Need help with sluggish intestines and constipation

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Kathy4Lewie

Kathy4Lewie

Member Since 2018
Hi all,

Lewie's body is very old and tired, but he's not ready to cross the bridge.

I need beyond the basics advice for helping him poop. He was in the hospital last week for constipation and he's backing up again.

He has a calcified spine like dachshunds sometimes get so he may have nerve issues, and he has a bad hip making it difficult to squat.

He get's Miralax with every meal and Lactulose one or two times a day. In other words, we're hitting it hard and heavy. I also give subq fluids and belly rubs nightly.

He hasn't had a good poo in 2 days and his belly is swelling. I tried putting a vet approved child suppository in his bum, but it comes right back out. I gave him an approved warm water enema but the tube wouldn't go very far.

What am I doing wrong?

Does anybody have advanced experience with this? The vet said Miralax works better than pumpkin so she advised to stay with Miralax. I have a call into the vet about a motility drug.

Can anybody help with ideas?

Thanks,
Kathy
 
https://felineconstipation.org/

Not an easy one! I don't have any "beyond the basics" suggestions, but you might like to take a look at the site I've linked above in case you can get something useful from that. I read it recently when my eight-year-old civie was having problems - I was just about to take her to the vet but I took on board some of the ideas, mainly giving her more liquid with her meals (she doesn't drink water at all, which may have been part of the problem). I found that a tasty chicken "broth" was more acceptable than plain old water, and seemed to do the trick for her, so I'm continuing with that. It sounds as if you may need more expert advice, but I'm sure you aren't doing anything wrong, as you ask. See what others have to say and good luck!
 
I agree. Add more water or broth to his food. Maybe also add pumpkin in addition to the Miralax. He may need the addional fiber.
 
Thank you both for your replies.

The vet just called and she is calling in a prescription for Cisapride. I'm a little scare to use the drug because Lewie is very sensitive to drugs so I will give a small dose. She also recommended adding Metamucil to his food as well as using the Miralax. Do you think pumpkin is better than Metamucil?
 
Kathy, Cisapride was going to be my suggestion. It will strengthen the muscle contractions to help move the poop thru the colon. Do be aware it also makes all muscles contract harder so don't let gentle twitches scare you. I have a 14 year old cat with chronic constipation issues. I give Miralax and pumpkin daily, NO freeze dried treats and lots of water. When he does start backing up, I first give him a big dose of a greasy hairball remedy then a dose of Reglan, a substitution of Cisapride which we have trouble getting here and it's SO expensive. I usually only have to give about 2 doses which helps move what's stuck. The greasy hairball gel coats the stuff moving AND the walls of the colon helping things slide easier.
 
Dusty used to get Miralax with every meal and that took care of things. Freeze dried treats would clog him up instantly so do stay away from those. After switching from Fancy Feast to Weruva he has nice normal poops without Miralax.
 
Squeaky and KT (GA) said:
Kathy, Cisapride was going to be my suggestion. It will strengthen the muscle contractions to help move the poop thru the colon. Do be aware it also makes all muscles contract harder so don't let gentle twitches scare you. I have a 14 year old cat with chronic constipation issues. I give Miralax and pumpkin daily, NO freeze dried treats and lots of water. When he does start backing up, I first give him a big dose of a greasy hairball remedy then a dose of Reglan, a substitution of Cisapride which we have trouble getting here and it's SO expensive. I usually only have to give about 2 doses which helps move what's stuck. The greasy hairball gel coats the stuff moving AND the walls of the colon helping things slide easier.
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I'm glad you told me about possible twitches! And that you don't have to give it all the time. Lewie just pooped (yay!) and it was really super soft like melting ice cream (but not watery)... so he's not clogged, the stuff just won't move through his intestines. The Cisapride will definately help!
 
Dusty Bones said:
Dusty used to get Miralax with every meal and that took care of things. Freeze dried treats would clog him up instantly so do stay away from those. After switching from Fancy Feast to Weruva he has nice normal poops without Miralax.
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Ah... Weruva must have more fiber in it... Fancy Feast and Nulo are his main foods. I just started giving him dry DM this week because he has lost interest in the FF and Nulo. Adding the dry DM has been a real challenge because it spikes his sugar. Before DM I was giving 0.4u of Prozinc... now he needs 1.2u. He reacted this way to DM when he was first diagnosed with diabetes so that's why I switched to FF and Nulo.

What exact Weruva food do you use?
 
:woot: I looked in the cabinet and saw that I had a can of organic pumpkin so I mixed 2 heaping Tablespoons with 1 heaping Tablespoon of DM dry and showed it to Lewie to see what he thought. HE CHOWED DOWN and ate it all. Now I see the recommended dose is 1/4tsp to 1/2tsp. Since it's supposed to normalize the gut for either diarrhea or constipation, I think we're good. The gut bacteria that will benefit from the pumpkin will certainly be happy! I'm so glad to know Lewie likes pumpkin!
:cat:
 
Kathy4Lewie said:
Ah... Weruva must have more fiber in it... Fancy Feast and Nulo are his main foods. I just started giving him dry DM this week because he has lost interest in the FF and Nulo. Adding the dry DM has been a real challenge because it spikes his sugar. Before DM I was giving 0.4u of Prozinc... now he needs 1.2u. He reacted this way to DM when he was first diagnosed with diabetes so that's why I switched to FF and Nulo.

What exact Weruva food do you use?
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I use the Mideast Feast and Polynesian BBQ, they're both fish and are at about 7/8% carbs. I also sometimes feed them Paw Lick'n Chicken. Before I went to Weruva I was using Purina Pro Plan Prime Plus which is low carb and really made for senior cats. It has chicory root and it really had things moving for him. They just got tired of it pretty quickly. It's worth a try though.
 
Dusty Bones said:
I use the Mideast Feast and Polynesian BBQ, they're both fish and are at about 7/8% carbs. I also sometimes feed them Paw Lick'n Chicken. Before I went to Weruva I was using Purina Pro Plan Prime Plus which is low carb and really made for senior cats. It has chicory root and it really had things moving for him. They just got tired of it pretty quickly. It's worth a try though.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I'll check into Wuruva. The Purina having chicory root sounds good, too. I think I used a Pro Plan years ago and the cats liked it. Thanks!
 
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