Complicated case of constipation, need help!

Status
Not open for further replies.
kimouette

kimouette

Member Since 2012
Hi guys,

I'm currently helping a woman in France with her diabetic kitty named Faya. Like most cats, Faya was eating crappy kibbles when he got diagnosed with diabetes. Faya's owner told me that even when he was on kibble, he sometimes would start to becconstipated, which is why the vet had left her with a bottle of Lactulose (just in case...)

Now that I,ve been helping her for almost 2 months I have to admit I am VERY frustrated with that constipation problem cuz it seems like nomatter what we try, the food, supplements and medication keep interfering with Faya's BG's values and of course we are having trouble regulating his numbers!

Sorry for being so graphic, but I have to describe the problem so you guys might be able to identify the problem : it's not just like aya will have these "coffee grain shaped" stools; his feces are shaped like little balls, but the thing I find more unique, is that everyone knows when Faya is constipated cuz he goes into his litter box, starts to push, and pushes for a while, but wont bet able to pull it out, so he leaves his litter box and we can literally see that his anus is dilated and the fece is right there and it wont be pushed out.

At fist I thought, oh well water is gonna get rid of that recurrent problem, so we switched him to a low carb, high quality, canned food and also started to add a tablespoon of water to each of his 4 meals.
That did'nt help.

We tried Laxatone, it was really messing with his BG numbers and didn't seem to be strong enough for his problem. So we stopped.

Then I thought, this cat needs fibers! So he is receiving 1/4 tsp of psyllium each day
That doesn't help

Then I thought (and mostly because she had pointed out that he had had some arthritis in the past), that it could be an arthritis problem that is preventing him from being able to push enough when he goes into his litter box. So we changed the type of litter she was using, we started giving him a full dose of Cosequin (glucosamine) and krill oil. She also has just ordered some B12, E-oil, MSM and hyaluronic acid (hyaflex) from iHerb, but until now, krill oil and Cosequin have not helped at all.

In the meantime we have switched from Caninsulin to Lantus and have switched food 3 times, nothing helps.

The worst part is that in 2 months, she had to go to the emergency 3 or 4 times so that the vet could manually remove Faya's feces (while under anesthesia) and each time Faya goes back home, the poor cat needs almost 3 days to kind of heal from this traumatic event. The vet even gives him NSAID each time and that still doesnt help with his bowel movements.

Now every other day she has to use a suppository (Microlax) to help him get his stool out. So every damn day we have to be concerned with his stool.

I am super pissed at the situation! Nomatter what we do, it seems like the problem comes right back. The only thing we haven't tried, is to put him back on a high carb food, and I'm afraid that could be the solution!
We did try a low carb food that was just pure, well balanced, high quality meat... didn't help
We also tried another low carb food which contained pumpkin... did'nt help either
Now that we added 50% of moderate-carb canned Purina DM, he seems to improve a little bit... just a little bit though.
Does this mean the next step should be to feed him high carb food? Full of grains and by product so that he might be able to get all this crap out of his body by himself?

If any of you have had that struggle, please share your thoughts!
 
Have you tried adding 100% pure canned pumpkin (not the pie filling) to his regular low-carb diet? That's what I did when Shenandoah got constipation issues, and it cleared it right up, so I've been doing it ever since. I don't know which low-carb with pumpkin you tried, but the advantage of adding it yourself is that you can include more or less of it as needed, instead of what the company decided to include. Might be worth a shot, cans of pumpkin are relatively cheap.
 
This is a great site for information on feline constipation problems:

www.felineconstipation.org.

In case there is any neuropathy playing into gut motility problems then maybe the the B12 supplement might help with that. To give Faya's levels a bit of a boost it might be worth asking the vet if a course of B12 injections could help.

Saoirse used to produce quite hard 'marbles' of poop but I started adding plain 100% pure canned pumpkin to her meals. As with any food change, you need to introduce it slowly and work up to an OK dose for the individual cat. For Saoirse, the right amount seems to be about 2 teaspoons per day. I split this amount across all of her wet food meals for the day. I found it better than psyllium because it's easier to control dosage and it tends more to soften rather than really bulk up the stools. Adding fibre may lower blood glucose levels so it's important to be home monitoring to assess its effects (especially if you are increasing the amount of fibre being added).

Another option that your friend could ask her vet about is Miralax stool softener (should be able to get it on Amazon). It softens the stool without making it bulky. It can be mixed into wet food. It should not have the same negative impact on blood sugar levels as the Laxatone. Here is information on it from felineconstipation.org:

http://felineconstipation.org/prevention.html#OsmoticLaxativesPrevent

Felineconstipation.org has the following warning about osmotic laxatives:

Both Lactulose and Miralax are dose-to-effect drugs with a normal stool as the goal. The intent is not to flush out the cat. If the cat has impacted stool, osmotic laxatives are not suitable until that situation is relieved. We do not want to create pressure behind a dam! In any event, osmotic laxatives do not 'catch up with' the stool already formed to act as stool softeners. They are better used to prevent trouble than to deal with a serious bout of constipation and are not suitable for impacted stool.
Click to expand...

