If you are not a cat lover, you might want to stop reading now. Really. Go to another page, have a cup of coffee, ponder other things besides the digestive troubles of feline furbabies. This may be a bit much for some of you. I have gone back and forth about whether or not to even post about such a subject, but since so many of us have cats, I thought it might be beneficial to somebody.
Our beloved furbaby, Prissy, is a long-haired “something”. She was abandoned when she was around 5 weeks old, and we’ve had her ever since. She was so tiny and sick, but her personality was so sweet that she won our hearts almost immediately. She could barely eat solid food and would fit in the palm of your hand. She weighed just slightly over 1 pound.
That was 5 years ago.
Now PooBear tops the scales at over 10 pounds on a good day. She is much loved, spoiled rotten, and an integral part of our family.
(Did I mention she also plays fetch with foam rings and chase like a dog? There may be some personality disorders at work here too. 😛 )
She has always been prone to digestive troubles of various sorts. Initially, we struggled to find food that wouldn’t cause diarrhea. Our vet told us to go with a good quality food because there are fewer fillers and therefore less poo. We finally settled on Iams dry food and also wet canned food to help with hairballs (plus she has a major turkey fetish). She does have the occasional hairball, but overall she has done extremely well…until this past December.
She started vomiting several times a day, and no amount of vaseline on her paw would help pass whatever was causing the problem. We also noticed she hadn’t had a bowel movement in 3 or 4 days. She was nauseous and wouldn’t eat. Alarmed, we took her to our vet who suspected she was indeed constipated. He decided to give her a mineral oil enema and see if that relieved (pardon the pun) the problem.
Sure enough – she was constipated. We picked up a very ticked off cat that afternoon who was appalled at the indignities she had been made to suffer at the hands of strangers. If you don’t believe a cat can pout, you obviously do not have an indoor cat!
The vet put her on Laxatone (it coats hairballs and helps them to pass – it’s the thickest, nastiest looking stuff you can imagine) and also sent her home with an antibiotic for a few days just because of the stress her system had endured. She absolutely hated the Laxatone. You could put it on her paw or even smear it on her nose and it would stay there til it rotted off – she certainly wasn’t going to remove it.
We finally went back to Vaseline on her paw since the $10 tube of Laxatone wasn’t doing any good if it wasn’t inside her stomach. The vet also recommended a Furminator brush to help remove extra hair. I’ve been giving Priss a bath at least monthly since she was a baby, and while she doesn’t like it, she tolerates it with only some minor complaining. I thought we had been doing a fairly good job of brushing her, but the constipation episode convinced us we had to go a step further.
The Furminator brush works wonders – if you use it correctly. At first, I was lightly combing her hair because I was afraid of hurting her. I finally watched a video online and realized I needed to really brush her better than what I had been doing. The first time we used it, you would have thought we could’ve made a whole other cat from the hair we got off! The trash can was full, and her coat gleamed. Life was good again.
Until last week.
We have all been sick with the crud going around, and Poo didn’t get brushed as thoroughly. She also devoured a can of turkey and cheese that she’d never sampled before. Yep…you guessed it. We had another round of vomiting and constipation.
Back to the vet we went. She was slightly dehydrated, so the vet put her on an IV and ran some blood work (this was a different vet than previous). We explained what had happened in Dec, but he wanted to be sure nothing else was going on. Blood work came back ok, and we decided to go ahead with x-rays just to make sure there were no blockages. Guess what? She was full o’poop again. Long story short – two days in the animal hospital and another enema later, we picked her up again.
Vet said to force the Laxatone down her and gave us a syringe with no needle in it.
Can a cat wallow Laxatone around in their mouth, spit it out, and manage to coat you and them in it? Yessiree, Bob, they can. It’s a wonder to behold at the determination of a feline NOT to do what you want.
After several failed attempts, I have learned to put the Laxatone in the syringe, scruff the cat, aim for the roof of her mouth, and pop in the Laxatone as quickly as I can manage. Then I hold her mouth shut until she swallows it. Hubby has watched in amazement that it works. I told him scrubbing Laxatone off of her and everything we own gets old very quickly.
What have we learned? An ounce of prevention is DEFINITELY worth a pound of cure. Daily brushing with the Furminator is a must, as well as the occasional bath as long as her hair is. I also bought a set of clippers and trimmed all of her chest/belly hair to make grooming easier. She was offended by this at first, but was so happy to be back home, she got over it.
We’re also going to keep using the Laxatone several times a week. It does work better than Vaseline in her case. Also, no more turkey and cheese!
Furminator brushes are much cheaper on Ebay than from the vet or even most pet supply stores. Your kitty, and your pocketbook, will thank you.
Hi, loved your post. We have a long haired cat, Lily. She has as we like to call it a “long luxurious tail”. She plays fetch also. She has 2 fuzzy toys that she insists on putting in her water dish getting them soaking wet and then brings them to you to throw and if you ignore her she puts them in your lap. I come home every day to find that she has pulled the blanket off the back of the chair and has drugged it through the house. I think she has a personality disorder too.
