The Quest for Regularity

WARNING: For anyone who may be squeamish and/or eating while reading this post, please do not proceed. The following is the heart-wrenching tale of how Kitten recently battled a severe bout of constipation. I will start from the beginning… 

As you may remember from A Paw Problem Kitten is always in and out of his litter box and tracking litter everywhere. I mentioned how he seemed obsessed with his litter and how sometimes he would just sit in there and do nothing for long periods of time. Well on Monday, the day before my last exam, Kitten went into his litter box first thing in the morning and just sat there with his head sticking out. Alone, that would have been weird for Kitten since he never leaves his head out of the litter box, but on top of that, he stayed in there for over 20 minutes. I went and shower and he was still in there. I thought this was weird, even for Kitten, but with an exam the next day, I just ignored it. 

Later in the morning, Kitten was in and out of the litter at least 5 times. It was starting to drive me insane because every time he came out, I would need to sweep; if I didn’t, he would track litter everywhere. At one point, I accidentally hit him with the broom when I was trying to get the litter off him. He got quite mad and ignored me most of the day. I thought this was the reason why he wasn't being a good study buddy while I studied. 

That evening Boyfriend got home and immediately asked me what was wrong with Kitten. I asked him why he thought there was something wrong and he said that Kitten ALWAYS comes to meet him at the door and because he didn’t, something HAD to be wrong. I told Boyfriend he was being crazy and I went back to studying. A while later though, Boyfriend said that there REALLY was something wrong with Kitten. I asked him what he meant and he said that Kitten had been sitting in one spot without moving for at least 10 minutes. I told Boyfriend that the same thing happened in his litter box this morning. 

At first, we thought that Kitten was having a seizure. We tried pushing him and he just slid across the floor, frozen like a statue. When we realized he wasn't have a seizure, we got out the cheese to try to lure him away from where he was sitting. The moment Kitten looked at that cheese with distain, we knew something was very wrong. Slowly Boyfriend and I put it all together and realized that Kitten was severely constipated. He hadn't pooped in a day or two, yet he was in and out of his litter ALL the time. He wasn't eating. He was licking his “behind” constantly. He wasn't walking and when he did walk, he walked like there was a pickle in him.

Boyfriend immediately searched online to see what we could do. Since cats are lactose intolerant, we gave him some milk to see if that would help. Boyfriend was also convinced that he could manually push it out. He tried pretty hard and said he "could feel it," but unfortunately wasn't able to squeeze it out. 

I was very worried since it was so bad that Kitten could barley walk, but Boyfriend assured me that he would keep an eye on Kitten when I went to bed (though he also told me that animals can die of constipation). Boyfriend then said that if Kitten didn't go by tomorrow, he was going to give him an enema. I am dead serious. Boyfriend was going to give Kitten an enema. Thankfully, Kitten did go over night. Though he still seemed a bit off the next day.

Boyfriend and I looked into things we could do to help Kitten stay regular. Boyfriend promised he would stop giving him cheese, and we decided we would switch his dry food and start giving him wet food again. 

Yesterday, I went to the pet store to pick up these supplies. I told the pet store girl that my cat was constipated and she was very sympathetic and told me that cats don't naturally drink a lot of water, so they should have wet food daily to get their fluids. She also told me that if it got bad again, to mix some pure pumpkin puree into his food. I held off on the pumpkin, but I will say that I was a bit frustrated to be buying a brand new bag of cat food since the one we had was only half done and we buy pretty expense food for Kitten. 

This is what Kitten had…

And this is the new one I got for him. He also got a few cans of fancy wet cat food.

On top of all of this, we also bought Kitten cat grass to get some fiber into him. The store only had the kind that you grow yourself. I just planted the seeds last night, so hopefully they will actually grow.

Honestly though, Kitten eats better than boyfriend and I. The products in Kitten’s food are all grown in Canada, the meat is free range and there are no preservatives. And Boyfriend and I eat things like this:

Luckily, Kitten seems to be getting back on track (no pumpkin or enema needed). He has been running around and breaking things like normal all day, which makes me very happy.  

Oh, and don’t forget to vote for Kitten’s Look-A-Like!