? Constipation

[Krista & Copernicus]

Can we have the constipation conversation again. I was over on the CKD group and some people use Miralax, but others say it pulls water out of the cat's circulation and tissues (dehydration). Pumpkin is too high in carbs since my cat is in the 400s. So does that leave psyllium husk? Other?

 

[Britta and Regs]

I have something for my non diabetic cat called catlax. It's like a paste and seems to taste good to him. and he thinks it's like his special treat. As far as I know it should not have influence on the blood glucose, and I get it on amazon and chewy

Oh and sorry in case you have tried it already and I didn't read that

 

[CORKY]

Lactulose, it is a liquid prescription, I use that a lot both Corky and Coco whey get constipated, as a matter of fact I have giving them 1 1/2-2ML (I use a non needle syringe) in their first and last meal in their food for the past 3 days, I expect to see results by no later than tonight

 

[JL and Chip]

@Krista & Copernicus
How are you guys doing?

For constipation, it might depend on whether you have a stool firmness issue, a motility issue, or both. I used MiraLAX and canned pumpkin for Tubby (the canned pumpkin didn’t seem to impact BG, despite what one would expect). Miralax does draw fluid the GI tract but one trick is to soup up the canned food. Tubby (and my other cats who have been on MiraLAX) didn’t mind soupy food so I added as much water as they would tolerate to offset the dehydration issue. Anything you can do (water fountains, tuna-laced water, etc) to encourage Copernicus to drink more water won’t hurt.

Lactulose can work but can be somewhat harsh, so it’s usually not what I reach for first.

SubQ fluids were also helpful, with the usual “if safe to use” caveat.

For motility, we had to resort to cisapride.

High BG is dehydrating so I’m glad to see you increased insulin dose again. Hopefully you’ll start reaching a good dose soon. The 19u from before was starting to look promising so it’ll be interesting to see if it will do the same now.

Edited to add: lactulose can increase BG in some cats — so that’s another consideration.

 

[Krista & Copernicus]

@Krista & Copernicus
How are you guys doing?

For constipation, it might depend on whether you have a stool firmness issue, a motility issue, or both. I used MiraLAX and canned pumpkin for Tubby (the canned pumpkin didn’t seem to impact BG, despite what one would expect). Miralax does draw fluid the GI tract but one trick is to soup up the canned food. Tubby (and my other cats who have been on MiraLAX) didn’t mind soupy food so I added as much water as they would tolerate to offset the dehydration issue. Anything you can do (water fountains, tuna-laced water, etc) to encourage Copernicus to drink more water won’t hurt.

Lactulose can work but can be somewhat harsh, so it’s usually not what I reach for first.

SubQ fluids were also helpful, with the usual “if safe to use” caveat.

For motility, we had to resort to cisapride.

High BG is dehydrating so I’m glad to see you increased insulin dose again. Hopefully you’ll start reaching a good dose soon. The 19u from before was starting to look promising so it’ll be interesting to see if it will do the same now.

But if you look at the prior 19, his baseline was lower than it is now. He had a lot of prior pre shots in the purple. Now he's reds and blacks. Ever since he got that last AKI and went to 700 at the vet school, he has been declining and his numbers have been the worse I've seen since diagnosis. I don't think he will ever be regulated now. Even on the acro FB I don't see numbers as high as his for as long as his.

Thanks for the constipation info!

 

[JL and Chip]

Hopefully you’ll start to see movement in his BG soon. I would always see the impact of constipation on Tubby’s BG. Plus, we pondered whether he had megacolon. He was a very large cat and so much isn’t “normal” size in some of our acros.

Tubby also fought kidney disease and high BG numbers for a very long time. I understand the frustration and hopelessness. Sometimes a course of broad spectrum antibiotics helped address whatever underlying infection was lurking. Even though they could never pinpoint exactly what it was, they suspected it was there.

I wouldn’t give up on regulation just yet. Most cats have a breakthrough dose, even acros. That’s why TR can be so valuable…it can help get there faster. It’s just a matter of trying to “hold the fort” and tinker around to manage all of the other issues acros come with while working up the dosing scale. Copernicus isn’t on a crazy high dose for an acro yet … there’s lots of room to go up in dose.

Give Copernicus a scratch on the chin for me.

 

[Mary & Jude]

I have something for my non diabetic cat called catlax. It's like a paste and seems to taste good to him. and he thinks it's like his special treat. As far as I know it should not have influence on the blood glucose, and I get it on amazon and chewy

Oh and sorry in case you have tried it already and I didn't read that

Check the ingredients to make sure there is no sugar in it ( I believe it does).

 

[Krista & Copernicus]

Hopefully you’ll start to see movement in his BG soon. I would always see the impact of constipation on Tubby’s BG. Plus, we pondered whether he had megacolon. He was a very large cat and so much isn’t “normal” size in some of our acros.

Tubby also fought kidney disease and high BG numbers for a very long time. I understand the frustration and hopelessness. Sometimes a course of broad spectrum antibiotics helped address whatever underlying infection was lurking. Even though they could never pinpoint exactly what it was, they suspected it was there.

I wouldn’t give up on regulation just yet. Most cats have a breakthrough dose, even acros. That’s why TR can be so valuable…it can help get there faster. It’s just a matter of trying to “hold the fort” and tinker around to manage all of the other issues acros come with while working up the dosing scale. Copernicus isn’t on a crazy high dose for an acro yet … there’s lots of room to go up in dose.

Give Copernicus a scratch on the chin for me.

He pooped soon after I posted this. He's on his second antibiotic for E Coli. Today, he yelped out in pain for the first time he couldn't walk to his litter box thank you for the chin scratch!