How do you help a constipated cat?

Question

My cat is 10 years old and has never liked dry cat food--just the canned but now she's having problems with constipation every few days. What can I help her with--at one time she liked dry food and she did go better but I've tried every kind of it and she still likes the canned food better.Thx!

Answer 1

Any health problems should be directed to your vet.  Witholding medical attention to an animal is considered animal abuse and\or neglect.

Answer 2

Two issues here - cause and treatment.

For treatment, you can consider a supplement such as Slippery Elm.  One caution - if your cat is on any meds, you must separate that and the SE by at least 1/2 hour, as the SE can dilute the effects.  Other than that it is quite safe to use.

Canned pumpkin - natural pumpkin not pumpkin pie filling.  Some cats will apparently eat this on their own - you might need to mix it in with the canned food.

Also see these links for expert advice from a vet:

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?ac...

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?ac...

Now for cause:  I don't claim to be a p**p expert although somedays I think I am!  I do know that too much calcium in the diet may cause constipation.  But I think it's unlikely that your cat would be getting excess in his food.  So I would look outside of that for the cause - meaning are you giving him any supplements, like a multi-vitamin or anything like that?  

Or does he get any other food outside of his regular cat food?  Such as bones?

If that's the case, then you'll want to cut back.

It could be that it is being caused by his food, although not due to an excess of calcium.  You may want to consider switching him to something else and see if that helps.  Make dietary changes slowly though, to avoid digestive upsets.  You don't want to go from one extreme to the other!

I would stick with canned since it is healthier.

Answer 3

*sigh* I work for a vet - have for 20 years - if you are getting decent dry food, it does not cause health problems.  I have known hundreds of owners with cats that feed them an all dry diet - and a more than average number have lived happy, healthy lives.  It sounds like a trip to the vet is in order to check for health issues - it could be a number of things.  To jump on this answer, and reply that it is dry food causing every illness to cats imaginable is irresponsible in getting a message out.  There are better ways of doing that - by saying it is possbibly a reason.  There is NO proof, only assumptions about the effects of all-dry food, all wet food or a combination of both diets.   In the end, it is a decision between YOU, your vet, and what you cat will eat.

Answer 4

If this seems to be just a little constipation every few days, try stirring a teaspoonful of Metamucil (unflavored) into a serving of canned food once a day.  This is very helpful for mild constipation.  Don't let constipation last too long, though (no pooping for 4 days), or the cat's insides get messed up and they need vet care.

Answer 5

try a bit of canned pumpkin mixed in the food it almost always works!

Answer 6

a teaspoon of mineral oil once a day for a week and then every other day for all following weeks until you notice her going regularly mineral oil will not hurt your cat

Answer 7

First, dry food would cause a lot more constipation then wet food. She is better off on canned. For the problem get some miralax and sprinkle it over the food. That should solve the problem. You should also get acidophiles and sprinkle over the food

More on nutrition





Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health

Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.

Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingrediant a muscle meat like chicken or meal or other things?

http://www.catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To_Rea...

http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04...

Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms

The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with grains and carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process.  Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food but in

Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.

http://www.catinfo.org/#My_Cat_is_Doing_...

You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all.    The best food for cats does not contain any grains at all.

Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies  whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods. I would rather feed a middle grade canned food then the top of the line dry food.

Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck? http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bp...

Please read about cat nutrition.

                               http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics...

                               http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.ht...

      http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.ht...

Vetinarian diets  The reason your vet thinks so highly of the pet food they sell probably has more to do with money than nutrition. In vet school, the only classes offered on nutrition usually last a few weeks, and are taught by representatives from the pet food companies. Vet students may also receive free food for their own dogs and cats at home. They could get an Iams notebook, a Purina purse and some free pizza.  http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04...