How much Miralax for constipation?

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Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)

Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)

Member Since 2019
So apparently Minnie went from diarrhea to constipation. Yesterday and today I watched her go in the litter box and squat as if she’s trying to poop, but nothing comes out. I want to try some miralax today. How much do you guys use and how often? I’ve never had to use it before. I assume you mix it with food, right?
 
Aleluia Grugru & Minnie said:
So apparently Minnie went from diarrhea to constipation. Yesterday and today I watched her go in the litter box and squat as if she’s trying to poop, but nothing comes out. I want to try some miralax today. How much do you guys use and how often? I’ve never had to use it before. I assume you mix it with food, right?
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Hi Ale, I was told 1/8 of a teaspoon 2x day.
I would give that to Tyler when needed, and yes you mix it in the wet food and add
a little more water than you normally would, mix it up good.
You can buy the generic brands , it's the same thing .
It will say on the bottles same as compared to miralax.

If you find that her poop is getting too mushy and not formed then just cut back
to once a day.

Or you can start off with it once a day
 
Last edited:
Don't expect immediate results. It works by drawing water into the colon.

From felineconstipation.org
  • Miralax – Miralax is polyethylene glycol, PEG 3350. The number 3350 describes its average molecular weight and distinguishes Miralax from polyethylene 300 or polyethylene 400, for instance. Polyethylene glycol is notethylene glycol, more familiarly called antifreeze. Polyethylene glycol is also not propylene glycol, the alternative. It is polyethylene glycol. The differences in chemical formulas matter. We would be pleased to drink a cool glass of H2O (water) but should not be pleased to drink H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) even though there is only a single atom of oxygen difference per molecule. Miralax retains water in the bowel and/or the stool. Miralax is a powder which readily dissolves in water or wet food. A typical starting dose for a cat is 1/8 teaspoon total daily, divided into several smaller portions over the course of the day, but your vet should advise for your cat. There is a warning on the Miralax bottle for kidney patients which unnerves many with cats with kidney disease. That warning is present not because Miralax is harmful for kidney patients, it is not harmful. Now that Miralax is an OTC product, no longer requiring a prescription, it is a caution for humans with a tendency to self-diagnose and self-treat for months without consulting with a doctor, humans who think if a little is good, a lot is better. Provoking the equivalent of diarrhea by use of any laxative causes water and electrolyte loss which can lead to dehydration which is more risky for those with kidney disease than for healthy individuals. Proper and appropriate use of Miralax is safe for cats with kidney disease, with emphasis on proper and appropriate, with a normal stool as the goal.
From Tanya's kidney site https://felinecrf.org/constipation.htm#peg3350_miralax

Safety and palatability of polyethylene glycol 3350 as an oral laxative in cats (2011) Tam FM, Carr AP and Myers SL Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 13 pp694-7 says "Effective doses varied widely in experimental cats, so individualized dosing is important." Since your cat may respond well to the drug, it is better to start off with a low dose and increase only as necessary.

  • Plumb's Veterinary Drug Handbook states "As a laxative (extra-label): ⅛ to ¼ teaspoonful twice daily in food."
  • A common starting dose is ⅛ (one eighth) of a teaspoon per day.
  • If you don't see an improvement in your cat's constipation after three days, you can either give ⅛ of a teaspoon twice a day, or increase to ¼ of a teaspoon once day.
  • If this doesn't work, consider giving ¼ of a teaspoon twice per day.
  • If this still doesn't work, ask your vet about increasing the dose.
In humans, PEG3350 is only supposed to be given for up to seven days, but many humans and cats do use it on an ongoing basis.
 
I was going to try fiber too since that has made her stool loser before. Is it okay to do both you think? I was giving her metronidazole for the disarray but I stopped when it got better. She hasn’t had any in about a week
 
Red & Rover (GA) said:
Don't expect immediate results. It works by drawing water into the colon.

From felineconstipation.org
  • Miralax – Miralax is polyethylene glycol, PEG 3350. The number 3350 describes its average molecular weight and distinguishes Miralax from polyethylene 300 or polyethylene 400, for instance. Polyethylene glycol is notethylene glycol, more familiarly called antifreeze. Polyethylene glycol is also not propylene glycol, the alternative. It is polyethylene glycol. The differences in chemical formulas matter. We would be pleased to drink a cool glass of H2O (water) but should not be pleased to drink H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) even though there is only a single atom of oxygen difference per molecule. Miralax retains water in the bowel and/or the stool. Miralax is a powder which readily dissolves in water or wet food. A typical starting dose for a cat is 1/8 teaspoon total daily, divided into several smaller portions over the course of the day, but your vet should advise for your cat. There is a warning on the Miralax bottle for kidney patients which unnerves many with cats with kidney disease. That warning is present not because Miralax is harmful for kidney patients, it is not harmful. Now that Miralax is an OTC product, no longer requiring a prescription, it is a caution for humans with a tendency to self-diagnose and self-treat for months without consulting with a doctor, humans who think if a little is good, a lot is better. Provoking the equivalent of diarrhea by use of any laxative causes water and electrolyte loss which can lead to dehydration which is more risky for those with kidney disease than for healthy individuals. Proper and appropriate use of Miralax is safe for cats with kidney disease, with emphasis on proper and appropriate, with a normal stool as the goal.
From Tanya's kidney site https://felinecrf.org/constipation.htm#peg3350_miralax

Safety and palatability of polyethylene glycol 3350 as an oral laxative in cats (2011) Tam FM, Carr AP and Myers SL Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 13 pp694-7 says "Effective doses varied widely in experimental cats, so individualized dosing is important." Since your cat may respond well to the drug, it is better to start off with a low dose and increase only as necessary.

