Constipated cat.

Hi Dr. Marie,

The last time I emailed you (about a year ago), our cat, Keane, was having diarrhea problems. That cleared up after a little while, mainly because we switched his diet. We changed him on to Science Diet Sensitive Stomach formula, which quelled the diarrhea, but contributed to his stool being on the harder side. We didn't think too much of it because he would typically still go poo virtually every day. But sometimes the stool would seem particularly hard - almost in 'pellet' form. During this time he didn't act out of the ordinary (which he definitely did during his diarrhea), and has always been relatively active.

However, over the last two days, Keane has been pooping outside of his litter box. Whenever he goes outside of his litter box, to me, thats a sure fire sign that something beyond ordinary is going on. The consistency of his poo hasn't changed, but pooping outside of the box is a new behaviour.

So, for that reason, we'd like to ask you how we might deal with his constipation/hard stool situation. One quick note - Keane has a major plastic fetish that we have taken strict action with over the years. We are very good about limiting his ability to eat plastic bags lying around, but every once in a while we'll find a chunk of half digested plastic and worry what its done to his insides. He has always passed it, however, and he has almost never gone a day without pooping. However, when I search your site for 'constipation', I read a little about megacolon and it scares us quite a bit. I really don't think its anything THAT serious, but feel like the time has come to take some action.

Thank you for your help.

Mark

Thanks for your advice, Dr. Marie.

Just as a quick follow-up, I should have also mentioned that we give Keane prednisolone to help him deal with his asthma. I'm not sure if constipation might be a side effect of him taking this medication though (2.5mg per day). Might you know off hand?

Also, I saw you write on a response to someone about constipation that you recommend bran. We have this readily available at home and could easily add a little to his diet. Might this be appropriate to try?

In the meantime, we will try to get him to drink a little more. He always gets wet food mixed in with the dry however. Would an increase in the ammount of wet food, to increase the moisture in his diet, be a good idea?

Thanks again for your help!

Mark

Okay... Thanks again, Dr. Marie.

Best wishes,
Mark