10/18 Apollo PMBG 99

Yesterday's Condo

Good morning. Just posted Apollo's AMBG 153.

Well we had a little setback this morning. Apollo had his breakfast and I gave him his Lifelink Xobaline pill. He was doing great, then went into the litter box and passed a few poop logs, but then immediately when he jumped out of the box he vomited up his entire breakfast. I then found another poop log in the kitchen. I'm not sure if the poop log in the kitchen was there before or after the litter box movement? The log was very dark brown/black with lots of hair. Once he settled down I put a big dap of vaseline on his mouth as the vet said to give him some with his meals, but he won't really eat it when I put it in his food.

I also tried to give him 1/4 a 10mg tab of Pepcid AC last night, but as soon as I put it into his mouth his tongue would flip it right back out. Since I had to cut the pill down it's jagged and doesn't go down as easily as other pills I have given him in the past. Maybe I can try pushing it into a purebite treat or something for next time?

So I am a little worried seeing him have what seems like constipation issues again. He did poop quite a bit, but it appears he was straining and it made him upset enough to make him vomit. His appetite seems to have leveled off at 1.5 oz eaten for each of his main feedings. I just think that's the amount he is going to eat at this point.

The black-ish stool would have me concerned, but when he had his enema the vet said that it was normal since he is now on all wet food. She would know as she broke apart his poop logs to inspect it last week.

Should I keep up with the daily dab of vaseline on the nose, or do anything else at this point? Would the Lifelink Xobaline cause any stomach upset issues or no? Maybe it was just a random thing and nothing to worry about? Up until this morning he had been doing wonderfully. I know these things happen and I shouldn't worry, but it's like flipping on a switch inside of me and it's hard for me to turn it off.

Re: 10/18 Apollo AMBG 153

Did the vet recommend anything for the constipation? Jazzy was on Lactulose for the last week, and it made a big difference for her. Her stools tended to be huge and she was having difficulty passing them. Apollo may or may not need Lactulose (prescription med). Miralax can help too, or you can ask your vet if giving fluids might help. My vet also suggested a higher fiber food, but I didn't have time to investigate food.

Re: 10/18 Apollo AMBG 153

She said to put vaseline into his food for each mealtime and see if that helps. She said we could also try miralax or a high fiber food if that didn't help. I am leaning toward trying the miralax. If I did, how much would I give him?

I would have thought switching him over to all wet food would have eliminated any constipation issues. He never had anything like this happen when on all dry food, strange? I do know that he grooms himself a lot as well as licking on my other 2 cats constantly. It seems like the hair in the poop acts like a bit of a binding agent. The poop itself is normal sized, but does have a lot of hair in it. The hair almost forms an entire log all by itself.

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Hi guys .. I don't really know much about the meds apollo is on .. I hope it was a one time thing .. I know all to well about the worry switch we can't turn off .. Hope you guys have a great day!

Re: 10/18 Apollo AMBG 153

The dosing on Miralax is 1/8 to 1/4 of a teaspoon twice a day mixed into food. Add water any time you are feeding since Miralax pulls water into the gut.

You might want to try giving Apollo some butter or a bit of oil with his food if the vasoline isn't doing the trick. I also wouldn't have made the assumption that canned food would prevent a constipation problem. With canned food, especially foods with very low carb, the majority of the nutrients are being utilized. There result can be a harder stool despite there being moisture in canned food. Adding water will help.

Re: 10/18 Apollo AMBG 153

Greenies makes a diabetic-safe pill pocket now--I know PetSmart sells them and most vets. It might help you with the pepcid.

When Gabby wouldn't eat pill pockets anymore, I would take a tiny piece of cheese and mold it around her pill, and then roll the whole thing in tuna.

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i use the Duck & Pea Pill Pockets - they're sugar-free and safe for diabetic kitties. it's like meat-flavored play dough. you just mold it around the pill. i gave punkin antibiotics for several weeks and for the first 18 days had to push the pills covered in pill pockets down his throat. on day 19 he woke up and was like "give me that yummy thing!" and after that i just threw them on the floor. give them a try.