  • Plumb's Veterinary Drug Handbook states "As a laxative (extra-label): ⅛ to ¼ teaspoonful twice daily in food."
  • A common starting dose is ⅛ (one eighth) of a teaspoon per day.
  • If you don't see an improvement in your cat's constipation after three days, you can either give ⅛ of a teaspoon twice a day, or increase to ¼ of a teaspoon once day.
  • If this doesn't work, consider giving ¼ of a teaspoon twice per day.
  • If this still doesn't work, ask your vet about increasing the dose.
In humans, PEG3350 is only supposed to be given for up to seven days, but many humans and cats do use it on an ongoing basis.
Click to expand...
Thank you Red!
 
tiffmaxee said:
I used pumpkin and miralax. I gave 1 tsp if pumpkin twice a day. Sometimes all he heeded was pumpkin twice a day. I’m not a fan of metronidazole, especially not the liquid.
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I was giving the pill and I had no choice the diarrhea was bad and I didn’t want it to get worse. I only gave it to her for 4 days and once a day the last 2 days. I’ve tried pumpkin before but she won’t eat it
 
There's no warning flag at ibdkitties.net for pumpkin. From their tips and tricks page:

Tip #2: For diarrhea or constipation, add a teaspoon of organic canned pumpkin to your cat’s meal. Any canned pumpkin will do but Farmer’s Market Organic is the best one and seems to be the most tasty. Make sure it’s the 100% pumpkin and not the pie filling. Canned pumpkin is good for 7 days in the refrigerator but usually only tastes good for about 4-5 days. Place the remainder in ice cube trays and freeze. Then place them in baggies or a container immediately for freshness and defrost as needed or freeze 3 days worth at a time.

If you're using home cooked or canned pure pumpkin then there shouldn't be an issue with seeds.

That said, pumpkin might not suit all cats. Saoirse got on with it famously but it disagreed with Lúnasa, my civvie (did fine on psyllium). ECID. :rolleyes: ;)


Mogs
.
 
Critter Mom said:
There's no warning flag at ibdkitties.net for pumpkin. From their tips and tricks page:

Tip #2: For diarrhea or constipation, add a teaspoon of organic canned pumpkin to your cat’s meal. Any canned pumpkin will do but Farmer’s Market Organic is the best one and seems to be the most tasty. Make sure it’s the 100% pumpkin and not the pie filling. Canned pumpkin is good for 7 days in the refrigerator but usually only tastes good for about 4-5 days. Place the remainder in ice cube trays and freeze. Then place them in baggies or a container immediately for freshness and defrost as needed or freeze 3 days worth at a time.

If you're using home cooked or canned pure pumpkin then there shouldn't be an issue with seeds.

That said, pumpkin might not suit all cats. Saoirse got on with it famously but it disagreed with Lúnasa, my civvie (did fine on psyllium). ECID. :rolleyes: ;)


Mogs
.
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Thank you. This is very helpful especially the freezing part. It worked well for her stool but she did have a vomit/nausea episode on day 4. Of course no way to know for sure if that’s what caused it...
 
I'm glad Mogs replied on the pumpkin. Neko got it occasionally, or sometimes baby food squash. I cooked my own pumpkins (recycled Halloween pumpkins too) and froze it in smaller bits. Whenever I made pumpkin scones, Neko would come into the kitchen asking for a bit of the pumpkin. :rolleyes:
 
Okay I started her on the pumpkin again last night and miralax as well. Let’s see what happens. The 3 days of pumpkin had helped a lot and this week she’s a bit constipated again. I can tell because when stool is darker harder consistency and less than the usual volume I see from her.
 
2nd day of pumpkin and she vomited again this am. I think I’m going to stay away from it just in case. Stool seems to be normal again so I’ll stick with Miralax for a few more days to see how it goes.

Thanks!
 
I had a look back over Saoirse's journals. I started her with just a bare trace of pumpkin in each of her feeds and gradually raised it to 1/8 tsp per feed. It added up to 1 tsp per day (mini meals every 3 hours) but maybe because it wasn't all given at once it agreed OK with her.


Mogs
.
 
Critter Mom said:
I had a look back over Saoirse's journals. I started her with just a bare trace of pumpkin in each of her feeds and gradually raised it to 1/8 tsp per feed. It added up to 1 tsp per day (mini meals every 3 hours) but maybe because it wasn't all given at once it agreed OK with her.


Mogs
.
Click to expand...
It could be. I of course didn’t have time to do it gradually since I needed to deal with the constipation right away. Btw, Bobo is a bit jealous of all the love and attention his sister gets here and wanted to say hi

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