Experiences with Lactulose?

For the most part Ballonee has been acting content since shes been back from the vet, but I've noticed that she her little tummy feels a bit distended and she hasn't been pooping a lot. About 4 days ago she had a hard bowel movement and the vet said he wasn't too worried because she'll be moving around more now. But I think she's still having issues.. so the vet suggested giving her 1ml lactulose.. anyone have any advice or disclaimers before I take action? just thought I'd check because I have no experience with Lactulose on kittys and I don't want to make things worse for her right now shes pretty fragile.

 

Plain pumpkin is good if she is constipated or Miralax. I'm sure someone with more experience will be by soon.

 

Hi Spencer,

Found this on a quick web search:

https://endocrinevet.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/q-will-lactulose-affect-blood-sugar.html

Bearing in mind that Ballonee has a tendency to go low, then even if some of the lactulose were to get absorbed it might not be any harm. Now you're home testing you should be able to detect any possible impact of the Lactulose on Ballonee's BG levels.

Bearing in mind that Ballonee needs to eat more the last thing she needs is to be dealing with constipation: it can definitely cause nausea and inappetence (and makes a kitty miserable when it's bad) so if I were in your shoes I'd give a quick ring to the vets, do the necessary to treat the constipation, monitor BG levels and take it from there (in close ongoing consultation with the vet).

Note: Continue to keep a very close eye on Ballonee's BG levels: sometimes constipation discomfort may have an upward influence on BG and levels may drop a bit when a cat has a poop.

Here's a useful site:

http://felineconstipation.org/

I'd suggest getting the vet to give Ballonee a once-over before adding any fibre to her diet so as to make sure that there's no GI obstruction or any impacted faeces. (More about this at the link above.)


Mogs
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That's what I'm worried about with the lactulose too though :/ I told the vet I was worried about giving her lactulose when I don't know if she is obstructed and he said if she was obstructed she would be vomiting and probably wouldn't eat for me.

Yes will do!! Thank you for the information.

 

I never had any luck with the lactulose and personally can't figure out why the vets still recommend it. It's a sticky syrupy goop that most cat's don't like. Miralax worked the best and is virtually tasteless. Mixed in wet food was the easiest way to get it into my cat. Pureed pumpkin can work too.

 

I give Dakota lactulose for the CKD ammonia cleaning functions rather than the constipation/laxative part. I also give him fortiflora to counteract the laxative action. I just put it on a spoonful of his food - he actually likes the sweet stuff. It does raise his bg by about 75-100 points but he comes back down fairly quickly. I give him about 1.5ml daily....he's a big boy.

As long as you know he's not obstructed, it should be OK but I'm always concerned that backed up poop then laxative behind it can cause bowel perforation. I always have xray done if unsure.

 

How long did the míralax take to work? My cat is backed up 3 days now. @Critter Mom

 

I imagine each cat may be different but it worked for my cats in a day or two. Sometimes over night. When I first brought my cat home from the shelter he would go 2 or 3 days without a good poop. After a while I realized it was his food and also that he had mild IBD. He doesn't have problems now since he eats only wet food but does get the opposite problem sometimes due to his IBD. Miralax also worked well for my previous cat also with IBD only hers was severe and she was unable to push any ingested hair through her system so she was on it as a regular supplement three days a week.