Give her a bit of lactolose; or try a bit of canned pumpkin mixed in with the food for fiber; wet the dry food down to add water to the diet.

Did she have megacolon or just constipation. I had a kitten with megacolon and she had a combination of lactalose and propulsid (which is off the market now) and we had to give an enema 3 times over several months but over time she got well, but her stools are still larger than the other cats.

I had a confirmed dry food eater and she ended up liking the Dick Van Patten Shrimp and Tuna dinner and I mix it with water so she licks it up.

Does your cat self feed because it is available all the time or do you put down regular small meals throughout the day? If you feed 'by the meal' your cat will be more hungry and more likely to eat her regular dry food which you can add water ahead of time to moisten it and at the same time sprinkle some metamucil on it (flavorless type). This way she gets smaller meals more frequently, some moisture added, and the fiber your vet recommended.

Just suggestions. We all get problems when we age and a 16 year old cat is very old but hopefully if you find something that works and are diligent she will do OK. Hoping for the best for you and your kitty.

CT

Thanks CT:

The vet only mentioned constipation. She does self-feed because I work full-time. Does DVP have just tuna in the can. She loves tuna, but won't eat shrimp. I already tried the pumpkin mixed with the food but she turned her nose up at it and walked away. I thought about picking her food up till I get home from work, but I don't want her to dehydrate either. Glad the weekend is here so I can feed her small meals till I have to be at work on Monday.

Jenny

DVP has both but smells more like tuna I guess. My cats all love it. They sell 3 ounce cans if you want to try it. You can also try single ingredient meat baby food as part of her diet (like chicken, veal, turkey). Make sure it has no onion in it. Most cats will lick it and you can put a bit on her nose to get her to lick it off first. She might just like it.

If it were my cat I would moisten her dry food with small amounts of the metamucil making small changes in increments. For instance - lightly moisten the dry and sprikle very lightly the metamucil and over several days add in a bit more water and metamucil, etc. until you get the right dose that seems to keep the stools soft enough to pass. Fiber needs to go with ample water.

I would also ask my vet for Lactalose and give that as prescribed (daily IMO) but I am not a vet. The lactalose I had was a liquid in a bottle I gave with a dropper (not on the food). It is mostly tasteless but a bit sweet if I had to describe it. You can also buy PetLax products over the counter.

Personally I've not seen that many old cats with constipation. Seems like she needs more water. Keep an eye on her litterbox output for a while to make sure she is not straining. Her colon didn't impact in a day and she was probably not going for several days until it became an emergency. It's easy not to notice as like you I work all day too and have six cats and don't follow them around checking the litter box, but since you know she might get it again I'd keep an eye out once per day.

Is she your only cat? With lots of cats it hard to tell you did what he the litter boxes.

Turds are beautiful - I'll have to remember that!

I'm sorry I have no helpful suggestions but I do hope it all comes out okay (sorry, bad pun!).

I do hope 2008 is better for you and Bear!

Jenny, how's Bear doing??? Are you getting lots of beautiful turds now?

I have two cats so it is a little difficult to see who is doing what. Giving Bear water isn't a problem because she loves water. I took her to the vet for that too. Was worried she may have had kidney problems (her brother died from that) but her kidneys are fine. Every time I go into the kitchen she follows me. She wants ice cold water. If it's been sitting longer than fifteen minutes, we have to refresh it with cold. She has us trained.

It took a few days but like CT suggested I mixed the Metamucil with two tablespoons of water and 1 teaspoon of pumpkin and mixed it with their food and it seems to be working. Just siphoned the litter boxes and found a lot of beautiful long fat healthy turds. Too many for one cat so I know some of them are Bear's. I even had to pick one big beautiful one off of the floor because one of them had missed their aim. Thanks for all the suggestions CT. I seem to have the right combination for now. Never thought I would be a "poop inspector."

Jenny

Glad everything worked out (no pun intended). Keep a close eye for a good while though. And she will probably need this regimen forever. You may have to adjust if stools get too loose or too hard. Make sure your other cats don't get too loose a stool either if they are eating it because they don't have constipation.

You could always add the Metamucil to the ice cold water for just Bear if you end up not being able to control who is getting the majority of the other mixture, especially if she is drinking the water for you constantly.

Forgot to say - excess water drinking and urination might be diabetes and frequent, straining urination in inappropriate places might be a UTI. Did you get a super chem to check sugar? Might want to consider getting a baseline blood test.