Hi Jackie,
I’m so glad to know Priss isn’t the only one. She drops her rings into her water bowl too. I just dug 6 rings out from underneath the fridge. Moved the couch once and found 20! LOL
Aren’t they sweet though? 😀
I can so relate to your post. My cat has been chronically constipated for he past year. I just bought some Laxatone and as I suspected he wanted no part of it so I put it on his paw and he licked it off. But I think I’ll try the syringe method since I use that for his enulose. The poor cat.
I enjoyed your post. It made me chuckle. I’ve been all over the Internet looking for solutions for my cat’s problem. I hope to be as successful as you with the syringe because that stuff is messy!
Hope your cat is doing well!
Priss is doing great! I am still giving her Laxatone with the syringe 2 or 3 times a week. Aim for the top of the mouth – they can’t spit it out quite so easily that way (learned after cleaning the gooey mess off of her, me, and our dining room!).
Hope it works for your cat as well. Good luck! 😀
Loved your post–lots of great information. Our Abby cat became very ill Easter morning. She spent a day in the hospital, and with the help of x-rays, it was determined she was severely constipated. She is on two meds now–one to help move things along and one for her tummy ache–but she is still not eating. We are feeding her via syringe and she is really ticked about it. She is not moving much at all, but when I put her in the litter box this morning, she managed to pass some of her issue. I was shocked to see a hairball!! We are hoping things improve through the day tomorrow, or we are back at the vet. I am definitely running out for the Laxatone tomorrow. Thanks again for sharing your experiences. 🙂
Hope Abby feels better quickly! We’re still giving Priss the Laxatone 2 to 3 times a week via the syringe. She hates it, but it works! Good luck! 🙂
We just had another constipation episode with our cat, Sammy. I noticed one of the cats had gotten sick but since Jessie sometimes will get sick, I didn’t panic. But then yesterday morning I noticed Sammy trying to use the litterbox and couldn’t go. Off he was whisked to the vet and lo and behold, he had one large obstruction which the vet managed to get out. I was in the waiting room and I heard him yelling; not a happy cat! I’m just not sure what to do anymore. I give him enulose daily; I put laxatone on his paw which he seems to like. Maybe I should try the syringe method like you do because he’s not doing the best job licking it off lately and his little white paw isn’t looking at pretty as it should!
I’m so tired of this! Starting today my cats are going to get just canned food. I’m hoping this will help. I will thinking of sprinkling Miralax in the food but then my other cat will get it and she doesn’t need it. Oh well…….what to do!
Lisa, I hope Abby is doing better!!
Jane
Try the Laxatone with the syringe to make sure he’s getting enough of it at a time. Hopefully that will help. 🙂 Keep us posted!
Thanks! I will keep you posted. How much do you put in the syringe at once? I have the syringes that go up to 5 ml.
Both cats can’t figure out why the change in food. I’m just feeding them canned food a.m. and p.m. and I know they miss “grazing” on the dry food and I feel like I’m depriving my cat without a problem. But it has to be done!
I usually put around 1.5 ml in the syringe at a time. That amount works great for Miss Priss. 🙂
I have a cat Wendy who is 20 yrs old… basically she is ok… she sleeps a lot and her appitite has gone down.. recently after trying several different foods..she seems to like Fancy Feast the best. She has a constipation problem and I gave her watered down Lexatone -the thing is she did go but it was runny… mostly solid but a little runny – is this normal for constipation… also I think she has a hair ball – she tries and tries to cough it up – my vet says for the most part she is very healthy considering her age… I just started the Lexatone – does anyone know how fast this stuff will work on the hairballs…
Your vet would be better able to answer your constipation question. On how fast the Laxatone works, it depends on the cat – just like people, they are all different. Our vet had us give Priss the Laxatone up to 3 times a day for several days initially because she was so miserable. I hope Wendy gets some relief soon!
Slippery elm bark powder- – 1/4 of a tea spoon mixed in wet food with a little water daily – miracle cure for constipation. Nothing else worked for my cat.
I AM HAVING A SIMILAR PROBLEM WITH CONSTIPATION & HAIRBALLS WITH MY 9-YR. OLD FURR-BOY, WHO HAS ALWAYS HAD DIFFICULTY WITH HAIRBALLS.
I HAVE READ TO ADD 1/4 TSP. MIRALAX TO A KITTY’S FOOD DAILY.
I AM OLDER, DISABLED, & NOTHING LIKE AS STRONG AS MY 20-LB. FURR-BOY. IT TOOK ME, THE VET, & HIS 6′-TALL WIFE/ASSISTANT TO HOLD HIM ON THE LAST VISIT.
AFTER SEVERAL WEEKS OF BEING HOSPITALIZED, I CAN”T FORCE HIM TO TAKE ANYTHING, & HAVE NO ONE TO HELP ME MEDICATE HIM.
HE WILL EAT SHEBA CAT FOOD WITH THE MIRALAX IN IT. I KNOW IT IS AN EXCELLENT LAXATIVE USED IN HOSPITALS EVERYWHERE BECAUSE IT IS SAFE WITH VIRTUALLY EVERYTHING, SO I AM HOPING IT MAY HELP WITH THE HAIRBALLS TOO. WE USE A CAT COMB & BRUSH SEVERAL TIMES A DAY SINCE HE LOVES THEM. BUT HE HATES THE FURMINATOR, & WITH HIS STRENGTH & MY LACK OF IT, HE IS THE BOSS OF HIM ! ! !