Milk of Magnesia as magnesium supplement ?

Doodle has been struggling for months with low potassium - despite high levels of supplementation.
After a weeks dosing of 12.65 mEq, his level is up - from 2.6 to 3.5 -- which is fantastic to see!

We still don't know the reason for his persistently low potassium level...but the two reasons that seem to be the most likely are hyperaldosteronism (for which we are testing) and low magnesium. (probably due to my feeding him a low magnesium diet)

My vet has agreed that trying a magnesium supplement for at least the next week or 2 would be worthwhile - but she sent me home with instructions to give 2-6cc of Milk of Magnesia.
I am not sure this is the correct thing to give him since I believe Milk of Magnesium can work as a phoshorous binder and Doodles phosphorous is already low at 2.9 (with a refernce range of 3.1 -7.5)
I don't want to attempt to fix one imbalance and end up causing another.

Does anyone have any thoughts, experience or input ??

Na - 165 (150-165)
K - 3.5 (3.5 - 5.8)
Cl - 123 (112 - 129)
(magnesium level pending)

Bun - 38 (16 - 36)
Crea - 2.9 (0.8 - 2.4)
Phos - 2.9 (3.1 - 7.5)

 

Hi Michelle,
I don't have any experience with low magnesium but do have a little with low potassium - I know that urination can flush out potassium, is Doodle urinating a little too much?
Just curious: I see the CRE is just above normal and I have a question: My cats CRE was just above normal too a couple of weeks ago and my vet was a little worried about her kidneys - did your vet say anything about that?

 

Yes, my vet has done lots of tests trying to find the cause of this and did consider kidney disease in the beginning, but has decided that this is not primarily a renal issue.
He is definitely urinating a lot though...as well as drinking a lot - which was the initial reason for my taking him in for labwork.

And I forgot to mention he has hypertension - his BP today was 160 -- (still taking amlodipine = 0.625)

 

Thanks, I hope you find out what it is soon. Keep us updated.

 

Hi Michelle

Some milk of magnesia products contain aluminum, and that will act as a phosphorous binder. The kinds that are advertised as laxative rather than just for heartburn will probably not contain aluminum.

Because of possible laxative effect, you might want to do a few days at the low end of the dose to test things out. Alternatively, you could figure out the milligrams of magnesium from the amts the vet gave you, and buy magnesium in the health food store. Just make sure that magnesium is the only active ingredient in whatever other supplement you buy.

 

Thanks Jess,

I was JUST telling my DH that I might have to figure out the dosage and do something different...
I'll also call my vet again tomorrow to try and confirm the dosage before I do anything - I was her last appt. today.