Too much pumpkin

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drjsiems

drjsiems

Member Since 2010
Boomer has had probable colitis and was put on metronidazole. It made him constipated, but it helped with the colitis symptoms. He had been done with this medicine for about 24 hours (as of last night) and still not pooping so I gave him pumpkin in his food which I had never done before. He also had thrown up a small hairball. This morning there was diarrhea and liquid vomit all over his room. It clearly looks like it was a horrible night, but on the other hand, Boomer cleaned, preened, and walked around a bit. Would too much pumpkin cause this? Do you think there is something going on here other than just colitis?

Thank you so much for any input - I am worried.

Judy
 
Any antimicrobial can upset the GI tract and a probiotic such as Forti Flora or Intelliflora may be helpful.

How much pumpkin did you give him?
"The dose makes the poison" is a saying in chemistry; you want the right amount as too much may cause problems.
 
BJM,

I gave him one teaspoon Pumpkin two times yesterday so that may have been too much.

Three weeks ago today he acquired a case of colitis most likely due to bacterial infection. The E.R. (yes, it was a weekend) prescribed the liquid version of Metronidazole for 5 days which he did not get much of because he was spitting it out. In the meantime he was seen by his own vet who prescribed the pill version for another 5 days because he still had colitis symptoms. Three days in, Boomer had not pooped ( again a weekend) and I called the E.R. - they told me to quit giving the medicine. Boomer still did not poop so his own vet gave him an enema the following Monday and put him back on Metronidazole. He pooped a lot and again the next day which was Tuesday. I figured he would "produce" by the weekend because the medicine was done on Friday. Then the episode last night happened. Called the E.R. today and they said to fast him for 12 hours and that he should see his vet tomorrow for probably another enema. They said to give him a little food tonight. The good news is that there are no more colitis symptoms (mucous, blood) in the stool he produced last night. Nothing else has happened today. He is resting comfortably and is animated. I am sure he feels lousy though.

This is my theory: Boomer became constipated with the first round of Metronidazole and still had symptoms of colitis when the second round of Metronidazole was given. He became constipated again and at the instruction/projection of my vet , I gave Boomer Pumpkin (plain) two times yesterday in addition to a little bit of Miralax. It obviously did not clear his constipation, but did so just enough for the liquid stool to go around the blockage of feces. So probably too much of a "good" thing. I believe the vomiting took place because of the intense straining to poop and the amount of pumpkin. Solution - no more Metronidazole ever (he no longer has any colitis symptoms anyway) and an another enema tomorrow to get him back on track. Sound reasonable?

Judy
 
Yes, I have that site bookmarked - plus a paper copy of Pat Erickson's felineconstipation.org - I don't think I saw anything in there about what we are experiencing but now is a good time to read the whole version again - now that things have settled down now a little.

Judy
 
I give my Dusty 1/16 tsp of pumpkin with each meal and that's the max where his stool is borderline too soft. When he's constipated he does vomit from straining and there is also a little liquid poop that comes out before he finally gets the hard stool out. He's been pretty regular now with the little pumpkin I give him every day. ;-) I was using MiraLax but that made him extremely thirsty and sort of depressed. It screwed with his BG numbers too for some reason. It's normally safe for cats but I guess not in Dusty's case. Pumpkin is the way to go!
 
When I thought Max was going to need Flagyl for diarrhea my vet told me that once it gets Max back to normal don't be surprised if he skips a day or so. That is normal.
 
Yes, I figured a day or two without pooping would be normal after cessation of Flagyl, but not four! That was my concern. Actually Boomer is with his vet right now. He had an enema about four hours ago (after a failed suppository), but nothing has come out yet. I just talked to the vet and she said the stuck stool was very hard and that he might have to have another enema tomorrow morning. My vet is going to keep him overnight tonight to monitor what "goes in and out" and to lessen the stress of picking him up, bringing him home, and being kept separate from the other animals before packing him up again and bring him back in the morning. Which makes a lot of sense. This is all new to me. A little dab of Miralax has always worked for Boomer, but not this time. I have no idea what could cause such hard stool, when the vet said that there really was not an overabundance of it stuck in his colon.

Judy
 
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