Update Luke UN-constipated 12.15.10
Wed night, Dec 15 2010.
Hello Folks, Thanks to all who responded to my original post. Well, It has been quite a challenge since Dec 6 to get Luke to have a bm. I'll do a summary. I took him to vet four times: Mon6, Tues 7, Fri10, and Wed15 ... and today he had a bm. I have been on "poop watch" & every time I hear him in litter box, I go & wait & hope & was rewarded today. Yes, he is urinating & eating ok. He misses his old food but I give him extra attention & get him to eat his new canned food. He is 9 years old & overweight at 21.1 lbs today; we'll try to lose more weight. He did weigh 27 lbs but in the last year he has lost to 21.1.
Every time he went to vet he had an enema (one trip he had two enemas & it took 5 enemas + med & canned food to un-constipate him), xrays 3x, fluids, lactulose or Laxatone, W/D canned. Elsewhere I bought Wellness No Grain canned, metamucil caps, & a few other things. Counting food it cost close to $500 to get him unconstipated. Now I hope to keep him that way. Before his problem I was feeding him mainly dry food but I will not do that again; I think it contributed greatly to his constipation & I feel bad about that. Vet said he does not have megacolon.
[B]He was so backed up that today was the first time he had a bm & it was after an enema [/B](vet manually took some stool out two times). Today the stool was soft so I guess the canned food with lactulose or laxatone & tiny metamucil was helpful as he was able to have several bm's. He seems to feel alright.
Now the hope is that he will be able to have bm's without an enema. I will keep a close eye on him to make sure he is having regular bm's & will keep feeding him canned W/D & canned Wellness No Grain, Laxatone, tiny metamucil & very little if any dry food. I can't believe how backed up he was. It was a learning lesson for me & I felt sorry for Luke because he sure did hate the enemas & I was so worried about him. I HOPE he will be alright now & that he can have bm's without an enema.
If you see your cat straining or going several times to litter box & nothing happens, you might have a constipated cat as I did but I waited. I should have taken him two or three weeks ago when I saw him straining to have a bm and he eventually had bm but then it became increasingly more difficult... and then I ended up at vet. I didnt think it would turn into such a problem. Boy, Was I wrong!!!. Live & Learn!! Thanks for listening & for those who gave me suggestions. Kay in NC Wed Dec 15 2010
