cat not pooping

[MOOSEDRY]

hi all.

looking for advice for my eleven year old cat, patsy. her appetitie had been decreasing gradually over the last week (started last sunday nite suppertime). when she stopped eating for a full 24 hours, i took her to the vet. they did full blood work (came back fine, plus no diabetes). they took an xray, which showed nothing except a pinched area in her large bowel. yesterday afternoon they made her drink barium, and took xrays every so often to clock its progress. as of this morning, the barium stool is completely in her large bowel, and there are no signs of foreign objects - even the pinched area opened up. she has been prescribed metoclopromide - 5mg, 1/4 pill, 3 times a day. now we just need her to poo! she is peeing, and is not dehydrated. i have her quarantined from my other two cats so i can check her litter. the vet said she needs to poo in the next 48 hours (by monday morning), or we'll have to try something else. i'm also giving her tonic lax to try to help move things along. i'm at work all day today into this evening, but i came home on a break to let her out of the room for a bit (don't want depression setting in, as she may stop eating completely again). the other two have been locked away so i can still check the litter situation. anyway, when i brought her home last nite and left her in the room for a few hours, there were white spots under where she was laying (so, some of the barium must have come thru as i was told it would be white). she is eating a few mouthfuls at a time (yay), and is otherwise alert and happy.

just wondering if anyone has any other advice as to what we can do to get things moving... is there such a thing as an enema for a cat?

thanks,
tracy : )

[badger]

Yes, cats can be given enemas (by the vet) but hopefully you can avoid it. Try giving her a little pumpkin (not the pie filling, the pure kind that comes in a can). Some cats love it, others not so much, but if she'll eat it, it can be quite effective.
I would also recommend canned food or if she will only eat dry, adding water. The more liquid she takes the better.
Lactulose is another medication that I have given to constipated cats in the past, also very effective.
Here's hoping she 'produces' soon so another trip to the vet won't be necessary.

[MOOSEDRY]

thanks badger. i just got home from work and read your response. i'll pick up some pumpkin and the laxative tomorrow. how long can a cat go being backed up like this? the vet said that if nothing happens in 48 hours we'll have to try something else.

tracy : )

[badger]

Ask him about lactulose, it works pretty fast. My old Badger used to get royally 'bunged up' on occasion and lactulose never failed. You use it just long enough to get things rolling. Not eating was never an issue .
I keep a close eye on his ah, litterbox activities and if he is really struggling and his stools are very small, I add a 1/2 teaspoon of unflavoured Metamucil to his wet food, which generally takes care of the problem. When it doesn't (rarely) I use Lactulose.
Barium is constipating, so that may be holding things up.

PS The vet has to prescribe Lactulose, it isn't OTC.

[rainbow]

She needs food in her to help her poop. The vet will probably give her an enema if she doesn't poop on her own.

Another member here (Growler) who is very knowledgable on cat nutrition recommends giving Heinz Organics or Earth Organics butternut squash baby food instead of the pumpkin. She says cats seem to prefer the taste better.

Sugarcatmom (the cat guru here) may also have some other suggestions.

Good luck with Patsy.

[MOOSEDRY]

thanks so much you guys for all the advice. i didn't know that barium could be constipating - that may be part of the problem. quick question for you. i was patting patsy and feeling her belly and "other" areas to check for swelling, and the areas to the right and left of her rectum feel hard and swollen. could her anal glands be impacted, and could this be part of the problem? i'll be so happy when my regular vet is back on monday morning. she has been away this past week, and although the other vets are good, she's the one i trust the most for knowing what is going on.

thanks.
tracy : )

[Element~5]

Enema's aren't that bad, especially if they are done properly. They can be somewhat invasive, but you're pet would prefer it over not being able to have a BM at all. Good luck and keep us posted

[growler~GateKeeper]

Rainbow thanks for the relay of info re butternut squash

Originally Posted by MOOSEDRY

the areas to the right and left of her rectum feel hard and swollen. could her anal glands be impacted, and could this be part of the problem?

