Regular readers first met Jack the constipated cat (Our Day Today) on a busy day in May, 2009, when he came in with one of his frequent episodes of stool that would not pass.
Today he was in the same boat.
Chronic constipation is common in cats who are seniors, obese or weak from illness or disease. Contributing factors can be diets too low or too high in fiber, inactivity, eating dry food (as opposed to canned) and having a too-low daily water consumption.
Our usual first step with these patients is to put them on a low-residue food such as Laxatone can help simply by making the stool slide out of the colon more easily.
Lactullose can help by drawing more water into the stool, making it easier to pass. The dosage varies according to each individual cat’s body weight and needs. In fact, dosage changes from day to day according to what a pet eats, how much he eats and how active he is.
Propulcid is a prescription medication that increases the strength of bowel movements. For those cats who simply cannot generate enough force to expel the stool from the colon, Propulcid can be a lifesaver. Propulcid must, absolutely, be used under the guidance of a veterinarian.
See you tomorrow, Dr. Randolph.
Dr.Randolph, thanks for your e-mail. I have given Laxatract (a Dutch product) for 9 days now to my 4 Siamese cats. One of them, a castrated male ca. 8 years old, had the most severe form of constipation/obstipation and he is now, to my great delight, fine and has stools almost every day. I also switched my cats’ food, which in the past was only dry food, partly to food containing more moisture. Thank you once more for your reply. Janny Forghany-Boddingius
Hi, our cat had chronic constipation for well over 4 years. The first veterinarian we took her too wanted to put her on Hills diet, medication and possibly surgery for what they thought was megacolon. We were not happy with their ‘put her on meds” attitude. We found a holistic veterinarian instead, and with her help were able to manage her constipation for years. We switched her to wet food only, either Wellness or Natural Balance. We gave her 1.5- 3 ml of lactullose twice a day in the food. This is a natural laxative found in most pharmacies for humans, it works very well for cats. We monitored her pooping to make sure that she went every few days. We also took her in for acupuncture every three months. We also had to make sure the litter box was always clean, as she’s a fussy cat and will not go if it’s too full. So that’s it, worked for us!
I enjoy working with these cases, as long as they are responding to treatment! There is a Hill’s food I use in these patients, and lactullose is foundational to their treatment. Other medications are sometimes needed, and, as you can read in the other post I’ve written on obstipation, sometimes surgery is needed. Some patients can’t get better without surgery. I’m glad your kitty is doing so well. Thanks for reading, Dr. Randolph.