it's a good thing i'm not very superstitious

[firecat]

Otherwise I might be a lot more freaked out about having had to spend New Year's Eve at the emergency vet with Angus.

He refused food and was straining and producing a couple of drops of urine each time. I know urinary tract blockage is a serious condition for male cats so I took him to the emergency vet. But they couldn't find a blockage, so they took an X-ray. It turned out the problem was with the other sort of elimination - he was chronically constipated.

They gave him an enema. Then they had to wash him. Then when I got him home, I had to wash him some more. Poor guy. I also have to switch him to high fiber food now, or add pumpkin or metamucil to his food.

I had no idea how lucky I was with my cat Selkie, who never had a single health problem until the last couple years of her 12 years with me. Both of my cats have chronic problems now. At least Biscuit's vomiting episodes seem to be staying under control with application of allergy pills.

Comments

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

as you know, buster_kitten is chronically constipated. he also hates pumpkin :/ i have solved this issue. if Angus won't eat pumpkin/flavored foods, let me know and i'll write out various antidotes to get things moving again :)

i'm glad he seems like he's going to be OK. poor guy!

n.

[firecat]

I swear, angus and buster_kitten must be twins.

I would love to know about your antidotes, if it's not too much trouble to write out. Congrats on solving the problem!

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

hi, sorry to come back ot this so late.

what i do is this:

i pre-mix fiber. so, i get like a 2 cup container. into it goes 1 tablespoon of psyllium. the rest is filled with water. mix well and keep in the 'fridge.

at feeding time, i mix 1-2 tablespoons of this particular mixture into Buster's food. if he's been dehydrated (like he has been lately), then i mix in a couple of extra tablespoons of plain water too. you can also use broth, but the vet told me to make sure that it does not have dehydrated onion in it, as that's bad for their kidneys. i was using "Imagine" brand organic chicken broth, so that wasn't a problem.

when he got stuck this last time, i would give him lots of water in his food, plus 2000 mg of flaxseed oil. i got (very cheaply) a big bottle of the 1000 mg capsules at the vitamin shop, and would squeeze them into the food. he didn't notice at all.

and he came unstuck right quick, too.

the main thing is fiber and water. the psyllium has no taste, so as long as it's mixed with meaty goodness, Angus shouldn't have too many issues with it.

:D

n.

[firecat]

Thanks! That's really helpful!