Help my cat poop

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1

Hi.

So my cat gets constipated quite a bit and, surprisingly, the vet didn’t ask to see her, (she’s hard to deal with,) but did recommend MiraLAX. 8 oz of water and 17 grams of the poop powder.

The problem is… the kitty sticks her nose up to any food that isn’t dry cat food. I tried everything from baby food to tuna, she doesn’t dig it. The vet suggested sardines. She hates it. Doesn’t want anything to do with it. The ONLY thing I ever saw her eat other than her crunchies was blueberrie muffin. I tried to forcefully give it to her, with not the best results. She can be pretty cray-cray.

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated by my little stinker. Thank you.

#2

You just haven’t left the cat without food long enough yet.

Continue to provide the food that you wish the cat would eat, and nothing else.

#3

Our vet also recommended MiraLAX for our constipated kitty: ⅛ teaspoon stirred into his moist food. I wonder what would happen if you tried putting ⅛ teaspoon on your kitty’s dry food.

If that fraction doesn’t render for you, it’s 1/8.

#4

Do you think you could try putting the miralax directly into the cat’s drinking water? I gave 2 cats Miralax, and it must be tasteless because I just added it to wet food. Oh, there is a wet food that most cats cannot resist.

It’s Hill’s prescription A/D. It’s for cats with no appetite. You might ask your vet to sell you a can and try just a teaspoon at a time, with miralax in it. Cat’s can be soooooo fussy!

#5

My former cat (ca. 2000-March 2018) had a full colon per the vet, and she recommended putting Miralax in his water. I put 1/8 teaspoonful in the shared water bowl (I still have his “sister”, and still do this for her because she’s getting up there in cat years herself) and I also got some empty capsules, filled them with the powder, and pilled him with them a couple times a day. It didn’t take long for him to start backing up and running away when I walked into the room, but in any case, a couple days after I started doing this, I found something in the box that sure didn’t look like it could have been produced by a cat.

If things get REALLY desperate, the vet may resort to this, which I wouldn’t recommend on a full-sized cat without full body armor.

#6

My senior kitty (she passed a few months ago, 16 years old) fought megacolon (and bad kidneys) for at least a year and the key was weaning her off of dry cat food. They only way to do it was eliminate the dry cat food for all the cats in the house and not have any out at all. They didn’t have a choice if they wanted to eat.

I started by offering wet food with about a dozen pieces of kibble on top, then mixing the kibble into the food and then finally eliminating it completely. I also added a teaspoon or so of water rinsed in the food can to make some extra gravy.

Once she started eating the wet food I was able to sprinkle the MiraLAX on top and she ate it all no problem.

I have 4 other cats and dry food has been mostly banned from the house. Their primary diet is wet food and even when I treat them with the kibble, it with water added to soften it. Kind of like cereal in milk for them.

#7

One addition to canned wet food that our cat really loves is liver. Just a teaspoonful mixed in gets him very interested.
Here’s a website with tips and tricks on getting cats to transition to wet food:

#8

That’s apparently what the OP has been doing.

We have three kitties and only one has chronic constipation, we don’t want all give all three the laxative.

#9

When I had to give my cat three chemo pills a day, I pulverized the pills and mixed them with some condensed milk. In fact, one of the side effects of all this was semi-loose stools.

#10

Trying to get a cat to do something he doesn’t want to do, eh? May the lord have mercy on you.

My secret weapon is this hairball paw gel. My cat loves the taste of it and will mostly eat anything I smear it on. Your feline may vary.

#11

Does she have a water fountain to drink out of? If not, I recommend it.

#12

Thank you all for your suggestions.

She drinks from a dish. Why do you recommend a fountain?

She is the only stink-bag I have currently.

Thanks to everyone for the valuable information and links!

#13

From both personal experience and things I’ve read, I know many cats prefer drinking running water to still water. A fountain can encourage a cat to drink more, which is especially important if they only eat dry food.

My WAG is that your cat’s constipation issues might be at least partially caused by not getting enough water. I base this on the anecdotal fact that, one of the few times my own cat was suffering from constipation, I discovered that her drinking fountain hadn’t been reassembled correctly the last time I cleaned it and she hadn’t been able to drink from it.

#14

I’ve added a fountain for the cats. The other thing I recommend is having water in multiple locations. For (cat) reasons, it was too hard for the cats to walk down the hallway to the water bowl. I’ve added a water bowl at the base of the cat tree, and one in the kitchen. The fountain is near their food bowls. They are definitely drinking more, which is a good thing. They’re all officially “senior” now, and I worry about their kidneys.

#15

Good tips! Thanks!