Constipation problems

When she feels bad, she 'hangs her head'..

I was reading the entry from last October and realized that the cycle had repeated itself: she looked constipated again (it was gone over the winter). She was throwing up her food in her food bowl after eating way too fast and also throwing up 'foam' with blades of grass the length of my hand...crazy! I decided to take a trip to the vet who concluded that her bowels were indeed a little clogged up. She suggested Isogel, a stuff in powdered form that is tasteless and can be mixed in with moist food. The later is always a problem because wet food causes diarrhea for her and I don't want her to be uncomfortable.

However, a shot of Cerenia from the vet and the Isogel mixed with mashed Whiskas from a pouch seemed to work wonders. The worse the contents of the wet food, the better she is able to handle it. Trying to feed her Whiskas with Isogel a second time failed miserably of course but that seemed to be okay. Of course, I don't know if it was the Cerenia that worked for her of the Isogel but I do know that during the 'shedding months' (spring and autumn), I need to use the Furminator to thin out her undercoat. I still don't believe it myself but for a shorthaired cat, she sheds like crazy! But combing, Cerenia or Isogel, (or a combination of all three) it looks like the constipation problems have been solved for the time being.

The pendulum swings

Basti looking annoyed, waiting for food

About 3 weeks ago, the vet came by for the yearly shots of all 3 cats. We discussed the medication of Basti and when we told her that she got her Prednisone only once every 10 days, she said: Well, then it's almost a placebo at this point'. I don't quite get how a real medicine can become a placebo but I figured that she meant that there was no use in giving it to Basti anymore. As I know how nasty this medicine can be, I decided to simply stop giving it to her. And that was no problem. 

At this point, you would think that that was the end of the story but something strange happened: after we stopped giving her Pred, she didn't start eating less, the started eating more. For the last consecutive days, she does what I've described in my last blog: where it would usually take her 6 to 8 hours to go through the first 20 grams of kibble for the day, she currently finishes in two and then start the staring contest in front of her food bowl. I upped her intake from 45 to 50 grams for a few days and than figured that if I kept giving in, she'd soon weigh more than the almost 4 kg she weighs now. And that was unacceptable. So no more than 45 grams for my black girl.

I should have known however, that Basti figured out a way to circumvent the problem; mice. For the last few days, she's been bringing her pray inside the house and eating it underneath a piece of furniture. Besides the fact that my red cookie monster is absolutely ticked off that she won't hand Mr. Mouse over to him like she used to, she actually totally finishes said Mr. Mouse. Now I have an entirely new problem on my hands; she's getting constipated, throwing up grass from trying to fix the constipation and I'm afraid that combining kibble with raw food is causing Basti's stomach to get upset again.

I might be time to change food again...she wasn't interested in raw food before but if she keeps up eating mice on a daily basis, I may have to get her off the kibble entirely; I don't think that letting her combine kibble with mice is doing her tummy any good.