update on cat peeing everywhere

xteacher wrote:
I've heard that dry food is the worst thing you can feed a cat. They don't drink enough water, no matter what you do, so canned is best for them.

Unless it is "Veterinary Dry Diet Urinary SO" prescription food. That has a medication that makes the cat thirsty and want to drink water.

Just be careful that whatever fiber you give is just fiber. Look out for sweeteners and flavorings that may not be safe for cats. Walmart makes a capsule with finely ground pure psyllium husks that is easily broken open and a good daily dose.

I would also run blood/urine if constipation is an ongoing issue. Changes in the kidneys, liver ornthyroid or blood sugar issues can all create a tendency to dehydration that may create a tendency to constipation.

Personally I am not a fan of the "keep magnesium away from cats" trend. Magnesium deficiency will often manifest as constipation. Don't ask me how I know!

MrsSoCalToolGuy wrote:
I'm glad that this subject was reopened. We have 3 cats. Sophie, who is about 7 years old, recently started to poop on a rug near the front door. The litter box is in another room.. We keep it clean at all times, changed the litter and when that didn't help we went back to the old litter.. Still didn't help.. She is diffently constipated, so we bought some Laxatone from Petco a couple of days ago. We also added a little tuna fish with oil to her food hoping that would help..

We'll take her to the vet next. Never thought of Metamucil.. Today she used the litter box and seemed to not be so constipated. We'll do whatever it take to solve this problem..She is the sweetest cat and we love her, so we have to fix this problem..

Barb

What really sucks is when they can't complete a bowel movement and they drag their butt on the carpet to get it all out of them. Yuck!

The laxatone helps, we use that too. But we found the stuff they sell at Petco is watered down or something. We had to keep it in the fridge to keep it semi-paste like. We buy ours from the Vet. Its actually cheaper and works better and stays paste like without refrigeration. Also the Laxatone will cause them to urinate more. So don't panic if the litter box has a lot of wet litter in it.

The vet is the one that told us to use the Metamucil. I was skeptical. We were using canned pumpkin. Very effective, but cats hate it. Turns out the Metamucil is really easy to give them. You can sprinkle the Metamucil on some wet food and they have no clue. Plus, because its fiber, it won't hurt them. You can't accidentally give them too much. We bought a generic version of it. Very inexpensive.

xteacher wrote:
Barb, do you feed canned food? I've heard that dry food is the worst thing you can feed a cat. They don't drink enough water, no matter what you do, so canned is best for them.

We do keep dry food next to their water bowl, but once a day they get wet food.. Sophie is too fat but the problem is, that the other two are healthy and at a good weight. They are all rescues and the oldest one must have had only dry food.. She eats very little canned food..

Three cats with different eating habits are a challenge..


Barb

I find that a 1/4 teaspoon or so of psyllium husk powder mixed with wet food keeps the hairballs to a minimum. It presumably encourages regularity, but that was never an issue, so I don't know for sure. But it is a big help with hairballs.

We lost a cat several years ago from mega colon - a severe form of constipation in which the muscles of the large intestine stop functioning to keep things moving.
Later, our other cat started having constipation problems, so we were pretty concerned.
Our vet advised us to put 1/8 teaspoon of Miralax in his wet food every day. No problems since then.

xteacher wrote:
I've heard that dry food is the worst thing you can feed a cat.

I don't find any legitimate sites that mention anything like that.

Barb, do you feed canned food? I've heard that dry food is the worst thing you can feed a cat. They don't drink enough water, no matter what you do, so canned is best for them.

I'm glad that this subject was reopened. We have 3 cats. Sophie, who is about 7 years old, recently started to poop on a rug near the front door. The litter box is in another room.. We keep it clean at all times, changed the litter and when that didn't help we went back to the old litter.. Still didn't help.. She is diffently constipated, so we bought some Laxatone from Petco a couple of days ago. We also added a little tuna fish with oil to her food hoping that would help..

We'll take her to the vet next. Never thought of Metamucil.. Today she used the litter box and seemed to not be so constipated. We'll do whatever it take to solve this problem..She is the sweetest cat and we love her, so we have to fix this problem..

Barb

Campfire Time wrote:
Not sure why this would be so controversial. This is always worth looking into as there can be so many different causes, most of them easy to fix or deal with. Glad you were able to figure it out.

We have an older cat who frequently pees outside the litter box. It took a while to figure out, but the ultimate cause was constipation. He's in pain, so he can't always squat in the box. He stands on the edges of the box with rear hanging outside, then he pees. Not fun. We give him Metamucil twice a day in wet food now and it helps a lot. And we keep those doggy training pads under the litter box and a plastic sheet under that. Makes for easy cleanup when he does pee outside the box.

I will have to remember this one. We had that issue with another cat a few years ago. She peed in the litter box but pooped on the floor next to it. She ended up having a stroke and we put her to sleep.