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constipation?

rickbmore

Savannah Super Cat
My 8 month old girl is having some issues. It's been 4 days since she has defected. We recently started mixing adult food in with her kitten food. I thought that may be upsetting her stomach but now since its still going on Im getting worried. She is drinking water and eating. We've added some canned food and even a little canned pumpkin wich she really likes. She is urinating fine. Doesn't seem to be in pain but is a little lethargic. She still jumps up on the bed and plays a little but not alot. Once my vet opens this morning Im gonna see if he can see her today. Should I be worried about a blockage at this point? thanks for any info.
 

John Popp

Site Supporter
That's about right on schedule where you should be getting her to the vet, perhaps a day earlier. Obviously she's pretty full of stool and likely in need of an X-ray to reveal any blockage. Otherwise it sounds like you did the right things trying to get the issue resolved and certainly getting her to the vet. My thoughts are with you and hopefully it's all resolved with nothing more than some stool softener.
 
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shelby

Guest
If she chews on things and you suspect she has eaten something she shouldnot have...the vet is a very good idea. I hope everything works out. I wil ltell you that an xray will not always show everything. Many blockages have been missed with an xray;>( Let us know how everything goes.
 

rickbmore

Savannah Super Cat
Still not sure of the problem. Vet saw her this morning. All of her vitals are fine and he said she wasn't very backed up and that her lack of feces was due to lack of food intake. Were giving her more wet food now. If she isn't feeling better by monday at 11 we are going back in for xrays. Our vet is very experienced so we trust his oppinion. Ripley weighed 10lbs even so she has lost approx. 2lbs this week. Keep your fingers crossed and I'll be keeping a very close eye on her. ripley.jpg
 
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shelby

Guest
I must have misunderstood? I thought you said she was eating and drinking good? I do hope she starts to feel better. How old is she? Is she vomiting at all?
 

Patti

Admin
Staff member
Still not sure of the problem. Vet saw her this morning. All of her vitals are fine and he said she wasn't very backed up and that her lack of feces was due to lack of food intake. Were giving her more wet food now. If she isn't feeling better by monday at 11 we are going back in for xrays. Our vet is very experienced so we trust his oppinion. Ripley weighed 10lbs even so she has lost approx. 2lbs this week. Keep your fingers crossed and I'll be keeping a very close eye on her. View attachment 6488
This is very bothersome - a 2lb weight lost (20% of her weight) in such a short time is not normal at all. It sounds like he didn't take any xrays this visit? I'm glad you trust your vet but I would be insisting on a barium swallow when (not if) you take her in Monday. As Shelby pointed out plain xrays rarely fing a blockage and requires barium for imaging.
 

rickbmore

Savannah Super Cat
She's still eating and drinking just at a reduced rate. He did'nt feel any stool backed up and She is not vomiting. The weight loss may not have been that severe. I weigh her holding her on a nice bathroom scale then subtract my weight so thats not a very precise way to weigh her opposed to the vets scale. There has def. been some weight loss this week that we can see in her around her hind quarters. She's peeing now twice a day from what I can tell wich is not much for her. Shes back at the vet at 11 tommorow morning so hopefully We'll have it figured out then.
 

John Popp

Site Supporter
With a few more of the blanks filled in, it seems like it would be important to get here back to her core diet before any of the weight loss. Regardless of whether it was kibble, canned, kitten or adult food, just get her back on her previous diet.

New food introductions shouldn't be made abruptly especially with kittens. New foods should be inserted in about 10-20% increments over 2-3 weeks. This gives your kitten the opportunity to make some digestive adjustments and also gives you the opportunity to keep an eye on what's coming out the other end.

You can also introduce the new foods in treat size portions, not more than a tablespoon along with their standard food. This will point out if they simply have an aversion to it. My cats all have things they don't like to eat and they can all be pretty obstinate about what they don't want to eat. None of them like turkey, one of them doesn't like rabbit, another one doesn't like duck and yet another one doesn't like the normal quantity of fish oil in their raw food.

It can definitely be a challenge, and if you change multiple things at once hard to find the culprit. As your kitten isn't experiencing constipation I would get the pumpkin out of the diet until such a time that you find greater need. My older cats, one of which has the need for a lower protein diet had some big issues with pumpkin which took a long time to transition in. We had better luck with well cooked peas pureed in a food processor. The pumpkin definitely took the better part of a month to transition in and I was relieved when we didn't have to be a scientist to mix their individual foods to get them to eat at their normal rates.
 
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shelby

Guest
Try boiling some chicken with the skin removed and after the broth has cooled offer her this to drink. It will hopefully get her to drink more.I would also offer the cooked chicken to see if this helps to get her to take in more food. Weight loss is not good;>( I would weigh her on the scales you use at home to see how much loss there actually was?
 

rickbmore

Savannah Super Cat
She refuses cooked chicken even on her day. I put some chicken stock on her dry and she dove right in, but only ate a few mouthfulls. Shes in decent spirits today. Jumping around some but still very vocal and def. "under the weather". Even though the vet couldn't feel much backed up stool I'm still gonna be very nervous untill she uses her box. If it doesn't happen tonight I'm gonna demand a barium swallow and xray tommorow at the vet.
 
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