Constipation in Cats, Prevention of Dehydration, Arthritis and Lack of Exercise

We’re continuing the discussion of constipation in cats, focusing on what we can do to prevent and treat it. Let’s cover more of the factors that predispose cats to develop constipation and discuss how to prevent them

4. Dehydration
When cats are dehydrated they become constipated. This is because dry fecal material hardens like quick setting cement. The gritty cement edges damage the intestinal lining and so that the gut bleeds. The irritated blood vessels are more porous and they begin to absorb molecules of meant to be discarded. The longer the feces remains in the intestine, the more likely it is that cats progress from simple dehydration to sepsis and toxicity.

To help prevent dehydration, feed canned food whenever possible. Provide fresh, moving sources of water. For some cats, that’s a fountain, for others a dripping faucet. Some cats like ice cubes clunking in their water. Use containers large enough to allow cats to drink without compressing their whiskers.. If necessary, flavor the water with drops of tuna juice or cream.

Be sure to wash water dishes daily and replenish with fresh water. Triple rinse water dishes so you remove lingering detergents. For most cat families, stainless steel, glass or ceramic dishes are easiest to clean and least likely to have residual odors.

5. Arthritis
· Most cat families aren’t aware that arthritis affects over 90% of older cats and that it predisposes cats to constipation. Arthritis leads to constipation because:
· Cats are too painful or stiff to squat defecate.
· Cats are so stiff they can’t climb up over the lip of the box.
· Cats are too stiff to go downstairs and out into their normal outside spots.

Once we realize a cat has arthritis, there are several good pain medications that will keep them comfortable. For example, injectable glycosaminoglycans such as Adequan lubricate joints. Herb mixtures containing Boswellia and antioxidants help. Chinese herbal remedies help. Work with a veterinarian to choose exactly the right medication because medicating cats to control arthritis is much trickier than medicating people or dogs.

6. Lack of exercise
Out in nature, cats are active hunters. They evolved to stalk, leap, snarl, twirl, and chomp. When cats are kept indoors or are unable to be active because of arthritis or illness, their muscles waste away. Muscle movement moves stool so that if the muscles can’t contract, stool isn’t propelled through the intestines and out of the body. We can help cats exercise by providing an enriching indoor environment, allowing them outdoors, and ensuring they are feeling healthy enough to move.

We’ll continue discussing prevention of constipation in the next Caring for Pets entry.

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Constipation in Cats, Preventing Poor Teeth, Poor Appetite, and Diets Low in Fiber

We’ll continue the discussion on constipation in cats, focusing on what we can do to prevent and treat it. Let’s take our factors that predispose cats to develop constipation and discuss how to prevent each of them:
1. poor teeth
2. poor appetite
3. diet low in fiber
4. dehydration
5. arthritis so cannot assume a squatting position
6. lack of exercise
7. dislike area used for defecation
8. kidney disease causing fluid and electrolyte disturbance
9. hairballs
10. obstruction from cancer mass
11. rectal pain
12. medications

1. Poor Teeth
We can help cats with painful poor teeth by having yearly dental treatments. Exposed painful root areas can be covered over or teeth can be pulled. Cats always do better with no teeth than with painful teeth. We can provide CoQ10 to nourish the gums and help keep them healthy so that gingivitis is less likely to develop. We can also give our cats crunchy bones to chew on or allow them to catch mice because these are nature’s toothbrush—even to the tail with which the refined cat flosses.

2. Poor Appetite
Cats need material moving through their intestines daily to stimulate defecation. When they become ill with liver or kidney disease, they often lose their appetites. Have blood tests taken every year in young cats and every 6 months in older cats. If there’s a suggestion that the kidneys or liver is weakening, ask for herbs or nutritional supplements that support these organs. Omega 3 fatty acids from fish or flax seed are good for the kidneys. Milk thistle and artichoke are two of the many supplements that benefit the liver.

3. Diet Low in Fiber
Cats naturally love fibrous foods because they’ve evolved eating insects, mice, birds, and fish. Discuss with your veterinarian if you should be providing small amounts of ground bone, or using fiber such as rice bran, psyllium, or Metamucil. Consider adding supplements with ground flax or hemp. Missing Link makes a great product for cats. When offering any fibrous food, ensure your cat gets plenty of water. Flavor it with a drop of fish oil or a few drops of cream. Use only those foods and supplements that agree with your cat. Not all cats are healthy eating all the great foods out there.

We’ll examine more of these predisposing factors in the next entry.

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Constipation in Cats, Signs & Symptoms

Constipation causes pain and distress in cats so we want to be able to recognize the signs and symptoms that our cats are constipated. Signs are the things that we observe, such as blood in the stool. Symptoms are the way cats feel, such as painful.

