Constipation/People feeding the recipe on my site

I have added a few things to the Making Cat Food page:

Constipation:

April, 2011 update: One of my cats, Robbie, has an anatomical abnormality in his rectum and needs to have his stools softened to facilitate defecation. I have been using guar gum (purchased from Whole Foods Market - or you can order it online) which is a soluble fiber source and it is working very well.

There are two types of fiber sources: soluble and insoluble.

Soluble fiber traps water in the stool, thereby softening it, but does not swell. It is fermented into compounds that can be helpful for colon health.

Insoluble fiber (e.g., cellulose from vegetables) also traps water but it swells - adding bulk to the stool. However, this is not what we want for cats. Cats are not designed to eat a high plant fiber diet that results in a high volume (large diameter) stool.

Vegetables contain predominantly insoluble fiber making them much less desirable for treating constipation in the cat.

I have been adding 1/8 - 1/4 of a tsp of guar gum to 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of a meal of the recipe on this site + plus an extra ~2 TBS of water. (I am not adding the guar gum to the whole batch of food since I am playing around with the amount.)

There is one drawback to using guar gum....you will no longer be able to brag that your cat's feces do not have any odor. The feces of a cat fed the recipe discussed on this webpage (without guar gum) have very little odor but guar gum is fermented into some pretty stinky gases by the bacteria in the colon.

guar gum link: http://www.amazon.com/Barry-Farm-Guar-G ... B00015UC5M

Bacon fat:

Do not remove the excess fat around the meat no matter the condition of your cat. Cats need a reasonable amount of animal fat in their diet. In fact, I have been playing around with adding bacon fat to individual meals to give my cats a variety in flavor and to also increase the fat content since one of my cats is older and a bit on the thin side.

I baked 18 ounces of the fattiest bacon I could find and it yielded 16 TBS of fat. I used a broiling pan to catch the drippings. Cook it slowly until the bacon is dry and crispy. That way, you will collect the most fat from the bacon. The dried bacon makes nice bacon bits for non-vegetarians. Or you can feed them to your cats as treats. Nitrites in cured meats is a controversial subject so I opted to purchase nitrite-free bacon from Whole Foods Market.

 

Another addition (the parts in parentheses):

2000 mg (minimum) wild salmon or fish oil (a good source of essential fatty acids - I often use 4,000 - 6,000 mg)

 

One more:

Note: Boiling is one of the worst ways to cook meat in terms of nutrient loss. Baking or broiling would be much better for nutrient retention. I use the boiling method because I do so many thighs at a time so it is faster for me to boil them in a huge pot but I may switch over to baking them instead.

 

Thanks for this info, Dr. Lisa.

I don't make my own food but I do add psyllium husk to Oscar's canned food (Before Grain Turkey and Merrick Cowboy Cookout). I understand psyllium husk is also soluble fibre. Is there any reason to switch to guar gum? I don't find the psyllium makes his stool esp. stinky. BTW, Oscar has chronic constipation but with psyllium and miralax is having bowel movements at least every 48 hours.

He also needs to lose 2 pounds, so no bacon fat! I try to choose foods for him with around 50% fat. I will however continue with the chicken hearts and gizzards for his teeth.

 

It is a mixture of both types. I did not have much luck with psyllium.

The problem is that you don't know if psyllium is helping since you are also using miralax. My goal was to get away from miralax, if possible.

 

Why move away from the Miralax? I'm jsut asking because I use an 1/8 of a tsp every day for my chronically constipated civvie and it seems to work well, but I'm willing to go all natural if it is controversial.

 

This is my goal.

That said, miralax appears to be very safe but I am just trying use something more natural.

If someone tried gg and it did not work, I would have no hesitation to use miralax.

 

Thanks, Dr. Lisa. I didn't realize psyllium was a mix. With just psyllium, Oscar was having a bowel movement every 2 - 3 days. I will get some guar gum at the health food store and see if it makes a difference.

I only recently (last week) added the miralax because Oscar was having extremely painful bowel movements - one which led to an emerg hospitalization. I am slowly titrating it up. He has been having bowel movements every 48 hours with it and yesterday, he had one after only 16 hours or so (which the vet said is the goal). Right now he is on 1/4 tsp in the morning and 1/8 tsp in the evening. That may be enough to keep him at 16 hours but if not, I will up to 1/4 tsp bid. Like Linda, if there is an issue with Miralax, I would like to know.

Thanks so much!

 

Personally, I think it is a bit of mistake to focus on frequency rather than consistency. I don't pay much attention to frequency. Many cats go every other day and are not constipated.

If you try gg, please post back to this thread if you get a chance. I would replace the psyllium with the gg while sticking with the miralax if he is that bad.

 

Agreed that consistency is important. Our vet did say to look for well-formed but soft stool - not rock hard and certainly not liquid or unformed.

Thanks, Dr. Lisa. I'll try the gg and report back.

 

Go right to 1/4 tsp per 3.5 oz food + 2 TBS water.

 

I don't think the gg agrees with Oscar. He's had liquid stools less than every twelve hours since we started it on Thursday evening. Could be a coincidence but I think I'll stop it.

 

You can always try a lower dose.

I feel a lot more comfortable with something natural versus a chemical like miralax....but that's just me. Everyone has their own 'comfort' issues and I found myself cringing every time I dumped miralax into the food.....but my Dad takes some every other day....and I love him too! Strange double standard.... :smile:

 

How much did you use?

If it was 1/4 tsp to 3.5 oz of food PLUS miralax....that probably proved to be too much for him.

With a seriously constipated cat, I would rather start high since loose stools are not a big deal.....and then just titrate back from there.