Hairball question

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arozeboom

arozeboom

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Ruby has never been a hairball barfer. Instead they go out the other direction.
The past few months there has been a problem, off and on, of things not moving so well. They seem to get stuck midway, which leads her to do the totally gross bum scooting on the carpet. From what I can tell without really dissecting it, it seems to look like its often more of a hairball type than just normal poop. And if the bum scooting doesn't work, then I need to help and no one wants that. I'm afraid of hurting her.

I've started putting a puppy training pee pad in front of the litter box which she does use for the bum scooting. I'd like to help get things moving as they should. What can I do to help her with this?

She doesn't tolerate any of the laxatone type remedies. I tried Miralax and that works too well, no matter how small the dose. And when that happens, if I don't catch it fast enough, she refuses to enter the litter box and will literally hold her urine until her tummy gets really firm.
 
Re: Kind of a gross question

I'm not real sure what you can do to help her with this, but are you positive her glands are not blocked?
 
Re: Kind of a gross question

have you tried pumpkin filling for pies? I've started Sneakers on 1/4 tsp 2x day to see if that is her problem. Haven't tried Mirilax yet.

edit: make sure that the only ingredient is pumpkin- nothing else. I got Libby's for $2.39 and froze the extra in an ice cube tray.
 
Re: Kind of a gross question

PeterDevonMocha said:
I'm not real sure what you can do to help her with this, but are you positive her glands are not blocked?
Click to expand...

No, I'm not. Is there a way to know that without taking her to the vet?
 
Re: Kind of a gross question

If it were hairballs coming up the traditional way, I'd say, get her a tube of that hairball stuff, put a little dab of it on her paw, and she'll digest it and process it out the other end. That being said, and that she IS digesting it, maybe it would help it along? You can get a tube at any pet food store or aisle at WalMart/Target/etc, or your vet may have it. Might be a cheap fix that's not a med per se. Good luck.

I never heard of a cat having anal gland issues. My dogs do occasionally... and Reggie (cat) will sometimes excrete some if I scratch him right above his tail. Fortunately it doesn't spray, just a little drip by his "poop chute" that I wipe w/ TP.
 
Re: Kind of a gross question

Ru is really neurotic about barfing in general. The rare times she does it, she tries to run away from as soon as it start. As you can imagine, that's not very successful. Then she won't go near that part of the room for days, no matter how well its cleaned. She once threw up on the very edge of her bed and never went near it again.

Laxatone & Petromalt is the hairball stuff. She will fight like crazy to stay away from the stuff. I think I also read that its not good for FD cats?
Its kind of funny because if I leave the tube out, Midgie will try to wrestle the lid off of it because she loves it so much.
 
Re: Kind of a gross question

Yes, I do believe cat's can have blocked anal glands .. I unfortunately don't know a way of figuring out if they are blocked myself .. The hairball remedy gel is not good for diabetic cats .. I believe they do contain sugar .. Maybe you could edit your subject line, to hairball/blocked anal glands question? It might get more eyes :-D
 
Anal glands can be partially blocked, completely blocked, or just overproductive. Butt scooting is one sign if the glands are blocked. The anal gland secretion stinks really really bad :shock: One of my civies has overproductive glands his butt smells so bad that sometimes I can smell it while standing up :shock: I've been trying to express the glands at home myself. Sometimes I can get stuff out, sometimes not. Wear gloves and use an old towel or a newspaper to protect the floor/counter/table from the stinky goo and might shoot out.

For hairballs, there's a list of suggestions here: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=58010

Is there anything stuck on your cat's butt? One of my civies has long fur and poop gets stuck back there. She scoots across the floor in an attempt to remove it ohmygod_smile
 
She's not secreting anything. Every now and again a piece of poop will get stuck midway out. (My apologies to the squeamish folks reading this!)
She scoots to get it the rest of the way out. Like maybe there isn't enough moisture so everything dries up and is hard for her to pass.
She has had some secretions in the past but it was probably a year or so ago.

The husband and I tend to say that Elvis hasn't really left the building. He's hanging around back stage and won't go home. But we're weird like that. :roll:
 
Gabby had blocked anal glands in combination with mild constipation and that happened to her--the glands were an easy fix at the vet, and then I gave her lactalose (she wasn't diabetic) for the constipation. I would make sure Ru's glands are normal (so that would mean a vet visit), and then I'd try the miralax again in a smaller dose--maybe half of what you gave before? perhaps split every 12 hrs? The poop stuck halfway sounds like a constipation problem to me. Try and get as much moisture into her as well--dehydration is a common cause of constipation. I found mixing water in with Gabby's food and getting a pet drinking fountain helped increase her fluid intake.

For hairballs (which all come out the front end of Bandit), I put a dab of vaseline on Bandit's paw.
 
Uuugh. This poor girl. She's just a mess!
She's drinking more water this past week with her BG running high and I already mix some water into the food. She's kind of a goof ball...its like she sucks all of the juice/moisture out of the food first, then will actually eat it.
 
You want to be very very careful with blockages.... my Shadoe had to have hers expressed twice, and she did NOT like it ONE BIT! I think I would check with the vet to be sure and you need to have a method to stick with regularity and not every 2days or something.

My Oliver had 'slow stool' and after much difficulties, using like miralax, and after much diarrhea, it's looking like we are now treating him for megacolon.

See what the vet says; you want something that can be digested, even if it's a bit of petroleum jelly or something, to keep the bowels moving.
Just out of curiosity, maybe the miralax was given at a time she was not when she was feeling well? What about something from the vet for the diarrhea? How much miralax were you adding, when, and did the diarrhea start, before the miralax, at the same time, or days after you started adding miralax.

