civvie Daniel bowel problems, rock hard poo

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Noah & me (GA)

Noah & me (GA)

Member Since 2016
Daniel is one of our 5 civvies, a neighborhood stray who would not have made it through the winter. That was 3 years ago, he wasn't chipped or neutered. Everything he does is a big secret, like a lot of cats, so we never see him eat, drink or use the litter.
Last weekend he was getting cranky about something, he can be unpredictable, and only when we had him up on the exam table did he show us his bum and his blockage. A micro-enema, some BUPE and a massage and he passed no problem. Fecal exam showed no parasites but some blood, no fever, no other symptoms. He's on Metronidazole 50mg/1 per day waiting for an if-needed follow up, eating and drinking, no obvious pain. BUT... he had a poo hanging off his tail this morning and it was rock hard. He passed it okay or he would have told us and of course this never happens when he's on the exam table. Aside from his yet to be diagnosed bowel problems, if any, what would make a poo so hard? It had not been hanging there very long, a little bit of hair.
Not very scientific saying "rock hard" but I could not crumble it between my fingers.
 
That means it's been in the colon too long when it's hard like that. He needs Miralax added to his food - about 1/8th tsp twice a day. It's tasteless so it's not going to change the taste of his food. I have a civie with same issue for many years - he gets miralax daily furever....
 
Hard stool is an indication he's constipated. Dehydration, a lack of fibre, low activity levels, and more, can cause constipation. There's a great resource here: www.felineconstipation.org

Sounds like your vet is investigating things, but Splunk gets 1/8 tsp Metamucil daily for now-chronic constipation, so like Squeaky & KT said, that might be something to consider.
 
You mean like when it never happens when they're on the table, you get a dirty look for letting it go too long or you're told "That's not possible". Daniel's just sitting here now like it never happened but he'll take your hand off if you touch his feet.
 
Miralax would likely be a better choice than Metamucil - metamucil is fiber to help bulk, miralax is a stool softener. LOTS of water/liquid is needed too. Another thing adding to the issue right now is loose hair in the stool due to winter coats loosening. The muscles cannot grasp 'hairy poop' easily and can't move it fast. The more water in the colon, the easier it will move. Adding a petroleum jelly based hairball remedy to lubricate things will help tremendously.
 
Make him a special treat that only he gets and mix the 1/8 teaspoon of miralax into it. Doesn't have to be much - just a couple of teaspoons of something he really likes (maybe just 1/4 of a can of FF gravy lovers). Just mix the miralax into it and be done with it. He won't even know it is in there. I am giving 1/8 teaspoon 1 time/day and sometimes 2x per day. Start slow as you can go too far the other way! :cool:
 
As Lyresa says, lots of water is very important. I add about a tablespoon of water to all my kitties' meals.
 
The problem here is that we live in a nut-house. Just the two humans in a house with six to nine cats and a dog. Sound familiar? The cat that can't be pilled / won't eat wet / can't tolerate a closed door / never complains / always complains / has never EVER been seen in any of the five litter boxes. I'm just waiting for a new Tech to ask me if I know how to pill a cat. Kablong!
 
Sorry for the double. Has anyone ever switched completely from kibble to all wet all the time? Obviously it can be done but I've never liked "They'll eat if they get hungry enough". We'll do what we have to do but six cats and all those cans, the mess and the smell. Kibble is so easy.
 
I grin...THAT is a nut house? What's the next step up from 'nut house'? We currently have 23 dogs and cats, all rescues - most of them dumped on us by crappy hoomans. Feeding time is a circus and takes right at an hour to complete. Some like that, others hate it, some like something else, others won't eat if that's served. Medicine line forms behind Mom every morning...diabetes, CKD, Chronic constipation ones, IBD, autoimmune issues.....and one severely injured cat
 
Squeaky and KT (GA) said:
We currently have 23 dogs and cats
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That's not a nut-house, that's Heaven. I know how to deal with money and litter but grief is the killer for me, I'm sure you're familiar with it. This was a different home when we had nine because 4 were kittens and Mom and Dad were 2 years old. And a puppy that loved them all. No dental, no diabetics, no tragedy.
What I wouldn't give to live one day like that again.
 