Jenny, I just read your post, and I'm SO glad to hear that your kitty seems better! I hope she continues to be regular, too. :D Turds ARE beautiful! LOL

Our Pookie had a mild case of constipation not too long ago. It was after WalMart was out of her usual Senior Formula Purina One, and she'd been eating the Adult stuff for a week or so. I found a regular source of the SF soon after, and she's been fine since, so hopefully, we won't have to go through that again. I can only imagine how scary impaction must be! :( Fingers crossed all around!

Brenda

I'm not a cat person, and not sure if cats like yogurt or not, but I do know that some of the better yogurts have natural bacterial cultures in them that will help with human digestion, and I'm (just guessing) might also help with cat digestion.

My mom has to go through A LOT of antibiotic courses due to almost continuous UTI conditions (she's about ready to schedule a visit to a specialty clinic in Augusta, GA, to see if she has Interstitial Cystitis), and sometimes I need them for various infections, as well, and we BOTH know that when we're on antibiotics for any length of time, they'll kill all the GOOD bacteria in our intestines as well, causing constipation, if we don't also keep up with an intake of healthy bacteria (we usually just take the pill form of acidophillus, but sprinkling THAT on Bear's food would probably be just as hard as Metamucil).

Anyway, yogurt's just a thought, IF that's something cats can and/or will eat.

Good luck!
Jeff

Diary products are not recommended for cats although I've seen plenty of cats eat them with no effect. Cats are vastly different than humans and other animals in general and you have to watch what you give them. I believe their systems are sensitive.

My 14 year old cat has the same problem, and sometimes even "goes" outside the litter box when he strains too much. I give him 1.5cc Lactulose/day, which you can buy at any drugstore (and is also good for humans!) It softens the stools which makes it less painful for him to defecate. I give it to him with a syringe and it works very well. Hope it works for you too.

Well, I thought it was clear sailing for a while. Bear developed a huge bump on her chin, so off to the vet we went again. I thought it was a bad tooth. The vet said she had an infected blackhead. We did bloodwork to be sure everything was A-ok and a needle biopsy to be sure it wasn't the bad "c" work. Bloodwork came back A-ok and needle biopsy showed no cancer cells. Phew! I know she can't live forever, but this is my baby. Vet started her on antiobiotic (Clavomox) 2 times a day. She ate very little when she was on the antiobiotics. If I gave it to her after she ate she vomited it up. If I gave it to her on an empty stomach she wouldn't eat. So I opted for the latter. Good news: her chin is now back to normal.

I waited for two days after stopping the antibiotic but her apetite wasn't back to normal. She would more or less nibble at the food. Then her breathing became labored and she was lethargic. So off to the vet again. This time she wasn't impacted, instead the x-rays showed a large hard fecal mass blocking her rectum, and she was full of gas. The vet was able to break it up and remove most of it. She said they then put Bear on the table and started palpitating her stomach to see if they could get her to express the gas. She said Bear didn't express her gas in the usual way. Instead she let out this huge burp. She said she had never heard a cat burp before, it sounded human. Another x-ray showed an almost clear intestine except for something in the middle. They were going to give her another enema to see if the mass moves, then a cat scan to be sure it isn't a blockage.

I can't keep going through this. I changed her food from Little Friskies dry to DVP dry (she isn't a soft cat food eater). I started in January and she was just weaned off the Little Friskies at the end of March. I have used pumpkin, Metamucil, mineral oil and lactulose. I don't know what else to do for her. The vet suggested I use all four but rotate them every day. As soon as she smells the food when something is mixed with it she turns her nose up. If I give her the food without anything in it she eats it. I may have to resort to the syringe whether she likes it or not. She fights me whenever I have to give her meds. It took everything I had to get the antibiotics down her. Most of it ended up on the furniture or the carpet.

She sleeps with me so I didn't get much sleep last night. I kept reaching over for her and all I felt was air. Cats!!! You can't live with them, and you can't live without them.

Jenny

I just picked her up from the vet. She is doing a little better. She wanted to eat as soon as I let her out of the carrier. She is still wheezing even though her lungs are clear. The doctor gave her another steroid shot before she sent her home. She said she doesn't see anything when she looks into her nostril, but that doesn't mean nothing is there. She wants me to see if the wheezing goes away after a week. If not she is going to refer us to a vet that has a scope small enough to examine her nostrils to be sure she doesn't have a polyp. She thinks that maybe Bear isn't eating because there is a blockage in her nose and she can't smell the food.