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oh, also as far as the hair goes - the good thing is that it's not blocking him and it's going on through. the bad thing is that they can form blockages. you might want to get into the daily hair brushing of all of your cats so that he's not swallowing so much hair. it can be serious. we thought that was what was going on with our last cat and had surgery to see if he had a hair blockage. it turned out to be cancer, but i took the warning and i comb punkin pretty much every day with a fine tooth people comb.

here ya go, just for laughs:
[youtube]SrVBjvBE5fc[/youtube]

Re: 10/18 Apollo AMBG 153

john, have you tried crushing the methyl B12 pill between 2 spoons and mixing the powder in his food? it's a lot easier than pilling a cat.

re: miralax dose
as sienne mentioned, many cats get 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon mixed in food twice a day. however, if that doesn't do the trick you can you can gradually increase the amount of miralax until you're seeing what you want.

re: vomiting upon leaving the litter box
when cats have a full tummy and strain while using the litter box (due to constipation) it's not unusual for them to vomit from the straining as soon as they're done with their business. i used to see it when mine were getting used to a raw food diet (a raw food diet often produces a hard, crumbly, dry stool).

re: adding fiber to the diet of a constipated cat
if you search Dr. Lisa's posts on Health, you'll see she recommends low fiber + miralax.
here's a post of hers from a few days ago: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=54340&p=588343&hilit=fiber#p588343.
from what i've read, adding fiber is now considered "old school".

will apollo let you place a dollop of vaseline on the roof of his mouth? it's the only way i can get any hairball remedy into 3 out of 4 of my cats. be aware, if you use vaseline often you'll want to use the kind that's petroleum free. petroleum can inhibit the absorption of nutrients.

Re: 10/18 Apollo AMBG 153

Thanks everyone for all the wonderful advice and suggestions.

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Jill & Alex said:

john, have you tried crushing the methyl B12 pill between 2 spoons and mixing the powder in his food? it's a lot easier than pilling a cat.

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No, I didn't try that as he doesn't always eat all of his food and so I wanted to be sure I got the entire dose in him. Actually giving him the B12 pill is a piece of cake and he usually swallows it right down. The tough one was the 1/4 Pepcid AC as it was very jagged since I had to cut it down to the 1/4 size.

Jill & Alex said:

re: miralax dose
as sienne mentioned, many cats get 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon mixed in food twice a day. however, if that doesn't do the trick you can you can gradually increase the amount of miralax until you're seeing what you want.

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Any tips of how to get exactly 1/8 to 1/4 a teaspoon or just eye ball it?

Jill & Alex said:

will apollo let you place a dollop of vaseline on the roof of his mouth? it's the only way i can get any hairball remedy into 3 out of 4 of my cats. be aware, if you use vaseline often you'll want to use the kind that's petroleum free. petroleum can inhibit the absorption of nutrients.

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No, I can smear a blob on his mouth, right under the nose, but he won't let me put it on the roof of his mouth. Actually what I used to do was give him Laxatone every so often using a syringe (no needle) I got from the vet. I would pack the syringe with Laxatone and then pin him between my legs and push the Laxatone down his throat little by little. I can't do that anymore as I know the Laxatone has lots of sugar in it. My other cat loves the Laxatone and will eat it no problem. I started to use the vaseline as I read that it's basically the same thing minus the added sugar.

So is the miralax the best option for him at this point? Or should I do that AND the vaseline and/or something else or skip that? Is 1 blob of vaseline a day enough or should I use more? I am looking to find something I can do daily if possible and make it part of our routine. I'm guessing just go with JUST the miralax for now.

Re: 10/18 Apollo AMBG 153

Any tips of how to get exactly 1/8 to 1/4 a teaspoon or just eye ball it?

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I use a 1/4 tsp measuring spoon and eyeball it for half to get 1/8th.

When I need to use vaseline for hairballs, I put it on Morgaine's paw and she licks it off. Sometimes she flicks some of it off but usually she gets enough down her throat.

I have been using Flying Bassett Organic probiotic, 1/8th tsp mixed in food 1x daily, for a while now. I don't know about it helping hairballs but it softens her stool to a healthy consistency and she hasn't had a constipation or loose stool problem since we started using it. My vet suggested an animal probiotic daily for general health reasons.

Just posted Apollo's PMBG 99. Gave him 1/4 teaspoon of Miralax and 1/4 tablet of Pepcid AC with his PM feeding. Do I need to give vaseline too or is the Miralax enough for now?

Re: 10/18 Apollo AMBG 153

skybar22 said:

When I need to use vaseline for hairballs, I put it on Morgaine's paw and she licks it off. Sometimes she flicks some of it off but usually she gets enough down her throat.

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I tried that and Apollo just laughs and walks around the house flicking vaseline all over the place. He refuses to lick it off his paw, so I tried the smashing a blob under his nose approach. That worked better! :smile:

John & Apollo said:

Do I need to give vaseline too or is the Miralax enough for now?

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i don't know if there's any hard and fast answer to that question. when any of mine appear to be passing a lot of hair in their stools i give them both a hairball remedy and miralax for a few days. it works for us.