Calling All Cat Lovers

[tex]

Hi All,

No, I'm not trying to give away a free kitten. I need some advice on how to handle a touchy problem. What's the best way to deal with a constipated cat?

Mind you, this is no ordinary cat. I'm talking about a bobcat kitten that I think is probably now about 6 or 7 weeks old. We believe in heavy duty rodent control out here on the farm, so domestic cats have been replaced by bobcats. Actually, it was the bobcats' choice, and the rest of us didn't seem to have much sayso in the matter.

Anyway, back to the kitten — her mother apparently abandoned her, and after she wandered around the yard for a couple of days, I decided to feed her so she wouldn't starve to death. I figured she was about 3 or 4 weeks old at the time, because her eyes were still blue. She's now about the size of a half-grown housecat, or maybe slightly larger. Apparently she never learned that she needs to have/force a bowel movement occasionally.

And a diet of raw meat probably doesn't help any, but I tried some cooked sausage when she was starving, and she just turned up her nose at it. She jumped right on some raw beef chili meat though, and lapped up the bloody juice, so I've been feeding her ground beef, ever since. She also turned up her nose at KMR (the famous milk replacer for kittens), but she would drink a little cow's milk. She didn't seem to care all that much for the milk, though, so I phased it out a week or so ago.

She drinks water (probably not enough, in this hot weather, but how do you force a bobcat to drink water?), and her kidneys seem to be working OK. Bear in mind that even though she will tolerate my presence, this is a wild cat, so I can't just grab her and stuff a pill down her throat. At first, she was very docile (when she was starving), and she looked and acted very much like an ordinary kitten. But the older she gets, the more her wild instinct begins to show.

Any suggestions?

Tex

P. S. I do lead kind of an unusual/interesting life, don't I.

[Polly]

Interesting, Tex!

I have no clue, but am wondering if there is a wildlife vet or rehabber nearby that you could call for advice?

Love,

Polly

[tex]

Hi Polly,

I'm not aware of any wildlife rehabbers, and since most wildlife vets work for the state or federal government, dealing with them can be worse than dealing with a wildcat because of the redtape involved. Technically, I would need a fur-bearing animal propagation permit in order to "take" or "possess" a wild cat. i don't actually "possess" the cat (she's free to come and go as she pleases), but "treating" a health issue would probably be considered "possessing". Generally, if you ask a game warden, they will tell you not to mess with wild animals. It's OK to shoot them (if you have a license), but it's not OK to feed them, "treat" them, or otherwise "interfere" with their lives. They would rather you just let them die, if they cannot survive on their own (because that's nature's way of dealing with the problem).

I was hoping that someone might have dealt with the problem before with a domestic cat, and knew of a practical remedy.

I'll ask around though. A sympathetic vet of any kind should be able to offer suggestions. Thanks.

Love,
Tex

[Polly]

Tex, I have a friend who is a wildlife rehabber - I'll check with her.

Love,

Polly

[tex]

Thanks, Polly. I've looked online, but most suggestions are for more water intake (when dry cat food is used). This cat has never seen dry cat chow. Dr. Mercola recommends adding aloe vera to the food, but I doubt that the cat would eat it if I did that.

Love,
Tex

[JLH]

I know it is recommended for dogs so I Googled. Here is one site: www.felineconstipation.org/prevention.html

[tex]

Joan,

Yes, dogs tend to drink plenty water. Cats not so much.

Thanks. I may try the miralax. I'm pretty sure it's effective, since it's the main ingredient in Golytely colonoscopy prep. Hopefully it doesn't taste like Golytely, and the cat will eat meat that contains the absorbed powder.

Tex

[Blueberry]

Well, I don't know if this will help or not or how to lead a bob cat to it. I've noticed from time to time my cats want to eat green grass. At one location I can let them outside where they munch away on the lawn. At another location, it's not possible to let them outside due to the local wild life. In that case I'll pick up grass from PetsMart. I'll buy the cat nip and oat grass the store sells. They don't always want to eat grass, they go days without it, but when they do they go to town. I've guessed the grass helps with their digestion.

[tex]

On the occasions when I've seen my cats eat grass (before the bobcats terminated them ), they typically had an upset stomach, and the grass allowed them to vomit up their stomach contents. I seriously doubt that I could persuade this cat to eat any grass. And vomiting won't do her much good anyway, because the problem is way past her stomach. She's probably too young yet to even realize that grass can be eaten.

I picked up some Miralax today, and my pharmacist agreed that it should work, because it's tasteless (that is, it cannot be tasted). That's the one question I had, because the cat's not likely to eat something that tastes unnatural. It's a powder, so I'll make a paste and mix it into the meat, in order to add a little more moisture.

I wonder if buying meat with a higher fat content might help to lubricate the gut. The stuff I'm using appears to be pretty lean.

Thanks,
Tex

[DebE13]

Canned pumpkin? She may turn her nose up at it but mine have eaten it without any work on my part. My mom used it with her dogs but dogs are soooo different than cats.