Jenny

Can you mix in a little olive oil or vegetable oil in her dry food?

Oh, poor Bear!! Jenny, it sounds like you've been through it all lately with your little darling. I sure hope she gets better soon. It's so sad and frustrating when they can't tell us what's wrong when they're suffering!

Brenda

Thanks all. I will extend your sympathies to little Bear. She seems to be doing a little better today. At least the wheezing has stopped. She has antibiotics to help settle her stomach. When I gave it to her she started foaming at the mouth. I got scared. I managed to grab her and a towel and kept wiping her down. At least she didn't throw it up. I opened a can of tuna for her and poured just the juice in a bowl and she lapped some of it up.

I tried mixing mineral oil with her dry food, but she turns her nose up to that too. She really isn't eating at all. She loves water, but she hasn't been drinking water now either. The vet said that was the only thing that kept her hydrated. When I weaned her off the LF to the DVP I started her on the Duck and Green Pea formula. Since she liked it so much I thought I would give her a variety and bought the mixed ingredients for her. That seemed to be the start of her problems. Mixed ingredients contain lamb, green peas, oatmeal, chicken, beef. The vet thinks she was allergic to something in the mixed ingredients and that is what caused the problems she is having now. I am hoping that once she gets over the trauma of being hospitalized and her stomach settles she will start eating again. I am going to stop on the way home from work and buy her some baby food. My problem is if she isn't eating I can't get any fiber into her. I am afraid once she starts eating this may happen again. I don't think she is having a problem smelling the food because when I made chicken last night she came in the kitchen crying for some, but then she wouldn't eat it. She tried to eat some, but she was gulping air when she tried to chew it. Thank God my son is home, and my daughter is over to stay with her today. They are going to call me if anything changes. I watched her like a hawk after her first episode, and took her in almost immediately when she started showing signs of distress this time. It's like she wants to eat but can't, or she is scared to eat. She has lost weight in the three days since this started. If she doesn't eat soon I am afraid she isn't going to make it.

Jenny

It is so hard when our furry friends are sick. They depend on us as much as we depend on them for comfort and love. I understand about how it feels when they come up to share your bed. The new kitty doesn't do that and I miss it. Sometimes just as I am going to sleep or as I am waking up I imagine I can feel a kitty climbing up and settling down just behind my knees or at the back of my neck.Even though it is just my imagination, it is soothing. I hope your kitty begins to eat soon. I have been known to put a whole chicken breast through a food chopper and mix it with chicken broth to encourage a picky eater or open a can of salmon for people as a treat. LOL! DH doesn't know that the salmon patties I made for dinner were kitty's leftovers. Sandy

Thanks Sandy:

I just feel so bad when they look at you with those "I'm hurting mom, Help me eyes." You can't explain to them it's going to take time before they feel better.

I stopped at the store last night on my way home from work to get her some baby food. Guess who met me at the door? The last thing she wanted was baby food. She looked at it as if to say "yeah, right, try again." She nibbled at some canned catfood. It's like she wants to eat but can't.

I was awakened this morning at 4 a.m. when she sat on my head and started crying. She promptly started fighting with her sister over the dry catfood that was left. Seemed like she wanted to eat everything in sight. The wheezing is almost completely gone (I noticed now she only has it immediately after she eats), and she wanted to play. Unfortunately I had to leave for work. She was sitting on the kitchen table looking out the window when I left. Sure lay the guilt trip on me again.

Thank God she is better. I am doing the happy dance.

Jenny

Oh, Jenny, that's awesome!! Sorry about the guilt trip, though. Pets are SO good at giving those! LOL

Sandy, I love your description of kitty cuddles!

Brenda

Jenny,

I got some kitty meds for you. Call me. I can't find your number (oldtimers again).
Lisa

Will call you tonight.

Jenny

Cats are actually fury human beings. Their constipation should be treated as such: as a message from god (the one true cat god). The message is the constipation conveys is twofold: 1) please stop hurting each other 2)please allow me to jump on you Thanksgiving table and lick your stuffed turkey. Nothing can replace the past, but I love my cats (more than they love me--combined!). As for constipation, squeeze the water or oil out of a can of tuna (for human consumption) and add miralax and/or metamucil. It works!!! Hint: don't throw out the tuna! Mix with 1 Tbs mayo, 1 Tbs Miracle Whip and a few spices to make a tasty spread for human sandwiches.