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- Nov 15, 2014
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Everyone here has always been so nice, so I wanted to come to you with an issue. I have three cats--all now 8 years old--siblings. When Tigger was about 2 years old, he went through a bout of diarrhea suddenly that lasted months and resulted in weight loss. All three were eating Fancy Feast at the time. A change in foods worked for his diarrhea then, and this lasted several years. The diarrhea happened again, and I found new foods again, one which was Weruva. Another bout of diarrhea about a year ago, brought to me to feed Lotus Just Juicy (chicken, pork, and turkey). Recently, Lotus did a slight formula change. Also, when that happened, there started to be more inconsistencies in the product--sometimes all juice and hardly and meat, sometimes thick "sauce" with lots of meat, sometimes so thick and dry there was just meat with no liquid, sometimes thinner sauce with much less meat.
So, Tigger's brother, Little One, was the first to show constipation after the formula change. I decided that the new formula must have less fiber (but now I am starting to think that with the consistency being so different, usually by the case or size of can or both, it might be that every batch has vastly different percentages of moisture or fiber or agar-agar or something). For Little One, I have tried various foods to help with the constipation. I had some success with Koha pate and a couple of the stews, but Tigger got one bite and had diarrhea the next day which would mean me finding a way to feed in a separate room, possible but very inconvenient for our situation, and there is not much chatter out there about Koha in general. I thought Rawz might work, since it has few ingredients, but apparently they use a lot of the fenugreek seeds. All three of my cats were gassy and smelly and seemed to be bloated when my trial got up to 1/4 of a small can. Adding pumpkin seemed to help, so I started adding 1/4 teaspoon to every meal.
Then all of a sudden, of all things, Tigger (who gets diarrhea from every food but this) started struggling in the litter box, having pebbles and sometimes having the stool still hanging out. I thought, "Okay, everyone can have some pumpkin." That seemed to help for a while, but last night, Tigger, struggled, and then had the stool stuck again (and it was not much for all of his struggle). I could keep adding more pumpkin, but I have read of people using pumpkin to actually stop diarrhea, so I am wondering if Tigger is actually MORE constipated with the pumpkin. I also have read that pumpkin often stops working for constipation after a while.
I have also read a few people on threads on some other sites who had luck specifically with Weruva Chicken Frick-A-Zee and Fowl Ball for constipation (but also read a thread on this site where one person suspected the Chicken-Frick-A-Zee of causing diarrhea in her two kittens). I believe that, when Tigger developed diarrhea on Weruva, I had stopped feeding these two flavors because I felt they were getting more sauce than meat for the money, but I am not 100% sure. I know, in the past, Tigger has had diarrhea with small amounts of nearly every food made in Thailand. Even so, because there were years when Weruva was a godsend for him, I would be willing to give some of the flavors a VERY SLOW trial. Has anybody had experience with these two for treating constipation?
The thing is that the Lotus Just Juicy foods are low in fiber from the max number on the cans. It comes out to 0.2% on a dry matter basis. I want to be careful not to jump from that to anything with way more fiber because I feel like the inconsistency per can since the formula change is likely the cause. By the way, they only eat wet food (though this situation has me wondering if a few kibbles a day would do the trick). I could add more pumpkin, but the food is saucy/soupy, and I worry that, at a point, they will fill up on the pumpkin and maybe not get all the nutrients they need from the food, especially with no other foods in the mix.
I am going to try the Weruva Chicken Frick-A-Zee at their next meal, but it might be such a tiny bite that the boys may still be constipated tomorrow. I figure it is a brand new food now and needs slow trial, especially with Tigger. I can't believe I am even using the word constipation with Tigger at all!
I appreciate thoughts on trying a new food or adding more pumpkin. Ideally, I would love to have at least one other food they can eat, preferably something I can get locally (order Lotus from Chewy since the closes store that has it is like 30 minutes from here). Since this is most likely caused by the food, it seems logical to change the food or add another food to the mix rather than consider MiraLAX or something.
Sorry for the novel. I look forward to any input or comments.
By the way, Tigger has gone from a very thin 5-lb cat to now weighing over 9 pounds and very health with soft, fluffy fur. I credit the Lotus Just Juicy for that, regardless of the consistency issues.
So, Tigger's brother, Little One, was the first to show constipation after the formula change. I decided that the new formula must have less fiber (but now I am starting to think that with the consistency being so different, usually by the case or size of can or both, it might be that every batch has vastly different percentages of moisture or fiber or agar-agar or something). For Little One, I have tried various foods to help with the constipation. I had some success with Koha pate and a couple of the stews, but Tigger got one bite and had diarrhea the next day which would mean me finding a way to feed in a separate room, possible but very inconvenient for our situation, and there is not much chatter out there about Koha in general. I thought Rawz might work, since it has few ingredients, but apparently they use a lot of the fenugreek seeds. All three of my cats were gassy and smelly and seemed to be bloated when my trial got up to 1/4 of a small can. Adding pumpkin seemed to help, so I started adding 1/4 teaspoon to every meal.
Then all of a sudden, of all things, Tigger (who gets diarrhea from every food but this) started struggling in the litter box, having pebbles and sometimes having the stool still hanging out. I thought, "Okay, everyone can have some pumpkin." That seemed to help for a while, but last night, Tigger, struggled, and then had the stool stuck again (and it was not much for all of his struggle). I could keep adding more pumpkin, but I have read of people using pumpkin to actually stop diarrhea, so I am wondering if Tigger is actually MORE constipated with the pumpkin. I also have read that pumpkin often stops working for constipation after a while.
I have also read a few people on threads on some other sites who had luck specifically with Weruva Chicken Frick-A-Zee and Fowl Ball for constipation (but also read a thread on this site where one person suspected the Chicken-Frick-A-Zee of causing diarrhea in her two kittens). I believe that, when Tigger developed diarrhea on Weruva, I had stopped feeding these two flavors because I felt they were getting more sauce than meat for the money, but I am not 100% sure. I know, in the past, Tigger has had diarrhea with small amounts of nearly every food made in Thailand. Even so, because there were years when Weruva was a godsend for him, I would be willing to give some of the flavors a VERY SLOW trial. Has anybody had experience with these two for treating constipation?
The thing is that the Lotus Just Juicy foods are low in fiber from the max number on the cans. It comes out to 0.2% on a dry matter basis. I want to be careful not to jump from that to anything with way more fiber because I feel like the inconsistency per can since the formula change is likely the cause. By the way, they only eat wet food (though this situation has me wondering if a few kibbles a day would do the trick). I could add more pumpkin, but the food is saucy/soupy, and I worry that, at a point, they will fill up on the pumpkin and maybe not get all the nutrients they need from the food, especially with no other foods in the mix.
I am going to try the Weruva Chicken Frick-A-Zee at their next meal, but it might be such a tiny bite that the boys may still be constipated tomorrow. I figure it is a brand new food now and needs slow trial, especially with Tigger. I can't believe I am even using the word constipation with Tigger at all!
I appreciate thoughts on trying a new food or adding more pumpkin. Ideally, I would love to have at least one other food they can eat, preferably something I can get locally (order Lotus from Chewy since the closes store that has it is like 30 minutes from here). Since this is most likely caused by the food, it seems logical to change the food or add another food to the mix rather than consider MiraLAX or something.
Sorry for the novel. I look forward to any input or comments.
By the way, Tigger has gone from a very thin 5-lb cat to now weighing over 9 pounds and very health with soft, fluffy fur. I credit the Lotus Just Juicy for that, regardless of the consistency issues.
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