Anything I can do to help a constipated cat?

Factual Questions
1

My cat seems to be constipated. I’ve noticed her straining to make a bowel movement in the litterbox a cople times today with no results. She’s urinating normally, walking and jumping fine, doesn’t seem to be in pain. Just bunged up.

Anything I can do to help her along, or just wait it out?

2

Try putting a little petroleum jelly on her paws - she’ll lick it off and that may help things along. If she doesn’t go soon, I’d get in touch with your vet. She may need an enema. In the future, a dab of one of the hairball remedies can help keep this from happening again.

If there is any chance she got into something like tinsel or yarn - take her to the vet now.

3

An illustrated guide. (I hope your kitty is feeling better soon.)

4

Prune smoothie?

5

I find a dab of butter on the nose seems to work. It probably tastes better than petroleum jelly, anyway. :smiley:

6

I found hairball remover wroked well, they like it and there is mineral oil in it.

7

My kitty hasn’t been constipated, but I do notice that when I feed him a packet of Special Kitty brand soft cat food, he gets runny poops (which are also smelly!). . . Maybe you’ve seen the packets/pouches at the store… They are sealed tight, but my cat recognizes the pouch and the other day actually bit through it so that the juices were seeping out the hole. He licked the outside of that pouch like, well, insert your own joke here…

8

Thanks for the tips! I didn’t want to get petroleum jelly all over the floor if I put it on her paws, so I put a good dollop of it on a Pounce treat this morning and she ate it up. It seemed to do the trick, because when I came home this evening I saw that she had produced a grogan worthy of awe.

9

Put a piece of cheese on its butt, and then have it swallow a rat.

10

If you ever need to give her a medication that way, one thing to do is to smush it into the top of the paws. That way she can’t fling it off, and also won’t leave little greasy footprints everywhere.

I’ve found most cats really like the taste of Petromalt, the malt-flavored mineral oil stuff (tastes like unsalty Marmite (yes, I have tasted it)), so resorting to trickery and rubbing it on their fur isn’t even necessary. My cats will beg like little puppies for their weekly Petromalt dollop.