Constipation in cats

**momcats13** · 04-19-2010, 09:39 PM

My just turned 16 yo Siamese has had two trips to the vets for enemas in the past 2 1/2 weeks. I was instructed to give him metamucil with his food and increase his water consumption. His past diet was all dry food because of dental issues. Now I feed him about 1/3 canned with the metamucil mixed in. I was also told to make his water more "interesting" by adding in some chicken or beef broth, or tuna water. I also tried clam juice but his consumption hasn't really increased. Has anyone on this forum ever had this issue? Any tips?

Thx
MC

**columbine** · 04-19-2010, 10:05 PM

Metamucil (actually generic psyllium fiber supplement, which is the same thing) and extra water mixed in his food worked wonders for Smudge. Some other people have had good luck with adding canned pumpkin (or just offering it straight up; some cats like it that way too) or adding a bit of olive oil to their cats' food (this latter is also said to be good for skin and coat).

Love, Columbine

**Medusa** · 04-20-2010, 07:28 AM

My RB Pidge experienced occasional constipation in the 21st year of her life. I gave her Cat Lax daily and it helped but sometimes she still had to be cleaned out at the vet's office. Cat Lax is caramel flavored and cats don't mind taking it at all. Good luck. I hope things improve for your meezer.

**lvpets2002** · 04-20-2010, 10:29 AM

Yes I have good luck with canned pumpkin & also with chicken broth.. My babies are very rare with constipation..

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**Catty1** · 04-20-2010, 11:32 AM

Another PTr here was raving about salmon oil. You can get a bottle quite inexpensively at a pet store. It's made so that it is not so stinky, but appeals to a cat's nose!

Try and get it in a pump bottle, or buy an empty one to use. Much easier than trying to pour just a little bit.

You might try a small bottle first to see how it works. It's a treat for my cats. I've always given them oil and they have never been constipated - and one is long haired.

**aTailOf2Kitties** · 04-20-2010, 04:47 PM

a pet water fountain also encourages more drinking. Cats love well-oxygenated water. You can get one for about 30 bucks. If that is out of the budget you may get the same effect with an aquarium pump bubbling into one end of the water bowl. My vet also suggested fish oil capsules at one point.

My 2 current cats are doing fine, but my last one had a lot of problems in this area. Unfortunately he was a super-finicky lil' bugger and turned his nose up at just about everything other than plain dry kibble. I had to give him enemas at home, which did help for quite some time.