Constipation in cats is usually secondary to another issue. That’s the hard part: trying to figure out the underlying issue(a). I usually advocate for a change in diet, adding fiber or a laxative and getting these cats up and moving. But these do not usually cure the underlying condition alone. Often a full bloodwork, X-ray and ultra sound are needed to help uncover the cause.
It is also helpful to learn how to palpate your cat so you can tell if the feces is gettin backed up. In some cases I teach people how to give sq fluids at home to help add water and soften the feces to make it easier to pass.
Hello. My 9 yr. old Beagle, Treble, is 9 days post op of a ventral slot surgery to clean a herniated disk and decompress 2 more. His whole cervical spine is not in the greatest condition. He could walk prior to and after surgery. He had severe pain after surgery and was placed on gabapentin, ketamine injections, something to protect his stomach, stool softeners, an antibiotic and a steroid. He returned home after 2 days where he was rested and carried downstairs to the bathroom. He seemed better by day 5 but still woke up shaking and in pain. The 5th day, he yelled in pain when we lifted him, and again only worse when we placed him down and he tried to walk. The vet told us to take him to physical therapy. We are 9 days out and since he finished his steroid, they moved him to NSAIDS. He has been doing well. Still stiff and painful in the morning but generally better and walking around by the afternoon. Today, he stepped up while the PT was doing laser therapy and when he moved, he cried out painfully for a while again. The PT immediately took him to the on call vet. His opinion was that Treble, because of his age, would probably deal with that pain (almost like a pinched nerve or catch) for the rest of his life and there’s nothing to stop it. It happens occasionally but not all the time. My questions are, since we are only 9 days out of surgery, could the nerve potentially heal enough that he doesn’t scream in pain every few days, the sound which haunts me. Also, he’s been walking a lot with the PT every day. Is that okay or should he mostly be resting? His neck range of motion is good and the leg causing most of the painful issues has been checked with no pain upon touching. I want to hope that he won’t be in that kind of pain for years. He has always been pretty resilient.
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My 4 yr old cat seems constipated. I just lost my job a couple of weeks ago and cannot afford to take him to the vet. I noticed on Wednesday he only pooped once and it was kind of hard. He didn’t poop Thursday. Friday I bought mineral oil, glycerin enema, and mixed with warm water…administered about 4ml and he had a bowel movement. Continued with wet food mixed with pumpkin purée, water, Miralax, and catlax. Also manually gave him water with a little bit of pedialyte orally. Saturday he had no bowel movement. Sunday I gave him another enema same as above and he had a bowel movement. Continued with all mentioned above. It’s now Monday and he still hasn’t had another bowel movement. Just gave him another enema (same as above) and he hasn’t made a bowel movement in about an hour…the other two enemas he produced a bowel movement within just a few minutes. I’ve order the official Feline Enemas, but they won’t arrive until Tuesday or Wednesday this week. I honestly don’t know what else to do and I’m desperate! I cannot afford a vet visit right now, but my kids and I love this guy so much and feel terrible for him. He was really not seeming well Thursday thru Sunday morning, but then Sunday night thru Monday morning he was doing so much better. Now here we are same Monday afternoon and he’s not good again. Please help!
UPDATE: he had another bowel movement after the last enema, it was much softer than the others and seemed like it had mucus around it (sorry so graphic). However, he’s still not wanting to move around and his belly still feels firm.
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My 8 year old chow/lab mix got diagnosed with IVDD 7 days ago. She was chasing a rabbit when her back gave out. She stayed in the vet hospital over the weekend where they monitored those first few days. We are not able to afford the surgery, but we have been working with her since she has been home. I noticed over the last couple days that she is able to twitch her legs in her sleep, which she didn’t do the first 3 days of being home. Is this a good sign or is that just a subconscious reflex?
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Hello, I’m currently fostering an animal whose been in limbo with two previous owners. The first owner wanted to put her down because she supposedly didn’t do well with their children. The second home it seems like they don’t have enough time for the sweet little girl. That’s where I stepped in to help. So long story short I wondered if it was possible there was a health issue with puppy and first owners didn’t want to deal with it. When the puppy sleeps, she breathes abnormal, she breaths so fast and hard. I have watched many puppies sleep and this is just different. It’s like she’s panting and breathing so quickly. It’s only when she lays down to sleep. I didn’t think much of it the first night but it okay today I’m concerned. She’s not hot, and she’s not cooling off from some sort of activity. I am not sure what to do. I can’t find any relevant videos or articles about this type of behaviors.
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I adopted a feral cat just over a year ago. My elderly father was feeding him twice a day for two years. He moved to a condo when my mother passed and the cat sat at the empty house day and night waiting for my Dad to come home. I ended up taking the cat and have worked on taming him. I’ve been making progress but not quite where I can pick him up.
He’s been mostly healthy up until 8 weeks ago. He seemed to be straining to urinate in his litter box and had decreased appetite. I took him to an animal hospital. At this time, I couldn’t touch him. He was anesthetized and examined. His exam and bloodwork were all neg. He was put on a urinary diet and given mirtazipine to stimulate appetite. I was not able to consistently get the stimulate in his ear but he would eat, just not a lot.
Followed up with my vet who said maybe he isn’t that hungry because he doesn’t have to worry about food and just watch his weight.
Weight continued to drop and found out last week he has tapeworms. He got a topical dewormer. Since then, it seems like he’s lost more weight and his lack of appetite is worse. He does eat enough to poop and pee daily.
