The dissertation is coming along - nicely, I suppose. All chapters have been written, and are going through the editing process. (There are, in my head, three editing steps. Step one is being edited by my major professor. Step two is being edited by a second committee member who also agreed to serve as my reader. The final step is for my entire document to be read by all my committee members.) Chapter 1 has been through step 1 and is perhaps ready for 2. Chapter 2 has made it all the way through steps 1 and 2! Chapter 3, my longest chapter, in about 1/4 of the way through step 1. I still have a ways to go, but at least this stuff is on paper and somewhat out of my head.In the meantime, I have also been dealing with a sick cat. Understand that I say "sick" because I don't want to say "old." She has just turned 12, and to me, that is not THAT old for a cat. I just don't want to face the possibility of "letting go." I'm sure that's understandable. At any rate, my oldest daughter, Miss Cleopatra Clementine Garlotte - Miss Cleo, is experiencing a nice handful of symptoms...lethargy, lack of appetite, grumpiness, and the biggie - constipation. It seems, though, that we've figured out a nice working remedy for the constipation, and I wanted to share it.
After researching online and talking with my vet, I tried a few of the remedies for the constipation. Most of the sites recommend plain, canned pumpkin (as opposed to pumpkin pie filling which contains spices and other schtuff) to increase the fiber in her diet. Being the picky eater that she is, coupled with her lack of appetite, she was not AT ALL interested in eating the pumpkin herself. I mixed it with some warm water and assisted her feeding with a syringe. I am a poop-checker, and I noticed that, when she was able to evacuate, there were areas of orange, so I knew the pumpkin was working its way through her system. At one point, I even fed her at least half a (3ml) syringe full of mineral oil, and instead of getting a nice, moist poop, my cat ended up with a greasy, orange hiney...apparently, I loaded her up with mineral oil right after a hit of pumpkin. Not only was I cleaning up orange stains wherever she chose to sit/sleep, she was NOT happy...AND worse, her evacuation eventually became less frequent, as did her urination.
I spoke with the vet again, and he determined that Miss Cleo was indeed constipated and needed another enema. (She had received an enema before at the vets, with sedation, but because of time constraints, this conversation occuring on Friday afternoon, the vet would not be able to sedate and evacuate Cleo again until Monday at the earliest.) So, I suggested performing the enema myself at home. (I do not necessarily recommend this, y'all!! Imagine your husband holding your large, EXTREEEEEMELY grumpy cat down while you try to carefully go where you have NEVER been before and never thought you'd ever go. Well, let me just put it this way....it was traumatic for all. 'Nuff said.) Let me just cut to the chase with this enema thing...it wasn't easy, it took a little time and patience, but I'm glad we did it. Miss Cleo had two bowel movements within about a half hour's time.
The vet also outlined a diet plan including a combination of lubrication, fiber, and probiotics. He also sent me home with some more prednisone. (She had already been on prednisone, but she wasn't really responding to the 1/4 pill I was giving her every other day, so the vet upped the dosage a bit to give her a kickstart.) He suggested mineral oil, psyllium and/or pumpkin, and plain yogurt. Off I went to Walmart to grocery shop for my cat, and here is what I learned.....the only psyllium I felt I could use was the 100% psyllium kind. That only existed in little capsules. Other psyllium fiber laxatives contain a sweetener, and most contained an orange flavor. (How can you hide ORANGE FLAVOR from a cat?!?) Thankfully, the capsules were the Equate brand, and bonus! - they were the cheapest option!! Since the capsules refuse to slide apart, I just cut off the end of a capsule to dispense the contents into the food. Of course, Walmart bites me in the butt by only selling plain yogurt in that large, quart size. (Really? No one wants a SMALL plain yogurt, Walmart??! Have you ever tasted that stuff?? Plain yogurt should ONLY come in small containers.) I had mineral oil and pumpkin at home, so they were not on my list. I can hear you now...."Okay, Shelly, get to the point. I wanna know how to fix my cat's constipation, dangit!"
Understand that during the day Cleo eats water-saturated feline Prescription C/D (hard food) and gets occasional teaspoons of canned C/D or A/D when she gives us that "I want something different" stare. HOWEVER, here's where I landed with Cleo's SUPPLEMENTARY diet.....
Each morning, she receives an assisted feeding of a heaping teaspoon of plain yogurt mixed with a few teaspoons of warm water, and half the contents of a psyllium fiber capsule mixed together very well (about the consistency of melted ice cream). I suck it up in the syringe, and try to convince Miss Cleo that this is the best-tasting stuff EVER while I dispense it in small squirts to the side of her mouth. (Ever had a yogurt shower?)
Every evening before I go to bed, Miss Cleo receives a teaspoon of canned Prescription A/D mixed with ~2/3 teaspoon of mineral oil, a couple of teaspoons of warm water, and the other half of the contents of the fiber capsule. I mix it together very well (thankfully, canned A/D becomes very smooth/creamy, and this mixture looks like slightly greasy gravy), and dispense as I did with the morning mixture. I follow this evening-time "supplement" with a full syringe of water. Yes, my cat hates me, but she must know that I love her, right??
We have been on the above routine for about a week. As of yesterday, she is consistently producing an almost daily pile of nice, healthy fecal matter...moist, but not runny at all...firm and formed, but not hard. I have not observed her while she is evacuating, she seems to do it in the middle of the night, but my guess is that she isn't working NEARLY as hard as she was. (Thank you, God!! When she was "working," it took great effort and about 2 minutes to produce one lump the size of a small grape.) And with the bowels adequately evacuated, her urination is consistent as well. I plan to keep up this routine, especially since it is one that will work nicely with my schedule once I go back to teaching after summer break....but do keep us on your kitty prayer list. :)
(If this ends up helping anyone, please do let me know about your experience!)