[Emphasis mine]


Hope some of the above helps little Faya.



Mogs
.
 
Oh geez I forgot to mention that we did try Miralax. Actually I had to send her Miralax from Canada cuz it doesn't exist (and is not authorized) in France.
She gave Faya Miralax for couple of days: we started at 1/8 tsp, but even at 1/4 tsp, yes he did get couple of stools out, but still very big, dry and ball-shaped feces. So we thought that probably wasn't the best way to go if it's something we have to treat on a daily basis.

Canned pumpkin.. another thing that doesn't exist in France. I will try to find some for her, but pumpkin is something we use in America, in France it's mainly squash and we can never be sure that it's the right type!

One question about canned pumpkin... If I do find a place where she can order a can, is there a way to preserve the whole it so that she doesn't have to waste too much of that precious can? I mean 1-2 tsp a day, there's got to be a way not to throw away 90% of the can before it becomes rotten!
 
Keep the frozen cubes of pumpkin in an airtight food storage container in the freezer; helps to prevent them drying out or getting freezer burn.
 
It is possible the cat has a condition such as megacolon. Has the vet done x-rays to see if this is a possibility? Or mentioned it?

If it is related to diabetic neuropathy, getting the diabetes under control, plus giving methylcobalamin, a specific form of Vitamin B-12, will help over the long haul.

You may need an integrated solution combining glucose control, methyl B-12, plain pumpkin or other squash (cook up your own if you can't find it anywhere - pureed pumpkin, zucchini, etc, will work), an osmotic laxative (the Miralax kind of thing), and possibly a pro-motility drug.
 
kimouette said:
Canned pumpkin.. another thing that doesn't exist in France. I will try to find some for her, but pumpkin is something we use in America, in France it's mainly squash and we can never be sure that it's the right type!

One question about canned pumpkin... If I do find a place where she can order a can, is there a way to preserve the whole it so that she doesn't have to waste too much of that precious can? I mean 1-2 tsp a day, there's got to be a way not to throw away 90% of the can before it becomes rotten!
Click to expand...

Hi Kim,

Oh, poor little kitty! And bless you for trying to help.... :bighug:

Most winter squash will do the same job as pumpkin. The dense, orange-fleshed butternut/buttercup types and the 'turk's turban' squashes are good; and the small ones are easy to cook (just halve, cover with crumpled foil, roast in the oven and scoop out the flesh when tender.)
And as BJ says above, cooked zucchini/courgette can work too; and I've also heard of people using cooked french beans the same way (though presumably they are chopped, not mashed....?!)
As others have said above, it's quite easy to freeze it in ice cube trays.

Some others here have added a little coconut oil to their cat's diet to help with constipation. (I don't know whether it's the coconut oil per se that helps, or whether it's just the fact that that there is additional fat in the diet...)

Does the kitty seem dehydrated at all?

Eliz
 
Last edited:
Thanks for sharing the frozen cubed pumpkin trick ! Atleast she wont waste any food like this!
I managed to find a website that sells american products in France, so she has already bought a can of pure canned pumpkin.
We will be trying this soon...

Methyl-B12 is already on its way and we are gently increasing the Lantus dose to get closer to those blue and green numbers.

She is currently too poor to afford an X-ray... She's seen her vet so often since the past 2 months, plus the food and the supplements I ask her to buy, she cant afford an x-ray. Even the pumpkin was a little too pricey for her budget. So right now, we will focus on the pumpkin, B12 and insuline. If the cat doesnt get any better with these, of course I will tell her about the X-rays... but not before that because she is the kind of person that stresses very easily and would probably go in debt if I told her about mega colon! I want to be sure we have tried everything before assuming the worst...

I'll also keep the coconut oil in mind! Any idea what dosage would possibly help without being too much?
 
It sounds like it is possibly a motility issue. Snow, my 'poopy problems' kitty, was having issues that sound a lot like this. Part of the problem was his muscles couldn't move the hard stuff properly because there was so much backed up. Enema just helped with the stuff at the end of the colon. After xrays to confirm everything, we began a regime of absolutely NO hard food or hard treats, NOTHING freeze-dried, 1/4 tsp Miralax twice daily, tsp pumpkin daily, all the water I could syringe into him each day and 'Reglan' twice a day to strengthen the muscle contractions. The Reglan was in place of 'Cisapride' which is expensive here and hard to get. I only used the Reglan for about 4 days when everything started finally moving and clearing out. Reglan causes all muscles to contract harder so I don't like to give it any more often than absolutely necessarily. When things did finally clean out and all stool was fresh coming out, I slowed the Miralax to every 2-3 days, no syringed water but still no hard food/treats/freeze dried anything. He's done extremely well for the last year....finally! When he does start acting like he's having slight issues again, I up Miralax to twice daily and add pumpkin again. He isn't a fan of the pumpkin...

Good luck! Yes it IS frustrating! HUGS too!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top