What canned food is safe for my cat's urinary and constipation issues?

I feed my cat diet canned canned food which has added fiber. Most any brand will work. In addition I add a tablespoon of plain pumpkin to each feeding. The pumpkin adds more fiber and most cats like it. It works well to bulk up the stool and prevent constipation. You’ll be adding additional water also when you feed the canned food instead of dry. Use a brand that you like and that she likes too. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Juicy.

If your cat hasn't pooped in three days I would be concerned about constipation. One thing you can try at home is adding some fiber to his diet, either by doing a teaspoon of metamucil on his food or some canned pumpkin on his food. If he is not already on wet food you could try adding some warm water to his food as well. If the constipation becomes severe your cat will stop eat, act painful and maybe start throwing up. If you notice any of these symptoms you should take him to your vet so they can give him medication to relieve the constipation.

Instead of switching food I would first start with adding a tablespoon of plain canned pumpkin to each meal. That is natural fiber and most cats like it and eat it readily. Adjust the amount so the stool is larger, softer and he goes to the bathroom at least once daily. You can also open a capsule of plain Metamucil and sprinkle it on the food to increase fiber. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Oliver.

I'm sorry to hear that this is going on with your cat. The corn in the diet should not cause any urinary problems and it generally very safe and a very common ingredient in many cat foods. Oftentimes when a cat is peeing outside of the littler box it is because of a urinary tract infection or cystitis (inflammation of the bladder wall). When the cat has one of these conditions it can make it painful to urinate and the cat associates the pain with the litter box and thus starts going outside of the box. This could explain her constipation as well. If she is not frequenting the litter box and holding in her bowel movements it can cause her to become constipated. I would recommend making sure the litter box is cleaned frequently (twice a day) because some cats can be finicky when it comes to using a dirty litter box. I would also definitely recommend keeping your appointment with your vet. They may test the urine for infection and can give you a recommendation on a good, balanced diet for Inara. Good luck!

Poor Angel! This can be such a problem in older cats. You can add in some canned pumpkin (1 teaspoon a day) to help increase her fiber intake. Also, if you haven't already, I would talk to your vet about doing some abdominal x-rays. These will help the vet see how large the colon is and how much stool is present. Cats can get something called megacolon where the muscles in their colon don't work well and they get easily constipated. These cats usually need to be sedated and manually have some of the stool removed and then put on a drug called cisapride. Some cats will have to stay on this drug long term, but I have personally had good success with putting them on a food called Royal Canin GI Fiber Response and eventually getting them off cisapride and stool softeners. It is a prescription food so I would talk to your vet about it. Also, . Every cat is different and your vet will need to help guide you through this process. If your vet doesn't think she has megacolon then cisapride may not be needed but if she is REALLY backed up then she may still need to be sedated and have some feces removed to help her out. I hope this helps!

I am so to hear Molly is going through so much. It sounds like you are doing a really great job with her. I definitely agree that she needs the canned food to help increase her water intake which may be also why she doesn't drink as much. Of course it would be best if she would eat a canned kidney diet, but I would rather her eating something rather than nothing at all. Also, I would continue the laxative but you may want to try to add in some canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling) which may help to add some fiber to her diet. Finally if she doesn't want the pumpkin, you could try to sprinke 1/2 teaspoon of plain metamucil (in the fiber section of the grocery) to her canned food and see if that will help with her constipation. I hope she starts to feel better.

There's not perfect answer there, but if he's not really eating the prescription food anyways AND the food would only help if he was drinking enough water to have dilute urine, which I'm guessing he isn't because he's constipated, then changing foods is unlikely to cause problems. With what you're describing, he could even need subcutaneous fluids at home to get enough water in him. I'm assuming he's had general bloodwork done to try to figure out what's going on, because I would be concerned about some underlying organ dysfunction being involved here. If blood work is normal, I'd experiment with diets, water fountains, and even the fluids under the skin to see if any of that helps. Wishing you and Flash the best of luck