Amount of pumpkin to add to food?

[RuthV]

Yay - my market finally has canned pumpkin - now I almost forgot why I wanted it. Ha.
Joey has been straining to pass a stool. He manages to drop it outside the box after he strains for a while in the box. At least I am sure he trying to use the box. (DH swears he does it out of contempt). Having long hair doesn't help either.

Would a tsp. of pumpkin be right to a half can of cat food? Should I alternate it - like every other meal? Should I continue with the Miralax?

I'm also adding a few drops of oilve oil to his food - has very dandruffy skin lately.

Thanks.

 

[Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA]

I would start out with a 1/4 tsp/day and see how he does.

I assume you have had a vet check for causes of constipation? You don't want to use pumpkin if he has a restrictive cause (such as lymphoma) as pumpkin is a bulking agent so that could cause problems. I found this out when another FDMB member used it for her cat (at my suggestion) and it caused her cat distress because he had a suspected intestinal lymphoma.

Home/natural remedies are all well and good, but we need to make sure they won't cause harm instead of helping.