17 y/o cat slightly constipated

Question
Hello,
My husband and I have a 17 y/o (indoor only) cat who is well cared for and in fairly good health.  I say fairly because our vet recently (last six months), told us that she needs thyroid medicine.  We give it to her twice a day and she's doing very well.  We get her labs done every 4-6 months.  Except for some arthritis, she is very mobile, jumps, and is very vocal!  We love her, even when she's crabby.
My only concern for her is that she tends to get constipated.  She does have bowel movements and the stool is normal, but she seems to struggle a bit more.  She's much happier after she has a successful visit to the litter bos.  My question is, is there any OTC treatment that you can suggest to help her?  I don't want to give her prescription meds. for this.  I also don't want to give her something that will cause cramps or diarrhea.  Is there something to just make it easier for her, i.e., a stool softener?  Any help will be appreciated.
Thank you.

Answer
It's very common for cats this age to have some constipation due to the colon being a bit dryer and less peristalsis action in the intestines as well.

The most common things that vets recommend are canned pumpkin in their food and/or a capsule that you can put over her food called Vetacyl, which is super-fine ground up psyllium husk, a key ingredient in Metamucil.

Don't use Metamucil because it has a lot of things in it that are toxic to cats. I used canned pumpkin on my cat Floyd when he was 19 and it worked well. They generally tolerate the taste.

I used about a heaping teaspoonful twice a day in some wet food for him.

Her thyroid might also have something to do with this unless she had it before the hyperthyroidism was diagnosed.

Make sure you use plain canned pumpkin, not the pumpkin pie cans!
Also make sure she is getting plenty of water.

Other things you can do:

Give a little tuna with oil in it.
Give petroleum jelly orally.
Give some olive or vegetable oil daily
Give some Laxatone daily

When you open the can of pumpkin, freeze the rest in ice cube trays and just take out three or so a day for her.

Hope this helps!