Lucy my ninteen year old cat has her normal daily poos,however she is straining to do more,in and out of her litter tray for about two hours after she has passed a normal poo.I will take her to the vet on monday,do cats get blocked anal glands like dogs?Has anybody any idea what this could be,I am worried in case it is the start of somthing serious.

Sheila.

Are you sure it is not a wee she is trying to do?

Some cats can get a blockage (usually tom cats) & this would need to be checked by a vet asap

Hope it gets better soon

Yes this sounds more like a urinary problem. It's very rare for females to block but it could be cystitis. Anal gland problems don't usually have that sort of effect in cats -you usually see them licking their stomachs bald for instance, not straining. Let us know what the vets says!

I think the best thing to do is take her the vet.

Regards Susan

Hi Sheila

A few years ago my cat had a similar problem but she wasn't straining to poo, she was trying to do a wee.  I was lucky to have noticed this in the morning so was able to get her to the vet that afternoon.  She had cystitis and was given anti-biotics to clear it up.  The problem has not, to date, re-occurred.  Good luck with Lucy.

Regards - June

Lucy appears to be ok today,she has been passing urine normally and poos,however I will get her checked out at the vets,

Sheila.

If she is on dry food I would consider changing her onto tinned which has more water in it especially if she is beginning to get urinary problems.

A visit to the vet would be my first thought too.

Roni

Lucy is on mainly whiskers pouches,she is getting selective to what she eats ,so at the moment she is on felix fish menus,also I give her bits of chicken and she is enjoying this at the moment,they are fussy when they are young,but by god nothing compared to when they are so old,she is so spoilt its untrue,she lives upstairs now in comfort and has her en suite in the guest bedroom.Let you all know how she gets on with her health check tomorrow.
Sheila.

I lost my male cat Mansell..yes after (nigel) in August last year he was around 15/16 he was a stray so not quite sure only his problem was his bowel he had constant upset tum but ate like a horse but lost loads of weight .
after tests it was discovered that he had a thyroid problem so had it  removed but the problems continued i didnt want to prolong his agonies any longer and we decided along with the vet that to PTS was for the best as he had no quality of life.

I miss him dreadfully as he was a real character.

My friend has a cat with urinary problems and she has to feed a special diet I'll ask her what it is.

you can feed hills c/d for flutd cats

In my experience though they absolutely hate it! :)

wouldnt know- we just sell it- but they probably do!!

Are you sure it might not be hairballs making her strain and when she eventually did have a poo 2 hours later, may have passed something then which has eased her?

Went to the vets with Lucy this am for check up,everyhing fine,gave her antibiotics ,she really is doing well now.Thanks for your replies.

Sheila.x

Lucy has been eating like a horse,however yesterday she starded pooing after she had eaten as though the food was going straight through her,poo is sloppy,noticed today sticky red blood in it,she is still acting normal,going to the vet first thing in the morning, I am so worried,has anyone any idea what this could be?

Sheila.

has she been loosing weight eventhough she is eating?

I had a 16yr old male cat who was eating like a horse seemed lively and bright  he was diagnosed with having a overactive thyroid if you feel around the neck you can actually feel it as it will be a large lump ...when he ate he would immediately go outside and toilet to the point that he did it anywhere as you know not like a cat this also had blood in it.
Of course it may be that you have changed the food.

I maybe completely wrong just thought I would give you the information so that you can suggest it to your vet.

Roni

Any news yet??  poor Lucy

If she has been straining, she may have burst a blood vessle in her bottie. With Humans they say that normally if the blood is fresh it is something like that but if its brown old blood then it could be internal bleeding. I would say that she may have been a bit bunged up and over strained and perhaps now she is moving again its bleeding.

Dont worry too much, im sure she will be fine. Give her lots of cuddles until you can get to the vet.

Caroline x

Lucy has been to see Austin our vet,has precribed tablets for over active thyroid gland and also a wormer,he says that he is ruling these two things out,see how she goes if no improvment blood tests ect,however Lucy also has a heart murmur ,she is getting lots of cuddles and she sleeps at my side at night,so she is very comfy,she is such a lovely cat and never been really interested in birds in fact when she used to see collard doves she used to leg it back into the house,I have had Lucy since she was about 4 weeks old,a friend of mine found some kids trying to drown her so off she came to live with us and the labs.

Sheila.x

fingers crossed for your Lucy, bless you for rescueing her

Sharon

Hi Shiela,

Hope she gets sorted out a lot of cats do quite well on the tabs my vet said they work quite fast .My boy had his thyroid removed as it was v large and they were concerned about it obstructing.

your doing all you can to make her comfortable and thats all you can do .

lets know what the blood results are when they come back .

Roni

Hi Roni,
I wormed Lucy yesterday she appeared to be a bit off and then she brought up a sausage shaped furball,she is not pooing as much,and she is well today fingers crossed,just wondering if that could of been the problem,she has got me with her all day today,as I had a bad fall in the park yesterday whilst out with the dogs,went flat on my face,so my neighbour is dog walking,I love the photos of your pets,they are very lovely.

Sheila.x

Hi sheila,
Is she cleaning herself a lot more as it can be a sign of stress with a cat excessive cleaning (so I've heard I'm no expert)

or it maybe just normal one of my cats (I have 4) brings up a lot of furballs she is a diabetic on insulin she has a longer coat and she gets furballs.

Hopefully thats all it is ....fingers crossed

Roni

Hi,

You can get something called Defurum, which you can get from most pet shops, and it really helps with furballs - pretty much stops it all together.  It's malt flavoured I think, and you can squeeze it on your finger and generally they like it and lick it off.

Karen