Anyname
Member Since 2010
LB's numbers seem to come down after being dosed with Lactulose. I'm not all that sure he's even constipated since cutting back on the ground rabbit meals. I stopped Lactulose after the first time since he's come home coz he had runny tummy but his numbers went up and up... but vet and cattery carer told me to admin 2mils every other day. When I don't give it his numbers go up - when I do they come down - with in a few hours. I just wondered about the "indigestible sugar" action on insulin/diabetes. I am wondering if anyone else has come across this result from using Osmotic laxatives. It's way too early to recommend it but unless I find out otherwise I'm going to keep giving it for a while _ I put some in an eye dropper into the side of his mouth. He's so much better in himself and not hanging around for food all the time. It's weird.
The following is from http://www.felineconstipation.org/prevention.html#Diet
Lactulose – Lactulose is an indigestible sugar that acts as an osmotic laxative. In humans it apparently is a fermentable fiber for the gut bacteria. I've read that it is for cats, I've read that it isn't. The byproducts of the gut bacteria help regulate pH in the colon, and it is the pH that determines how much water will be retained in the stool. Lactulose alone influences the pH of the bowel, it has the necessary slight acidifying effect to cause water retention, whether or not it is fermentable by cats. Lactulose requires a prescription from the vet who will also prescribe the recommended starting dose for your cat. Lactulose, like Miralax, is a dose-to-effect drug with a normal stool as the goal.
Concerns are often expressed about cats with chronic constipation, such as cats with kidney disease, that use of an osmotic laxative will dehydrate the cat because these products draw water to the bowel or hold it in the stool. If producing a normal stool puts a cat at risk of dehydration, more is wrong than constipation and sometimes what is wrong is the human reasoning. Dehydration is not a recommended treatment for constipation! The amount of water needed to normalize the stool in response to an osmotic laxative is the same amount of water by any other method including diet and dietary fiber. This does not mean that these osmotic laxatives should not be treated with respect, of course they should be used conservatively and appropriately. But producing a normal stool by use of an osmotic laxative should not dehydrate a cat.
Again, all changes for the cat should be made gradually, to allow the cat to adjust and to permit the digestive tract to adapt. The digestive tract is remarkably adaptable, within certain parameters, but it takes time to adapt.
Remember, increasing Miralax or Lactulose increases the amount of water in the bowel/stool. If the stool is too soft, reduce the amount of laxative. Osmotic laxatives are dose-to-effect drugs and, unlike most medications, we can monitor the effects in the litter box.
The following is from http://www.felineconstipation.org/prevention.html#Diet
Lactulose – Lactulose is an indigestible sugar that acts as an osmotic laxative. In humans it apparently is a fermentable fiber for the gut bacteria. I've read that it is for cats, I've read that it isn't. The byproducts of the gut bacteria help regulate pH in the colon, and it is the pH that determines how much water will be retained in the stool. Lactulose alone influences the pH of the bowel, it has the necessary slight acidifying effect to cause water retention, whether or not it is fermentable by cats. Lactulose requires a prescription from the vet who will also prescribe the recommended starting dose for your cat. Lactulose, like Miralax, is a dose-to-effect drug with a normal stool as the goal.
Concerns are often expressed about cats with chronic constipation, such as cats with kidney disease, that use of an osmotic laxative will dehydrate the cat because these products draw water to the bowel or hold it in the stool. If producing a normal stool puts a cat at risk of dehydration, more is wrong than constipation and sometimes what is wrong is the human reasoning. Dehydration is not a recommended treatment for constipation! The amount of water needed to normalize the stool in response to an osmotic laxative is the same amount of water by any other method including diet and dietary fiber. This does not mean that these osmotic laxatives should not be treated with respect, of course they should be used conservatively and appropriately. But producing a normal stool by use of an osmotic laxative should not dehydrate a cat.
Again, all changes for the cat should be made gradually, to allow the cat to adjust and to permit the digestive tract to adapt. The digestive tract is remarkably adaptable, within certain parameters, but it takes time to adapt.
Remember, increasing Miralax or Lactulose increases the amount of water in the bowel/stool. If the stool is too soft, reduce the amount of laxative. Osmotic laxatives are dose-to-effect drugs and, unlike most medications, we can monitor the effects in the litter box.
