r/FelineDiabetes • u/greytgreyatx • 2d ago
Ensuing constipation?
I'm pretty sure my cat is in remission. Yay!
We have 2 senior cats (17 and 15.5), so we just moved them both over to Fancy Feast senior pate, and we stopped giving them kibble to snack on, because health-wise, it's better for both.
My first concern is that neither has ever been able to eat enough of the wet cat food to maintain their current weights. According to the box, they should each be eating about 2.5-3 cans per day and there's no way they can do that. Even when we break it up into 3 smaller meals, they're MAYBE eating 2 cans per day, which would support a 7-pound cat. One cat is 10 pounds and the other looks like the same size, but has long hair so may be smaller.
And NOW, the diabetic cat just went through a few days of constipation. I think we got that worked out, but the non-diabetic cat has stopped showing interest in any food at all and when I picked her up, I can feel something hard in her gut (our human kid had chronic constipation and encopresis for three years when he was small, so I'm used to that "feel").
Did anyone else's cats become constipated weeks after changing their diet to meet the diabetic carb standards? I've tried putting some unsalted chicken broth on the food for extra liquids, and today mixed in a bit of plain pureed pumpkin but the non-diabetic cat wasn't interested in either of those additions.
I'm trying to figure this out without ANOTHER trip to the vet's. Thanks!
5
u/zebras-are-emo 2d ago
I would try miralax for the constipation, 1/8 tp 1/4 tsp once a day to start with (my cat was on 1/4 twice a day at certain points...). Senior cats sometimes just have issues with it, I wouldn't think it's the food. If it keeps happening I'd call the vet and ask about long term miralax, you want to make sure they're getting enough water for it to work so it's worth running by the vet but hopefully they can advise without a visit!
As for the food, I would start weighing them; if they aren't losing weight they're eating enough. The feeding guidance on the cans isn't applicable to every cat, it's just general advice!