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Constipation

Titan is a 2 yr old F2 male who has been sickly most of his life. Recently he has been suffering from constipation and will not eat. He looks very bad today (hasn't eaten in 3 days) and we had to force feed him chicken broth to at least get some fluids into him. My husband also gave him a laxative prescribed by the vet which has worked previously but no luck so far this time.

He started this behavior about a month ago. He was eating Touch of the Wild (Salmon Flavor) dry food so we decided to change his diet. I would boil chicken thighs or legs and combine the meat & broth in a blender so it was easy for him to digest. He seemed to be doing better with this diet. Eventually I stopped blending the chicken & we even started giving him raw chicken & blanched chicken livers. But now we are back to the drawing board as he is constipated again!!!

Has anyone else had constipation issues with their savannah cats? Any advice would be greatly appreciated as we are at our wits end. So tired of seeing him like this.
 

admin

Paige
Staff member
Melody, he needs to be seen by a vet if he has not eaten in 3 days..constipation can be an issue for any cat...could be something like megacolon or just a diet that is not appropriate. have you contacted the breeder?

Chicken and broth is what is often used for diarrhea or loose stools...

Also...I don't understand why a laxative would be given to a cat that is not eating...
 

WitchyWoman

Admin
Staff member
Melody you need to get that cat to a vet ASAP! Emergency clinic. After 3 days of not eating, he could already be suffering from Feline Hepatic Lipidosis and if he hasn't had any liquids he may be dehydrated. Serious business. Has your vet done MRI or x-ray or any other tests to determine the cause of the constipation? If he's been sickly all his life, he could have irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease both of which would have been made worse by a diet of kibble.

So, get him to an emergency clinic tonight.
 
S

shelby

Guest
Titan is a 2 yr old F2 male who has been sickly most of his life. Recently he has been suffering from constipation and will not eat. He looks very bad today (hasn't eaten in 3 days) and we had to force feed him chicken broth to at least get some fluids into him. My husband also gave him a laxative prescribed by the vet which has worked previously but no luck so far this time.

He started this behavior about a month ago. He was eating Touch of the Wild (Salmon Flavor) dry food so we decided to change his diet. I would boil chicken thighs or legs and combine the meat & broth in a blender so it was easy for him to digest. He seemed to be doing better with this diet. Eventually I stopped blending the chicken & we even started giving him raw chicken & blanched chicken livers. But now we are back to the drawing board as he is constipated again!!!

Has anyone else had constipation issues with their savannah cats? Any advice would be greatly appreciated as we are at our wits end. So tired of seeing him like this.
Taste of the wild is a good food. The problem could be that he isn't drinking enough water. i will tell you that giving canned food might help Try giving canned food, but get that baby to the vet. Constipation can cause more problems. Actually the diet is probably the problem. He needs to see the vet ASAP.
 
Agree with others here that Titan needs to be seen by a vet, the sooner the better! Is there an emergency clinic nearby? They can hydrate him and get a feeding tube in him if necessary. I had a cat who didn't eat for three days, due a negative reaction to some medicine. She almost died of Hepatic Lipidosis (fatty liver). The feline liver metabolizes fat differently than other species, the fat cells build up quickly, and it becomes a life or death situation really fast.
 

Brigitte Cowell

Moderator
Staff member
As the others have said, get the cat to the vet asap! Not eating for three days is very serious for a cat... hepatic lipidosis could well kill him.

As to the constipation issue, you need to work that out with a internal medicine or nutritional specialist. I have just spent 6 months working on this issue with an unusual presentation of constipation when it happened in a kitten that was only 6 weeks old and not even eating yet. They don't even know what has happened but fortunately it is resolving itself after a lot of medication, procedures, acupuncture and diet changes.

What I do know is that if he is backed up now, giving the laxative likely won't help. I've been reading the Feline Megacolon Yahoogroup (which is what can happen to a cat with chronic constipation issues) and the general consensus is that laxatives such as lactulose and miralax only help with the food they are eating at the time you are giving it, it does NOT help with the hard compacted food already in their system. Chances are your cat needs a kitty enema or if really bad he needs a deobstipation procedure.

What laxative did the vet give? Most seem to prescribe lactulose even though most of those on the megacolon group are very strong about miralax which seems much more effective plus is a tasteless powder you can mix into food and doesn't need a prescription. It seems a newer medication so maybe most vets haven't learned yet that this seems to give better results.

My kitten has needed a high fiber diet, it seems for feline constipation a vet will recommend either a low residue diet (like the just chicken meat you've been giving) or a high fiber diet. Possibly your cat needs fiber. Currently we add metamucil (psyllium husk) and baby oatmeal to his ground chicken thighs and supplements... my kitten refused pumpkin, barley and rice as we tried those first as fiber sources.

When you say your cat has been sickly most his life, what issues has he had? And since you got him or since he was born?

BUT NO MATTER WHAT, your kitty needs veterinary attention now! Once he is eating again you can work on the diet and constipation etc...but he's suffering now and needs help!
 

Brigitte Cowell

Moderator
Staff member
It's certainly been an education the last six months! Mostly I'd heard and read about kitten diarrhea not constipation so it was new to me...and to all the specialists that Babbage saw!

But being me, I did a lot of reading and asked the internal medicine specialist vets a lot of questions... so know more than I really wanted or needed to know, LOL!
 

admin

Paige
Staff member
Melody, I hope you will let us know how Titan is, now that we are all really worried about him...
 
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