Why does my cat cry pooping with stick-like stool? Digestive issue?

It sounds like it is uncomfortable for him to poop as the poop is very hard and dry. You can try giving him some canned food in addition to his dry food and add a bit of water to it. Make sure the box is cleaned out every day as some cats do not like going into a litter box where there are more than a few poops or urine clumps are, so they wait until they really cannot hold it anymore. This delay makes the colon pull even more moisture out of the feces and so makes them very hard. Also put his water bowl at least 6ft away from his food bowl. Cats do not like to drink water when it is near the food.

Your cat could be severely constipated and the straining can make him nauseous. For severe constipation, your pet should be seen by a vet. Hard stool building up in the colon stretches it out of shape, and it also causes stretching of the muscles around the anus, causing perianal hernias that trap the collected feces, effectively making a plug. Your pet may need more than one enema and even manual extraction of the feces in order to relieve this episode. To help avoid this in the future, you can add Miralax to the food. Miralax is a very gentle, easy to give treatment for constipation, available over the counter at any pharmacy. The dose of Miralax is 1 tsp per 50 lbs mixed in with food once a day. You can also add a tablespoon of vegetable or olive oil to his food once daily, or add a couple of teaspoons of canned pumpkin (not pie filling) to his food daily.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! What you describe is actually a common issue. There are a few things you can try. This is likely to resolve just by increasing the amount of liquid he consumes and an easy way of doing this is by increasing the amount of wet food and decreasing the amount of dry food or just switching to a wet food diet. You could consider feeding him canned Science Diet metabolic weight management to achieve weight loss. Good luck!

It sounds like Victor is constipated. This could be caused by a foreign body, not enough fiber in the diet, GI polyps, or impacted anal sacs. Given that he is crying in pain, I would take him into the vet right away. He may need an enema or laxative to help him pass feces, and the vet can diagnose the cause of the constipation.

If she is experiencing a lot of pain than she should be examined by a vet to determine the cause. She may be just having some constipation issues but a vet could check to make sure she doesn't have a congenital malformation and/or problems with her hips or pelvis. If it is just constipation than you could add a teaspoon of canned pumpkin to her diet to increase the fiber and see if that helps.

Cats with kidney disease are prone to constipation so if this behavior continues or he seems to be straining in the litter box I’d recommend seeing your veterinarian. Most appetite stimulants would be safe to give with these medications but it would depend on the actual drug - check with your vet to make sure it’s okay before you give any other medication.

Drinking a lot of water can be a sign of kidney problems or diabetes. Depending on your cat's age not using the litter box may be a sign of arthritis (most cats get arthritis by the age of 7) and squatting may hurt, so he would hold his bowel movement until he can't hold it any more and then does not make it into the litter box in time. I suggest you take him to your vet for a blood test and exam and assessment for pain medicine.