Squeaky and KT (GA) said:
I grin...THAT is a nut house? What's the next step up from 'nut house'? We currently have 23 dogs and cats, all rescues - most of them dumped on us by crappy hoomans. Feeding time is a circus and takes right at an hour to complete. Some like that, others hate it, some like something else, others won't eat if that's served. Medicine line forms behind Mom every morning...diabetes, CKD, Chronic constipation ones, IBD, autoimmune issues.....and one severely injured cat
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Lyresa, I think that's a petting zoo, lol! :bighug::joyful::bighug:
 
Noah & me said:
Sorry for the double. Has anyone ever switched completely from kibble to all wet all the time? Obviously it can be done but I've never liked "They'll eat if they get hungry enough". We'll do what we have to do but six cats and all those cans, the mess and the smell. Kibble is so easy.
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Yup, we did it. And I'm also not okay with the "they'll eat if they're hungry thing". Here was the progression, though of course anyone who tries it will have their own way to get there.
1. All kibble
2. Mostly kibble and trying spoonfuls of anything wet just to get them to eat it
3. Transition from mostly kibble to mostly wet (again, it wasn't good wet, but the snobby pet store near me said any wet is better than any kibble). The wet food still required a top coat of either bonita flakes or ground up kibble
4. All wet (it was fancy feast gravy lovers, please don't judge) a few kibble pieces given as treats
5. Beginning of transition to healthier wet. The pate was not a hit around here, so I went back to the ground up kibble on top for awhile (and added some water), and then discovered fortiflora
6. All pate with fortiflora
7. Introduction of raw
8. Currently: about 50/50 on canned food/raw

It took a couple months to get from Step 1 to Step 6. And it was about a year before Sam stopped pawing at the old kibble cupboard. By the end of the second month, he was fully eating the canned food with no trouble, but would just paw the cupboard in between meals.

I went the route of the crappy canned food first mostly because I didn't know any better at the time. Steps 1-4 happened before Sam was diagnosed with diabetes. Step 5-7 happened at the time of diagnosis.
 
Agreed. They'll eat when they're hungry enough is like slapping someone until they "get it". So it can be done, yeah! The one thing I don't like is stepping in a dish coming down the stairs Saturday morning. It's dark, I want my coffee and the paper and... squoosh. About every 10 years I think "Have I tried paper plates?" What a schnook! There's a farm supply place down the road, maybe a trough. @Squeaky and KT (GA) how many dishes and bowls do you wash every day?
 
Leo was a kibble addict and if cats were able to make a disgusting looking face on purpose when presented with a wet food they hated Leo could have been an internet sensation with his facial expressions. Finding a really strong odorous duck pate that makes your eyes water when you open it and adding a sprinkle of forti flora got him eating canned food immediately. It's quite possible it smells like a dead mouse to him. Go figure. I never thought I would be able to get him off the dry food but it happened. He's on wet food only now.
 
Noah & me said:
Thanks. Just to make things interesting Daniel has no preference for wet food, five other cats get into whatever he eats, he can cheek any pill and spit it out later. Life with cats, the fun never ends.
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Phoebe used to get 1/8 of a tsp of benefiber. Could you put in capsule and pill him? Miralax turned her poo blk and tarry, no blood just some reaction to the miralax. She also was put on cisapride. That was for the motilty. The hardness is from poo staying in the colon absorbing the fluid. Sometimes fiber can cause worse constipation because it can bulk up and make the poo less able to move out. Fluids and pumpkin helped her tremendously.
 
I should have mentioned this. We think Daniel is about 3 and this is his first every constipation. He is a long hair, hoping we'll get off lucky and this is a one time thing. Like someone said about winter coat / excessive grooming. Time will tell. Need night vision cameras at the boxes.
 