Signs and symptoms that a cat has developed constipation:

• Small hard fecal pellets


• Going more than 24 hours without defecating


• Going to the litter box but not producing stool


• Diarrhea (An intestine irritated because its packed with feces develops spasms. The spasms force small amounts of liquid stool around the packed feces so that soft stool oozes from the anus and it appears the cat has diarrhea.)


• Abdominal pain


• Looking at the belly


• Pulling hair out of the belly


• Licking the bottom obsessively


• Blood in the stool

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Constipation in Cats, Why Older Cats Are Predisposed

We’re discussing constipation in cats, which is often a problem for Manx cats because they lack nerves that travel to their distal intestines and rump muscles. Manx cats may also have abnormally shaped pelvis bones so that nerves travelling to the rump are more likely to be pinched. Without healthy nerve innervation, cats can lack the normal impetus to assume a squatting position and defecate, or don’t have muscles able to contract and physically empty the bowels.

Among the problems senior cats have that predispose them to developing constipation are:
· poor teeth
· poor appetite
· diet low in fiber
· dehydration
· arthritis so cannot assume a squatting position
· lack of exercise
· dislike area used for defecation
· kidney disease causing fluid and electrolyte disturbance
· hairballs
· obstruction from cancer mass
· rectal pain
· medication

As we continue to discuss constipation in cats, we’ll cover signs and symptoms, then prevention and treatment.

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Constipation in Cats, The Manx Is At Risk

Constipation, which is difficulty passing stool (defecating), is a painfully common problem for cats.

Any cat can become constipated, but tail-less Manx cats often inherit a tendency to become constipated. While some Manx cats have normal bodies and just lack a tail, many Manx cats have abnormal bones, muscles, and nerves in their back ends. Cats with back end abnormalities—which may not be visible on the surface—cannot propel their feces out of the intestines. These cats hold stool for so long it fossilizes.

Manx cats with severely abnormal rumps can begin making fossils as kittens, but cats with only slight abnormalities may get though youth and middle age without a problem. Unfortunately, the Manx, like many cats, develop constipation as seniors.

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Gizmo and Feline Constipation

Feline Constipation
The subtle problem that Caring for Pets is going to address next is feline constipation. We’ll focus on helping Gizmo, an 11-year-old male Manx from Port Townsend, WA. Gizmo is reported to be in generally good health but has developed constipation. To help Gizmo, and all the other cats suffering from the common problem of constipation, we’re going to discuss:

• signs and symptoms,
• why it’s essential to treat constipation, and
• how to treat it.

Treatments for Constipation in Cats
Over the next few entries, we’ll cover conventional and holistic therapies, including

• diet,
• propulsive agents,
• suppositories,
• herbs,
• homeopathy, and
• acupuncture.

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Death and Belief in an Afterlife

We’re Back!
We’ve been away from Caring for Pets for several weeks due to the illness and death of a family member from cancer. David was the finest man I’ve ever met, also the handsomest and most intelligent, but none of these qualities prevented him from suffering and distress.

Cancer
David had metastatic cancer that invaded his kidney, brain, liver, and lungs. Chemotherapy scorched his tongue and he didn’t want to eat. A swollen liver allowed the wrong materials to reach his brain, and his thinking resembled that of an old alcoholic rather than the brilliant man he was. He had seizures and took medications that dulled his thinking. He fussed repeatedly with his contact lenses, and one day we found three in one eye. David was irritated by noise and came to dislike music and occasionally demanded that everyone leave the house. The fine women who work to produce Pollen Sweaters (http://www.pollensweaters.com/) in his home accepted this with incredible grace. Everyone, especially his son, grandson, wife, daughters, and close family members worked to make him happy, but even the family was not enough to bring David peace the last few weeks of life.

Afterlife
These last weeks, David was distressed as much from mental suffering as from physical suffering. His mental suffering wasn’t caused by despair that he’d wasted life but from his inability to believe in an afterlife. Belief in an afterlife is something each of us comes to through our own awareness. Most holistic veterinarians realize there is an afterlife because of the energy pets share with us, especially when we ease their suffering through euthanasia. Those of us who are aware of an afterlife know that David, like all creatures, is surrounded by a loving energy in death just as in life.

Alleviate Pet Suffering
David’s death was very painful experience, but it is also an opportunity to focus on what’s important, and I’m going to redouble my efforts to alleviate pet suffering. Some pet suffering is obvious and dramatic—trauma, cancer, and crushing infections—but the most common forms of pet suffering are more subtle, such as lameness, nausea, and bowel problems. More on the bowel problem of constipation coming right up. At least there's movement somewhere.

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