Miralax or Benefiber for CH Kitty constipation

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tuckers mom

tuckers mom

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Lilly Grace as many of you know has severe CH. Just recently she has learned to use a pee pad in the house instead of the grass outside. Necessity from all the flooding in the Northeast, she finally gave up on grass potty time :)

Now that we use white pee pads I can see her poops are hard and crumbly, she goes about every third day.

I asked on CHKittyclub and that was when they gave me that Ah Hah moment, that she is actually constipated and not just cranky for having a BM. They were great and recommended Benefiber, the kind for diabetics with no sugar or flavor and recommended increasing her water. She gets water mixed into her canned food, but probably not enough.

I usually use Miralax but for senior kitties. Since LG is only about 4 years young and her constipation is probably due to not be as mobile as normal kitties, is Miralax or Benefiber better for her?

Any thoughts?
 
I have only used Miralax so I can't help you compare. But the Miralax works great for my kitties. Also add water to her food. That will help some also.
 
Benefiber is soluble fiber which helps with a lot of things (lowering chlosterol, regulating blood sugar, allowing growth of good bacteria), but not constipation. Miralax works by pulling moisture into the digestive track. You could try either Metamucil or canned pumpkin for insoluble fiber which does help with constipation or you could try Miralax or both.

I had Angus on Miralax and Metamucil. If you would like, I could send you a 1/2 bottle of each to try.
 
Karen & Angus(GA) said:
Benefiber is soluble fiber which helps with a lot of things (lowering chlosterol, regulating blood sugar, allowing growth of good bacteria), but not constipation. Miralax works by pulling moisture into the digestive track. You could try either Metamucil or canned pumpkin for insoluble fiber which does help with constipation or you could try Miralax or both.

I had Angus on Miralax and Metamucil. If you would like, I could send you a 1/2 bottle of each to try.
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Thank you, I have Miralax on hand, but have never tried Metamucil. Maybe Miralax alone would be enough, that and more water.

I give her about 1 tsp four times per day in her food, but I guess that's simply not going to be enough. Having a cat that doesn't ambulate is a little tricky. I don't want to over do things but at the same time I want to keep her healthy forever :)

Thank you very much for your offer, but I will try the Miralax for a while and see if that helps, if not I may be sending you a PM in a few weeks ;-)
 
OOoh I didn't even know about CHKittyclub! Another place for me to lurk.. I've got a moderate CH kitty.. so he's able to get into the LB himself.. still took over a year for me to teach him how to LB leaning up against the edge so he didn't fall in whatever he was depositing... ugh what a messy year that was for both of us!
 
Dawn & Nova said:
OOoh I didn't even know about CHKittyclub! Another place for me to lurk.. I've got a moderate CH kitty.. so he's able to get into the LB himself.. still took over a year for me to teach him how to LB leaning up against the edge so he didn't fall in whatever he was depositing... ugh what a messy year that was for both of us!
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Hi Dawn,

It's always nice to meet another CH Kitty mom. There are two groups on Facebook also, but CHKittyclub has the most information.

If you want to see a video of Lilly Grace scooting around the back yard, here she is:

http://s92.photobucket.com/albums/l39/j ... I_1114.flv

We never let her outside alone, in case anyone is wondering :-D
 
I'm just bawling my eyes out reading member stories on that site.. so many little struggles that Hitch and I went through together.. I got him as a little guy from the shelter.. they called him developmentally slow.. and he made his way to the top of "the list" because his cute kitten-ness didn't seem to be enough of a ticket to find him a home.. they knew that once he was bigger it would be impossible.. I brought him home and via email/phone worked with a kitty physical therapist.. doing exercises with him and encouraging him as much as I could to help him "catch up"..