Noah & me said:
how many dishes and bowls do you wash every day?
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Each has their own bowl or saucer and are fed twice a day....that's 23 bowls/saucers twice a day...they're washed every use. Wait! Half are cats - there's usually 3-4 extras trying to get someone to eat. Can we say MOUNTAINS? But I must admit, I wouldn't give it up for anything.... :) Some ARE ready for adoption tho'...others will stay here forever.

Our little currently severely injured cat was a kibble addict too but I did give him wet twice a day. Since this attack happened last Fri. night, all hard food has been taken away and only fed soft, both on saucer/bowl and syringe fed. For the first time today, he at a whole can by himself. I would LOVE to dump that hard in the trash......

As Angela (Phoebes) mentioned above, Cisapride is another path to add if he doesn't 'soften up'. It strengthens the muscle contractions to help move it thru but it affects all muscles, I didn't use it but just long enough to calm a flair with my 'full of poop' kitty. I now have to use Reglan - a poor second choice due to the terribly high cost of Cisapride.
 
My civvie, Kitty-cow, gets constipated often. He would try to poop and either have a rock hard rocket or half and half of a mess and hard rocks. I tried miralax and he got runny poop from it and when he gets diarrhea-- he poops where he's at when it hits him... usually my couch!
I started giving him acidophilus and he's been pretty regular. He seems to love it- once it's mixed in his wet food he chows down. I'm not sure if there's a way for them to eat it without being in wet food. Will your civvie eat something like the "lick'ums" treats or the broth packets? If so it might be worth trying to mix in the miralax or whatever you decide to try.
 
Noah & me said:
Agreed. They'll eat when they're hungry enough is like slapping someone until they "get it". So it can be done, yeah! The one thing I don't like is stepping in a dish coming down the stairs Saturday morning. It's dark, I want my coffee and the paper and... squoosh. @Squeaky and KT (GA) how many dishes and bowls do you wash every day?
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Maybe you shouldn't put the food right at the bottom of the stairs...;)

Have you tried if he'll eat pumpkin? One of my cat loves it, the other won't even taste it. Does seem to help keep things moving during shedding season.
 
Adding a teaspoon of plain canned pumpkin to his food will add fiber And water to his diet. I'd add a little water to his food too since he's shy to drink.... He's clearly not drinking enough.
He may also prefer moving water. A fountain might encourage him to drink more.
 
The laws of nature and physics don't apply here. Noah's brothers would not even look at wet food, pumpkin, tuna, salmon, Big Macs. Makes me nuts/bonkers/mental when a new tech says "Have you tried blah blah blah?" Yes, tried that before you were born, tried the other when your parents met, moved that before paper was invented. But they like probiotic yogurt! Noah says "I'll only eat if you pull my tail and move my bed a little to the left". Oh come on!!!
 
You can put the Miralax in a large bore syringe, add water and then squirt the mix into your cats mouth - maybe! I was doing this for Wink near the end. Sometimes, I'd end up squirting most of the mix all over me, the floor, Wink, shower curtain, side of bathtub, walls, ......................

Poured the 1/8 t dry Miralax on a piece of paper, folded the paper in half to use as a sort of funnel, held finger on end of syringe, poured in Miralax, keep finger on tip of syringe, held top of syringe under the kitchen faucet turned on low to add a bit of water, left room at top to allow insertion of syringe plunger, tipped syringe back and forth to wet mix. I got to be pretty good at this method of dosing the Miralax, until I had to start hand feeding Wink to get any food at all into him. At that point, I could simply mix the Miralax in with a bit of the wet food and hand feed him that bit of food first.
 
When Leo was only eating dry food I actually sprinkled the miralax on the dry food and surprisingly it still worked. I know it's not supposed to work like that but it did.
Pumpkin puree and his probiotics are giving me a lot of heavy stuff to clean from the litter box. I just hope the ingested hair is coming out with the poop.
 
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