My vet does house calls only and is coming Thursday. She’s limited in what she can offer for interventions. I am contemplating taking him back to animal hospital for evaluation,
It gets dicey though because he’s not completely tame. When I went with him before I could hear the attending talking to resident on other side of door saying, “he’s feral, what does she expect us to do,” I get that, but to a point. Is it unrealistic for me to want Pinky treated? He’s getting sweeter and sweeter and enjoys being petted.
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I found a kitten, male. I first thought he had a cyst in his wrist but when I examined closer it popped through the other side and made crunches in the wrist. I now think that it’s broken and wondering if a splint would help him.
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Hi! This is my first time posting here!
We are taking our baby Rusty to the Vet next week. He has been recovering from Parvo this past week after being hospitalized for 6 days. He is doing AMAZING. Eating great, keeping it down. Still has slight runny poop/diarrhea. But we know that was to be expected. No blood, colors great.
We take him to the vet next week for a check up to see how he’s doing.
My husband and I noticed a tiny red spot on his arm where his vitals/catheter was they stuck in him at the hospital. We thought at first he was just picking at a scab, so to prevent it I went to wrap it back up and bought a inflatable cone from Petsmart.
As I was about to wrap it up, I noticed it was a pretty big open area exposed. Looking closer, I see a tiny pinpoint hole in the middle. At first, I thought it was again from the vitals they put in his arm.
Looking on Google being paranoid, I came across the possibility of warbles. My heart sank.
I just wanted to know what you think. He has been doing so so well. All my life my family has had dogs but never have had this issue before.
You can see it is right above where his previous bandage at the hospital was.. so not sure if it is really from all the IVs or warbles.
I really appreciate the feedback. Thank you so much!
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My Plott Hound had a large internal lipoma removed on Monday directly above his penis in his abdominal area. Almost immediately, he developed prominent swelling directly to, proximal, and distal to his operative site. In addition, he has swelling down his leg. Took him back to the vet where a needle aspirate was done. He was diagnosed with multiple seromas. There was no WBCs seen or anything else visualized under the scope to indicate infection INSIDE. However, externally, his skin is red and angry and there is a lot of swelling. He is on 2 broad spectrum antibiotics. He is having a hard time walking on his right leg. Took him back today (day 5 post op) because swelling is even worse. He has swelling all down his leg. Vet says it made sense to her because of gravity. My dog is in a lot of pain, can’t sit down. He put his paws down and his bottom stays up in the air. No one can even palpate his operate site without him going through the roof in pain. He is on Tramadol and an NSAID. I’m extremely worried. The vet isn’t a fan of the drain because she doesn’t want to create more room for infection. Ultra Sound showed no abscess. He is drinking a lot of water (more than usual) and urinating normally. His last BM was yesterday. Eating mostly fine. Low grade temp. Does this sound all right? I hate that he is suffering. The pics I have included were yesterday, not today. But you get the idea of the areas of seromas and erythema. Today, the swelling is worse and his entire leg down to his paw is fluid filled.
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Hi, i am wondering if a vet can help me with my dogs on going skin problem, he is losing excessive amounts of hair, fibres and his paws are very irritated, constant chewing and biting his paws. I have tried everything from medicated shampoos like malaseb, omegas, blackmores PAW Nutriderm conditioner, Virbac spot on skin lipids and the dreaded prednisone which we just experienced some very bad side affects. My vet doesn’t know what is going on just keep telling me the same thing to wash them in malaseb 3 x per week for his paws and they say his skin is fine apart from some ATOPY.
Any ideas or suggestions would be very much appreciated.
Thank you
Carlie
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a while ago my cat became sick, around the same time we noticed he had been leaving our house and stealing cat food from the neighbors who leave it out for other stray cats (therefore he was eating after other cats) his lymph nodes became swollen, he stayed in one spot all day and rarely moved, he wouldn’t eat or drink, and lost weight. We brought him to the vet and they examen him and did x-rays and said that it appears that he could have cancer/a tumor that has spread to his lymph nodes already as well as some other things like fluid/pus in his chest. They said the cancer was very aggressive since it’s already gotten that far and we just noticed it. A few days later his lymph node swelling went away, he started eating and drinking again, and he was acting like himself. We brought him back to the vet and they performed FNA on the tumor which came back inconclusive. They were also shocked that his lymph node? weren’t swollen anymore, and they said the tumor had moved places, and they started to question their diagnosis saying that he could just have an infection. The gave him antibiotics and sent us home. Since then the tumor has gotten bigger and moved places, it feels sort of soft and moves around easily. I’m questioning if this is just a lipoma rather than cancer because of the way it feels and moves, it has also been about 2 months since we very first noticed this, and to me it doesn’t appear or feel to have spread anywhere, his vet was also talking like he wouldn’t live more that a week or two and it’s been 2 months. No one can really come to a definite diagnosis… so if anyone could give advice or help on this i’d appreciate it very much!! (i’ve also included a photo below of the tumor though it’s a litte difficult to tell)
Hello,
It sounds like you have done a really amazing job at this complicated disease. It also sounds like you need some additional help with pain management. I would ask about further options. I like methocarbomal for these cases but other options like gabapentin and buprenorphine are also meds to inquire about.
It takes time and beagles are pretty notorious for being vocal and hesitant about handling after trauma or surgery.
I hope this helps. I have a lot of information on this on my blog and YouTube channel.
Best of luck.