The anal glands are located to the left & right and slightly lower than the anus @ the 4 o'clock & 8 o'clock positions with ducts that open onto the anal surface. It is much more common for dogs to have anal gland issues but cats do get them as well.

If there is a very very strong fishy odor in the area of the anus then the glands are in need of expression either natually from the cat pooping or manually by the vet.

In order for her to natually express them she needs to have a normal to slightly hard poop, though they are not always expressed w/every poop.

It is possible though more likely the glands (if they are) are backed up because she's not pooping rather than the other way around, with impacted glands the cat will still try to poop but will be painful.

The glands are also sometimes expressed in situations where the cat is fearful/upset/surprised (similiar to skunks spraying)

Has Patsy been acting like she needs to poop? Straining at all?

Has she ever scooted her bum along the carpet? Showing discomfprt while trying to sit or Licking her anus excessively? These along with the odor will alert you to her need to have the anal glands looked @ by the vet.

[fuzzball]

After 3 days of not eating or pooping we took our 9 month old ragdoll kitten to the vet. She seemed happy and normal, was grooming, drinking and peeing but of course we were concerned because she's a piglet who adrores her food.
They gave her an x-ray to check for any foreign bodies/blockages (none, but she was chock full of poop) but they told us it wouldn't show things like hair elastics, string, tinsel etc that kittens her age like to nibble on.
They also gave her an enema. The enema only retreived 4" of poop, they told us to expect another 6" soon.
We were also told we could give her hairball control paste (aka kitty malt/beef flavoured mineral oil) 3 times a day to get things moving. We smeared a 1/4 teaspoon on top of each foot so she had to lick it off.
Also after vomiting one meal she attempted on day 4, she didn't want to drink anymore, so we took a syringe (no needle of course) and squirted water into her mouth regularly since hydration helps pooping.
On day 5 she finally pooped those 6" out and wanted her breakfast.
There was nothing foreign in her poop at all since the vet told me to check for carpet strings, etc so we would have a better idea what caused this. It was just constipation, but once there is no room in the colon for any more, they can't keep their food down or want any more.
In future we were told to supplement her diet with a little kittymalt once each day 1/2 teaspoon, and put out pumpkin to help her along with fibre. We plan to flavour the pumpkin with the juice from her wet food tin, which is what we feed her 3 times a day plus at night some dental kibble to snack on for her teeth.
Hope this helps you, too.

[fuzzball]

By the way, according the the research I've seen, mineral oil in it's liquid/watery form can be aspirated and be bad for cats. In it's petroleum jelly /hairball remedy medicine form, purchased from a vet or pet food store, it is meant to be injested and just passes through the body as a lubricant and doesn't harm kitty. I trust my vet wouldn't recommend regular use of a product that would be bad for long term health. Perhaps do it yourself medicating may not be the way to go versus formulated pastes. Also, that pumpkin is a great idea.

[sugarcatmom]

Originally Posted by fuzzball

In it's petroleum jelly /hairball remedy medicine form, purchased from a vet or pet food store, it is meant to be injested and just passes through the body as a lubricant and doesn't harm kitty.

Long-term regular ingestion of petroleum by-products can indeed cause harm to some cats. For one, they interfere with nutrient absorption. They can also initiate an inflammatory response in the digestive tract, and chronic inflammation is detrimental to good health. Plus, many of these hairball formulas contain other noxious ingredients like sugar, artificial flavours/colours, and sodium benzoate as a preservative.

Constipation is best avoided by feeding a good quality species-appropriate wet food diet, supplemented with soluble fibre for cats that need it.

Originally Posted by fuzzball

I trust my vet wouldn't recommend regular use of a product that would be bad for long term health.

While I'm not saying vets shouldn't be trusted, I do think there are a number of products and treatments they offer that aren't in the best interest of cats. Take the horrid food they sell, for instance. Or the excessive vaccination schedules many still follow. Or drugs like Metacam.