He made progress.. but it was slow.. and after about 3 months of spending 5+ hours a day helping him with his coordination.. I called his vet and said "there's something wrong with him.. he's not just slow.. he has brain damage.. I just know it".. brought him in.. put him on the ground to walk around.. the doctor said "You know.... hold on.. let me go look something up".. she came back a while later.. "I think he might have.. cerebral hypoplasia.. I had to go look it up..".. we were never really sure.. until Hitch met his dentist (his adult teeth were coming in and the baby ones weren't falling out).. the dentist walked in the room.. took one look at him and exclaimed "You have a CH cat!!!".. his roommate in vet college had one I guess..

I actually think that Hitch has mild CH and some other form of brain damage in addition to it.. he has a lot more mobility then most CH cats I've seen in videos.. but he tremors a ridiculous amount (primarily his head.. and his back legs seem to have a mind of their own half the time).. but he does really well for himself.. he's the happiest cat I've ever met.. and he's sooo smart.. he can string together the most complicated plans... but in many ways it's obvious that all the lights aren't on upstairs.. he's not all there, but what is there is wonderful and brilliant :).

Sorry to hi-jack your thread.. I've never talked to someone who has a CH cat before.. and am so excited! :)
 
What a wonderful story about your Hitch. I was lucky, when an FDMB member posted that a crippled cat needed a home, her owner was in the hospital, Jojo said right on the thread that she probably has CH from the details that Peggy (and Mickey) provided so I knew ahead of time. Then another FDMB member, Jo, who has many CH kitties gave me her phone number and gave me so much information that it really made everything seem alright.

Then I found CHKittyclub, I think Jo pointed me there. It was pretty scary in the beginning, but now she's one of the best things that ever happened to me.

I do think there's more wrong with LG than just CH. Her dental a few weeks, xrays showed she has very few routes for her teeth and as suspected most of her teeth never developed. She has kitten like features at 4 yrs old, small claws, small face, but in every way possible she is purrfect.

You should introduce yourself on CHKitty, you'll see my posts from today on LG and her constipation.
 
Yeah once you have SEEN a CH cat.. it's pretty easy to pick them out.. but when you have no idea what the heck is wrong, it's very scary.. it's no wonder so many of these cats get PTS.. it really does look awful and that something is so horribly wrong that the cat has no future at all.. but it's SO not the case.. Hitch is so easy to care for.. and he's so dang happy.. he's got this amazing spirit and determination.. I never gave up on him for one second.. even before I knew that what was "wrong".. his doctor and I joke that he's my "normal" cat.. since he's the closest to it that I've got ;).

I have to wait 24 hours for my yahoo id to be reactivated apparently.. but once it's good to go I'll come brag about my super-kitty :).
 
Aww! Poor LG! I hope the Mirilax helps-- no little diva in training should have to deal with this!

And how exciting that she'll use the pee pads now! I have some left over from Gabi(GA) and some cat paper if you'd like it.

Give that sweet little girl a kiss from me!

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Carolynn & Fletcher & Robbie said:
Aww! Poor LG! I hope the Mirilax helps-- no little diva in training should have to deal with this!

And how exciting that she'll use the pee pads now! I have some left over from Gabi(GA) and some cat paper if you'd like it.

Give that sweet little girl a kiss from me!

cat_pet_icon
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I would love some cat paper and pads!!! We used up quite a few with Mr. Darcy in the beginning, but he's better now and uses only the litter box. We started the Miralax and extra water yesterday for the little diva, hoping in a few days things will be good, assuming there's still some dry stuff waiting to come out. After that she should be feeling better. We may have to trim some of that fluffy coat down there :oops:
 
I'm going to NY in May for a big animal products show, I believe I saw them listed as a vendor. I will take a look at it then.

Lilly Grace is a very finicky kitty, I cannot believe she even decided to try the pee pads, but since our back yard turned into a lake for a short time I guess she had to make due.

DH wants to try a litter box. No way do I want to try to pull all that clay litter off her body, she already needs a good towel dry after a visit to the potty. I love my little girl, but she's not exactly graceful :)
 
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