Can Egg Yolks Lead to Loose Bowels?

[twylasage]

Me again ....

Eliza and TimTim have been wholly on raw since October. They're doing great! However, in the last several weeks, Timothy has developed loose stools. He doesn't appear to be ill in any way and he and his sister normally are eatng the exact same thing. Is it possible Tim's system can't handle the egg yolks? Since he doesn't appear to be suffering in any way, should I still consister eliminating the yolks from the food I make for them (catinfo recipe)? I hate doing that since eggs are so incredibly nutritious. And if I do eliminate (or reduce) the yolks from their food, what are my options? Just give my girl an occasional yolk topping on her food?

Many thanks for your help! 

 

[txcatmom]

I can't give you an absolute answer, but just a little anecdotal evidence from our house.  Mine eat ground raw from Hare Today.  But two of my cats love raw egg yolk and share one yolk almost every day.  (The humans love eggs for breakfast and these two cats wait for their yolk with pleading eyes.)  Anyways, they have very firm stool and never have had loose ones.  Again, can't give you a definite answer just based on these two cats.  I see no reason to assume the egg yolk is the problem and not some other aspect of the recipe, though.  And of course, there could be a non-food health related issue I suppose.  Good luck figuring it out.  Hopefully someone will come along with a more definite answer for you.

 

[ldg]

Well, my question is - if he was eating the raw recipe without problem before, I don't think there's any reason to suspect the loose stools is from the egg yolks. :dk: And they're in there as a source of choline and vitamin D - they're rather essential, actually.

Of course, you can consider making a batch without egg yolks, just to see if that is the problem. I just really doubt it. :dk: You can feed egg yolks separately during that batch. :nod:

How long has he had the loose stools?

 

[twylasage]

Hi, LDG,

I believe the loose bowels started in December when my focus was pretty much all about Christmas and keeping my sanity. I had been giving Timothy one meal a day w/a teaspoon of commercial tuna cat food mixed into his raw because he's so insane for fish. Even that little bit put the stink back into his stool! So I stopped that altogether wondering if he would produce well-formed stool again, but no go.The most recent batch of food I've made, I reduced the egg yolks from 2 to 1 to see if it results in any improvement. Too soon to tell.

 

[StefanZ]

My gut  reaction is, egg yolk as such shouldnt.  But if you have problems with salomonella on eggs in your country, and he got in a big portion of salomonella (or other bacteria) - yes, it would be visible at first as loose stools / diarrea.   Healthy cats are much less sensitive to Salmonella than humans, but if enough much bacterias...

IF it is salmonella, and he doesnt seem really sick,  nor has real diarrhea, this would mean he is attacked just barely...

How is it, do you pour boiling water on the eggs before you open them? You can surely have some soap in this boiling water. 

Opening up the eggs, are you careful so the yolk doesnt get in touch with the shells?

If you feel pretty sure it wasnt salmonella, then it is something entirely else.

 

[vball91]

How is it, do you pour boiling water on the eggs before you open them? You can surely have some soap in this boiling water. 

Opening up the eggs, are you careful so the yolk doesnt get in touch with the shells?

Holy moly! Is everyone this careful when cracking eggs? I've never thought about this since I'm not that super careful cracking eggs for our consumption (usually cooked over easy). Should I be washing the eggs before cracking? Not using the shell to separate out the whites from yolk? I'm in the US, and I thought our eggs were generally safe? I always get the cage free vegetarian fed organic if that makes a difference?

 

[ldg]

Stefan's right that the issue is the outside of the egg, but honestly, I don't worry about it. My basic premise in even feeding raw is that cats are built to handle a different bacterial load than people. My concern over that is one of the reasons I argued against raw for so long, actually. :anon: Now I would worry FAR more about feeding kibble than feeding raw.

I have 3 immune compromised kitties, and none have ever had any issue.

I crack the eggs and separate. I usually do wash the eggs with a little soap and water, but that's only because we buy locally from free-range chickens, and there is often a little dirt or something still on the eggs. :lol3: On the rare occasion I buy eggs from the health food store, I don't bother washing, because they're already cleaned better than the eggs sold up the road....

Though... all of this discussion did get me thinking. One of the things I do to help ensure there's not a problem even if they do get an accidental batch of some not quite friendly bacteria in an amount that might be a problem is give my cats a daily probiotic - 10 billion CFU of a human acidophilus+bifidus supplement. Do you give the kitties a probiotic? If not, its something to think about.

... or just see how the batch with the 1 egg yolk goes... :dk:

Also, is it possible there's not enough bone in the mix? I know her instructions are rather specific - but the age of the chicken and size of the bones would make a difference. Perhaps your other kitty isn't just as sensitive? Just something else to consider...