Any excess oil will help
lubricate the fecal mass and sooth mucus membrane of the intenstine and rectum.
I would suggest 1/2 to 1 teaspoon 2 times a day, mixed with food, until he is
going regularly.  It can also be given once a week for hairball prevention.

Lauren
________
See my cats:  http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm

First of all, I have a real big problem with a vet that proclaims a cat
has to be on a special food/drugs for "the rest of its life" because of
*one* incident of constipation.
I also question putting the cat on the foods you described for crystals
in the urine.

The best diet for both constipation and urinary tract issues (and in
general) is one that is all canned, high quality (Iams is not) and fed
on a schedule. I have two clients that have cats that had constipation
issues that were never resolved using the prescription high fiber diets,
and one of the cats was still constipated despite getting daily doses of
mineral oil and a prescription stool softener and was in constant
misery. Completely eliminating dry food and switching the cats to a high
quality canned food fed on a 12 hour schedule resolved the constipation
in both cases and eliminated the need for stool softeners as well.

Canned is also beneficial for urinary tract issues as it greatly
increases a cats water intake, which in turn helps to keep the urine
more dilute and the bladder flushed.
In general a canned diet isgoiong to be better for your cat and there is
more and more information coming out that shows that dry foods are not
great for cats (a good website that you can check out on this subject is
http://www.catnutrition.org )

I would suggest trying this approach before deciding the cat has to have
prescription drugs and diet for the rest of its life.

Megan

                                   

I have seen r/d and w/d do nothing except keep a cat coming back to
the vet for enemas.  I would trash the Hills, put the cat on a
hairball maintenence dry diet (which is higer in fiber and Mega 3
fatty acids) with pumpkin (if he will eat it) and also give plenty of
canned food that is high in protein - such as Purina DM or a canned
kitten diet.  Protein is better utilized and lower-residue in nature.
I would keep him on the drugs until he seems completely regulated.

Make sure is he groomed frequently, get enough exercise and plenty of
water.  Massage can also help.

best of luck to you,

-L.

Thanks to everyone who gave their input.  It was good to get such a diverse
(and sometimes contradictory) range of views.  Even the vets (and there were
several of them from the same vet practice who examined Toby) couldn't all
agree upon what the problem(s) might be, so I guess I shouldn't feel guilty
about being all confused.

Toby first got ill about 2 months ago - I noticed he had been going to the
litter tray every few minutes - I carted him off to the vet immediately,
where the first vet took a urine sample and tested it for crystals and/or
bacteria.  That first test came back positive for bacteria but negative for
crystals.  Toby was put on antibiotics, but no change of diet was
recommended (he was being fed IAMS dried and Whiskas Advance wet).  He had
an anti-inflammation shot as well, and the frequent litter tray visits
stopped - he got back to his normal routine of 2/3 times of weeing a day.

A few weeks later, when Toby went to the clinic for a follow-up urine test
after completing his course of antibiotics, a second vet discovered that
Toby was badly constipated and had a distended colon.  (Toby had always
poo'd every other day - I simply accepted that as his normal routine, I
never suspected he might be constipated.  He never showed any signs of
straining or pain when he poo'd before.)  After Toby failed to poo for 4
days in a row (despite being treated with both lactulose and cisapride), a
third and fourth vet (from the same clinic) recommended an enema under
anaesthesia - this was duly administered after an x-ray was taken.  The last
two vets said the x-ray was inconclusive for a megacolon diagnosis, although
Toby's colon was distended.

Meanwhile, the second urine test came back - Toby had struvite crystals AND
bacteria!   Vet no. 2 decided that the bacteria could be lab contamination,
so no additional antibiotics were prescribed.  So the decision was made to
put Toby on the Hill's dried w/d and wet r/d combination (both had higher
fibre, are formulated to keep urine urine pH at 6.2 to 6.4, and the wet r/d
would ensure Toby has sufficient fluid intake).

Fast-forward to two weeks later - a third urine test this week showed Toby's
urine is free from either bacteria or struvite crystals.  Phew!  However,
vet no. 2 felt that it would be wise to continue with the Hill's diet as
well as the lactulose and cisapride treatment for the foreseeable future as
Toby's colon continues to be distended (although he now poos regularly once
every 1 to 1.5 days).

Three different urine tests yielding 3 different results, on top of a
possible idiopathic megacolon diagnosis - the vets don't have a clue why
Toby's constipation developed nor why it progressed to the almost megacolon
stage.  It's all pretty much guess-work at this stage - keeping my fingers
crossed that Toby's bowel movements will go back to normal eventually and he
can be safely taken off the cisapride.  (Cisapride is expensive and has been
suspected of causing a few human deaths and withdrawn from the human market
so it is not easy to get except thru vets, but lactulose is just a synthetic
sugar and unlikely to cause any long term harm, plus it is much cheaper and
easier to obtain.)

It has been a very stressful couple of months for this daddy!

Devlin
Perth, Australia