Can my cat take lactulose long term?

[Jbcamel]

My cat has early kidney disease. To be honest I'm not sure if diabetes is also an issue. She had a very unpleasant (and expensive) bought of severe constipation. She's on lactulose, 1ml twice a day and it seems to help. Is it safe to keep her on it permanently? Do they build a tolerance to it?

I understand miralax is also an option. In fact I use it myself every day for years due to the use of pain meds. My concern is I won't be able to get the Miralax in her. I've read that 1/4 tspn a day is a good dose but how much liquid does it have to be mixed with? Don't know if it matters but she is a little thing. Only weighs 6.5 lbs.

The lactulose is messy and expensive but squirting 1ml down her unwilling throat isn't too bad. I can never count on her to finish either her wet food or any liquid on her own. She's a picky little devil. I know the miralax is tasteless so I could probably squirt it in her mouth if it didn't require a lot of water.

I will of course talk to my vet but I often find that the community with real experience can be very helpful.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Dusty Bones]

I sprinkle MiraLax in Dusty's wet food and mix it in, he doesn't even know it's there. As far as dosing goes, you'll just have to see how her poop looks, if it's too soft back off a bit, if too hard increase a little.

 

[Bellasmom]

I give

My cat has early kidney disease. To be honest I'm not sure if diabetes is also an issue. She had a very unpleasant (and expensive) bought of severe constipation. She's on lactulose, 1ml twice a day and it seems to help. Is it safe to keep her on it permanently? Do they build a tolerance to it?

I understand miralax is also an option. In fact I use it myself every day for years due to the use of pain meds. My concern is I won't be able to get the Miralax in her. I've read that 1/4 tspn a day is a good dose but how much liquid does it have to be mixed with? Don't know if it matters but she is a little thing. Only weighs 6.5 lbs.

The lactulose is messy and expensive but squirting 1ml down her unwilling throat isn't too bad. I can never count on her to finish either her wet food or any liquid on her own. She's a picky little devil. I know the miralax is tasteless so I could probably squirt it in her mouth if it didn't require a lot of water.

I will of course talk to my vet but I often find that the community with real experience can be very helpful.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I give my nondiabetic cat lactulose everyday 2x a day and they said she may need it for a long period, we have unlimited refills

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

My concern is I won't be able to get the Miralax in her.

Miralax is tasteless....you can add it to food or use a little water and syringe it directly into her mouth.

 

[Schmill]

We give our cat 2ml Lactulose on a daily basis (along with the B12 she's currently on due to her diabetes) at the same time as her normal wet food.
What I do is put the 2ml of lactulose into her food bowl (on it's own), then from the wet food take some of the gravy (or jelly, whatever it is in), and mix that with the lactulose. The lactulose is supposed to be quite tasteless, but its sweetness can be unattractive to some cats, and mixing some jelly / gravy with it seems to disguise it enough. She will then quickly eat all of that, guaranteeing she's had her dose of laxative, and then I put the rest of her normal food into the bowl.

Can't say it will certainly work for your cat of course, but it seems to work for us and ours. Good luck!