Constipation...when should I worry?

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Suzanne&Grey

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One of my civvies is showing a sign of constipation. He went from litter box to litter box scratching and squatting, but nothing came out. He is acting completely normal otherwise: no fever, he still wants attention as he's a roller (when you walk up he rolls from side to side exposing his belly), palpitation isn't painful, and he's still eating. Tonight I gave him at least 2 inches ribbon of laxatone, some dried catnip (supposed to relax him?), and added slippery elm bark to everyone's food tonight (800 mg split 3 ways between 3 cats). I of course added lots of water, as well as washed/sanitized their water bowl and added fresh water. Again, Gadget is not acting like he's in terrible pain, he just did the back and forth without any form of elimination. I'm not completely ruling out a UTI, but it just looks like constipation. I've reduced the amount of fat per Dr. Pierson's raw recipe to 25% from about 50%, which I think may be the culprit. Both of the boys were slightly overweight, hence I wanted to stop/undo the weight gain.

I guess I'm asking, after reading so many horror stories about constipation, when do I panic and take Gadget in to the vet? Thoughts?

Thank you,

Suzanne
 
Sorry no one has responded to your question.

Here is the best online guide about feline constipation. http://www.felineconstipation.org/

My question - is he straining and in which position, for pee or poo? "Squatting" is either one by my vernacular. The unfortunate thing about male cats is that due to their short urethra, they can block very easily. Don't wait much longer for veterinary intervention if you don't see either pee or poo. Urinary blockages are life-threatening.
 
You can add Miralax to meals with extra water; many people do this regularly.
You can start with 1/4 tsp with am and pm meals, but if you have not seen any deposits in awhile, a vet visit may be in order. My Shadoe needed to have her anal glands expressed a couple times, despite my adding powder and extra water to her foods.
 
Just seeing this now and hope things are improving - I think when to worry is different with all cats - with my boy Robbie when he lies on his side and pulls his legs up to his chest I know we've gotten to a really bad spot. If this is your civie you could see if you can get lactulouse - I am not sure if it's prescription or not but we got it from our vet while Robbie was OTJ and it really helped him out several times - however even though it's indicated that it won't increase BG numbers for long term as is sugar based I won't use it on him now. The miralax is a good thing to get him moving if it's not gone to far. Water mixed in his food to help ease things is also a good thing. From our experience the constipation issue can go from straining in the box to poop to throwing up and rolling around on his side in pain pretty quickly and we've had 2 visits to the ER in the past 3 years and more than a couple emergency trips to our own vet for enemas. Hope all works out and let us know how he is doing when you can.
 
Sorry for the late update! Gadget seems ok, although I haven't caught him in the litterbox (work and sleep is about all I do these days). He runs around the house like a madman, plays, etc like nothing is wrong. I gave the laxatone for a few days and slippery elm every meal, and there's lots of poop in the litterbox. Problem is, with 3 cats I don't know who popped and when. I'm off today and cleaning house so I can hopefully catch him in the box.

By the way, he is a civvie so sugars aren't an issue (knocking on wood!).

Thanks again everybody!
 
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