I don't have much experience with constipation.....my cat problems always revolved around WD, two months worth. It was hell.

Good luck! Just like with us, C can be just as bad as D.

Olive oil or coconut oil? A little lubrication to help it move? At least in the wild you won't have to worry about poo flying where it doesn't belong.

[Polly]

Tex, This is the email I received back from my friend who is a wildlife rehabber:

If you can tell me the general area, I can find him a rehabilitator...it really should be with one.
In the meantime, I would go with parboiled CHICKEN.
k

Love,

Polly

[tex]

Deb,

I don't believe a wild cat is going to eat canned pumpkin, or accept any oils on her food, but I'll pick up some canned pumpkin, just in case. Thanks.



Polly,

That's what I was afraid of. Right away they want to take over. That's insulting. I've raised a lot more animals in my lifetime than she has. The first thing they would do is to put it in a cage, as if that's good for a wild animal.

I'll see if the cat will eat parboiled chicken.

Thanks.

Love,
Tex

[Polly]

Tex,

It appears that it will be difficult to help the bobcat kitten. Here are some rehab guidelines from CA that discuss the difficulties - at the end it addresses the care for a single non-habituated bobcat kitten:

http://www.animaladvocates.us/bobcatreh ... manual.pdf

I know it really helps if it can be with another bobcat. BTW, my rehab friend has a huge property with all kinds of inside and outside areas for different animals - very few cages except for the sickest who need isolation. She even has a huge netted area that covers several acres of trees, as she is certified to rehab large birds of prey like herons and eagles. She is compulsive about not letting the animals become habituated to humans. She doesn't go as far as the article (doesn't wear a costume to look like the mother). LOL.

Good luck!

Love,

Polly

[TXBrenda]

You are probably aware that a mother cat grooms the anal area to get a kitten to poop. This kitten may have been separated before these muscles were developed. Good luck.

Where I used to work, we had several bobcats take up residence. Of course we watched from a distance, but the wild life managers trapped the bobcats. They put transmitters on them so they could be tracked. They were interesting to watch.

[tex]

Hi Polly,

I appreciate the information. That appears to be pretty much what I have been doing, except that I'm not wearing a bobcat costume, either. That's ridiculous. That's pretending that a bobcat doesn't have sense enough to notice that those surrogate bobcats are about 10 times the size they should be. And I believe that I will continue to feed the cat raw meat, rather than cooked foods. Show me a bobcat that parboils it's chicken before eating it, and I'll show you a rehabbed bobcat that's probably going to have a tough time surviving out in the brush.

The bobcat mothers that have kittens here in the yard, are not particularly afraid of humans to begin with. They were born here, and probably so were their mothers and their grandmothers. They like it here, because their "dens" are much less likely to be discovered by coyotes than they would be out in the brush. I occasionally see them at virtually any hour of the day, especially during the winter and spring. They certainly are not gentle, but when our paths cross, we stop to look at each other for a while, and then we mosey on to go about our business. I usually talk to them, just to see how they will react, but so far none of them have answered. Neither one of us falls into a panic, or high-tails it to the next county, though. So their kittens are not likely to be much different. I don't see them very often, because cats are rather secretive by nature. But they surely are all familiar with my voice and my presence, from soon after birth.

Putting bobcat kittens with other bobcat kittens only works in a rehab environment. That doesn't work in the real world, because most wild cats will kill the kittens of another cat. That's just the way nature works. So that's not an option in this case. This kitten is slightly larger (presumably older) than it's peers (cousins) that I've caught glimpses of here, so it should be able to take care of itself whenever it eventually meets them.

This morning, she's looking much better, and feeling more energetic and playful. She had a bowel movement yesterday, and I started adding the Miralax (and extra water) to her ground beef last night. She hasn't hesitated to eat it, and the extra moisture doesn't seem to offend her, so I have a hunch she will have it made, now.

I'm sure that I'll probably have to feed her for a long time, while she learns to hunt. But I've never "owned" a cat (as if one can actually own a cat — actually they own us) that didn't automatically learn to hunt on her or his own, without any prompting. Out here in the country, that comes naturally, and I live on the edge of a brushy creek, loaded with wildlife. And there are no wildlife-proof fences, so they can all go wherever they want to go, whenever they want, over hundreds of acres, without encountering any humans (or rehabbers). Confinement sucks, especially when you're a wild animal. If a housecat can learn to hunt on her own, a bobcat certainly shouldn't have any trouble mastering the art.

Yes, she may be a bit dangerous after she grows up, because she will probably be even less fearful of humans than the other bobcats around here, but farm and ranch life is loaded with dangers to begin with, because of all the equipment and facilities we use to make a living (to say nothing of sometimes-belligerent livestock), so we tend to get used to living in a much more dangerous environment than most people are accustomed to. IOW, as the song goes — it's just another day in paradise.

Here's a pic taken during her first meal after she had wandered around the yard for a couple of days unsuccessfully searching for her mother. You can click on it of course, to see an enlargement.



Thank you for your help.

Love,
Tex