Constipation

[charlew]

I recently adopted 12 year old Nemo - he was in an animal rescue centre that was closing down (having ended up there because his previous owner moved to a place that does not allow pets). I know that he has a heart murmur/enlarged ventricle - which he is under the vets for. He hardly poos at all (doesn't eat much either), several times though I've seen him get in to his litter tray & adopt the poo position, he strains but nothing comes out. I bought some pet laxative but he doesn't like it & getting it down him is very difficult (it's a paste, pills would be better - he's on heart pills & the rescue place I got him from gave me a thing which amazingly gets them down his throat). I've got some human constipation pills which I dare not give him - even though my mother is actually prescribed the same heart pills (same dosage too) by her doctor as what the vet prescribed for Nemo! So any suggestions on how to get Nemo to do a decent poo?

[Phoenix]

When my girl Beauty had constipation I found putting the paste on her paw helped (she licked it off)

[charlew]

Nemo has now been to the vets & had an enema. He his been prescribed lactulose.

[Kirsten]

Never ever give your cat human medication.

Most constipation is related to under-hydration and inactivity, so to minimise the chances of it coming back, feed primarily wet food, encourage drinking (I put salmon oil in my cat's water now and again to encourage him to drink), and encourage lots of play.

[pamela81]

1 of my cats has trouble going to the loo sometimes and we have a liquid medicine we wee given by the vets to give him. When he gets it, it really does help