As for water to the food, you can add even equal parts water to the foods if you want..... my Oliver did the same... lap up the water and want more, but he never drinks from a water bowl, so I added as much water as he wanted.
 
I would say in the past 6 months or so this has happened maybe 3 times. Twice since her diagnosis.

The miralax was the same week as her diagnosis. That's actually why I took her to the vet in the first place. She was not feeling well and it seemed like she was constipated. I called the vet and they said 1/4 teaspoon of Miralax once a day. I think she got maybe 2 doses. Its wasn't diarrhea, just a couple of very loose (not liquid) and super smelly poops. She was still acting like she wasn't feeling well so I took her in and that's they found the bladder infection and diabetes. She was also dehydrated.

We have a hooded litter box that I clean twice a day, minimum. If she thinks its too smelly, she'll refuse to go in it. I can tell that's the problem because if I walk past her, she'll herd me down to the basement and start yelling at me, like she's saying "Hey! Can you not smell that? Clean that up right now!" She'll sit and watch me and as soon as its cleaned, she'll jump right in.

She's very regular...goes every day, just sometimes a bit gets stuck. (I'm pretty familiar with her litterbox habits. She's the night pooper and Midgie is the day pooper). She's always moved it out herself, one way or the other. The stools themselves are pretty normal looking. Not pale and of reasonable size, I think. Not crumbly or rock hard. They're pretty consistent with Midgie's anyway.
 
When adding miralax to the food, you need to add lots more water to the food because the miralax draws moisture from the body to soften the stool for moving, so you will end up with a dehydrated cat if you don't add the extra water.
I would usually add almost equal parts water to food.

Why not try increasing the water intake and add 1/8 tsp miralax to one meal a day. I did find that I could not stop giving the miralax or the problem would return. It's simpler to just stick to a 1/8 tsp and extra water to the main meal of the day.
 
She was still on dry food at the time I gave her the miralax so I'm sure that made that whole situation worse.
It was before she was diagnosed FD and before I knew how bad dry food was.

Thanks for all the tips!
 
Racci is very prone to anal gland infections and blockages. I usually wind up having to take her to the vet for antibiotics and a thorough cleanout. This sounds like it could be either that or constipation if poop is not coming out all the way.

You can usually see the anal gland blockage. If you look at her anus and spread it out you would see what looks like a slimy substance inside. You can try cleaning it yourself by using a warm water soft tissue or toilet paper and pushing up and squeezing a little. It is painful though and hard to do. I usually try once and if it doesn't all come out I clean well with hot water going upwards and if I can't get all of it, she goes to vet where the vet gets it in a minute. I insist on antibiotics to make sure I get all the infection.

I also would give half the amount you gave of miralax and see if you can solve that problem. I give the miralax in syringes with water all premixed, about 1/8 tsp. so I know she got it all and offer water also afterwards. Also though It will probably raise the #s a little, petromalt is good for breaking the fur up inside the body also. When I have to, I give Racci a little. She loves it and considers it a treat. She licks it off my finger. I give about 1/4 ". I only give that when nothing else works.

Melanie & Racci
 
Re: Kind of a gross question

hmjohnston said:
have you tried pumpkin filling for pies? I've started Sneakers on 1/4 tsp 2x day to see if that is her problem. Haven't tried Mirilax yet.

edit: make sure that the only ingredient is pumpkin- nothing else. I got Libby's for $2.39 and froze the extra in an ice cube tray.
Click to expand...


Right: Canned Pumpkin, NOT Canned Pumpkin Pie Filling.
 
Amy, you've gotten some great feedback here! Hopefully that'll make a difference.

I like the Vaseline suggestion, seem like it would work well. If Ruby is a festidiously clean kitty, she probably won't like having a dab of that or the Petrodent on her paw, and will lick it off immediately, making it less of a fight than "giving" it to her.

The pumpkin also sounds like a nice way to keep things moving if she'll eat it.

I've got some interesting cats... when I scratch Reggie at the base of the tail, I told you he sometimes secretes it. When I scratch Stanley in the same place, he chews on his front paws! (no rhyme or reason to these guys!). A couple of times I held Reggie like when we were dancing, held the TP in position, scratch above the tail, or even squeeze the glands from the outside (he HATES this!) -and get some of the secretion. In dogs it's done from the inside. One of the LEAST desirable things to do to your dog, but it was expensive and timely to have it done at the vets. By doing it myself, I ended up finding the pea-sized lump that in one month grew to grape-size, and evolved into the cancer that resulted in 2 surgeries and 6 rounds of chemo. It was a huge part of Murphy's health issues toward the end, but had I not been being a frugal control freak, it might have gone diagnosed even longer.

At least in dogs, and probably pretty likely in cats too, it's usually excreted during a bowel movement. Since she's having trouble in that department, it's probably connected, and the other advise above will be very beneficial.

One last thing I do... I bought a fountain for the cats - they didn't like it cuz it hummed. So there is a constant small stream of "drippie" in the bathroom sink (another reason you never go to the bathroom alone in my house!). BONUS: And I don't have to worry about the pipes freezing and breaking! :lol: When Grayson comes out of the dining room/kitchen after shots (and after the food is up in the hall!), he RUNS to the drippie! It's a VERY popular place in my house!!!

...and here you thought it was gross and that people wouldn't respond! :lol:
 
No please, no apologies. These discussions must be had, and I think this one was probably pretty useful. And I do love a good discussion about poo. This one was a true education for me, which merely indicates I have a lot to learn. I'm still :shock: :o :!: but in a good way. :idea:
 
Either "Klingons" or "dingleberries" here! :lol:

Thank you for bringing up this "inquiring minds need to know" topic!
 
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