Pooping while lying down

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allie and newkitty

allie and newkitty

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Newkitty is in the middle of what seems to be a pancreatitis flare. Three times this week, I have found a small, formed piece of stool lying next to wherever she was lying. Once on the bed and once on the couch and once on the ottoman. I thought they were clingers until tonight, she passed a small, formed stool while lying on the ottoman with me, then immediately got up and wanted to be carried upstairs to her favorite litterbox and had a big soft BM, nothing like what she had done earlier.

She has a hard time squatting with her BMs and if it is a long one, she sometimes hisses and sits down in the box. She has arthritis and luxating patellas. This week she did go downstairs by herself but that is rare--she generally summons me for taxi service both up and down because she still enjoys both upstairs and downstairs.

It is not behavioral, she is the poster child of good litterbox habits. I have noticed that she will hold her pee and poo for as long as she can, sometimes 12 hours, despite her CRF. She did this even while on lasix earlier this year for a lung infection.

Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?
 
I've not had to deal with p-titis with Bob, but when she has a flare up, is dehydration a symptom? What it sounds like is that she is slightly dehydrated, causing a small harder stool. Maybe it hurts to try to pass that (aren't their abdomens painful with p-titus?), but once she can get that "plug" out of the way, she's ready to use the LB like she did tonight?

I'm blessed with a very "regular" kitty, so not much help in the constipation/diarrhea world...

Carl
 
Hi Carl. Thank you for posting! She may very well be dehydrated since she's got the CRF on top of it (early stage--so no fluids at this point). The stool looked normal, not dry though. The one in the box looked abnormal--big and orange, which we saw earlier this year after many abx, and IBD flare and a panc flare.
 
My dear friend Allie -

I have no idea what the answer to your question is, but I LOVE that you asked it, and that you're so well informed and attentive to your sweet Newkitty..... I hope she feels better soon. VERY soon.
 
Lynda! So good to see you. I left a message with a rehab vet begging to bring her in for cold laser therapy tomorrow--though I think that vet is off on Saturday. My husband says he will take her next week if I can get her in. I am just so worried it's something more serious than arthritis. It is a very pitiful thing to see happen. She looks good though, even with cataracts and at 15. She does not look like an old or sickly cat, until you see her walk elbows out or bow up in the box.
 
I dont think it has anything to do with the P-itis.. unless its making her tummy hurt while she squats.

I think this is a matter of her knowing how hard it is to go in the box (squatting) and going where she is instead. No not as in behavioral per se but her legs being too weak or the luxation happening, making it hard to get up when she needs to go.

Merlyn tended to constipation and partially due to age, his CHF/HCM making him weaker, muscle wasting.. when he was straining he would just go wherever he was cuz he felt if he didnt he wouldnt get it out. If it was bad he would lay down straining to go.

Newkitty may be aware that the initial poop is going to be too physically difficult to squat long enough to get it out and this is her compromise. If she holds it for 12 hours, that may be making it sit in the colon longer and gets harder, and harder to get out.
 
Lisa and Merlyn, hi! Thank you for posting. That is what my husband and vet think. I hope I can get in soon for the laser therapy. That is the only thing we are not doing. She gets Zobaline, Adequan shots every week and the max loading dose of Dasuquin 2x daily. Also buprenex BID. I am running out of tricks so we need this one to work.
 
I had investigated the laser therapy for Carlys arthritis. Its not easy to find a place that does that for pets so if you have one near you thats great. In the bustling metropolis of SF, I would have to go to Mill Valley, or down to Pacifica (a little easier) but the Pacifica location has only just started the laser therapy and havent started bookings yet.

Sending cyber hugs to you and Newkitty!
 
Thank you all. I appreciate the prayers and kind words. Turns out I called the wrong place last night and they called me this morning to let me know. I finally got the right number--it's in the same clinic where she had her cardiac ultrasound in February. I left a message and asked for an appt early next week. I am so glad we have the laser therapy here. We don't have a holistic vet or a place to get acupuncture, so I was worried.

She held her pee and poo for 12 hours again. I carried her upstairs (she mostly stays upstairs and will no longer go in the kitchen/laundry area to use the boxes there. If I am home and she is somewhere she does not want to be, she summons me for taxi. If I am not home or too sound asleep to hear her, she will do it herself) and she peed and then sat down. She got out of her litterbox and laid down and then got back in and poo'd. Her posture while using is very sad. Her knees bow far out so her legs look curved and her elbows make her look like a little bulldog. Can elbows luxate? Hers are always turned out when she walks.
 
I wonder if she would have an easier time of it if you used puppy pads instead of litter. Maggie was very weak the last 4-6 months of her life and she couldn't hold herself up in the litter box because the litter shifts and makes for unsteady footing. I started putting puppy pads on top of a couple of layers of newspaper in her box and she did much better because of the firm footing.
 
Maggies Mom Debby, I can try that. I do have a 'gigantic' size pet pee pad under her box, sticking out at both sides because for a long time she would just stand and pee and it would go over the side and puddle under the box, which is awful. So she is used to seeing them and stepping out onto them. I don't know why she is trying to crouch to pee when standing worked just fine and hurt less. Thank you for the suggestion!
 
I hope it helps! And make sure the side of the box isn't too much for her to get into, though if you are acting like a taxi, that might not be a problem.
 
Is there a possibility of a neurologic problem which makes it difficult to go until the need is overwhelming? What does the vet think?
 
My vet thinks it is arthritis (confirmed by xray, complicated by luxating patellas) and possibly muscle weakness as a side effect of long-term, high dose pred and wants me to try to wean her down again. We have tried to do so multiple times since 2005, always resulting almost immediately in a terrible pancreatic flare no matter how slowly or gradually I do it. I tried earlier this year when she had her lung infection and I think that contributed to her first active IBD flare in several years as well. We are between the devil and the deep blue sea here.
 
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